Amid Rising Sea Levels, Coastal Villages In Indonesia Adapt To Underwater Living

Climate change is one of the most alarming issues experienced by people globally. It encompasses the melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, etc. Natives in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, are facing a similar situation as many coastal areas around this region are submerged. As per various estimates, most of the coastal areas could be submerged by 2050. The worst affected by this climatic change will be the villages situated in the coastal areas. Some of the villages, Timbul Sloko and Bedono, have been fully engulfed underwater. The natives living here are forced to proceed with their daily work by living underwater only. Videos of these villages and some other areas flooded with water have surfaced on social media.

In this clip, social media users can see how the floodwater has engulfed the residential areas in Timbul Sloko. People have also formed a makeshift pathway with the help of wooden logs to enter the village safely. There is not even a single space that has not been submerged under the water.

Another tourist location, named Alam Indah Beach located in Tegal, Central Java, Indonesia. As seen in the clip, the area adjacent to this beach is getting flooded by the water.

In this video, the floods caused by the Meduri River have also impacted the Pekalongan district in Indonesia. The video shows that people are carrying on with their daily activities despite the poor condition of the roads.

Due to these problems, the Indonesian government is planning to relocate to a new capital- Nusantara. As reported in Al Jazeera, Nusantara is being built more than 1,000km (620 miles) away in Borneo island’s East Kalimantan province. As per the Nusantara’s website, President Joko Widodo plans to host Indonesia’s 79th Independence Day celebrations in Nusantara in August 2024. In Nusantara, in the initial phase, the core infrastructure for 500,000 residents will have been completed.

This step by the government has not received a good response from many people. One of them is Edvin Aldrian, a professor of meteorology and climatology. Aldrian told Al Jazeera, “Building a new capital might also amount to ‘only moving the problem.’ He said that shifting the capital will not solve the increasingly extreme rainfall and flooding in Jakarta and Nusantara.