Cities and towns told to devote 10% of area to nature

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has issued a regulation requiring cities and towns nationwide to set aside at least 10 percent of their territory as natural and/or park areas.

The regulation, however, provides neither incentive nor punishment for provincial, regency or mayoralty administrations that comply or do not comply with the ruling.

Ministry of Forestry Spokesman Koes Saparjadi said Tuesday that the minimum size of a city's natural green area should be 10 percent, and any adjustment by regional administrations must be made without going below 10 percent.

"This ruling serves as a legal basis for cities and towns throughout the country to reduce pollution, sustain water catchment areas and support biodiversity preservation," said Koes, adding that it would also encourage cities and towns to maintain green areas.

The regulation, No. 63/2002 on City Natural Areas, was signed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Nov. 12 but only made available to the public on Nov. 24.

Koes said the regulation was issued due to the fact that most cities and towns in Indonesia had little or no natural green areas remaining and those that did, the size was less than 10 percent.

"The location and the size of the areas will be decided by regency and mayoralty administrations, except for Jakarta which will be determined solely by the governor," he said.

According to the regulation, the size of a city's green area in a location must be least 0.25 hectares in any given area, while the land could be state-owned or private land.

"People, whose land is earmarked as part of the city's green area, will still have ownership of the land and will receive incentives from the government," he said without elaborating on the incentives.

Article 19 (4) stipulates that the maintenance of plots of private land as part of the city's green areas should be at least for 15 years.

The regulation also said that the management of government- owned green areas would be carried out by local administrations and the general public, while the management of private land would be the land owner's responsibility, or by other people and the local government with the consent of the landlord.

The regulation prohibits people from cutting down trees, other land clearing, setting fire to the land, or conducting other activities that would destroy the city's natural areas.

Only projects like ecotourism, research, education and non- logging activities will be allowed on the land.

Togu Manurung of the Forest Watch Indonesia welcomed the regulation, saying it was needed to help manage nature in the country.

However, he said, the regulation only ensured the presence of such green areas, but there was no legal consequence for local governments if the city's natural area was less than ten percent of the total city.

Even if the local government, for example the Jakarta administration, attempted to expand green areas, the effort would be difficult as the land price in Jakarta was very expensive, he said.

Togu also said that people would also be reluctant to allocate their land for nature as there was no obligation for local governments to give incentives.

He added that there was no mechanism under the regulation wherein the public could take legal action against the local government if the latter failed to maintain the 10 percent.