Campaign focuses on city's rubbish

JAKARTA (JP): Director of UNESCO Jakarta, Stephen Hill, has called on the people to properly handle garbage in the capital so as not to spoil the Jakarta Bay and the Seribu Islands.

Hill told teachers and students of Senior High School 34, Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, at a cleanliness campaign Thursday that it is possible to be involved in garbage handling by simply not littering.

The campaign, which involved the SMU 34 students, was sponsored by UNESCO in cooperation with Mitra Bahari and Kirai, non-governmental organizations dealing with the environment, and Antara news agency.

The campaign included a demonstration of composting and sorting garbage for recycling, demonstrating that handling garbage does not necessarily need costly government involvement.

The campaign was aimed at improving the environment of the Seribu Islands, which, according to surveys conducted last year by UNESCO and the Indonesian Science Institute, has deteriorated.

"We want the activities to develop into a nationwide campaign which is useful to the environment of the Seribu Islands and the Jakarta Bay," Hill said.

Hill also deals with environmental problems in 13 other countries including Australia, the Philippines, Japan and China.

According to Hill, one of the causes of damage to the coral in the Seribu Islands waters is garbage and waste from Jakarta.

Soekarno, a coral expert who also attended the campaign, said that the destruction of coral in the Seribu Islands waters has reached an alarming level. "Necessary help in handling the coral is needed," he said. (sur)