Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced plans this past week to move the country’s capital away from Jakarta, reportedly the fastest sinking city in the world. While the decision is not a new idea – it has been talked about since back in 1957 – the time has come to put words and plans into action.
Widodo presented a preliminary relocation study to the National Development Planning Agency, also called Bappenas, during a cabinet meeting Monday (April 29), according to The Jakarta Post.
“In Java, the population is 57 percent of the total for Indonesia, or more than 140 million people, to the point that the ability to support this, whether in terms of the environment, water or traffic in the future, will no longer be possible so I decided to move outside Java,” Widodo told local media, as The Financial Times reported.
It needs to be noted that Indonesia held its presidential election on April 17, and according to private polls, Widodo is the winner, though his opponent, Prabowo Subianto, has not conceded. The official results of the election are to be announced on May 22, reports EcoWatch.
The reason behind Jakarta’s sinking
A report, published in October 2018 by London-based Christian Aid looked at eight city case studies from around the world, exploring some of the underlying reasons for vulnerability, and then the additional impact that climate change will have on their people.
Jakarta topped the list that also included London, UK, and Houston, Texas. Jakarta is sinking at the rate of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) a year. Today, about 40 percent of the city already lies below sea level, and in coastal districts, the sinking has been as much as 4.27 meters (14 feet) in recent years.
The Christian Aid report did point out that rising sea levels, caused by climate change were an important driver of coastal flooding and the eventual inundation of the city, However, there are other factors involved that could also apply to other cities on the report’s list.
Jakarta’s fundamental problem
Jakarta is located on the northwest coast of Java, the most populated island in the world. Java has a population of 141 million, and if you include the surrounding islands, 145 million people. Almost 57 percent of Indonesia’s population lives on Java.
Jakarta and it’s metro area has a population of over 10 million people, cramped together in an area about 6,392 square kilometers (2,468 square miles). Jakarta is predicted to reach 35.6 million people by 2030 to become the world’s biggest megacity, a designation that would mean Jakarta’s population would almost equal the total population of Canada.
While Jakarta is, indeed, a victim of climate change, it is an even bigger victim of its own policies, or perhaps, a lack of good government policies. The city’s growing population is putting a great deal of stress on its infrastructure. Traffic congestion keeps the air hazy with pollution from vehicle exhaust, and over half the population does not have access to piped, clean water.
Jakarta’s buildings span distinct historical and cultural periods. Architectural styles reflect Malay, Javanese, Arabic, Chinese and Dutch influences. But after independence, the process of nation-building in Indonesia and demolishing the memory of colonialism was as important as the symbolic building of arterials, monuments, and government buildings.
By the early 1960s, Jakarta was taking on the trapping of the modern world with a building boom that has continued into the 21st century. There are now 88 skyscrapers in the capital city that reach or exceed 150 meters (490 feet), putting Jakarta at the top 10 of world rankings.
Jakarta has more buildings taller than 500 feet (150 meters) than any other Southeast Asia or southern hemisphere cities. The Gama Tower, soaring 310 meters (1,017 feet), is the tallest building in Jakarta. These tall buildings are literally sinking into the ground, as evidenced by some of the ground floors being filled with mud.
Jakarta’s water problem
A large city or metropolitan area needs a lot of water – not only for drinking, cooking, and other personal uses but for industry. Jakarta is no different than say, New York City, another high-population area. However, where New York has been bringing water into the city through massive aqueducts and pipes, Jakarta has not done this.
Jakarta’s problem is its own citizens. For years, residents and industries have been draining the city’s aquifers, often illegally, to the point that the land is now collapsing. Wired.com likens the situation to a giant water bottle. “If you empty too much of it and give it a good squeeze, it’s going to buckle.”
“And despite rains and the rivers, incoming water does not replenish the soils, as over 97 percent of Jakarta is covered in impermeable asphalt and concrete. The resulting subsidence of the soils is exacerbated by a lack of sediment being brought downstream by rivers, which normally offsets some of the anthropogenic water extraction,” according to the Christian Aid report.
With the soil on which the city is built subsiding, and much of the city now below sea level, the rivers sometimes flow upstream due to the deformation of the land. You would think that if people stopped pumping groundwater, the sinking of the land would stop, but even this won’t work now.
“This has been happening for so long, that when you remove water from the ground the porous structure collapses,” says University of Oregon earth scientist Estelle Chaussard, who’s studied land subsidence in Jakarta. “The problem is that a large amount of this subsidence, and this decrease in porous storage of the aquifer, is irreversible.”
Coastal flooding around the world is predicted to get worse as time goes on, it’s just that in Jakarta, it is happening at an accelerated pace. Those people who can afford to move will find a safer location to live, either off the island or someplace in the interior.
But for those left behind, there will be death from the flooding waters, and if some are lucky to survive the flooding, they will have to contend with raw sewage, disease and lack of health care.
