D

eveloped countries must assist Third World countries like Indonesia in overcoming the unique challenges of reducing carbon emissions while maintaining economic growth, an expert says.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a seasoned political and social scientist, said that Indonesia was at a “different level of economic development” to developed countries, such as the US and Europe.

“We have 18th century-like industries that are very much dependent on coal,” she said. “But we are moving to a knowledge-based economy; parts of Jakarta are now entering [that stage].”

Developed countries, she added, had had the “luxury” of developing their economies and nurturing their awareness of environmental sustainability over centuries of economic, social and political development.

However, as a developing country, Indonesia has to quickly and simultaneously meet the global demands of maintaining environmental sustainability, while securing home-based needs for economic development, she added.

“We can’t put economic development first and environmental protection later. We have to do everything now,” Dewi said at the seminar sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

“We have to attend to our environmental crisis, our political crisis, our economic crisis, and social crisis.

“With these factors in mind, developed countries must assist Indonesia to reach the desired global targets of environmental sustainability.”

“Indonesia can’t do it alone. This is why international cooperation is very important,” she continued, adding that international assistance was not a form of charity but mutual responsibility because “developing countries are forced to accelerate their development on all levels”.

“Indonesia, Brazil and the Congo are expected by the world to provide clean air because Europe and America do not have enough forests. We have to be the lungs of the world,” she said. “They have to pay for it.”

She added that Indonesia must be “more able to articulate its interests” in the face of developed nations and “fight for its rights”.

Jan Sopaheluwakan, a noted researcher at the LIPI, said European countries such as the United Kingdom had consolidated economic, financial, scientific and technological knowledge to study environmental change, which Indonesia should aim to do.

“We have a similar awareness, yet it is still partial,” he added.

He said part of the blame for the fact that Indonesia was at present unable to balance environmental sustainability with economic growth lay with the government, which failed to encourage scientists to provide critical information crucial to decision making and policy formation.

“This results in biased decisions which are more economic growth oriented and less so for ecological aspects,” he said.

He said state officials tended to chase fast results without considering that science and technology required “previous long-term investments” to confront challenges. (gzl)