Indonesia's Environmental Quality Index Getting Better

TheIndonesia.id - Indonesia's environmental quality index climbed by 1.16 points to 71.43 in 2021, from 70.27 in 2020, Director General of Pollution and Environmental Damage Control (PPKL) Sigit Reliantoro of the Environment and Forestry Ministry stated.

"If you look at it, thank God, this year there has been an increase in Indonesia's environmental quality index," Reliantoro noted while speaking at the 2021 Year End Reflection discussion held virtually here on Tuesday, December 21, 2021.

The environmental quality index is a value describing the environmental quality of an area that is a composite value of the water, air, land, and seawater quality indexes. The country's environment index had recorded a sharp increase to reach 70.27 in 2020, from 66.55 in 2019. The surge was largely correlated to a decline in economic activity on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, with economic activity increasing again, there is still an increase to 71.43.

Regarding the water quality index, the value has not reached the targeted 55.20, as it is only at 53.33 in 2021 or a decrease of 0.2 points as compared to 53.53 points in 2020.

However, 14 provinces have succeeded in meeting the water quality index target, while 20 provinces failed to achieve the target.

"One of the main causes is BOD (biological oxygen demand) and E.Coli, which reflects the fact that wastewater was not properly managed during household activities. Hence, efforts to accelerate efforts to improve sanitation are very urgent," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the air quality index will increase by 0.02 points to 87.23 points in 2021, from 87.21 in 2020. The seawater quality index, which has become the new index since 2020, also rose, from 68.94 points in 2020 to 81.03 in 2021. This figure is higher than the national target of 59.00 points.

For the land quality index, in 2021, it reaches 59.72 points, from 59.54 in 2020. This figure is still below the 2021 national target of 62.50 points.

An improvement was also recorded in the peat ecosystem quality index, from 65.7 points in 2020 to 68 points in 2021, from the target of 66.3 points.

However, he highlighted that several provinces, such as West Sumatra and the Bangka Belitung Islands, experienced a downward trend in the value of the peat ecosystem quality index, he remarked.