Tidal flooding and quality of life in Semarang’s coastal plain

Program Magister Lingkungan dan PerkotaanUniversitas Katolik Soegijapranata Semarang

Introduction

• Semarang’s coastal plain has suffered from tidal flooding (rob) for three decades

• Causes:• Climate change• Land subsidence• Poor drainage management

• Which is the main cause? No agreement

Introduction

• Climate change causes:– Changes in the frequency and intensity of

precipitation, causing water scarcity in some regions and increased precipitation in others.

– Rise in sea level– Changes in rainfall patterns– Increased intensity and frequency of extreme

weather events

Introduction

• Annual rise of sea level between 1.5 millimetres to 9.73 millimetres (Wirakusumah and Lubis, 2002,Manurung et

al. 2002, Adhitya 2003) • Annual rate of land subsidence between 2

centimetres to 20 centimetres per year (Sarbidi, 2002

quoted in Wirasatriya, 2006). • Tidal flooding caused by the combination of

rising sea level and land subsidence has effected 12,000 hectares land area where 120,000 people live (Kementerian Pekerjaan Umum, 2009).

Declining quality of life

• What initially was an environmental problem has set off additional problems: – physical– economical– social– health – psychological

• This, in turn, have reduced the quality of life of the people effected

Quality of life

• Quality of life is the product of the interaction of a number of different factors - social, health, economic, and environmental conditions - which cumulatively, and often in unknown ways, interact to affect both human and social development at the level of individuals and societies

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) of Canada, 2000

Quality of life

Quality of life is concerned with the overall concept of well being, both the subjective as well as the objective aspects:

• quality of life refers to individuals’ life situations

• quality of life is a multi-dimensional concept.

• quality of life is measured by objective as well as subjective indicators.

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2003)

Quality of life

• Quality of life is the degree to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his/her life. Possibilities result from the opportunities and limitations each person has in his/her life and reflect the interaction of personal and environmental factors

• Being, Belonging and Becoming are the three major domains of quality of life

The Quality of Life Research Unit, University of Toronto

Quality of life

• It is virtually impossible to determine common indicators or criteria to measure the quality of life of individuals within a population

• Nevertheless, it still can be reasonably assumed that the higher average level of diet, shelter, safety, as well as freedoms and rights a population has, the better the overall quality of life that particular population enjoys

Declining quality of life

• Physical problems very visible

• Economical and social problems less visible

• Psychological problems often unseen

• The worst hit are the poor

Mobility

• Despite the enormity of the problems, there has not been large scale out-migration

• Why? Because the people do not have much choice and are trapped by their poverty in their current situation

• With the sea level still going up, causing even more serious environmental degradation, how long can the people survive in their present habitat?

Thank you