The institutional role of NGOs in protecting Indonesia's treasurehouse of natural resources

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Environmental Professional; (United States)

OSTI ID:6162931

Petrich, C H ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)

As the world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia faces enormous development pressures on its limited--but plentiful--resource base. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are playing an important role in protecting Indonesia's environmental bounty through a unique institutional status. Indonesia's decade-old environmental protection legislation lays out specific responsibilities for NGOs, but the government also keeps an extremely tight watch over their activities, their funding sources, and their overseas strategizing with other NGOs. They are not permitted to participate in political or commercial activities. Indonesian NGOs enjoy a unique funding relationship with the private business community wherein they may even eventually campaign against a particular donor's environmental management practices. All this occurs within the political context of highly centralized, hierarchical government control coupled with anti-North/West leanings. That NGOs have survived to the point of even having standing in court is not unique globally, but certainly noteworthy in this near-fledgling democracy. In this paper, the author recalls his experience working on environmental management issues with Indonesian government officials, power utility staff, NGOs, and private environmental practitioners, and Western environmental consultants and advocates to analyze the short history of, prospects for, and mechanisms of NGO influence over Indonesian environmental policy making and implementation.

• OSTI ID: 6162931
• Report Number(s): CONF-930523-; CODEN: EPROD9
• Journal Information: Environmental Professional; (United States), Vol. Supplement; Conference: 18. National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) annual conference on current and future priorities for environmental management, Raleigh, NC (United States), 24-26 May 1993; ISSN 0191-5398
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
INDONESIA
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ECONOMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
LEGISLATION
ASIA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
ISLANDS
MANAGEMENT
290400* - Energy Planning & Policy- Energy Resources
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety