Nature Alert: Report environmental violations to 0811 932 932

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Report environmental violations to 0811 932 932

Report environmental violations to 0811 932 932

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 01/26/2010

The government has launched an online system allowing the public to report environmental violations via short message service (SMS).

People can send reports of violations to 0811 932 932 or lodge them online via the State Environment Ministry website: penegakanhukum.menlh.go.id.

“We invite the public to monitor the progress of their complaints. We hope it will force the government or local administrations to do something to improve the environment,” State Environment Ministry compliance deputy Illyas Asaad said in Jakarta on Tuesday .

The ministry would, for example, receive reports on declining air quality, river pollution, or companies damaging the environment, Illyas said.

Illyas promised that his office would follow up on reports within two weeks from the time they were sent. “We will send our auditors to the field to verify reports. Of course, we will also make it a priority to follow up on bigger cases,” he said. The office will forward the reports it receives directly to related institutions across the country, and order them to act accordingly.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/26/report-environmental-violations-0811-932-932.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.