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everal organizations met Wednesday to bring the Green Map System to dozens of schools in greater Jakarta. The first step will be to hold a workshop for more than 40 junior and high school teachers.

The Green Map System promotes inclusive participation in sustainable community development worldwide, through mapmaking.

The idea came when Shakina Mirfa Nasution, the director of the Indonesian Inspirational Education Institution (LPII), observed the lack of environmental education.

"Many teachers in Greater Jakarta are aware of the rising importance of environmental issues, such as energy saving and global warming, but are not able to teach it," she said.

She heard about Jakarta's Green Map activities and thought teachers should be trained in the system.

"Coincidentally, Robert Zuber, an expert in teaching Green Map at schools, is scheduled to be in Jakarta in June," said Marco Kusumawijaya, a Green Map volunteer.

Zuber, also a peace-building specialist, will be speaking at an event about conflict resolution. He agreed to spare a full day to sharing his Green Map experience.

Several Green Map volunteers at the meeting, Bayu Wardhana, Armely Meiviana, Shanty Syahril and Meutia Chaerani, have agreed to introduce the system to the teachers.

A lecturer at the Department of Urban Planning and Real Estate at Tarumanagara University, Suryono Herlambang, supported the idea.

"Green Map volunteers can also introduce university students to the system, and then the university students can train the high schoolers"

Elisa Sutanudjaja, a Pelita Harapan University lecturer, will also send volunteers from her class.

The workshop is scheduled for June 6 at Tarumanagara University.

To continue the program, Herlambang said his university could hold a Green Map competition among students, to raise motivation.

"We held a competition among high school students about creating a sustainable city. It was well-attended and we hope to hold more competitions. A Green Map competition would be interesting."

The meeting agreed introducing Green Map to teachers would more effectively spread the idea to a younger generation. In return, the system would help students nurture an affinity with their environment.

In Jakarta, Green Map has been mostly adopted by young professionals and university students. Jakarta's first Green Map was made in 2001, when a group of residents, architects and journalists, mapped Kemang in South Jakarta. Three other maps followed. The activities stopped for three years until 2008, when the old volunteers met again and agreed to revive the activities.