Bappenas: No uniform intervention to address El Nino impacts

Director of Environment at the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, Nizhar Marizi, stated there is no uniform intervention to address the impacts of El Nino on each major island. “With the differing characteristics of potential El Nino impacts in each region, there is no single intervention that can answer and be applied uniformly across all areas,” he said during the National Dialogue agenda ‘Strengthening Cross-Sectoral Responses in Facing the Impacts of a Strong El Nino’ at the Bappenas Building, Jakarta, on Tuesday. He explained that Sumatra and Kalimantan are potentially affected, primarily through an increased risk of land fires, reduced water availability and agricultural production, and heightened health risks. Java is potentially impacted by a strong El Nino, particularly through decreased water availability and agricultural production, increased risk of land fires and health problems, and reduced productivity of hydropower and mini-hydropower plants, with opportunities for increased solar power plant productivity and salt production. The Bali-Nusa Tenggara Islands are potentially affected through decreased water availability and agricultural production, with opportunities for increased solar power and seaweed productivity. Sulawesi Island is likely to be impacted through decreased water availability and agricultural production, increased risk of land fires and climate-sensitive diseases, and reduced productivity of hydropower plants and aquaculture, alongside increased productivity of capture fisheries and seaweed. Finally, Maluku and Papua Islands are potentially affected in the health and marine and fisheries sectors, with opportunities for increased capture fisheries and seaweed productivity. “We need to look at this response; the response compiled in this policy brief also considers a combination of location, type of impact, and the characteristics of each sector in each region, so that the response is more spatial and specific, and therefore not the same in every region,” said Nizhar Marizi. He conveyed that a strong El Nino could potentially cause various impacts on development across multiple sectors. Besides negative impacts, this phenomenon also presents opportunities that can be utilised through proper management. Based on the characteristics of the impacts, there are four main clusters. The first is forests, land, and agriculture, which are at risk of forest and land fires and decreased productivity of rice, palm oil, and coffee, but have the opportunity to optimise the production of secondary crops, horticulture, and sugarcane. The second is the energy and water resources cluster, with the potential for decreased water availability and electricity production from hydropower and micro-hydropower plants, but opportunities to optimise electricity production from solar power and rooftop solar panels. The third is the health cluster, considering the increased incidence of climate-sensitive diseases, including dengue fever, malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea. The last is the aquatic food cluster, where there is a decrease in the productivity of aquaculture and seaweed, but also opportunities for increased capture fisheries yields and salt production.