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ndonesia, the host of an ongoing international dialogue on sustainable development in Surakarta (Solo), is considering the establishment of a new council to integrate other sectors to promote eco-friendly economic growth.

The government expects the new council can shift the existing development paradigm to one promoting a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects, an official said.

“We will review the establishment of a council to speed up the implementation of sustainable development in Indonesia,” Dana Kartakusuma, the environment minister’s expert staff on economic and sustainable development issues, told reporters at the meeting called “Solo Dialogue” on Wednesday.

He said the planned council would consist of stakeholders from officials, experts, businesspeople and civil society.

Indonesia is among the first of nations with plans to set up the sustainable development council after the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil.

The State Secretariat, however, rejected the proposal initiated by the Environment Ministry on fears of civil societies’ power to make decisions linked to sustainable development.

Under the previous concept, the council would be placed under the President, which would coordinate ministries in dealing with economic, social and environmental affairs.

“We plan to discuss the [council] again soon after the Solo Dialogue,” he said.

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said on Tuesday that it would review the plan to set up the council for sustainable development.

President of the Earth Council Asia-Pacific, Ella Antonio, said the Earth Summit mandated the member countries set up a national coordination structure to promote sustainable development.

“The council should become a venue to resolve intersectoral conflicts and advocate sustainability issues,” she told the meeting on Wednesday.

There are currently 128 countries that have issued national strategies on sustainable development but many of them have no single institution designated to it.

“Sustainable development is still seen as an environmental issue so it is lodged with the Environment Ministry, which has limited capacity to lead,” she said.

Ella said that a number of countries such as the Philippines, South Korea and Mongolia had established the powerful council on sustainable development.

Noted environmental expert Emil Salim, however, expressed his objection to the plan, saying it would be better to empower the existing ministries to promote sustainable matters.

Recently, Administrative Reforms Minister Evert Ernest Mangindaan said the government planned to merge and dissolve a number of commissions for efficiency. There are 88 non-structural government bodies under the President, Mangindaan said.

The Solo Dialogue is expected to issue a “chair summary” on the reform of institutions for sustainable development on Thursday.

The chair summary, to gather input of member countries, is expected to be a “guideline paper” for upcoming talks ahead of the world’s highest conference, the Earth Summit, in Brazil next year.

A number of member countries, including the United States, have tabled its position to reform UN’s bodies on sustainable development at the meeting.

One agenda of the meeting is to strengthen institutional frameworks for sustainable development, which is said to be crucial to prevent overlap between UN bodies.

Dana said there were too many UN bodies, which have made too many multilateral agreements.

The United Nations on Environment Program (UNEP), for example, has around 700 multilateral agreements, including those covering sustainable development.

US delegate Kerri-Ann Jones said the actions on sustainable development should begin with grassroots actions from the local government, activists, business and citizens.

“The role of national government and intergovernmental organizations should be to facilitate and catalyze their efforts,” she said..