JP\/3\/FOREST\/0<\/p>\n
NGO calls for reforestation in the city<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Environmental Development
\nOrganization has expressed concern over the lack of land for
\nurban forests in the city.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally, this metropolitan city should have at least 20,000
\nhectares of urban forests. But it has only 1,800 hectares, or
\nnine percent of the ideal area,\" Agus Miftach, head of the
\norganization, said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The existing urban forests lie in the areas of the Halim
\nPerdana Kusuma air base; Lenteng Agung, the defunct Kemayoran
\nairport; the University of Indonesia campus in Depok and in Angke
\nKapuk in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
According to the organization, over 100 hectares of forests in
\nAngke Kapuk have been converted into the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK)
\nrecreation and housing complex.<\/p>\n
\"What has happened in Kapuk is not a way to save the existing
\nforests, but a progressive drive to narrow the forest area, which
\nsooner or later will result in destructive ecological effects,\"
\nAgus said.<\/p>\n
The organization proposed to the city administration to cancel
\nthe plan of the city office of the Ministry of Forestry to open
\nits office at the Pantai Indah Kapuk housing complex.<\/p>\n
\"It's not ethical for the Ministry of Forestry to build its
\nbranch office on a deforested area,\" Agus stated.<\/p>\n
He noted that the replacement of the mangrove forests with
\nplots at Sukabumi in West Java by PT Manggara Permai, developer
\nof the PIK project, does not answer the city's environmental
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
\"Of course it is not a matter of exchanging plots, but the
\nbalance of the city's ecosystem, which badly needs reforestation,
\nnot deforestation like what has happened in Kapuk,\" Agus said.<\/p>\n
The PIK project has been partly blamed for floods on the Prof.
\nSediyatmo toll road, which leads to the Sukarno-Hatta airport,
\nand the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
Other effects of the deforestation can bee seen from the rise
\nin temperature and accumulation of carbon-dioxide in the area as
\nwell as the intrusion of sea water, which has currently reached
\n27 percent.<\/p>\n
Agus argued the seepage in some areas of Jakarta is not caused
\nby the excessive exploitation of ground water, as long believed
\nby the public, but by deforestation, especially along Jakarta
\ncoastlines.<\/p>\n
\"If forests were conserved, I don't think the seepage would
\noccur,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The organization called on the city administration to reforest
\nthe Angke Kapuk area and Jakarta coastlines so the seepage can be
\nreduced or stopped altogether.<\/p>\n
\"The forest is a dominant element of the ecosystem. Its
\nfunctions cannot be replaced by other factors. Without forests,
\nthis city will not be able to bear the destruction of its
\necosystem,\" Agus stated. (11)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp3forest0-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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