INDONESIA IS FREE FROM SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS: The Pandemic is Finally Over. How About Climate Change?

The beginning of 2023 was opened with joy by the people of Indonesia. The President of Indonesia, Ir. H. Joko Widodo, officially stated that the policy on social restrictions on community activities had been repealed. This shows that the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia is finally over. Indonesian people no longer need to be afraid to do activities outside because there are no restrictions on activities. This is happy news, but climate change continues. Why? How come?

The population in Indonesia continues to increase. The capital city of Indonesia, DKI Jakarta, according to the Statistics Indonesia, has a population of 10.6 million in 2021. Then, the number increased to 11.25 million in June 2022. The increase was quite extreme in a short time. The dense population of Jakarta is clearly seen by how congested the streets of Jakarta are, especially during the time to go to work and the time to go home from work. City streets are filled with various types and brands of vehicles; public and private.

Each of these vehicles produces dense smoke containing carbon dioxide. The main producer of carbon dioxide comes from motor vehicle exhaust and factory exhaust. Quoted from Kompas.com, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, through the "Jakarta Investment Forum" activity on September 1, 2022, stated that there were 13 million motorbikes and 3 million cars registered in DKI Jakarta. He also stated that there are around 40,000 carbon dioxide per year from motor vehicles, which according to him is produced from tens of millions of motor vehicles in DKI Jakarta.

The resulting carbon dioxide emissions are high. The production of carbon dioxide emissions needs to be reduced if we want to get better air quality in the capital city. The relation between dense population and climate change is evident during the pandemic. During the pandemic, the government began implementing a policy of limiting activities outside the home. Before there were restrictions and after there were restrictions, the real difference that can be seen with the eye is the Jakarta sky. Before there were restrictions, Jakarta's sky was filled with pollution so visibility was not far.

However, after the pandemic, Jakarta's sky looks bright blue. This is a rare sight in the capital city so it caused a stir among the people. This rare sight is evident from BMKG data on KLIMA edition IV 2020 which states that Jakarta's air quality during the PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar / Large-Scale Social Restrictions) period turned out to have a positive impact on the city of Jakarta, which is known as the city with the worst air quality.

This is because indicators for measuring air quality levels based on particulate parameters (PM10) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) gas have been observed to have decreased since the implementation of the PSBB. Also quoted from CNN Indonesia on May 1 2020, the Head of the Sub-Sector for Production of Climate Information and Air Quality, Siswanto, also stated that the implementation of Work From Home (WFH) and Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) had lowered the average carbon dioxide concentration. around 47 ppm or decreased by 9.8% compared to 2019.

This could be due to a decrease in human activity in various sectors due to this restriction policy. Now that the restrictions are no longer applied, how will carbon dioxide emissions be in 2023? To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, cooperation between the government and the community is needed. The DKI government has a low emission zone program in several public places that aims to reduce emission gas production in the capital city. The government has a target of reducing gas emissions by 30% by 2030. To achieve this target, the role of the people of DKI Jakarta is definitely very important.

Carbon dioxide emission levels will not decrease if the number of motor vehicles is very large. It'll be a different story if more people use public transportation, so they can reduce the number of private motor vehicles. However, the government's role is certainly also needed to provide adequate facilities and infrastructure so that people can and want to use public transportation to travel.