City forests in dire need of donors
City forests in dire need of donors
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the city administration's oft proclaimed intention of
expanding green areas across the capital, it has no money to
maintain the existing 18 urban forests that cover a total of
195.8 hectares in the city.
Jakarta Agriculture and Forestry Agency head Peni Susanti
revealed that her office only received Rp 2.3 billion
(US$270.588) per year for the maintenance of urban forests.
"What do you expect from such a meager amount of money? Of
course, the answer is that we cannot do much," Peni told The
Jakarta Post recently.
Peni, who has just returned from a trip to Singapore to
observe the city state's policy in dealing with its forests, said
that the money she received was 12 times less than that allocated
by Singapore to finance the maintenance of its urban forests.
Due to the financial constraints being faced, she said, her
agency had invited private individuals and businesspeople to take
part in the protection of urban forests.
"So far, there have been some private sector firms that have
taken part in our scheme to rehabilitate some of our damaged
forests. But still, the numbers are very few," she remarked.
Without public participation, she asserted, all measures taken
to protect the city's forests would be to no avail.
Some forests had been damaged by pollution and conversion to
commercial uses.
Urban forests, among other functions, serve as the city's
lungs and water catchment areas, and play host to a significant
variety of plants and animals.
In line with the policy of protecting the city's forests,
Governor Sutiyoso had earlier expressed his intention of
developing the mangrove forests at Muara Angke, North Jakarta,
which are a wildlife conservation area, into an ecotourism site.
Sutiyoso said that the mangrove forests, which were home to
troupes of long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) and monitor
lizards, would soon be opened up for public recreational use.
"We will use next year's city budget to finance the project,"
Sutiyoso said.
Peni added the development of an ecotourism site at Muara
Angke was part of the effort to regreen the capital.
"We want to increase the city's green areas to up to 13.9
percent of the total land area of Jakarta by 2010, up from the
current 9 percent," said Peni.
Jakarta has a total area of 63,744 hectares.
Government Regulation No. 63/2002 on urban forests suggests
that each city should set aside at least 10 percent of its total
area for green areas.