Environment Ministry Rallies Island Nations to Protect Coastal Areas from Rising Sea Levels

Vice Minister of Environment and Vice Head of the Environmental Control Agency (KLH/BPLH), Diaz Hendropriyono, is rallying support from island nations to face the threat of rising sea levels due to climate change, which endangers coastal areas and small islands. The effort was undertaken by Diaz in a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Berlin Climate Mobility Forum 2026 in Berlin, Germany. According to him, the issue of climate mobility is not only related to population displacement due to the impacts of climate change, but also concerns the protection of homes, livelihoods, culture, and the future of affected communities. “Therefore, our efforts aim to ensure that adaptation and mobility solutions protect our people. Climate mobility is ultimately about people, their homes, their livelihoods, their culture, and their future,” Diaz said on Tuesday (23/6). At the forum, Diaz held meetings with several high-ranking officials from island and developing nations, including President of Palau Surangel S. Whipps Jr., Governor-General of Tuvalu Tofiga Vaevalu Falani, Minister of Climate Change, Environment and Energy of the Maldives Ali Shareef, and Chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection of Tajikistan Sheralizoda Bahodur Ahmadjon. Diaz stated that the various meetings discussed opportunities for cooperation and projections of the impact of rising sea levels, which are expected to increasingly threaten island nations and coastal regions in the future. He also met with South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willem Abraham Stephanus Aucamp. In that meeting, both parties affirmed the importance of international collaboration to reduce the risk of losses due to the impacts of climate change. In addition, Diaz discussed with the Director General for International Climate Action of Germany, Heike Henn. According to Diaz, Germany views the BCMF as an important momentum to advance the climate mobility agenda ahead of COP-31 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In another meeting, the Managing Director of the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, Kamal Akrane, mentioned that Indonesia holds a strategic position as a bridge between developed and developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Diaz stressed that Indonesia has a major interest in the issue of climate mobility because it is an archipelagic nation with more than 17,000 islands facing various impacts of climate change, from rising sea levels and extreme weather to saltwater intrusion and coastal abrasion. “Indonesia is a collection of more than seventeen thousand islands and communities on the front lines facing challenges such as rising sea levels, extreme weather, saltwater intrusion, and coastline erosion, like other countries, including small island nations,” he said. According to Diaz, large archipelagic countries, coastal areas, and small islands need to strengthen international cooperation so that the issue of climate mobility receives wider attention in the global climate change agenda.