20 Years of Air Pollution Control Regulation is No Longer Sufficient, Air Talks Encourage the Jakarta DPRD to Prioritize the Revision of the Regulation

Illustration. (Photo: Dok. Antara)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government through the Environment Service has submitted a Draft Regional Regulation (Raperda) to replace Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2005 concerning Air Pollution Control into the 2027 Regional Regulation Formation Program (Propemperda). In the near future, the DKI Jakarta Provincial DPRD will determine 15 priority lists from 57 discussions of the Propemperda, including proposed revisions to the Regulation which has been in place for more than 20 years to address the challenges of air pollution and strengthen public health protection.

In response to this, Bicara Udara encourages the DKI Jakarta Provincial DPRD to prioritize discussion of the revision of the Regulation. According to Bicara Udara, Regulation Number 2 of 2005 is no longer adequate to answer the challenges of air pollution in Jakarta, which is now much more complex than when the regulation was enacted.

"When this regulation was enacted in 2005, the challenge of air pollution in Jakarta was certainly different from now. Over the past two decades, new pollutants such as PM 2.5 have been identified which have an impact on public health. Therefore, we hope that the revision of this regulation will be a priority for the DPRD," said Co-Founder of Bicara Udara, Novita Natalia, through a written statement, Friday, August 7.

Novita assessed that the revision of the Regulation was becoming increasingly urgent considering that the sources of air pollution are now more diverse, ranging from the transportation sector, industry, construction development, open waste burning, to cross-regional pollution. The draft Regulation drafted by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government also carries a new approach, namely expanding the scope of regulation from merely controlling air pollution to protecting and managing air quality comprehensively.

"Every citizen of Jakarta has the right to breathe healthy air. This revision of the Regional Regulation is the foundation for stronger air pollution control policies, data-based, and oriented towards protecting public health," said Novita.

According to Bicara Udara, the update of the Regulation is also important because the impact of air pollution is felt directly by the community. Exposure to air pollution increases the risk of various diseases, especially for children, the elderly, and vulnerable groups.

"More importantly, it is to ensure that Jakarta has rules that can protect public health through better emission control, transparent air quality monitoring, and inter-regional coordination," said Novita.

In addition, Bicara Udara also considers this regulatory update to be important to support Jakarta's position as a global city. Air quality is one of the main indicators of the quality of life of the community as well as the competitiveness of a city. Therefore, improving air quality needs to be part of Jakarta's development agenda in the future.

"We hope that the DKI Jakarta Provincial DPRD can pay attention to the urgency of revising this Regional Regulation so that the discussion process can be immediately continued and produce regulations that can answer the challenges of Jakarta's air quality in the future," concluded Novita.