REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The implementation of green economy, based on the environmental sustainability, is important to support developmental performance, National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Bambang Brodjonegoro noted.
"We want the (economic) growth not only for one to five years but for 10 to 20 years in future. It could happen if we gradually implement the green economy in our growth strategy," he stated, during a national working meeting of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, here on Thursday.
The government has started to draft a green economy concept in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024 to support the improvement of people's welfare and reduction of emission levels.
"We must pay attention to the capacity of the environment by focusing of sectoral and regional development in the context of emission reduction," he noted.
According to the minister, the concept of green economy should also be embraced by local governments in order to be able to support the performance of sustainable regional development.
However, he acknowledged that Indonesia was still facing environmental issues that require serious attention, such as the increase in sea level and the burning of peatlands.
Brodjonegoro remarked that an increase in sea level could lead to the sinking of the northern coast of Java, and the burning of peatlands in Sumatra and Kalimantan would lead to smoke issues.
"Mitigation of climate change should be seriously pursued and adapted by archipelagic countries like Indonesia. This effort would not be easy and would require synergies between developmental sectors," he remarked.
In addition, the utilization of geothermal energy should be started by the government soon to reduce emissions from carbon energy.
However, the use of geothermal energy is still constrained due to expensive investment process and lengthy licensing process in the forestry sector.
"Geothermal exploration has not be used optimally at the regional level. License constraints also come from forest-related authorities. Geothermal sources are not in the middle of the city but in forests and mountains," Brodjonegoro revealed.
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