Authorities Call IKN Implementing Spons City As A Natural-Based Solution

Deputy for Environment and Natural Resources, OIKN Myrna Safitri. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

The Capital Archipelago Authority (OIKN) revealed that the archipelago is implementing a sponge city to restore and maintain the natural cycle of water as a Natural-Based Solution.

"IKN applies the concept of a sponge city to restore and maintain the natural cycle of water that changes due to changes in function and land cover as well as increasing water availability. The application of this concept will provide water harvesting benefits for additional water availability and flood hazard reduction, water purification benefits and ecological conservation, efficient water resource systems, as well as economic, social and cultural benefits for the community," said Deputy for Environment and Natural Resources OIKN Myrna Safitri quoted from ANTARA, Friday, May 17.

Myrna said, Nature-Based Solutions are very suitable to be applied at IKN.

This considers the fact that first, is in line with the vision of becoming a smart and sustainable forest city, as stated in the Master Plan Nusantara 2022.

Second, the integrated infrastructure of Biru-Hijau Air (blue) and nature (green) is an integral part of IKN development so that it is habitable and in accordance with the existing urban ecosystem, and, thirdly, Nusantara has a unique value because it is located in the middle of a forest ecosystem and wants to reforestation the damaged ecosystem.

Nature-based solutions in IKN will have a unique variety of additional benefits in each project, depending on the solutions applied.

The IKN Authority has selected several potential small projects, assessed by several multi-criteria analyses.

Multi-criteria analysis is carried out by involving government agencies to understand priority fields and prioritize investment in Natural-Based Solutions for these various fields using the specified selection criteria.

There are 12 investment potentials for Natural-Based Solutions, evaluated and selected based on 10 qualitative selection criteria to provide a priority investment list.

Myrna Safitri explained about the policies and actions of the IKN Authority in escorting the relocation of the capital city from Jakarta to the archipelago, a clean city, climate security, sustainable, and habitable.

"Nusantara is aspired to be a city that prioritizes environmental conservation, through the concept of Smart Forest City and Net Zero City, which is pursued by reforosing 65 percent of the IKN area as a protected area," he said.

IKN is one of the cities that has a high endemic biodiversity point in Indonesia. IKN has 7 areas rich in biodiversity (with a radius of 50km), of which there are 3,889 species of which there are 440 species that are included in the IUCN Red-List.

Therefore, the IKN Authority already has a Biological Diversity Management Master Plan to protect biodiversity in accordance with global joint efforts at the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

In addition, the construction of the smart city of IKN was built on the topography of the tropical and tropical East Kalimantan region. This can allow disasters such as floods, landslides, drought, and forest fires to occur.

Therefore, these challenges need to be anticipated in the development of IKN, namely by Natural-Based Solutions through the principles of IKN as the City of Spons (Sponpok City). The goal is that the threat of environmental balance can be avoided.