Environment Ministry: 2,145 River Basin Areas Need Revitalization

Participants of Bakohumas Thematic Forum of Environment & Forestry Ministry in a group photo, at the Manggala Wanabakti Building, Jakarta, Monday (12/11). (Photo by: Bakohumas)

Indonesia has recently been hit by a series of disasters, 80 percent of which are hedrometereological disasters, such as floods, droughts, flash floods, and landslides , according to Director of Management and Provision of Information of Ministry of Communication and Information Siti Meiningsih.

“Every year, disasters continue to occur, indicating that many river basin areas (DAS) in Indonesia are in critical conditions and the number of DAS in critical condition is  on the rise every year,” Meiningsih said at a Thematic Forum of Public Relations Coordinating Board (Bakohumas), in Manggala Wanabakti Building of Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Jakarta, Monday (12/11).

Data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry 2018 shows that of the total 17,000 river basin areas in Indonesia, 2,145 of them must be revitalized, including 108 that are in critical conditions.

Meiningsih added that in the 2015-2019 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJM), the Government has prioritized the revitalization of 15 out of 108 critical river basin areas, including: Citarum, Ciliwung, Cisadane, Serayu, Bengawan Solo, Brantas, Asahan Toba, Siak, Musi, Waisekampu, Waiseputi, Moyo, Kapuas, Jenebberang, and Sapdana river basin areas.

“Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Research and Development is aware of the complexity of the impact of land dehydration and the total area of ??critical lands in Indonesia is estimated at 24.3 million hectares,” Meiningsih  said, adding that the Government needs to revitalize the river basin areas as it is mandated in Government Regulation Number 37 of 2012 on River Basin Area Management.

“The revitalization is not only in terms of building infrastructure but also empowering the community to actively participate in managing the river basin area,” Meiningsih said.

Meiningsih went on to say that erosion on the island of Java alone has reached USD400 million in economic losses per year since 2005. Based on the 2015 National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) data, even though the total quantity of water in Indonesia has a surplus of 449.05 million cubic meters, there is a deficit of 100 billion cubic meter and 2.3 billion cubic meters in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara respectively.

“This causes the number of people at risk of being affected by hydrometeorology disasters will increase from 1.2 billion today to 1.6 billion by 2050,” Meingingsih concluded. (HEN/ES)

Translated by: Muhardi
Edited by: M. Ersan Pamungkas