Govt taking no action to clean air, address climate change
Written by Meenaa on Monday, November 17th, 2008
Govt taking no action to clean air, address climate change
Despite reports of improving air quality in some Asian cities, many Indonesian cities still fall well short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standards.
Rapid urbanization, growing vehicle ownership coupled with poor transportation management have lead to higher levels of air pollution in Indonesia. The Jakarta Post’s Adianto P. Simamora discussed the issue with Budi Haryanto, chairman of the University of Indonesia’s School of Public Health and head of the board of directors at the Pacific Basin Consortium for the Environment and Health, on the sidelines of the Better Air Quality (BAQ) Conference in Bangkok last Friday. The following are excerpts.
Question: A survey by the Clean Air Initiative Asia (CAI-Asia) shows that the average concentration of air pollutants is getting better in some urban areas but is still far below the WHO standard. What does this mean for Indonesia?
Answer: We all agree that the main source of air pollutants are motorized vehicles. The survey shows positive improvements have been made in air quality management but in terms of pollutant levels, including particulates (PM10), they still far exceed the WHO standard of 50 micro grams per cubic meter (mg/m3), which shows exposure to air pollution remains high.
In Indonesia, some cities, including Jakarta, proclaim to have cleaner air and healthier days. But we need to verify the data carefully, given the fact that vehicle ownership has risen by 15 percent annually while efforts to improve transportation management remain poor.
Indonesia’s air quality level is three times lower than the WHO standard. In PM10, for example, the government sets the standard at 150 mg/m3 compared to the WHO’s 50mg/m3. Some cities are still struggling to meet the government’s standard.
In comparison, we can check the Health Ministry’s reports showing more than 50 percent of diseases in urban areas are related to air quality, such as respiratory problems.
The 2008 survey by the Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia as presented in the BAQ conference revealed that the acute mortality impact of the current ambient particulate levels in several large metropolitan areas was still high. It said a 10 mg/m3 increase in the PM10 level was associated with a 0.6 percent increase in the daily rate of natural fatalities.
The WHO also found that about 500,000 people die prematurely in Asia every year due to exposure to urban outdoor air pollution. Therefore, exposure to polluted air is still a major threat in Indonesia.
Given the threat of air pollution, how do you judge the government’s efforts to improve air quality in Indonesia?
I think the government is still half-hearted. There are no integrated efforts by related ministries to clean up the air. The Environment Ministry seems focused on investing in establishing air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) rather than cleaning up air pollution.
To make it worse, the transportation management has not improved yet. In Jakarta, for example, the launch of the busway facilities, which were aimed at, among others, helping ease air pollution, have not worked as expected. More people use their cars or motorcycles in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, partly due to the absence of feeder buses.
The (Jakarta) administration also failed to seriously enforce the bylaw requiring regular emission tests for private cars.
The country’s success in phasing out lead in diesel fuel was not compounded by efforts to mandate the use of catalytic converters in vehicles, which screen up to 80 percent of pollutants. In addition, the government’s campaigns to convert to cleaner fuels, such as ethanol, did not work as expected either.
I agree with the government’s plan to set up more AQMS to measure air quality, but the project is just establishing an early warning system. It is not the real solution. The most urgent thing is for there to be real action to clean air pollution. It could be done by improving transportation management.
The clean air communities at the BAQ conference strive to integrate air pollution and climate change issues. What is your opinion?
It is a good idea. The BAQ is the first conference trying to integrate air pollution and climate change issues to form win-win solutions.
Indonesia, with over 230 million people, is very vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution and climate change. We need to formulate integrated actions to resolve the two problems.
The government has yet to take real action to tackle the impacts of climate change. We are still at the beginning in our efforts to deal with climate change although the impacts are already affecting us.
I attended a recent meeting at the Health Ministry. It is still trying to identify the health impacts of climate change. The National Council on Climate Change has yet to result in real action. They still focus on planning rather than doing. We need to go forward to take real action to help the people adapt to the impacts and mitigate the problems.
Mon, 11/17/2008 10:49 AM | National | The Jakarta Post
