T

he Babakan Siliwangi forest in downtown Bandung will be declared a world urban forest as part of a global green campaign.

The declaration will occur during the Tunza International Children and Youth Conference on the Environment held in Bandung from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, according to a conference official.

“The declaration will be read by some 1,000 children and youths participating in the conference,” Ridwan Kamil of the conference’s technical committee said in Bandung on Friday.

He said the declaration would be held on Sept. 27, the first day of the conference, and Vice President Boediono, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan and Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada would attend.

Also expected to participate are international celebrities including soccer player Samuel Eto’o, actor Jackie Chan, photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand and tennis player Maria Sharapova.

The event is being held on concerns that public space in Bandung is dwindling, with more and more green areas being turned into commercial estates.

Ridwan said that green space in Bandung currently amounted to less than 20 percent of the city’s total area of 16,729 hectares.

“With a population of some 2.6 million, the city administration should create more open green spaces,” said Ridwan, who is also on the Bandung Creative City Forum.

The declaration of Babakan Siliwangi as a world urban forest, he added, would likely help move all the stakeholders in the municipality to maintain the site as a green space.

Dadang Hermawan of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) West Java branch hoped that the declaration would overturn the agreement between the city administration and the private sector seeking to develop the site into a commercial estate.

“The declaration means that all parties have a responsibility to report on the ecological development of Babakan Siliwangi to the UN,” Dadang said.

Head of the Environment Ministry’s foreign cooperation and planning bureau, Rasio Ridho Sani, said that the declaration would be considered as input from the younger generation to the United Nations (UN) for its Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20.

“This is expected to help create care for the environment through education, cooperation and exchange of information,” Rasio said.

Some 1,500 children and youths from between 10 and 25 years old from 180 countries are expected to participate in the twice-yearly Tunza conference organized jointly by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the Environment Ministry.

The conference is expected to help improve the younger generation’s awareness on the importance of a green economy, green lifestyle, forests, sustainable consumption and the state of the global environment. This is especially because the participants are children who are expected to be the leaders of the future.

The Tunza program is aimed at providing information and instruments for the next generation for treating nature with care and creating a better world. The word tunza in Kiswahili means to treat with care or affection.