T

he Bogor city administration on Thursday committed to a low-emission development program in the next two years, initiated by the International Council of Local Environment Initiatives (ICLEI).

Two pilot projects will be run in Bogor and Balikpapan municipalities in West Java and East Kalimantan respectively, due to their political willingness and environmental condition to participate in the initiative, while Jakarta gave no response for unspecified reasons.

Three other satellite cities and one region also followed suit. They were South Tangerang in Banten, Bogor regency in West Java, Tarakan in North Kalimantan and Bontang in East Kalimantan.

Interim secretary of the Bogor municipal administration Ade Syarif Hidayat signed the municipality'€™s political commitment at City Hall recently.

He said the city was optimistic about achieving the target of reducing green house emissions by more than 26 percent by 2015 to support President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s commitment to reduce emissions nationally.

'€œWe must and will make it. ICLEI will give us the guidelines and methodology to get there,'€ he said after the signing ceremony.

Ade said Bogor had begun a similar program in 2005 and the ICLEI initiative was expected to strengthen the program.

In 2007, he said, the municipality had signed the Bogor Declaration, which was a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to support the growing global movement to address global warming and climate change.

The declaration is binding and requires signatories to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies and individuals, improve energy efficiency, develop bio-fuel energy, revamp the transportation system and focus on waste management.

South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany thanked ICLEI for inviting the municipal administration to take part in the program and provided financial assistance to make an environmentally friendly municipality.

'€œNevertheless, with or without the assistance, we are still committed to reducing our greenhouse emissions,'€ she said.

Airin and Balikpapan Mayor Rizal Effendi signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the initiatives and promised to arrange further meetings with ICLEI to discuss the most suitable method of implementing the program and reaching the target.

The low-emission development strategy program, nicknamed '€œUrban LEDS'€, will be integrated into the cities'€™ development planning. The cities are expected to succeed in carrying out the program as it has also been carried out successfully in Brazil, India and South Africa.