Importance of air quality management for public health and development progress in Jakarta, Indonesia

Air pollution levels in metropolitan Jakarta, capital city region of Indonesia, are high and rising, posing a serious public health threat to 32 million residents. it was estimated that over 5.5 million people in DKI Jakarta (58% of the population) suffered from various air pollution-related illnesses (e.g., asthmatic bronchiale, coronary artery diseases) in 2016, and the associated direct medical cost could go as high as IDR 51.2 trillions (or USD 3.9 billions). Experts also reported that the total economic cost of health problems associated with air pollution in Jakarta would increase to 2.5% of Jakarta’s expected GDP in 2015 (or 4.3 trillion rupiah or USD403 million) as opposed to 1% in 1998, if no action to control air pollution is taken. In 2017, the annual average concentration for particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5) was 41 ug/m3; daily concentrations rarely meet the World Health Organization’s health-based air quality standard of 25 ug/m3. The current official air pollution monitoring conducted in Jakarta is inadequate: PM2.5 is not monitored nor have there been recent assessments of particle composition to inform source apportionment. These limitations and a lack of reliable emissions inventories and regional air pollution data are barriers to planning and implementing greater control of air pollution in DKI Jakarta. In 2018, the Governor’s office announced “Grand Design: Air Pollution for a Healthy Livable City” to carry out a multi-stakeholder assessment and planning process to produce recommendations for air quality improvement in Jakarta. This talk highlights approaches to combining strategic use of innovations in air pollution monitoring, emissions estimation and source apportionment modeling to inform near-term control measures for priority sources at a local and regional level in Jakarta. Topics to be addressed will include: multi-stakeholder collaborative approach for complex issues like air pollution, the importance of strategic communications and public awareness of air pollution health effects, emerging results from source apportionment work underway to identify leading PM2.5 sources in the metropolitan area, the policy implications of emerging local data on air pollution and stunting, and the challenges of addressing both local pollution sources within direct control of DKI Jakarta and transported pollution from sources such as episodic haze from peatland fires.