Regreening helps city breathe easier

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).