Addressing Indonesia’s Air Quality Crisis Peatland Fires, Urban Pollution, and Emerging Threats

Seminar
This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Thursday 11 July 2024, 1pm to 2pm
  • Location: In-person and online
    ENV/105X, Environment Building, Campus West, University of York (Map)
  • Audience: Open to staff, students (postgraduate researchers only), the public
  • Admission: Free admission, booking required

Event details

Join our YESI International Fellows Seminar with Dr Windy Iriana, the Department of Environmental
Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia.

Abstract/Synopsis

Indonesia faces critical environmental challenges stemming from various sources of
air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this presentation, I will share
research conducted at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), focusing on the monitoring
and analyses of these pollutants emitted, particularly by peatland fires and urban
sources such as open waste burning.

Tropical peatlands, covering an area of 439,000 km² globally, account for eleven
percent of all peatlands, with more than half located in Southeast Asia, mainly in
Indonesia. Peatland fires often ignited for land clearing, have become catastrophic
annual events in Indonesia. These fires release significant amounts of carbon
dioxide and other harmful pollutants, contributing to climate change and degrading
regional air quality. This seminar will present our findings on CO 2 monitoring in
peatland areas and the characteristics of particulates emitted from these fires.
In urban areas, the transport sector is a major source of air pollution. One of the
most popular transportation modes in Indonesia is the online motorcycle taxi. I will
also share results on personal exposure to PM 2.5 , a crucial public health factor,
particularly for outdoor workers.

Open waste burning is another concerning urban air pollution source, exacerbating
air quality issues and introducing a variety of toxic substances into the atmosphere.
Additionally, I will discuss our findings on the concentration and characteristics of
urban airborne microplastics, an emerging concern in which health risks and
environmental impacts are not yet fully understood.

By integrating data from various monitoring techniques and presenting
comprehensive findings, this seminar aims to highlight the severity of these issues
and foster collaborative efforts between ITB and the University of York (UoY).

Bio

Photograph of Dr Windy Iriana with arms crossed

Windy Iriana is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental
Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Indonesia. Her research
focuses on monitoring air pollution and greenhouse gases from various sources
across Indonesia. She is currently leading a research project on personal exposure
to PM2.5 among urban citizens, funded by ITB. Additionally, she is part of an
international research team studying the characteristics of urban airborne
microplastics and measuring greenhouse gases in disturbed tropical peatlands. Her
work contributes to understanding and mitigating the impacts of air pollution on
public health and the environment.

Windy holds an MEng in Environmental Engineering from ITB and a PhD in
Environmental Systems from The University of Tokyo, Japan. She grew up in
Tembagapura, a small city in Papua, and Bandung, the capital of West Java
province, two beautiful cities surrounded by stunning natural landscapes.