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City scrambles to mitigate air pollution crisis
Darjamuni (Warta Kota)The Jakarta administration is scrambling to reduce the city’s air pollution through the various means available because of the recent attention on the poor quality of air blanketing the capital, although experts criticize their effectiveness
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Darjamuni (Warta Kota)
The Jakarta administration is scrambling to reduce the city’s air pollution through the various means available because of the recent attention on the poor quality of air blanketing the capital, although experts criticize their effectiveness.
The latest initiative launched was by the maritime, fisheries and food security agency, which proposed to plant Sansevieria trifasciata (mother-in-law’s tongue) at Jakarta’s mayoral and agency offices.
The agency’s head, Darjamuni, said it planned to plant the shrubs in pots on rooftops in the city and give them away to the public for free. The agency had called for tenders for the plant procurement, he said, adding that the program was expected to start at the end of this month.
“Our own office will do it first as an example and we wish other offices and mayor offices can also do the same,” Darjamuni said on Friday, Antara reported.
He did not say how much the project would cost.
He said that the mother-in-law’s tongue, also known as the snake plant, could help reduce air pollutants by filtering them. The plant is known to have ability to purify air by absorbing toxins through its green-snake-skin-like leaves.
Privately owned office buildings could also procure the plants for their own benefit to filter air pollution, Darjamuni added.
The initiative added to a list of efforts undertaken by the administration amid concerns over the worsening level of air quality. Previously, the Jakarta Transportation Agency also campaigned for the use of public transportation in the “Seven Days Challenge”. In the challenge, which started on July 15, the agency asked members of the public to take public transportation and then share the photos on their social media accounts. The five winners are to be announced on July 29. They are to each receive the prize of a Jak Lingko card with a Rp 500,000 (US$35.86) balance.
The city administration had also considered using the help of the Assessment and Application of Technology Agency (BPPT) to modify the weather by making artificial rain in a bid to clear the pollution away.
BPPT chairman Hammam Riza claimed that the plan had been approved by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and that it would be carried out this month.
The administration also plans this year to procure two additional air quality monitors that could detect PM2.5 pollutants to improve data on air pollution.
Jakarta Environment Agency head Andono Warih said one set of air quality monitors cost about Rp 5 billion and the city would purchase up to 10 sensors funded from the city budget.
The new tools would add to the current eight PM10 monitors installed in several locations to better capture the air quality index in the city.
However, experts had raised doubts over the sporadic efforts, saying that the city administration and the central government need to address the problem at its source.
They also need to update the target for reducing air pollution, Greenpeace Indonesia climate and energy campaigner Bondan Andriyanu said.
“When talking about air pollution, we should talk about how to control the sources,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Data from Jakarta Environment Agency revealed that 75 percent of the pollution came from land transportation, 9 percent from heaters and electric generators, 8 percent from industries and another 8 percent from domestic activities.
As for planting mother-in-law”s tongues, Bondan said it could only work on a small scale.
An environmental lawyer with the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), Fajri Fadhillah, said the aforementioned initiatives would not necessarily reduce incoming air pollutants, he said.
He took the example of artificial rain that only brings pollutants from the air to the ground via rainwater, while mother-in-law’s tongues could filter the air but did not alter the sources of air pollutants.
“[Limiting] the sources of emissions should be the target, be it by regulating the usage of fuel or regulating filters on exhausts,” he said.
Fajri said that the administration had yet to introduce concrete steps to mitigate air pollution, as according to the Jakarta 2017-2022 mid-term regional development plan, the administration only aimed to improve the Environment Index Quality to 38.27 by 2022.
According to Environment and Forestry Ministry the score for environment quality index should be at least 70 to 80 to be rated as healthy.
Fajri urged the city administration to soon create better strategies that contain specific targets and programs to significantly reduce air pollution without any bureaucratic hassles.
