Jakarta No Longer Suitable as Capital City: Environmental Expert
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19 August 2019 08:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - An environmental expert Tasdiyanto Rohadi assesses the planned relocation of Indonesia's capital city is truly proper since the quality of the environment in Jakarta has become increasingly concerning.
"In 2019, we are shocked to see that Jakarta has the worst air quality in the world," said Tasdiyanto who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Environmental Professional Association, Sunday, August 18.
He stated based on the US Air Quality Index (AQI) on August 8, 2019, at 11:40 WIB, Jakarta's air quality scored 156 that was unhealthy, and at a concentration of 64.4 µg/m³ with PM 2.5 parameters.
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) in 2018 monitored that the average exposure was at 39 µg/m3, which was categorized as unhealthy. Jakarta Environment Agency also recorded it in the unhealthy category as it was monitored between 29-102 μg/m3 with an annual average of 43 μg/m3.
"In addition to the air quality, the condition of the water media in Jakarta is very alarming too," said Tasdiyanto.
A study conducted by the ministry’s P3E Jawa in 2015 revealed that Jakarta’s Ecosystem Services Coefficient (KJE) of the clean water providers is in the red zone (KJE 0.00-0.16), which meant very low. Likewise, the environmental capacity of the water purification ecosystem (KJE 0.0 -0.32), water flow and flood management (KJE 0.00-0.27), as well as waste treatment and decomposition (KJE 0.00-0.22).
Therefore, those data indicated poor quality of Jakarta’ environment. "This is certainly the state responsibility under the Constitution Law Article 28H (1), which emphasizes that every person has the right to live in physical and spiritual prosperity, has a place to live, and to have a good and healthy environment as well as health services," he concluded.
MUH. SYAIFULLAH
