Schedule and Venue
12 December 2006 08.00 am – 03.30 pm
Inna Garuda, Mendut

Organizers
Komite Penghapusan Bensin Bertimbel (KPPB) Joint Committee for Leaded Gasoline Phaseout, , United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)/Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV), and the US-Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

Lead (Pb) is one of the most harmful substances ever known. Despite its utility, which being used since human early civilization, Lead is a neurotoxin or nerve poison which can decrease the intelligence level and brain function in children; while adults suffer from high blood pressure, anemia, infertility, or even death. Children are more vulnerable to lead rather than adults. The CDC (Center for Disease Control, USA) estimates that up to 10 percent of all children may have an unacceptably high level of lead in their blood, and 10,000 more children are poisoned annually. Though lead poisoning can create permanent neurological damage and brain function, it is preventable.

Wise steps have been carried out by Government of Indonesia trough Pertamina (state owned oil company) to stop injecting lead into gasoline since May 2006. Consequently, since June, a large number of cities have been supplied with unleaded gasoline gradually and an expected nation-wide coverage on the end of August.

While the leaded gasoline phase-out has been implemented in the whole of Indonesia, it has to continue to formulate the policy to integrate lead poisoning prevention in the air quality improvement program. It is also important to share the experience in Indonesia in relation to lead phase-out program most especially to other countries especially that still use leaded gasoline.

Objectives

• To share history of Indonesia went unleaded gasoline: challenges and results.
• To share the result of study and research on health effects of lead and BLL studies in Indonesia.
• To share the refinery capacity in Indonesia, upgrading plans and the issue of alternative additives) octane booster.
• To discuss future goals for Indonesia: fuels quality improvement program, catalytic converters and environmental friendly vehicle, documenting of BLL through further tests, the issue of sulphur, the ethanol mandate, etc.

Participants
20-30 participants from Ministries/Departments of Environment, Energy, and Transport, oil companies, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, and NGOs, of the countries still using leaded gasoline. Development partners, funding agencies, international organizations and institutions of higher learning are also welcome to participate.

Contact Persons

Ahmad Safrudin
Komite Penghapusan Bensin Bertimbel (KPPB)
puput@kpbb.org

Shoa Ehsani
Partnership for clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV), UNEP
Shoa.Ehsani@unep.org