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

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.