* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Semarang, INDONESIA—Achmad fishes for a living from his home in Tapak Village. But lately, ensuring a healthy supply of fish requires a very different skill: dredging his fishing pond.
“When flooding occurs, a lot of waste chokes up the pond, and sediment builds up, killing our fish,” said Achmad. The sediment is often full of pollutants, a result of increased flooding that carries in waste from upstream rivers.
Tapak Village, a fishing community of 400 households, has been subject to more frequent floods along with other unusual climate-related issues including rising temperature, high salinity, and droughts.
Many years ago, Tapak’s residents cut down large areas of mangroves to increase the number and the size of their fishing ponds. Only recently did they realize the true impact of this: they unwittingly removed the village’s natural flood protection barriers. The village lost its natural protection from intruders, like waste from runoff and saline water from the sea. These intruders spoiled the water quality and a lot of fish in the ponds died.
To address this and other problems, local fishermen and other key actors in Semarang joined hands.
“Collaboration is key”, stresses Roni of Mercy Corps, Indonesia, a key partner of the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation. Semarang has been active in ACCCRN since 2009. Mercy Corps facilitated the multi-sectoral approach and established the City Core Team gathering the public sector, NGOs, academia, and local communities together to restore water quality and mangrove forests in Tapak and villages nearby.
To solve water Semarang’s quality problem, the City Core Team first conducted a feasibility study to better understand the best locations for rainwater harvesting, and the potential amount of rainwater that could be collected before the dry season.
The study found that Semarang had three coastal areas suitable for rainwater harvesting, explains Mr. Gunawan, head of Semarang’s environment agency. “We want to implement rainwater harvesting in these areas for two main reasons: first, to prevent excess runoff water during the rainy reason. Second, to conserve water supplies before dry season.”
The City Core Team is also educating the villagers and key actors about mangrove conservation.
“Because of the City Core Team, Tapak residents now realize the importance of mangroves which help protect their village from floods and seawater” said Mr. Gunawan.
Amalia, Project Manager of Bintari Foundation, ACCCRN local partner, said the Team tried to engage local people in planting seedling to restore mangrove forests.
Now, local communities are also actively participating in the design and building of seawalls that are being constructed with locally available materials like bamboo and tyres. “We are now teaching the communities to grow more mangroves and encouraging them to get into the ecotourism industry. This way we can improve their livelihoods while protecting young trees,” said Amalia.
Semarang is another successful case where various entities work together and use their different expertise and skills to enhance a city’s resilience. Collaboration and multi-sectoral approach are the keys to such success.
