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{March Free Report} Poor Air Quality in Indonesia as a Major Environmental Issue |
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by Syahidah Charisa Nabila | 31-03-2023 22:59
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Nowadays, more than 90% of the world's population breathes polluted air. This means that more than 6.5 billion people worldwide are exposed to air pollution. Some of the pollutants that cause air pollution are harmful to human health both if inhaled in the short term or long term. The rapid pace of economic development has resulted in a drastic increase in air pollution, mainly in Indonesia. Although it's very important for health and productivity, good air quality is oftenly underestimated. Based on the IQAir website or Air Quality Index (AQI), as in mid-2022 DKI Jakarta as capital city of Indonesia has the worst air quality in the world with a score of 163 which represents unhealthy quality. This data was obtained from government-owned air monitoring stations, research institutions, and private companies across Indonesia.
The decline in air quality and its surroundings is caused by a combination of emission sources from air pollution contributors. Transport contributes about 30 to 40 percent of emissions; power plants is about 20 to 30 percent, and the rest comes from burning waste and other pollutant sources. Fuel vehicles are the biggest contributor to air pollution. This answers the question of why Indonesia is often the country with the world's worst air quality index. Based on the research by Greenpeace, coal-fired power plants are also recorded as the largest polluting source in Jakarta. Another cause that contributes to the deteriorating air quality in Indonesia and its surroundings is stagnation of air movement which causes air pollutants, that have accumulated in this area to stagnate and impact conditions that tend to last a long time.Natural sources such as salt from sea spray, volcanic eruptions, and forest and prairie fires also contribute to air pollution. Air pollution contributes to the acceleration of global warming due to the increasing amount of pollutants remaining in the atmosphere, and when they accumulate in the atmosphere, the earth's temperature rises and traps heat. This causes various health problems such as asthma, lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases. Confronting climate change and air pollution is not just taking short-term precautions. Collaboration across sectors is critical to achieving climate targets. The first solution is to improve air pollution control governance. This is mainly held by the government which supervises and enforces the law on air pollution. Another solution is reducing air pollutant emissions from mobile sources, for example, the use of public transportation and the development of environmentally friendly transportation. Another strategy that can be done is to reduce emissions from stationary sources. An example is the increase in open space and green buildings and the increase in the installation of rooftop solar panels. |
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2 Comments
Hello Syahidah! This is your mentor James!
First of all, my apologies for the late comment!
Wow, what a coincidence! To write about air pollution in your region as your March Free Report when the theme of April is about the same topic! I also lived in Indonesia for about 3 years in total, and I have to admit, Jakarta didn't have the best air quality. The reasons behind this are exactly what you have mentioned above; fossil fuel power plants, overpopulation, daily usage of private vehicles with poor air filtration systems, and other natural causes like volcanic activities. To tackle this problem, I've heard that President Jokowi is going to focus on zero emission energy production as well as means of transportation, such as the EVs.
Thanks for the meaningful report! Looking forward to reading your next one!
Posted 05-05-2023 15:16
Hello Syahidah! This is your mentor Yewon.
What an informative report! As you have written in your report, air pollution is now a very severe problem all around the world. I didn't know that Indonesia is also suffering from such serious air pollution.
Your report was so well-structured, with precisely analyzed causes of poor air quality! All suggestions you mentioned above including air pollution control governance, mobile sources, and stationary sources would be great solutions to solve this problem.
Thank you for your informative and interesting report!
Posted 01-04-2023 00:05