Climate-resilient coastal cities: training for East Java officials
Officials from Indonesia’s East Java province strengthened their ability to create sustainable and climate-resilient coastal cities during an IHE Delft training held earlier this year. The training enhanced the skills and knowledge of executive managers in integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), with a special focus on sustainability and climate resilience.
East Java, with its extensive coastline, high population density and economic dependence on coastal resources is particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change. Rapid industrialization, port development, urbanization and agriculture contribute to pollution, deforestation and overfishing. This harms ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves that protect against coastal erosion and flooding. Rising sea levels and increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as tidal surges and intense rainstorms, heighten the risk of flooding and threaten both biodiversity and local livelihoods. ICZM is urgently needed for climate resilience.
Water-sensitive city design
The eight officials, from the Offices of Public Works, Public Housing, Construction and Infrastructure Improvement and the Regional Agency for Disaster Management, learned about water-sensitive city design, challenges in managing delta areas and the transformations required to develop sustainable and climate-resilient coastal cities during the course, specially developed by IHE Delft to meet their needs.
Seascape connectivity
The participants also learned about seascape connectivity, which covers the ecological and physical links between various habitats in coastal environments. They explored how species, nutrients and sediments interact across different parts of the seascape, such as mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and the open ocean. Building on this foundational knowledge, they delved into the ICZM concept, with a focus on using nature-based solutions to restore or strengthen the resilience of the seascape.
"This training has opened up the possibility for pilot projects or spin-off training with detailed technical aspects on nature-based solutions, in particular in coastal cities."
Nature-based solutions
A visit to the Marker Wadden, an artificial archipelago under development and part of a large-scale nature restoration project in the Markermeer lake near Amsterdam, offered insights into lessons learned in working with nature-based solutions.
Baju Trihaksoro, Head of Public Works at the Office of Water Resources, East Java Province, said he appreciated learning about nature-based solutions, which he said could be applied in East Java: "This training has opened up the possibility for pilot projects or spin-off training with detailed technical aspects on nature-based solutions, in particular in coastal cities," he said.
Valuation of ecosystem services
The four-day course, held in September, emphasised the valuation of ecosystem services, using mangrove ecosystems as an example. Participants used East Java case studies to assess the feasibility of NbS for climate adaptation, applying the IHE Delft-developed NbS selection framework, and the motivation-ability (MOTA) framework.
“The MOTA framework gave us another perspective on stakeholder engagement,” said Gatot Subroto, Head of Regional Agency for Disaster Management of the East Java Province. “The ecosystem services course was also an eye-opener. Recognising multiple services of such an ecosystem, we can better value and understand its benefits,”
The course concluded with participants assessing their strategies by evaluating the effectiveness of flood risk management policies, considering the interactions between citizens, institutions, the urban environment and hydrodynamic processes.
By providing crucial knowledge and fostering the sharing of ideas among East Java officials and international experts, the training paved the way for more climate-resilient coastal city management in Indonesia.
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