IPB to regreen upstream Ciliwung
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
While the Jakarta administration says it is busy instituting flood prevention measures in the face of the upcoming rainy season, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) has started a regreening campaign along the banks of the Ciliwung river in Bogor regency to help minimize flooding in the Greater Jakarta.
The Rp 50 million (US$5,882.36) campaign, funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, was inaugurated on Thursday at Kopo village in Cisarua district and Cipayung village in Megamendung district by the minister, Bachtiar Chamsyah.
IPB Rector Ahmad Ansori Mattjik said that the campaign was aimed at increasing the number of open spaces that also served as water catchment areas.
Seeds of various fruit trees were handed over by the minister in support of the institute's campaign.
Located in the hills to the south of Jakarta, Bogor has long been partly blamed for causing floods in the capital.
The reduction in the number of water catchment areas in the regency, increasing development in the Puncak hill resort area and the relatively heavy rainfall in the area have been cited as being among the primary causes of flooding in Jakarta.
The massive floods that paralyzed the capital last year killed at least 30 people while 300,000 were forced to flee their homes.
Mattjik said that development plans for the river in the future must benefit both the locals and the environment.
He explained that the locals would be able to market the fruit -- including avocados, mangos, durians, rambutan and jackfruit -- harvested from the trees planted along the upstream reaches of the Ciliwung river.
Bachtiar praised the campaign, saying that it would help reduce environmental damage and the possibility of floods in the capital.
IPB will carry out the project by involving students from elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools in the regency.
The institute has also been developing environmental education modules for students over the last five years.