The key to a sustainable tomorrow

Prigi Arisandi is person with a mission. His youthful appearance and unassuming demeanor belie the magnificent milestones he has achieved to improve the quality of life in Surabaya, a highly-industrialized and the second biggest city of Indonesia.
A courageous and tireless crusader for clean waterways, his determination and inspiring leadership motivated the residents to share the responsibility for protecting and monitoring the quality of their river. They all depended on the 41-kilometer Surabaya River for their needs. But it was heavily polluted from the hazardous and unregulated effluents discharged by factories and households.
As is usually the case, people were ignorant of the pollution’s harmful impacts on their health and the environment. There was high cancer incidence among the children living near the riverbanks. Mercury was detected in the blood and breast milk of women in those areas and over-exceeded the standards set by the World Health Organization. There was obviously weak enforcement of laws, as in most developing countries like the Philippines.
While still a biology student at a university and with the goal of protecting the waterways and wetlands of Surabaya, Prigi established the Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton). Ecoton launched an innovative environmental education program and conducted river tours for the people to see up-close the threatened and rich biodiversity and the deteriorating quality of the source of their water needs. Ecoton partnered with 50 schools and trains teachers and students in monitoring water quality and reports the result to the government, under its River Detection Program. It has likewise helped in integrating environmental education in the curriculum of schools.
In 2007, Prigi Arisandi and Ecoton sued the governor and the province’s environmental agency for failing to abate the water pollution in Surabaya. It was the first such  suit against a sitting governor. “In April 2008, the provincial court issued a precedent-setting environmental decision, ordering the governor to implement water-quality regulations targeted at industries operating along the Surabaya, establishing a maximum daily limit for toxic releases into the river as well as a monitoring system to ensure compliance. The lawsuit represents the first time in East Java that a governor has been taken to court to change government policy. (https://www.goldmanprize.org/2011/islands)”
A recipient of the prestigious 2011 Goldman Prize Awards, Prigi Arisandi has shown that each person imbued with determination, persistence and courage can be an agent of societal change. As a result, several industries had invested and operated a wastewater treatment plant. The Surabaya River is now less polluted, thanks to the efforts of Prigi and thousands of Surabayans who have taken to heart the duty to ensure that their river ecosystem’s ecological integrity is restored.
Such uplifting stories of citizens participating actively in decision-making for the protection of their rights to life, health and a healthy environment will hopefully be replicated in Cebu and other parts of our country. Our so-called “world class” environmental laws and progressive jurisprudence for environmental protection amount to nothing if citizens continue to look the other way even if they know that their rights are trampled upon by those who are in dereliction of their duties as public servants and those in influential industries which have yet to internalize the true meaning of corporate responsibility.
Citizen participation in environmental governance is indeed the key to a sustainable tomorrow. It is not far-fetched that our biological science experts from various universities  team up with the government, schools and nongovernment organizations and people’s organizations in mainstreaming similar citizen monitoring programs for water and air quality management in Cebu. The government, left on its own, is hard-pressed to implement the mandate of environmental protection.
The year 2013, although filled with tragic disasters, has been a highly productive and enriching year for this columnist. I learned so much from interactions with fellow stakeholders here and abroad, met young, dynamic and inspiring leaders like Prigi and renewed friendships with innumerable dear friends who are making a difference in uplifting lives of humans and other life forms in the places they are in.
This columnist is grateful to University of Cebu and to Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation Rule of Law Programme Asia (https://www.kas.de/rspa/en/), under the steering leadership of Director Marc Spitzkatz for making possible the collaboration among experts from the public and private sectors and civil society leaders in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia. Singapore, India and Germany.
The highly successful Environmental Law Talks this year which focused on Forest Laws and Mining Policies in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia started in Cebu in Aug. 28 to 30, then in Malaysia in Nov. 26 to 29 and the just ended Dec. 10 to 12 seminar at Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Indonesia on the theme, “Reconciling Forestry and Mining management: Some Current Environmental Concerns in Asia.”
Kudos and Terima Kasih to Prof. Laode Syarif and his energetic team of faculty members and students for the successful and well-organized event in Indonesia. Likewise, our appreciation to University of Malaya Faculty of Law for hosting an engaging seminar, concluding with a visit to and tree planting at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia.