Regreening helps city breathe easier

Along with the country's other major cities, Jakarta has been taking part in the Gerakan Sejuta Pohon (One Million Tree Movement). Since 1993, when the National Regreening Movement was launched by President Soeharto, some areas in the capital have been made greener, cleaner and healthier. The Jakarta Post reporters Benget Simbolon, A. Junaidi, Prapti Widinugraheni and K. Basrie wrote the following article and other related stories on pages 8 and 13 in an attempt to evaluate the movement after nearly four years.

JAKARTA (JP): In the 15th century, Jakarta was called Sunda Kelapa after the Sunda Kingdom and the huge number of kelapa trees around a busy port in the northern part of the city.

Under Dutch rule in the 18th century, wealthy Europeans aspired to live in houses similar to those in their home countries. They built country houses and grand mansions with elaborate gardens complete with fountains, statues and topiary gardens.

"When you get out into the kampongs you meet with the gardens and parks of Hollanders, adjoining one another for miles together," recalled Chinese writer Ong Tae Hae.

Do the swaying coconut leaves and house gardens remain?

Undoubtedly, the city has changed due to the country's booming economy. The number of houses, offices, public facilities has multiplied dramatically to accommodate the city's population of 9 million people, requiring thousands of hectares of land.

So many of the sites once designated for public parks are now occupied by gas stations, local administration offices and electricity power stations, that Jakarta has almost become "greenless".

The area and number of water catchment areas, which supply Jakartans with clean water, have decreased significantly. Air pollution has begun to choke the city as more and more vehicles pour onto the streets.

In an attempt to address the worsening problems of air pollution, flooding, climate changes and other environmental hazards, local authorities launched the city's first regreening campaign in 1989.

The drive evolved into the Gerakan Sejuta Pohon (One Million Tree Movement) in 1993, which President Soeharto declared as the Year of the Environment.

A target was set to plant at least one million trees per year.

The government promised to hand out seeds to Jakartans, who were asked to plant trees, flowers and vegetables in their respective surroundings. Residents were reminded that no trees could be cut down without permission from the local administration.

Each of the city's five mayoralties was ordered to set aside two hectares of land for the regreening program. Monas park and the former 15-hectare garbage dump in Srengseng, West Jakarta, were just two of the areas to be converted into "urban forests". The city's agencies responsible for parks, forestry, public works, agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery, cemeteries, sanitation and sports were told to get involved.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said that, ideally, 30 percent of the capital's 65,000 hectares should be planted with trees. However, he later admitted that, realistically, "Jakarta can only afford to spare 15 percent of its area for trees."

In Singapore, he said, 49 percent of the city's total area is set aside for greening projects. "It looks so pretty," said the governor.

According to the head of the Jakarta Parks Agency, Syamsir Alam, the city hopes to have 6,500 hectares of trees planted by the end of 2005. He added that his agency has built seven artesian wells and employed some 500 workers, including 10 landscapers, to maintain the city's parks and gardens.

Results

Four years on, the city claims to have reached 86 percent of its target of four million trees.

"We've planted 3,470,924 trees thus far," said Deputy Governor Tubagus M. Rais.

The head of the city's environmental bureau, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, explained that this year alone city officials have converted 1,937 hectares of city land into parks and green areas, 806 hectares into "urban forests" and campus grounds, 798 hectares into green areas along rivers, streets, dams and lakes as well as 13,499 hectares into rice fields, seasonal crop plantations and public gardens.

Critics, however, doubt the numbers and say that the movement has been carried out half-heartedly.

Urban landscape expert Professor Zoer'aini Djamal Irwan grumbled about the inability of law enforcement agencies to drive away those who still occupy sites designated for parks.

"Currently, only 25 of the city's 290 parks, that were taken over for other purposes, have been restored to their original function," she said.

Zoer'aini also accused those in the parks agency of lacking proper plant knowledge, which she says has caused the death of many plants. Aboejoewono concurred, alleging that 20 percent of the 1.26 million trees planted in 1993 have died.

"I think people were overly enthusiastic about the program and didn't really know how to take care of the new trees," he said, adding that the trees planted would continue to die at a rate of 20 percent per year over the next couple of years.

Despite the criticism, many of the city's officials and citizens are pleased with the progress and the attempts made to regreen the densely-populated city.

Kazuki Kagaya, the Jakarta bureau chief of the Tokyo-based Nihon Keizai Shimbun, commented: "When I came to Jakarta 10 months ago I was surprised to find that the city was very much green. Trees were seen alongside the main roads. But the authorities should not be complacent. It has to devise a more integrated environmental plan to plant more trees."

Among the urban forestry projects still underway are those at Monas park and at the former Kemayoran airport in Central Jakarta.

According to Governor Surjadi, one of the biggest problems in carrying out the drive, apart from land limitations, is the lack of public support, particularly on the part of those living in slum areas.

"I'm concerned that many people living in slum areas are not concerned about their unhealthy environment," said the governor.

Whatever the reasons, one only has to look out of a window or drive around the city to evaluate the success of the movement.

Like the Koes Plus band says in one of its songs: Ke Jakarta aku kan kembali, walaupun apa yang 'kan terjadi (I'll come back to Jakarta, regardless of what happens there).