Wed. Mar 27th, 2024

Unlike the multiple ways we keep ourselves optimistic about averting the climate change in time, humanity has entered the race to survival.

Climate change has begun making real changes on ground, it is just a matter of perception: some can be witnessed while others can’t be seen easily.

Similar has been the fate of a capital city of the world, Jakarta that is about to lose its prestigious status of being Indonesia’s capital.

January 18, 2020 saw a bill passed to move the island nation’s capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, nearly 2,000 kilometers away. This new capital will be named as Nusantara, meaning an “archipelago” which is expected to be “low carbon superhub”.

Other countries with similar topography like Brazil, Myanmar and Malaysia, have previously moved their capitals.

Would it have been easy for Indonesia to strip its capital, reinstated since the freedom earned in 1949, of this title? Its only offence to have caused this is that it knew of its destined future in the upcoming wrinkle of time but it dared to ignore for long.

Back in 2018 report, a student at the Bandung Institute of Technology said: “The potential for Jakarta to be submerged isn’t a laughing matter. If we look at our models, by 2050 about 95% of North Jakarta will be submerged.”

Jakarta has been sinking, noticeable yet unheeded, threatened yet uncalled for.

Northern portion of this unfortunate capital city links to the Java Sea that has been rising because of global warming and consequent climate change.

Hence, it continues to lose a staggering 25 centimeters every year, affecting the lives and livelihoods of 10 million people in the city that crouches on swampy land of Java with 13 rivers running through it.

This mesh of rivers provided vivid economic opportunities and urged the Dutch colonists to transform it into the busiest hubs of 17th Century.

Just like another urban city, it is losing the clean surface water access because of pollution and groundwater exploitation, leaving the drilled borewells as the only solution to extract potable water.

That was okay until the city became overcrowded with nearly 60 per cent of the country’s population residing in it and the number of pumps increased without necessary regulation of supply and distribution of water.

No trauma springs up in one night, the road to destruction is really long. It is just that humans never cease to ignore before it is high time.

Rising Seas, Sinking Lands:

More pumps have sucked out more water from the ground, tripping the land above. Jakarta exists over a delta with more than 40 per cent of it below the sea level.

Once the water levels underground begin to dwindle, the land subsides, sinks, shifts and drops below just like it is sitting on a deflating cushion, creating an uneven and unstable surface.

Additionally, the underground aquifers do not earn a chance to be replenished, despite the heavy rains and plenty of rivers, because of concrete and asphalt shielding more than 97 percent of Jakarta.

Original mangroves, protecting the city had long been replaced by apartments and buildings.

“Year after year, the ground has just kept sinking”, explains a resident.

This, coupled with the rise in sea-level because of climate change and flooding because of inefficient water management system, has added to the woes of a city that is already disappearing quite rapidly.

As per the National Geographic’s reporting of the issue: “Flooding in Jakarta is a very natural process. But because the river is bringing more sediment, as the existing sediment compacts, more mud gets built on top and that’s why the delta stays above water.”

“And as the rivers jumped their banks during annual floods, and as their channels migrated back and forth through the soft mud, they spread the sediment evenly across the plain.”

“But today the levees and concrete embankments keep the rivers from flooding—but they also prevent them from spreading sediment across the plain. Instead, it gets deposited at the bottom of the river or sent straight into the ocean, robbing the land of new soil.”

“Even in the absence of sea level rise, just the fact that we channelized the rivers and prevented them from migrating, means that the natural process has been interrupted.”

As per the Climate Scientists and data mapping, one-third of Jakarta will be underwater by 2050.

Another report has suggested Asian cities like Bangkok, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Seoul, Taipei, Manila to lose an estimated $724 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) due to extreme sea-level rise and coastal flooding by 2030.

This decision can be traced back to 2019 when the Indonesian President Joko Widodo first announced his plan to move the capital city.

A resident explains: “Living here is a risk. The people here have all accepted that risk.”

Can shifting the capitals help in long run?

Shifting the capital cannot only help the government save lives but also a way to redistribute wealth.

But there have been greater concerns about this ambitious plan.

Borneo rainforests, closer to the new capital, harbors over 221 land mammal species, 420 species of fowls, 15,000 species of flowering plants and 3,000 varieties of trees.

These are the third-largest biodiverse hotspot regions of the world and have several endemic species like orangutans, sun bears and long-nosed monkeys which only survive and sustain here.

Maintaining its health is critical for the island’s water supply, act as defense systems for droughts or forest fires and support ecological stability of the nearby regions.

Therefore, profound environmental issues encircle this ambitious plan as this can lead to massive deforestation and inherent destruction of east Kalimantan’s rich flora and fauna.

Indonesia is on the brink of accomplishing a similar mistake, it has previously committed, the experts have warned.

Can nothing help evade this inevitable chaos?

Authorities resorted to construct a 32km outer sea wall across Jakarta Bay worth $40 billion along with 17 artificial islands to help the sinking city and an artificial lagoon allowing the water levels to be drained.

However, a hydrologist has termed it to be only an interim solution, just enough to buy Jakarta an extra 20-30 years.

Technology exists to replenish groundwater at its source but it is extremely expensive and impracticable at large scale.

Tokyo too faced land subsidence after the World War II when it lost about 12 feet since 1900, was predicted to sink and thereby, used a method called artificial recharge 50 years ago.

The groundwater extraction and businesses were restricted and regulated, the city poured its resources into new sustainable infrastructure and the plan worked.

But can Jakarta be helped in this manner?

“Jakarta could become a 21st-century version of Tokyo in the 20th century, an example for urban redevelopment.”

Well, it has been a matter of debate because in the period of replenishment, Jakarta needs an alternative water source to depend on, which it lacks effectively.

An expert suggests that it could take minimum 10 years to clean up the rivers, dams and lakes to be used as a replacement for the aquifers to rejuvenate deep underground.

“The idea would be to reintroduce mangroves and rejuvenate some of the dozens of reservoirs that were actually part of old Jakarta.”

While the opponents of the idea argue: “A city that can’t deliver basic services is a failed city. On top of conventional issues like flooding and urbanization we now have climate change, tipping the scale. And at this rate, people will be fighting in the streets for increasingly limited resources like clean water and safe living spaces.”

Jakarta has a will to change but “Nature will no longer wait.”

Climate change and the world cities in perils:

Climate change has impacted almost every corner of Earth, there is not an inch that has not lost a greater attribute due to the ways we humans have molded the only planet available for survival.

Every city responds to climate change in two broad ways, through Mitigation (or reduction) of emissions driving the climate change and adaptation for the effects that cannot be undone.

Adaptation requires redrawing lines and reshaping lives, that can be expensive and local governments barely have enough resources to fund these.

On the similar lines, a 2020 report in regards with the European Commission has calculated a period of 50 years to make its buildings more sustainable and resilient to climate change.

Humankind needs to pay urgent attention on the impending ecological crisis and can rather treat this as an economic opportunity, grabbing the very chance to make our cities more equitable and inclusive for the 21st century and beyond.

By Alaina Ali Beg

I am a lover of all arts and therefore can dream myself in all places where the World takes me. I am an avid animal lover and firmly believes that Nature is the true sorcerer.

One thought on “Jakarta is losing its “capital” status while sinking: Reasons, Challenges, Solutions, Alternatives,”
  1. It’s interesting to see how often climate change warnings are based on models rather than facts. An actual study of Jakarta published by five Indonesian researchers reviewed rainfall, groundwater extraction, subsidence, erosion, and deforestation during 2000-2019. They didn’t mention climate change at all, because the other factors sufficed to account for frequent flooding. See figure 4:
    https://jurnal.uns.ac.id/jged/article/view/44870/30685

    Of course, if you are bound by the dogma that climate change is THE ecological issue, you probably will find their conclusions unacceptable. Your own article fails to mention deforestation caused by wealthy people building palatial homes on hillsides near Jakarta, thereby removing trees. Those homeowners laugh when they hear foreign experts echo “flooding is because of climate change” instead of publicizing *anything* about housing construction leading to deforestation.

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