Jakarta (Greeners) – Increasing population in cities have presented new challenges for its people. Urbanization and climate change have become interconnected more than ever.

Executive director of Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Fabby Tumiwa, said that climate change finance for cities, specifically in Kupang city, revealed that coastal cities were vulnerable to impacts of climate change.

The vulnerability, said Tumiwa, was caused by rising sea level and wind intensity followed by uncertain rain season and dry season.

He said that these conditions have provided risks on ecosystem damages, physical and infrastructure loss in coastal area but also prone to diseases and rising death rate.

“Population growth and economic activities in Kupang city have driven rising greenhouse gas emissions, especially from transportation sector and fuel consumption. It is also caused by waste management with open dumping system,” he said in Jakarta, on Monday (24/10).

READ ALSO: Indonesia to Bring Three Missions to Climate Negotiation in Marrakesh

Henriette Imelda, researcher of IESR, said that Kupang had contributed greenhouse as emissions from energy use of transportation and electricity and waste.

Energy consumption in the city, Imelda said, was derived from fossil fuel power plants which increasing every year. Electricity demand reaches 55 MW for Kupang.

“For domestic waste, it reaches 382 m3 per day but only 268 m3 per day goes to landfill,” she said.

Furthermore, she said that adaptation and mitigation actions can be done in the city to tackle climate change impacts.

On mitigation, government, private sectors and civil societies, can use energy friendly biomass stoves, biogas digester to replace kerosene, waste management through Reduce-Reuse-Recycle and waste bank, to monitoring air quality from vehicles.

Meanwhile, on adaptation, urban farming and composting at households, floods and landslides prevention, mapping out vulnerable areas and fire contingency plan.

READ ALSO: Small Scale Fisheries Threatened by Projects Claimed as Mitigation Efforts

From the research, she said that Kupang city can become a case study and lesson learned for other cities in Indonesia that climate change in coastal areas were real.

Consequently, local government needs to work with other stakeholders to prepare innovative working program with measured actions for the cities to deal with climate change impacts.

The study on climate change fund in Kupang is part of studies dubbed as Exploring Innovative Ways of Financing for Climate Compatible in Asian Cities, supported by Germanwatch and conducted in three cities in three nations, — India, Philippines, and Indonesia –.

Reports by Danny Kosasih

Jakarta (Greeners) – Nearly 90 percent out of 634,000 fishing boats in Indonesia is categorized as small scale fisheries as its weight below 5 Gross Ton by 2014.

The small scale fisheries is predicted to cover eight millions workers in the production, processing and distribution industries.

Chair of Indonesian Traditional Fisherman Association (KNTI), Riza Damanik, said that small scale fisheries have at least provided 60 percent of the total national fish production.  And, in addition to farm fisheries, they have contributed to 35 kilograms per capita per year of the country’s fish consumption.
Furthermore, they also supply for domestic industries.

“They also sell it other countries such as US, European Union, Japan, Hongkong, China and neighboring countries,” said Riza in a press release to Greeners in Jakarta, on Wednesday (09/12).

Riza said small scale fisheries has become a crucial part to protect fish resources sustainability through their local knowledge.

The community based conservation has been proven to be socially, ecologically, and economically friendly, for example Awig-awig in West Nusa Tenggara, sasi in Maluku, Bapongka in Central Sulawesi, Manee’ in South Sulawesi, and  Panglima Laot in Aceh.

However, small scale fisheries’ positive potentials are currently under threats by projects claimed to be climate change mitigation and adaptation programs.

For instance, to reduce fossil fuel dependence then biofuel is being promoted as alternative energy sources especially from palm oil.

However, in current development, lots of coastal and small islands of Indonesia have been converted to fulfill biofuel global market demand.

He cited at least 16,000 mangrove forest areas have been converted into oil palm plantation in Langkat district.

As a result, lives of 17,000 fishermen and local people have been severely affected.

“KNTI among with other NGOs and loval government have been rehabilitating mangrove fores to restore its ecological function which serve as fish breeding place and prevent sedimentation and beach abrasion,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that sea level rise related to impacts of climate change had instead being used to expand coastal cities development through reclamation.

The Jakarta Bay Reclamation Project alone needs more than 3.3 billion cubic meter of sands from other regions to built 17 new islands.

However, in return, the reclamation would threatened the livelihoods of 16,000 fishermen, damaged ecosystem, and pollution.

Other on-going reclamation projects are Benoa Bay in Bali and Makassar coastal area of South Sulawesi.

The counterproductive situation is also happening in the world in the fights of illegal fishing and sea conservation.

On one side, global instrument to eradicate illegal fishing keep on rising but its trading especially from Indonesian waters and other areas are still going on.

“It is similar with funding mobilization from World Bank, ADB, GEF, USAID and other agencies for sea conservation are flowing.  But, global sanctions against corporates destroying the environment are not strict. Meanwhile, multinational corporations such as Newmont and Freeport are getting bold to threat even push legal action against Indonesia’s sovereignty to the international court,” he said.

Reports by Danny Kosasi