Air Pollution in Jakarta

KabarIndonesia - Air pollution in Jakarta is the worst in Indonesia, to the point that most people in Jakarta gave the nickname "city of pollution" to him. The emergence of the nickname is certainly not without reason at all. The data below can give an idea about the severity of air pollution in Jakarta.
First, on a global scale, Jakarta is a city with the worst pollution level number 3 in the world (after the city in Mexico and Thailand). Second, there is still a global scale, concentration of dust particles (particulate matter) contained in the air in Jakarta was the highest number 9 (ie 104 micrograms per cubic meter) of 111 world cities surveyed by the World Bank in 2004. For comparison, the EU set a number of 50 micrograms per cubic meter as the highest threshold levels of dust particles in the air. Third, the number of days with unhealthy quality in Jakarta has increased from year to year. In 2002, Jakarta declared healthy for 22 days, whereas in 2003, Jakarta declared healthy only for 7 days. Furthermore, according to a study the Air Working Group Environmental Caucus, in 2004 and 2005, the number of days with the worst air quality in Jakarta is far below 50 days. But in 2006, the numbers are actually rising above 51 days. With such conditions, it is not excessive if Jakarta was nicknamed "the city of pollution" because it was so out of the house, residents of Jakarta will immediately be faced with pollution.
The most significant cause of air pollution in Jakarta is the share of motor vehicles accounted for ± 70 percent. This is directly correlated to the ratio between the number of motor vehicles, population and land area of Jakarta. Based on data from the Indonesian Police Commission, the number of registered motor vehicles in Jakarta (not including vehicles owned by military and police) in June 2009 was 9,993,867 vehicles, while the total population of Jakarta in March 2009 was 8,513,385 inhabitants. Comparative data shows that motor vehicles in Jakarta more than its population. Growth in number of vehicles in Jakarta is also very high, reaching 10.9 percent per year. These numbers become very significant because of the availability of road infrastructure in Jakarta was not yet meet the ideal. The length of roads in Jakarta is only about 7650 kilometers with an area of 40.1 square kilometers, or only 6.26 percent of the total area. In fact, the ideal ratio between road infrastructure and the total area is 14 percent. With these conditions are not ideal, can be easily understood if more difficult to overcome traffic congestion and air pollution is increasing.
Another cause of the increasing rate of pollution in Jakarta is the lack of green open space (green space) city. Urban green space is part of the open spaces (open spaces) an urban area that is filled with plants, plants, and vegetation (endemic and introduced) to support the direct benefits and / or indirectly generated by the green space in cities, which are safety, comfort , prosperity, and beauty of urban areas. Urban green space has many functions, among which are a part of the air circulation system (lungs of the city), micro-climate control, shade, oxygen producers, absorbing rainwater, the provider of wildlife habitat, absorbing media pollutant of air, water and soil, as well as retaining wind. Lack of urban green space will result in a lack of ability of ecosystems to absorb pollution.
Based on the calculations of experts, extensive green space ideal city is at least 30 percent of the entire area of the city. This calculation has been adopted in Article 29 of Law No. 26 of 2007 on Spatial Planning. Unfortunately, with all its problems, Jakarta does not seem ideal to meet large urban green space in the near future. Until the year 2009, RTH Jakarta only 9 percent, while the green space plan in Jakarta in the year 2000-2010 is only set at 13.94 percent. The inability to Jakarta to meet the vast green space ideal city would have an impact on the worsening levels of pollution.
Poor levels of air pollution in Jakarta, causing many social problems for its residents. The main problem of course is a health problem. According to data from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, 46 percent in Jakarta diseases caused by air pollution, where the diseases are generally respiratory infections, asthma, and lung cancer. In addition to these diseases, the pollution is also potentially lead to physiological changes in humans, such as: weaken lung function and affect blood pressure.
Continued impact of the declining quality of public health is the increased cost for treatment. If a sick society, of course there will be a social burden on society that will affect the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). As an illustration, the cost to overcome the health problems caused by air pollution in 1998 reached Rp 1.8 trillion. If elevated levels of pollution are not also be prevented, those costs will continue to rise and could reach USD 4.3 trillion in 2015.