From Paris to Jakarta, people all over the world are joining the fight against greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, and one North Jakarta neighborhood has done so with little support from the local
administration.

As a part of the Climate-Friendly (Proklim) neighborhood program by the Environment and Forestry Ministry, community unit (RW) 01 at Sunter Jaya in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, is one of the 83 neighborhoods that have been honored since 2015 for displaying a commitment to mitigating the effects of the greenhouse gas emissions.

The program aims to encourage different areas in Indonesia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the pledge enshrined in the 2015 Paris accord on limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius.

RW 01’s initiatives include planting trees in each house, constructing ventilated houses to avoid excessive air-conditioning usage and recycling trash into either compost for organic waste or collecting inorganic waste for nearby waste bank collections.

“Each household has some 50 to 100 pot plants [...] Each neighborhood has also representatives that supervise the efforts,” RW 01 head Sukartono told The Jakarta Post recently.

Such efforts landed them a top-three spot in the nationwide competition in 2016, and has brought the community to the attention of regional authorities for the past three years.

Last Sunday North Jakarta authorities were keen to transform at least one area in all 31 of their subdistricts following a visit to RW 01.

“It will be a collaborative effort. If they want a clean waterway, let’s schedule a communal cleaning. For heavy-duty tasks, let the city administration handle it,” Deputy North Jakarta Mayor Ali Maulana Hakim told wartakota.com on Sunday.

Before entering the spotlight, the RW 01 imitative began with a few neighborhood unit (RT) heads in 2012 who started appealing to residents to plant at least five trees. Planting trees helps reduce greenhouse gas levels as the trees absorb carbon dioxide that would otherwise trap heat in the atmosphere.

As a result of a gradual change in trash management through composting and recycling, RW 01 had its first break in 2012 when its residents clinched first prize in a city-wide competition promoting a cleaner Jakarta.

A year later, Sukartono overheard from one of his sponsors that the nationwide Proklim initiative had been launched, which prompted RW 01 to join and eventually take third place in 2016 representing Jakarta.

Throughout 2015-2018, the Environment and Forestry Ministry awarded the Proklim title to 137 regions, out of 1,566 participants from all parts of Indonesia.

Since then, following the deputy mayor’s statement on their commitment to Proklim, RW 01 head Sukartono said that he had kept in touch with government officials to actualize large-scale constructions such as road repairs, he said the government response had so far been “slow”.

“A request for 500 plant pots, for example, would take at least a year to fulfill. That’s way too long, which is why I would rather seek sponsors,” Sukartono said.

He added that his RW did not “necessarily need” financial aid but rather long-term support through occasional visits and discussions about the progress of the neighborhood.

“Don’t just accept our achievements but then never take a peek at what is happening in the field,” Sukartono said.

Nevertheless, RW 01 resident Mohammad Abdulloh said he hoped that the area would remain a “healthy and clean” environment despite the sluggish government support.

“I just hope that there will always be eco-friendly spaces for children to play around, filled with all kinds of plants,” said Mohammad. (mai)

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