A Total Of 115 Islands In Indonesia, Both Medium And Small, Are Threatened With Sinking Due To Rising Sea Levels

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Main Expert Researcher of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Prof. Eddy Hermawan said that 115 medium and small islands in Indonesia are in danger of disappearing or sinking due to rising sea levels. and this small thing can sink," said Eddy in a virtual discussion on the Threat of Sinking of the Coastal City of North Java, What are the Mitigation Steps? in Jakarta, Thursday. Eddy hopes that attention will also be paid to medium and small islands in Indonesia, such as tourist areas including Bali and Nias and other islands along the west coast of Sumatra which are also in danger of sinking, so that they are not only focused on the issue of the threat of Jakarta. or coastal cities on the north coast of Java. "It's not only Jakarta that is threatened, small islands are also threatened," he said. According to Eddy, the sea level rise is due to climate change and land subsidence, so a combination of mitigation and adaptation efforts is needed in the future so that "Not only global warming, land subsidence is also a big enough contributor that causes Jakarta to be submerged," he said. generate and implement innovations that can be a solution to to that problem.

Eddy said the simulation results show that sea level rise will permanently cover Jakarta in 2050 around 160.4 square km or equal to 24.3 percent of the current total area. Sea water enters, among others, into the areas of Tanjung Priok, Pademangan, Penjaringan, Soekarno Hatta Airport, Koja and Cilincing. In addition to climate change and land subsidence, Eddy said the condition of the Jakarta area also causes the potential for the area to be submerged in sea water because it is a sloping area. and the bay. "Jakarta's local conditions are also an easy attack for seawater to enter because the land is sloping, soft, and shaped like a bay," he said. "Basically what is happening now is a combination of rising waters due to melting ice at the poles but also land subsidence that we cannot really control," he said.