In response to recent and planned evictions of poor people to make way for green space in Jakarta, activists are pushing the city government to create environmentally-friendly kampungs, so squatters can stay on the land.

Dian Tri Irawaty from Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) said her organization and the Jakarta Urban Poor Network (JRMK) held meetings with factions at the city council to pitch the concept of "poor housing equal to green zones".

"We have met Commission A overseeing legal affairs last February. Also, we*ve met six factions, with three factions saying they will hold internal discussions. One faction has not decided anything and two factions have agreed to our development concept," Dian said Thursday.

She said her organization would meet Commission D overseeing development and Commission E overseeing welfare as soon as possible.

NGOs met the city planning agency but have not received a response from the governor, she said.

The concept integrates poor housing and green areas using a kampung improvement program, which educates residents about greening and waste management.

"We want to redefine what a green area is. If a poor housing area can absorb rainwater and carbon dioxide, it means the green area doesn't have to be a building-free area," Dian said.

The program could be financed using the 2008 city budget on eviction, amounting to Rp 900 billion (around US$98 million), she said.

The administration has planned 16 evictions this year, with a goal to clear 55,540 square meters of land for green space. The evictions are a part of a campaign to increase the total percentage of green area in the city to 13.9 percent, up from the current 9.6 percent, by 2010.

The first eviction occurred in South Jakarta, where the administration evicted hundreds of flower and fish vendors along Jl. Barito to revamp Ayodya Park.

The most recent eviction was Rawasari in Central Jakarta, home to around 60 families and 90 vendors. The vacant site now has trees that were planted by students and the administration.

"Instead of using the budget to evict poor people, we can use it to improve poor housing, by teaching people to manage waste and green their houses," Dian said.

She cited a similar case in Surabaya, where the riverbank squatters, the Surabaya branch of UPC and the Surabaya administration collaborated on a law that allows the riverbank squatters to live there under the condition they improve the kampung's environment.

The residents had torn down several parts of their homes to give a five-meter building-free distance from the riverbanks, she said.

"If we give trust, they can keep the environment clean. We hope we can have a similar by-law here," she said.

According to Dian, the size of green zones occupied by poor people in Jakarta is only 218.2 hectares, much less than the 1,960 hectares occupied by malls, apartments, luxury housing, golf courses and gas stations.

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