As a
maritime country, there are certainly many marine and fishery potentials in
Indonesia being threatened by sea level rise. Serious potential impacts are
observed in several coastal areas of Indonesia such as northern coastal areas
of Java, eastern coastal areas of Sumatera and southern coastal areas of
Sulawesi. The subsidence of several small islands in the outermost borderline
of Indonesia’s territory has also become a serious threat due to sea level rise
and sea water intrusion into the land area. A one (1) meter rise alone can sink
405.000 hectares of coastal areas and sink 2.000 small islands located at sea
level as well as the coral reef areas. Data from the Ministry of Marine Affair
and Fisheries show that within the period of only 2 years, i.e 2005-2007,
Indonesia has lost 24 small islands in the Archipelago.
Out
of those 24 sunken islands, three islands were located within Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalem (NAD) province, three islands were located in North Sumatera
province, three islands were located in Papua province, five islands were
located in Riau Islands province, two islands were located in West Sumatera
province, one island were located in South Sulawesi province, and seven islands
were near Thousand Islands, Jakarta. These incidents have affected the
borderlines of Indonesia’s territories. One of the latest researches reveals
that minimum 8 out of the 92 outermost small islands which form the borderline
of Indonesia sea-water territory are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise.
There are many parts in coastal areas, which are made more vulnerable by the
erosion, which were already deterioted by human activities such as the
construction of piers and ocean dams, river dams, sand and rock mining, and
also mangrove deforestation.
Climate
change poses vast impacts on the coastal fishermen. The change in rainfall
pattern and the high sea level rise forces these fishermen in their fishing
boats to face unpredictable weather and high tide. Climate change has also
disrupted the livelihoods in many islands, such as the fishermen in Maluku
claim that they can no longer predict the right time and location to catch fish
due to the altered climate pattern. Out of the 2, 7 million fishermen in
Indonesia, about 80 percent of them are small-scaled and traditional fishermen
who are vulnerable to extreme climate variation at the sea. The following table
shows the potential impacts of climate change on the marine and fishery sector:
Tabel 1 Impact of Climate
Change on marine and Fishery Sector
No.
|
Environment Physical
Change
|
Potential Impact
|
1
|
Flooding/Inundation
at coastal area
|
Disruption
on social activities at the housing settlements
|
Disruption on the operational activities of infrastructure and
essential facilities at the coastal areas
|
||
2
|
The Increase of coastal erosion
|
Damage on housing settlements at the coastal areas
|
Damage on the infrastructure and essential facilities at he
coastal areas
|
||
3
|
The subsidence of small islands
|
Disruption on economic activities
|
Damage on the infrastructure and essential facilities
|
||
4
|
The
subsidence of the strategic outermost islands
|
Chaging
in country’s borderline due to the subsidence of strategic outermost islands
|
5
|
Flood
on rivers and estuaries
|
Damage
on the housing settlement, infrastructure, and essential facilities at the
coastal areas
|
6
|
Decrease
of water debit and water quality of the rivers and estuaries (drought)
|
Diminishing
the fresh water supply at the coastal housing settlement, essential
facilities, and fish ponds
|
Decreasing
the productivity of estuary and fresh water ponds
|
||
7
|
The
increase of salt intrusion on the mass of rivers and lands
|
Diminishing
the fresh water supply at the coastal housing settlements, vital facility,
and fish ponds
|
8
|
The
change in primary productivity à The change in fish migration pattern à
The shifting of fishing ground
|
Decreasing
or increasing the production of catch fishery à Decreasing or increasing the capacity of fish
processing unit
|
9
|
The
sudden change of wind pattern at the sea
|
Decreasing
the duration of fish catching at the sea à decreasing the production of catch fishery
|
Increasing
the gasoline consumption by fishermen’s boats
|
||
10
|
The
change on diverse composition of marine life, marine habitat damage
|
Degradation
of ocean resources and beach environment
|
11
|
The
change of hydraulic regime at wetlands
|
Degradation
of wetlands functioning as beach protection
|
12
|
The
weakening of deep sea circulation flow (termohalin
|
Heightening
the disturbance on global climate
|
Affecting
the human livelihood
|
Source
: Analysis and Projection ICCSR, 2010