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Ciliwung River cleanup attracts over 8,000 people
Bagged up: Sacks of garbage are piled on the banks during a cleanup by local residents of the Ciliwung River in Cibinong, Bogor, on Sunday
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agged up: Sacks of garbage are piled on the banks during a cleanup by local residents of the Ciliwung River in Cibinong, Bogor, on Sunday.(JP/Theresia Sufa)
As many as 8,433 people took part in a Ciliwung River cleanup campaign in West Java on Sunday, covering 69.3 kilometers of the river’s 119-km watershed and setting a record in the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) for the largest area covered in an environmental cleanup.
Participants were made up of nearby residents, Environment and Forestry Ministry employees and environmental communities, as well as boy and girls scouts.
The campaign, called Bebersih Ciliwung (Cleaning Ciliwung), was carried out simultaneously in 36 different areas around Bogor, Depok and Jakarta to commemorate World Environment Day, which falls on June 5.
Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar attended the event along with West Java Deputy Governor Uu Ruzhanul Ulum. They opened the ceremony by planting bamboo trees in the Bambu Indonesia Foundation, Cibinong district, Bogor regency.
Siti Nurbaya also accepted a plaque from MURI on behalf of the ministry for its river cleanup program.
“The cleanup was held from the river upstream area in Cisarua, Bogor, to the downstream area in the Jakarta Bay,” said the ministry’s environmental pollution and damage control director general, MR Karliansyah, who was also present at the event.
He explained that the campaign aimed to educate people about the importance of keeping Indonesia’s rivers clean and introduce the potential of Ciliwung to prospective investors, which would ultimately attract more people to be involved in the river’s preservation.
Cibinong district scout leader Andri Rahman said he was glad the program could teach boy and girl scouts important life lessons.
“The program is in line with the scouts’ second principle: Love the environment and show compassion to people,” he said, adding that the event should be held more often.
Meanwhile, boy scout Sigit Irvan, 17, who participated in the cleanup, said the activity was “energy draining but exciting”.
He said he had found a lot of plastic trash and even some worn-out clothes at the bottom of the river.
“I wish the ‘plastic diet’ initiative would take place soon,” he said, adding that people should take better care of the environment.
Some regional administrations have stepped up efforts to address the issue by issuing regulations on the reduction of plastic bag use, namely Bogor and Bandung in West Java, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Bali.
Indonesia is currently the second-largest plastic waste contributor in the world. The country produces around 25,000 tons of plastic waste per day, 20 percent of which is believed to end up in rivers and coastal waters.
In February last year, after a flood hit some parts of Jakarta, 1,596 tons of garbage was collected from the Ciliwung River in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta. Under normal conditions, the river accumulates approximately 300 tons of garbage per day.
Ciliwung is among the 13 rivers that run through the capital. A normalization project carried out by the public works and housing ministry’s Ciliwung-Cisadane flood control office (BBWSCC) as part of its flood mitigation’s program has been put on hold because Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has another plan for Ciliwung. Described as a river naturalization campaign, it aims to naturally restore the river’s functions by considering its ecological impact.
The BBWSCC’s normalization project requires the cutting down of thousands of trees along the river to install concrete sheet piles and the eviction of residents of Jakarta’s oldest neighborhoods to make way for concrete roads. It also includes the widening and dredging of the Ciliwung, which flows from West Java to Jakarta.
However, according to a member of the governor’s team for accelerated development (TGUPP), the organization is not totally against the installation of sheet piles, because it is needed to strengthen the foundation of roads. However, it wants to naturalize parts of rivers that do not need concrete sheet piles. (eyc)
