ABSTRACT

West Java is the Indonesian province where some of the most densily-populated cities are located. In 2000, it had population in total of 35,7 million. About 45% population are concentrated in 3 major urban regions. These are the Bandung Metropolitan region (where the Capital City is located) which has population in excess of 3 million; Bogor-Bekasi region which are located strategically in the borderline with Jakarta the Capital City of Indonesia; and in Cirebon region as one of the industrialised areas within the northern coastal region. West Java geography is characterised by volcanic, fertile land and complex topography, where the altitude is ranging from 0 m above sea level in the coastal lowland to over 2000 m in the montaneous region. Due to its unique natural resources, the economy and landuse of West Java are varied from agriculture that serves as local and national food supplier, mining, industry, services as well as forested and conserved areas. West Java requires air quality monitoring system that can describe the spatial and temporal variations of air quality covering all specific landuse and urban types. Background data from a wide- coverage AQMS shall be used as an effective tool for developing air quality management strategy. At the moment, only the City of Bandung has automatic monitoring stations, and a mobile station is operated for campaign measurements in a few other cities and towns. The current monitoring results is not yet sufficient for obtaining a comprehensive description of air pollution levels in West Java. The main constrains to fullfil this necessity are lack of facilities, skillful human resources and sustanaible funding. Based on current baseline condition, a specific monitoring strategy to optimise the available resources as well as sustainable is proposed. This paper describes the status of air quality monitoring in various locations in West Java Province, as a baseline for development of West Java Province Air Quality Management Strategy as part of West Java Province Environmental Strategies, carried out under Western Java Environmental Management Project.