Java ranks last in national environment survey

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 8 Jun 10;

Java, the world’s most-populated island, is in the worst environmental condition of any island in the country, due to its heavily polluted rivers and water supplies and virtual lack of forests, according to a ministry report.

The report gave Java an overall score of 54 out of 100, the worst of all of Indonesia’s islands, and well below the next lowest score of 59. Java’s river quality was given a 28 and its forest coverage a 39.

“It proves that old claims of high pollution in Java are correct. In terms of the overall island, Java ranks the worst on the environmental quality index,” Nursiwan Taqim, an official in charge of assessment at the Environment Ministry, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

In water quality, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan ranked the lowest with abysmal scores of 2.91 and 8.40.

However, the report ranked Jakarta’s rivers the most polluted in Java.

Jakarta received the lowest score for forest coverage with a 0.24. In comparison, Bali scored 100.

About 3 percent of the country’s population said river water was their main source of drinking water, and 58 percent said theirs was ground water. Only 16 percent of the country had access to pipe water, according to the report.

The government requires each province to have a minimum forest coverage of 30 percent.

The first-ever environmental index, slated to be launched this week as part of the World Environmental Day event, assessed quality of river water, air pollution and total forest coverage in 28 provinces between 2006 and 2009.

The study did not assess the quantity of river water, which other reports have shown has declined steadily in all provinces over that period.

The report ranked the provinces of Maluku and Papua in overall first place with a score of 79, followed by provinces in Sulawesi with an average score of 75.

Nursiwan warned that each province faced serious problems, including poor quality of river water and lack of forest coverage.

“We recommend the provinces prioritize resolving river water pollution,” he said.

Surprisingly, the report gave every province a good mark for air quality, with each scoring 80 or above, including Jakarta.

The report concluded that the nation’s average score on the environmental index was 59.79, which was far more generous than a 2010 index score given by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University.

The Yale’s Environmental Performance Index ranked Indonesia 134 out of 163 countries with a score of 44.6, the second-lowest ASEAN country after Cambodia.

The highest rank in the region was given to Singapore with 69, followed by Malaysia and Philippines, which both scored 65.

The Yale index used 25 performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both environmental health, public health and ecosystem vitality.

The indicators were designed to gauge governments’ commitments to environmental policies.

In 2008, Yale ranked Indonesia 102 out of 149 surveyed countries with a score of 66.2.

It said that forests had been almost completely wiped out in densely populated Java, and that Sumatra had lost 35 percent of its forests and Kalimantan 19 percent in the 1990s.

Deforestation is also threatening the Sumatran rhinoceros and the orangutan with extinction, it said.