Restore Watershed Function

According to 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, “Human creativity can overcome many things. But we must be able to control it to reap the benefits.”

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

One of the residential clusters that is often hit by flooding from the Pengkol River is the Dinar Indah Housing Complex, Tembalang District, Semarang City, Central Java, Sunday (19/2/2023).

It seems that Yunus has witnessed the negative effects of uncontrolled human capabilities. On a global scale, the entire world is threatened by rising temperatures and climate change. On a local scale, flash floods and landslides instantly destroy property and lives.

Indonesia is not free of such humanitarian disasters. As a country with extraordinary natural wealth, Indonesia is like a coin: There is abundance on one side and, if resources are not managed properly, disaster on the other. This is the fact we are facing today.

Daily news coverage in Kompas show that floods and landslides in several watershed areas (DAS) have increased in the last 10 years. In 2013-2022, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded 10,150 floods and 7,574 landslides.

Also read:

> Human Anthology in Citarum River

> Rivers in Indonesia Increasingly Dangerous

During this decade of multiple disasters, 5,780,553 houses were submerged, while 276,924 houses and 22,173 public facilities were damaged. The disasters killed 3,255 people and injured 6,220, while 576 people went missing. These are devastating losses.

Many experts have studied these disasters since and found that they were mainly caused by land use change, noncompliance with spatial planning and ignorance of environmental issues.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Aerial photo of the Lebak Bulus Reservoir development project, Cilandak, South Jakarta, Monday (31/10/2022). The Lebak Bulus Reservoir has a capacity of 44 thousand cubic meters of river water.

Massive changes can be seen in the landscapes of various regions across the country. Deforestation typically occurs upstream of DAS, while residential areas in the catchment area have been turned into housing complexes, industrial and commercial areas or roads and other infrastructure. All this reduces the ability of the land to absorb water.

In watersheds, reduced forest cover results in high sedimentation, which accelerates siltation of rivers. The diminished ability to store water increases the velocity of surface runoff. Under these conditions, if high-intensity rainfall occurs over a prolonged period, water flows downstream at high speeds to cause flash floods.

Also read:

> The Homework of Overcoming Jakarta Floods

> Tackling Floods Together

Of course, we are also aware that the high population growth rate demands development to meet basic human needs. However, human creativity can overcome anything. It is simply a matter of building commitment and discipline to correct past environmental mismanagement.

In the short term, we can take immediate measures to revitalize watersheds, including relocating residents. But in the long term, hard work is needed to maintain forest cover and restore damaged areas through reforestation while maintaining spatial planning integrity, with all parties following the blueprint.

This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.