TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan affirmed that Indonesian government will take a severe measure to those who litter at the sea. “The government will seriously take a legal action to anyone violating [the rule] or littering at the sea, whoever the person is,” said the minister in a written statement, Jakarta, April 20.
Luhut delivered the statement at the "Close Door Event: Towards Blue Economy" meeting with Vice President Sustainable Development of World Bank Laura Tuck and other countries’ representative in Washington DC. Luhut noted that the sea preservation is the main issue for Indonesia which two-thirds of its territory is the sea.
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Environmental pollution is proven to harm the health of people who consume fishery and marine products and eventually detrimental to the tourism sector. Luhut added that the government will enforce the law for industry business that overlooks the environmental standard.
In addition, referring to the World Bank data, around 80 percent of trash in the ocean came from the land. Therefore, the government, synergizing with the World Bank, focused to enhance the waste management, particularly in the coastal area in South Java, South Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi.
“Currently, the government determines to recover Citarum river where the Washington Post's March 2017 edition cited as the world’s dirtiest river,” said Minister Luhut.
ANTARA