Never Abstinence to Manage and Monitor Environment During Covid-19 Pandemic

            Many believe that the environmental conditions during Covid-19 pandemic have dramatically improved, at least the air quality seems to be visibly improved, the water is clearer without the presence of garbage and other pollutants, traffic congestion is increasingly decrease, the presence of wildlife in public area that had seemed to hide because of a sense less comfortable in their previous habitat, as well as other indicators that make us a little relieved. This was also clearly stated by the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK) Siti Nurbaya who said that the Covid-19 pandemic provided valuable lessons for humans to maintain the balance of nature, where global N0₂ concentrations declined by almost 30 percent, the KLHK air quality monitoring station noted a significant reduction in the concentration of PM 2.5 (particulate matters) in various cities, even during the 2 months of applying the PSBB there was a 45 percent decrease in PM 2.5 concentration in Jakarta City. Behind all the blessings on improving environmental conditions, we should not be lulled by this gift of nature, because it is only temporary, and will begin to look back in the adaptation of new habits.

        Despite the drastic decline in the type and volume of activities during the Covid 19 pandemic, efforts to minimize, avoid or eliminate the negative environmental impacts that possibly occur must still be fully managed. In order to optimize the efforts to manage negative impacts that arise, one among programs carried out by the proponent is through environmental monitoring efforts, where the results of this monitoring will be used as feedback on the success of the management program that has been carried out.

               The main purpose of environmental monitoring is to find out early and accurately the changes in the quality of the environment as a result of activities, so that appropriate management can be sought, in creating a balance of environmental elements. Furthermore, the monitoring activities is also intended to find out the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of environmental management, so that there is no waste of energy, resources and other costs, and to follow the applicable provisions on environmental monitoring, so that the initiator of the activity does not violate the provisions has been outlined by the government.

               An impact evaluation study in an environmental document has formulated significant impacts that need to be managed in relation to each business. This is in accordance with the mandate of Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management, which among others states the need for the implementation of environmental management to create a balance between environmental components as an effort to realize sustainable development, and will be a reference for every effort in carrying out environmental management, so that environmental sustainability can be maintained. This is confirmed again in the Regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia No. P.26 / MENLHK / SETJEN / KUM.1 / 7/2018 Concerning Guidelines for the Preparation and Evaluation and Inspection of Environmental Documents in the Implementation of Electronically Integrated Business Licensing Services, Inspection of Environmental Documents and Issuance of Environmental Permits.

                In line with the strictness of all the rules above, every business that is required to have an environmental document, is also obliged to complete it with environmental management and monitoring documents, the purpose of which is: that natural resources utilized in the process of business activities can continuously provide benefits for the continuation of its business and can always be realized environmental balance which is the basic capital of the development of its business. In addition, so that the parties concerned, namely the community around the business location (Affected Communities) and related agencies can benefit from each business, and can prevent environmental damage and/or pollution. Thus, the community can participate in managing the surrounding environment in accordance with their roles and abilities. Furthermore, for related agencies, this document can be used as consideration for determining environmental feasibility where management and monitoring are very important in order to preserve the function of natural resources and the environment and to realize sustainable development for present and future generations.

                In fact, for business actors, the benefits of environmental monitoring are quite significant, including: as a means of controlling whether the environmental management that has been carried out achieves results that are as expected. In addition, it can also be used to test the effectiveness of the technology that has been used in environmental management, as early as possible about unwanted environmental changes resulting from the activities of each business, so that prevention and mitigation efforts can be corrected or improved quickly, accurately, and sustainably. And in the beginning, the results of monitoring can be used as a business promotion on the success of environmental management.

             Factually, the current Covid-19 pandemic has an impact on the company's efforts to implement the things that should be its obligations, especially in efforts to carry out environmental management and monitoring. Many factors limit the smooth implementation of these obligations, ranging from businesses that must stop their activities temporarily, employee limitations, testing laboratories, funding, and other important matters. However, the firmness of the government has been conveyed that efforts to carry out environmental management and monitoring remain an obligation for every business actor.