Climate Crisis Deepens, Development Must Prioritise Environment

Indonesia is considered to have entered a climate crisis phase requiring immediate action. Emilya Nurjani, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Geography at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), stated that the impacts of climate change are now increasingly real and have disrupted various aspects of community life. “The climate change phenomenon occurring in Indonesia has caused greater impacts and resulted in disruptions to human life, so it can be called a climate crisis because it requires immediate action,” Emilya said on Tuesday (7/7). According to Emilya, this condition is reinforced by records from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), which noted that the period 2023-2025 were the three hottest years in modern observational history. Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) projects that the average global temperature for the period 2026-2030 will be between 1.3 and 1.9 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This condition increases the risk of extreme weather, drought, floods, and threats to food security and public health. Emilya noted that the world had actually committed to limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius through the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, a decade later, that target has not been achieved. “The continuing rise in the earth’s temperature is proof that the carbon emission reduction efforts undertaken by countries around the world have not been able to significantly curb the rate of global warming,” she said. She explained that rising air temperatures cause water demand to increase, accelerate evaporation, and heighten the risk of drought. On the other hand, rainfall patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable, causing shifts in the rainy and dry seasons. The intensity of extreme rainfall is also increasing, thereby raising the risk of floods, landslides, strong winds, and high waves. “This directly affects various sectors of life, especially agriculture, which faces changes in planting patterns, increased risk of crop failure, the re-emergence of pest attacks, and declining productivity,” she said. Emilya assessed that climate change risks must be a primary consideration in the formulation of Regional Spatial Plans (RTRW) and Detailed Spatial Plans (RDTR). According to her, development that ignores environmental carrying capacity has the potential to increase carbon emissions, reduce carbon absorption capacity, exacerbate the urban heat island phenomenon, decrease water absorption capacity, and increase flood risk. Therefore, she encouraged the implementation of spatial governance based on environmental carrying capacity through the integration of mitigation and adaptation strategies, including the development of nature-based solutions with green and blue infrastructure. “Facing climate change requires combining mitigation and adaptation, namely reducing the causes of climate change and reducing the impacts it causes,” Emilya concluded.