Professor of the Faculty of Geography, Prof. Dr. Hartono, DEA, DESS, thinks that spatial planning in Indonesia has not been done thoroughly. Therefore, there are many problems which cause negative impacts to the environment and society.
"In Indonesia, the management of spatial planning is never completed," he said at the Faculty of Geography, Thursday (25/8).
Hartono said that the working principles in conducting spatial planning is to do the planning, implementation, evaluation and monitoring, as well as action. However, in reality, only a few implement those principles fully.
"They often only built something but never checked the layout," he explained.
There are many constructions of commercial buildings that are built in bad place such as in the protected areas or near residential areas, the development of oil palm plantations in peatlands and others. Eventually, this causes damage to the ecosystem and the environment which contributes to climate change in recent times.
"We need to manage the plan and its implementation so it could go in accordance with the layout that has been created," he said.
Regional autonomy, according to Hartono, became one of the factors that contribute to environmental degradation in various regions of Indonesia. The environmental damage is higher since regional autonomy is implemented because local governments could easily issue a recommendation for the company.
"The central government has no control. Many hotels, shopping malls, and commercial buildings are built near the residential area which raises the issue of water and sewage," he said.
In addition, regional autonomy provides opportunity for regional heads to give permission for running plantations and mines. This resulted in rapid forest conversion every year, resulting in damage to the forest ecosystem. (UGM / adelily)