Seven islands in the Seribu chain to disappear
Seven islands in the Seribu chain to disappear
JAKARTA (JP): A senior researcher with the Indonesia Institute
of Sciences (LIPI) said on Friday that seven islands in the
Seribu Islands chain will perish if the authorities fail to
implement preventive measures.
Research professor for the coastal environment Otto S.R.
Ongkosongo said the seven were Nyamuk Kecil, Damar Kecil, Kelor,
Air Besar (Ayer), Sakit, Kapal Onrust and Bidadari.
"The sea continuously bombards the islands causing erosion.
The problem is worsened by illegal sand and soil removal in the
islands, with the material being used for the construction of
buildings in Jakarta," he told The Jakarta Post at the LIPI
Oceanology office, located in Ancol, North Jakarta.
Of the seven islands, four are large and have only suffered
minor erosion, said Otto, who received his doctoral degree from
the School of Geology of the University of Bordeaux I, France.
"However, the erosion has reached far into the remaining three
islands, namely Nyamuk Kecil, Damar Kecil and Kelor island.
"I am afraid that those islands will disappear before the year
2020 if no preventive measures are taken," he predicted.
Otto added that 10 islands had disappeared since 1983,
including Van Der Smith, Ubi Besar, Air Sedang, Air Kecil, Nyamuk
Besar, Dapur, Jong, and Telegraf islands.
Otto said that Ubi Besar island, for example, disappeared in
the 1980's because the city administration removed the soil and
sand from the island and used them in the construction of
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport between 1983 and 1987.
Otto said the destruction of the islands had negative
consequences both for people living on the islands and on the
mainland.
"The islands cannot be used for earning a living anymore. The
number of fish will decrease if the islands disappear as the fish
won't have protective rocks to live in and shelter them from the
tide," he explained.
He said that the government could build sea defenses around
the islands to prevent erosion.
"The city administration should also prevent the removal of
sand and soil from the islands and seek other ways of carrying
out land reclamation on the Jakarta mainland," he said.
He lamented the government's slow response in having only
built sea defenses on a few islands, including Kelor island.
"Ideally, however, such defenses should be built on all of the
islands," he said.
Otto proposed a mutually beneficial plan under which the city
administration could earn revenue while the islands could be
saved from the ravages of erosion.
He said the city administration should try to entice the
wealthy to live part of the time on the islands, by turning them
into resorts.
"The city administration could build housing complexes on the
islands, with the profits from these complexes being used to
finance the maintenance of the islands.
"As long as the city administration can keep the islands from
becoming overpopulated, both aims could be achieved," he said.
The seven islands are part of 106 islands in the Seribu
Islands, which cover an area of some 69,976 square kilometers.
Only 11 of the 106 islands are inhabited, being home to at
least 17,761 people or 4,821 families, while the rest are
deserted or are being developed as tourist resorts. At least 28
of the islands are privately owned, while 34 others are owned by
private-sector companies. (asa)