Two weeks ago, we posted a bumper batch of green news from around the archipelaego. Sadly, there’s little new to report.
Sidoarjo Mudflow
This is now officially a disaster zone because the government has decreed it. Displaced residents must be resettled, retrained and compensated at the expense of Lapindo Brantas .
The mud continues to pour forth at a such a rate that it is beyond the resources of civil engineers and other responsible officials to contain it. It will, therefore, be piped untreated into the River Porong and thence into the sea. That this will destroy the livelihoods of shrimp farmers and others dependent on the sea is deemed of little consequence.
Greenpeace said it did not oppose the government’s plan to dump muddy water into the sea and the Porong river, despite fears that this would pollute the ocean. The environmental group said dumping untreated mud and water into the aquatic environment is “a regrettable outcome arising from a very desperate situation”.
They argued that the social problems arising from the tragedy were more urgent than the environmental damage.
Green Indonesia believes that this is short-term thinking at its worst. How can affecting communities further afield benefit those in the immediate vicinity? What happened to the original plan to pump treated, non-toxic, water?
Green Indonesia does, however, offer its congratulations to Greenpeace for pouring some 700 kilograms of toxic mud outside the office of welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie on Wednesday.
“It is utterly shameless for the minister to distance himself from the disaster when his corporate group owns the controlling shares in this operation,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Emmy Hafild said at the rally.
The activists staged a silent protest, holding posters that read “Stop your mud Mr. Bakrie or your mud will stop you!“
That Mr. Bakrie is threatening to sue the group, whether for making slanderous statements, for being rude to him or for being young is unclear, is par for the course.
Aburizal, who is one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, has been quoted as saying the mudflow was not his responsibility.
Neither, it would appear, is fulfiling his role as Minister for People’s Welfare.
Jakarta
It has been suggested that the City Government will prioritise environmental issues in its next spatial plan. There is also talk of a green belt around the city. Given that talk such as this has been common for nigh on thirty years, Green Indonesia will adopt a wait and see policy.
Java Rhinos
A report in the UK Observer today applauds the birth of four Java Rhinos.
This is the rarest of the rhino species with fewer than 60 animals surviving in only two known locations: one in Indonesia and the other in Vietnam. Rhinos have been poached from these small populations in recent years and much more intensive protection is needed if this species is to survive. The Javan and the Sumatran compete for the dubious distinction of being the most endangered species of rhino.
Unfortunately, this news is five years old.
Ho hum.