No cool change in sight for Jakarta, warn experts

No cool change in sight for Jakarta, warn experts

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Jakarta is likely to continue experiencing scorching heat unless
the city administration and residents get their act together to
reduce air pollution and increase the number of green areas in
the metropolis, environmentalists say.

"We are facing a serious problem, but we can still resolve it
if there are serious efforts from all sides. For that, we need
a leader who has a strong commitment to addressing the problem,"
said secretary-general of the Clean Emissions Partnership (MEB),
Ahmad Safrudin, on Sunday.

Ahmad said the city's temperature -- which rises to 34 degrees
Celsius in the day time -- is higher than the room temperature in
tropical regions of around 26 degrees Celsius.

According to Ahmad, the searing temperatures were caused by
various factors, including a high level of air pollution and a
lack of green areas.

Environmentalists believe that transportation contributes up to
70 percent of air pollutants in urban areas, including Jakarta.

Ahmad urged the city administration to continue the efforts to
clean up the city's air by improving public transportation and
encouraging motorists to use natural gas.

A lack of green spaces in the city is another serious problem
that sparks rising temperatures. The existing green areas in
Jakarta only cover around 7 percent of the city's area of some
650 square kilometers, far below the ideal of 30 percent.

"We still hope the city will be able to reach 13.94 percent by
2010. Unfortunately, in the last five years, the area of green spaces
has actually decreased from 9 percent to only around 7 percent,"
he said.

Marco Kusumawijaya, an architect and urban planer, shared
Ahmad's views, adding that the increasing temperatures in Jakarta
were in line with the growing number of high-rise buildings
equipped with air-conditioners.

"If we lower the temperatures in some rooms, this means we
will increase air temperatures outside the rooms. Therefore, the
more air-conditioned buildings that are constructed, the hotter
the air outside the buildings will be," he explained.

According to Ahmad, many Jakarta residents set the temperature
of their air conditioners at 18 degrees Celsius although 25
degrees Celsius would be quite comfortable.

"Ironically, after setting the temperature at 18 degrees
Celsius, they then cover themselves with blankets while
sleeping," he added.

Marco said there were two ways to make a building cooler --
through the active approach and the passive approach. The active
approach included equipping a building with air-conditioners.

Meanwhile, the passive approach included creating good air
circulation in the building and planting trees outside. "But most
people prefer to use the active approach by equipping their
buildings with air-conditioners," said Marco.

Marco stressed that increasing the extent of green spaces in
the city and encouraging people to use public transportation and
leave their cars at home would be the most effective ways of
cooling down Jakarta.

"But I do not see any signs that the city administration is
serious about addressing the city's soaring temperatures. The
latest example is the so-called Menteng Park, which is going to
have a parking lot for at least 200 vehicles. This is clearly not
in line with the city's ostensible efforts to encourage people to
use public transportation," he added.