Indonesia's Ecosystem during COVID-19 Pandemic

Reported by : Amama Ira Amalia Priyono

Indonesia is the top four country with the largest population in the world after China, India and the United States according to Wikipedia. With the number of the population in Indonesia increasing, more natural resources are needed to support the lives of the Indonesian population.

In this regard, coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia with the number of cases increasing every day, there is a scarcity of materials to meet human needs. Many factors have contributed to this situation, for example food prices that are increasingly expensive and can only be reached by the middle to upper class, efforts to hoard food "panic buying" which causes a lot of foodstuffs to run out in a number of shops. Middle and lower class people use more of the needs of nature to fulfill their needs. With the span of a pandemic that has lasted several months and the economic level of the majority of the lower middle class, many natural environments have been damaged and need to be repaired. The improvements here are intended to maintain the preservation of the natural environment as well as to provide for the needs needed by the community as an effort to meet the needs during this pandemic.

During this pandemic, many factories have reduced their operating activities. The people who live around the production environment can really feel this change. The air becomes fresher and healthier, the sky becomes brighter, there is less pollution in the air, the visibility of the eyes is farther than usual, the river that had been the destination for waste disposal has gradually begun to grow new ecosystems. This proves that this pandemic period has positive and negative sides that must be addressed wisely.

Since the rules for working and studying from home were enacted, the community has carried out many activities at home. This unconsciously increases the amount of daily household waste produced. This reality is closely related to the behavior of people who carry out their activities from home, such as ordering food, shopping online, delivering packages, buying groceries online, and many other activities that increase the amount of waste generated. Therefore, efforts are needed to address the use of reusable bags that can be used multiple times. As well as people who must be wise in their daily activities to reduce the waste produced. Furthermore, the government also needs to provide effective and efficient waste processing methods and techniques to respond to increasing waste production every day.