Ambassador Lambert Grijns: ‘Hundreds of houses in Indonesia are uninhabitable due to flooding’ | ministries
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Blog entry | 13-06-2022 | Get to know our ambassadors and their work
Land subsidence, climate change and sea level rise. As a water expert, Ambassador Lambert Grijns is in the right place in Jakarta. What are the Netherlands and Indonesia doing together in the fight against water?
Jakarta, a low-lying city of 17 million inhabitants, experiences flooding every rainy season. “While we are talking, the water is pouring down from the sky,” said Ambassador Lambert Grijns from the embassy in Jakarta. “In the Netherlands we will be shocked, here floods are normal. Everyone knows the word for tidal waves in rivers: banjir†
Plastic waste in rivers
Peaks in rainfall are not a problem if the soil can hold the water. But just like in the Netherlands, a larger part of the earth consists of concrete or stone. While the upper reaches of the river in Jakarta were once green, the mountains are now built with holiday homes. As a result, the water does not disappear into the soil, but water it away. It will be difficult to drain because the river is full of mattresses, carcasses and plastic waste. With the result. Lambert Grijns: “In Jakarta, the ‘orange army’, people in orange suits, is now keeping the drainage channels and rivers clean.”
subsidence
For several decades, the north coast of Java has also been struggling with subsidence. Average soil in Jakarta 4 to 5 centimeters per year. In some coastal areas this is even more than 10 centimeters per year. The main cause is groundwater extraction. More 60% of Jakarta is not connected to a water system; residents and companies pump up their water. By pumping devilish the ground level.
Uninhabitable houses in Semarang
pressure on sea levels due to climate change. There are regular tidal waves and dikes break, areas are flooded. Lambert Grijns recently visited the area around Semarang, the fifth largest city in the country, with his colleagues. This area is struggling with both subsidence and underwater by sea. In the village of Demak, only the roofs of houses are still above water. Houses of hundreds of residents have become uninhabitable. The lighthouse sinks further.”
In recent years, the Dutch embassy has played a role in setting up cooperation in the field of water management. Lambert Grijns: “In Semarang, which has more manageable proportions than the metropolis of Jakarta, cooperation is a bit faster than in the capital. The embassy maintains contact with all parties within the Indonesian government to properly position Dutch companies.”
Reinforcing coastline with mangroves
That is bearing fruit. In Jakarta, Dutch funding and expertise were deployed to strengthen the coastal region through the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development project. And Boyan Slat’s The Ocean Clean Up helps keep the rivers clean.
Dutch parties in Demak successfully collaborated with the local community on mangrove restoration through the ‘Building with Nature’ project. With cheap and simple solutions for subsidence and from the sea against.
In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is co-funding the WaterWorx project, which aims to ensure that 10 million people in Semarang and the surrounding area have better access to water and sanitation by 2030.
moving jakarta
Despite the many collaborations, Jakarta is clamoring for part of the capital to be relocated. The aim of the move is to relieve Jakarta and Java, spread economic development and establish political power outside Java. President Joko Widodo chose a symbolic location in the heart of the archipelago, on Kalimantan (Borneo).
But current plans, with a volatile 300,000 government officials, offer little relief. According to Lambert Grijns, it is an uncertain project. “Construction has yet to begin. In 2024, the current president must hand over the baton and the financial underpinnings are not yet complete.”
Knowledge exchange
that is why the Netherlands continues to work on solutions in every way. For example, a Dutch expert works at the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is co-financer of the ‘Blue Deal’, in which employees of Dutch water boards meet five Indonesian colleagues.
Urban water management
Through the Dutch Training & Exposure Programme, the partnership between Rotterdam and Jakarta, the opportunity to expand their knowledge in the field of urban water management and spend a period in the Netherlands to learn from Dutch best practices.
Finally, there are also company to company great collaboration projects. For example, wastewater from hospitals and Friesland Campina has factories in Indonesia before it flows into the river. Lambert Grijns glances outside. The street is now flooded. “Water trade will only grow in the coming years due to climate change, sea level rise and land subsidence.” He will soon be signing a new water project in Semarang. “The Netherlands is pre-eminently a country that is familiar with the struggle with water.”