Pollution harms Bogor Botanical Gardens
By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo
BOGOR (JP): As you arrive in Bogor from Jakarta via the Jagorawi highway, turn right on Jl. Pajajaran. Follow the road and bear to your right. Soon the green sprawl of the Bogor Botanical Gardens will emerge on your right -- that is, if the gaggle of angkot (public minibus) doesn't block your way or a traffic jam doesn't distract you.
The Bogor Botanical Gardens, with a vast collection of 3,504 plant species within its 87 hectares, is one of the biggest and most complete gardens of its kind in the world. It has plant species from all over the archipelago -- no mean feat since Indonesia is second in the world after Brazil as the country holding the most variety of species in the world.
Unfortunately, the garden's very existence is being threatened by pollution.
"If you walk alongside the perimeter of the garden, you will see that many tree leaves have turned brown. They've all dried up," Abdul Somad, the garden's public relations and guide coordinator, explained.
Somad has been a caretaker of the garden as long as anyone in the place can remember. Through his own eyes, Somad has witnessed the slow decay of the garden he has worked so hard for. Years ago, he used to live in a dormitory for young guides. He still sometimes reminisces of the days when he could take a bath in the Ciliwung River that runs through the garden. Now, industrial and household waste from upstream has prevented most people from using the river.
Somad is not the only casualty from the water pollution. The water's low quality has affected some plants, such as the giant lotus, one of the garden's most prized treasures. Somad pointed out that the lotus' flower rarely blooms these days.
"Watching the flowers bloom used to be one of the highlights for early morning visitors and for the workers. Now it rarely happens."
Even so, the garden's management cannot provide any data regarding the impact of pollution to the garden's ecosystem. "We're not sure, but we believe that air and water pollution has cost the garden tremendously," Somad explained.
A limited budget is behind the lack of evidence to support his statement.
"Once, the garden's function was not limited to tourism as it has been for the past couples of years. It used to be the center of botanical research and a plant cultivation center," said Ambar Kadarsan, vice chairwoman of Friends of Indonesian Botanic Gardens.
Fortunately, non-governmental organizations, such as Friends of Indonesian Botanical Gardens, the Indonesian Forestry Institute and the Indonesian Forestry Club, have stepped in to fill the gap. Their assistance in the form of fund-raising, environmental awareness programs and seminars has helped the garden to return to its original function.
The little research conducted on the garden was done either by the academic community or non-governmental organizations. The results have been alarming.
"The amount of nitrogen dioxide concentration in plant leaves all over the botanical garden has reached an alarming point," Sukarsono, a lecturer and researcher from Muhamaddiyah University in Malang, told The Jakarta Post.
Sukarsono performed a study on canary trees throughout the garden earlier this year.
He gathered leaves from the trees at various points across the garden, starting from Jl. Pajajaran to Jl. Insinyur Juanda, on the other side of the garden.
Sukarsono's examination of the leaves included thorough chemical and microscopic analyses.
He concluded that the nitrogen dioxide level (NO2) in the leaves exceeded government standard norms.
A 1998 regulation sets the norm for Nitrogen Dioxide concentrations at 0.05 parts per million (ppm). Sukarsono found that the NO2 concentration level in the leaves closest to the road was 0.2023 ppm, a level exceeding the healthy norm five fold.
He also found similar results on samples collected from other areas in the garden. The only sample found to be better than the norm was taken from the center of the garden.
Nitrogen dioxide is the result of a chemical reaction between oxygen and nitrogen oxide, which is emitted from the tailpipes of motor vehicles. Such emissions can destroy the clorophile cells in leaves.
The cells give the plant its green color needed for photosynthesis. A plant will suffer from a decreased rate of growth and discoloration if it looses a lot of these cells.
To the ordinary eye, like Somad's, such a discoloration looks like the plant may be suffering from a lack of water. Yet through a microscope, Sukarsono was able to find damage to the leaves' cell structures.
Following his initial findings, Sukartono measured the diameter of canary trees of the same age. The result was that the trees closer to the road were found to be smaller than trees the same age further inside the garden.
Sukarsono's research was on larger trees which are less sensitive to pollution than the smaller plants in the garden.
Disappear
Ambar acknowledged that there had been an alarming number of shrubs disappearing from the garden recently. "Some of these shrubs could well be indicators of the pollution level. The disappearance of some of them should attract our attention to the problem."
Sukarsono bemoaned the lack of comparable data for his research. "There has only been a few, if any, studies on the effects of pollution to the garden. Without constant monitoring, it will be hard for us to show any qualitative evidence of its deterioration," Sukarsono said.
In order to supply a reference for fellow researchers in the future, Sukarsono took random chemical samples of leaves from various other trees throughout the garden.
Bogor officials have received a number of proposals over the years designed to decrease the flow of traffic circling the garden. One calls for the reduction of the number of angkot in the area by relocating the market on the south side of the garden or rerouting the traffic passing the garden.
"We had been planning to reroute the traffic circling the botanical garden to a new road at South Sentul and Bogor Baru," explained Eddy Hamdan, the chairman of Bogor's Agency for Regional Development (Bappeda). "But the plan came to a halt due to the monetary crisis."
He explained that the regional government had acknowledged that the garden's problems may be caused by the amount of nearby traffic.
"Between 100,000 and 150,000 Bogor residents commute to Jakarta every day. Most of them use the road that circles the botanical garden," said Hamdan. "If we could provide an alternative route, traffic near the garden could be reduced by as much as 50 percent." He quickly added that such a decision could only be made by higher authorities.
So if the regency approves the plan, you may have to take a detour in order to see the Bogor Botanical Gardens. It would, however, be for our and the botanical garden's own good.