Nation's cleanest and greenest to receive environmental awards

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 06/05/2008 10:12 AM | National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will present prestigious environmental awards to the nation's 94 cleanest and greenest cities on Thursday as part of the government's campaign to promote a better environment.

The winners of the Adipura awards include some of Jakarta's municipalities and Surabaya in the metropolitan category; Batam in the large city division; and Palopo in South Sulawesi and Lumajang in East Java in the small city division.

"Only 94 cities, out of 375 nominees, met the criteria for the cleanest and greenest municipalities and regencies this year," Gempur Adnan, deputy environment minister for environmental pollution control said Wednesday.

President Yudhoyono will also present the Kalpataru trophy to individuals or groups that have contributed to helping the environment.

Unlike last year, not all of Jakarta's five municipalities won an Adipura award this year, Gempur said.

The government presented the award to 84 municipalities and regencies last year.

Gempur said most of the Adipura winners were in the small city category, defined as cities with less than 250,000 people.

"About 70 percent of the winners are from the small city category and only 18 Adipura trophies go to the metropolitan and big city categories," he said.

To determine the winners, government teams assessed aspects such as waste management and availability of green space.

The award requires each administration to promote environment conservation efforts in areas such as schools, traditional markets, hotels, transport terminals and restaurants.

Gempur said the environment office would also announce the dirtiest cities, which last year included Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.

A source said Malang in East Java, which won an Adipura in 2007, would be named among the dirtiest cities this year.

Gempur said the government would also reveal which cities allocate less than 10 percent of their area for green spaces.

"About 90 percent of metropolitan areas and big cities allocate less than 10 percent of their areas for green and open spaces. Jakarta is on the list," he said.

Jakarta currently has only 5,911 hectares of green space, about 9 percent of its total land area. The spatial planning law requires local governments to allocate at least 30 percent for green space.

Environmentalists have long accused local administrations of not making efforts to protect the environment or to set aside more open green areas for the public.

"We hope the Adipura award will encourage local administrations to clean up their areas for the sake of public health," Gempur said.

He said the ministerial office would review the scoring system for future Adipura awards now the waste management law had been passed.

"Aside from the physical performance of the cities, we will also grade local administration policies on how they create environmentally friendly waste management facilities to implement the waste law," he said.

The waste management law requires local administrations to close existing open dumps no later than five years after the law comes into effect.

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