Bambang Parlupi, Jakarta – As Jakarta's population has grown to over 11 million, the city has failed to balance this expansion by increasing the size of its greenbelts, or open green spaces (RTHs). This problem has been exacerbated by the continued loss of open spaces meant to serve as an urban buffer zone.
The Jakarta Master Plan for 1965-1985, when the capital had a maximum population of 7.1 million, the appropriate amount of RTH for the city was set at 18,000 hectares. But according to the Jakarta Spatial Layout for 2005, the RTH stood at only 16,908 hectares.
The 2005 spatial layout identified the city's open green spaces as parks (3,553 hectare), protected urban forests, city greening areas, lake buffers and river buffers (2,660 hectares), cemeteries (570 hectares) and agricultural space, including residential yards, crop fields and livestock and fish farms.
In the Regional Spatial Layout for 2010, Jakarta's RTH target is set at 9,554.81 hectares. The open green spaces will include urban forests and parks (1,924.78 hectares), cemeteries (745.18 hectares), agricultural areas (3,656.1 hectares) and buffer zones around freeways, high-voltage transmission lines, etc.
Yayat Supriyatna, an open space researcher and city planning lecturer at Trisakti University in Jakarta, said the capital's greenbelts were too limited, and those greenbelts that existed were under considerable threat. "Ideally, open spaces should constitute 30 percent of the city's territory," he said.
He said Jakarta remained short of open space because, even based on the city's RTH target of 9,544 hectares for 2010, only 7,390 hectares had been realized by 2003, leaving 2,154 hectares of open space to be created. And the amount of open space already reached is far below the ideal standard of 30 percent for major cities, which is even more difficult to achieve given the growth of Jakarta, which now covers 66,252 hectares.
"As the years go by, the open space is shrinking more and more," noted Yayat, which he blamed on the shared ownership of the RTH. This, he said, was a constraint on the sustainability of greenbelts in urban areas.
He said environmental conditions would deteriorate along with the gradual disappearance of open spaces. Urban forests are shrinking, public parks are becoming smaller and swamp areas are being converted into settlements, offices and industrial estates. The habitat of urban wildlife is under threat as the city loses more of its natural buffers.
Yayat suggested the government provide incentives and compensation so that individuals and institutions that control open spaces will be more willing to maintain the greenbelts. Most of Jakarta's RTH is under private, semiprivate or public ownership.
Speaking to environmental activists during an Air Pollution Advocacy Training program in December, Yayat recommended that river plains, as RTH zones, should be protected. According to regulations, greenbelts along river banks should measure 100 meters to 150 meters in rural areas and 25 meters to 50 meters in urban areas.
"Now the question is who controls the RTHs along the river plains, notably in major cities like Jakarta. It is well known that lots of settlements and even government offices have been built along rivers," he said.
The data indicate that in Jakarta, river plains cover 1,384 hectares over 280 kilometers, but only 15 percent of the river plains remains undamaged, with the remainder being home to 14,000 buildings and over 71,000 people.
In his view, little thought is now given to open green spaces in city planning. Jakarta, at one time, attempted to apply the concept of urban greening through a one million trees planting campaign.
"But where would the one million trees be planted? Theoretically, there is a shortage of land for the trees," said Yayat, who took part in replanting critical land around Lake Toba in North Sumatra in the 1980s.
Also, some RTH areas in Jakarta have not been optimally developed because of mistakes in the selection of trees and plants. Frequently, in the process of regreening an area, the seedlings used are not carefully chosen to produce good and healthy trees. Consequently, thousands of trees have failed to thrive due to inferior seedlings.
Yayat also pointed to the poor legal handling of some environmental. He said public parks, urban forests and lakes have disappeared, with no one ever being taken to court over the destruction. An example is the construction of a shopping center in a former marshy zone, resulting from a licensing irregularity.
"The city's spatial layout has thus changed due to such legal problems," he noted.
Meanwhile, many swampy areas have been turned into residential areas, including in Cengkareng, West Jakarta. There are also hundreds of thousands of people illegally dwelling along riverbanks in Ciliwung, which are owned by the state. Yayat attributed this to improper government handling of state property, leading to illegal construction along the rivers.
According to Kosasih Wirahadikusuma, head of Jakarta's Environmental Management Body, open space is vital for urban life, esthetically as well as socially. "Natural air cooling is one of the RTH's most important functions, especially in Jakarta with its high temperatures," he said.
The Menteng area in Central Jakarta has retained its healthy RTH since the Dutch colonial era. "The Jakarta administration has maintained its policies so that Menteng will not turn into a commercial zone," Kosasih said.
Several urban forests are also in excellent condition, like Srengseng Sawah in West Jakarta (15 hectares), Halim in East Jakarta (3.5 hectares), the area around the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Senayan, and the river basin forest of Pesanggrahan in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta (40 hectares).
Yayat said Singapore had better open space than Jakarta, though both cover about the same amount of territory. The Singapore government has educated people about the importance of greenbelts, raising public awareness about their function in an urban landscape. He said Jakarta must follow suit, teaching schoolchildren about the importance of open space at an early age.