Sahabat Geografi

The rise of global issues on climate change in the last decade attracted the attention of Indonesian society in general. Topics of discussion on the issue are taken seriously by the academic community.

A number of scientists in various countries carried out intensively scientific meetings related with climate change and its problem. However, the general society who does not know about the term of climate change feels confuse, so, there are some questions about it. What is a climate change? Why is climate change? and how does it impact to life? and how to adapt to climate change?.

According to Sen (2008) Climate change is a change of the old tendencies in average climate such as changes in average temperature. Further explained that climate change refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural changes or as a result of human activity.

In principle, the climate is dynamic in the sense that always changes from time to time. Analogically, it is the same as the continental change, known as continental drift, where the continent in the past consisted of just one big land called supercontinents, then become Eurasia and Gondwana continent, and then expand again for million year to become the continent today.

Causal Factors

According to Burroughs (2007) climate change is caused by two factors, namely: (i) factors are caused by human activities, including gas emissions, dust and aerosols, desertification and deforestation, and the ozone hole, (ii) factors are caused by natural activity i.e. autovarian and non-linearity, the atmosphere and ocean interaction, ocean currents, volcanoes, solar activity and its spots, sea tide power, orbital variation, continental drift, changes in atmospheric composition, gas expenses from the earth, and natural disasters.

Indonesia is a developing country which has natural resources, implicitly contributing to climate change from the actions of human activities that have not been able to process these natural resources. For example, the forest fire by people who are not responsible, vehicle emissions and industrial activities in the  city which contributes CO₂ to the atmosphere, land-use conversion, mining activities, and many more factors that contribute to climate change in Indonesia.

Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change and variability will affect hidrological cycle which in turn will affect the distribution and availability of water resources for domestic use, food production, industrial activities, and also for hydropower production (van Dam 1999). Further explained that in the past century, human activities have started to affect the global climate, the effect is not only high population growth, but also application of technology developed for survival, to raise the standard of living, and most regrettable again is for non-peace.

According to Schubert et al. (2008), climate change also impacts climate parameters suc as temperature, precipitation, tropical syclon, and sea level rise. Karamouz et al. (2011) adds that the frequency and extent of drought in the world has increased due to climate change in recent years.

Various natural disasters in Indonesia is the impact of climate change itself. As reported by Marfai et al. (2008) in his research that the sea level rise or coastal flood disaster (rob) occurred in Semarang City almost every year, where it causes an economic loss, disruption of transport systems, and trading activity disorder. Hadmoko et al. (2010) also describes in his research that the high population growth, intensive land-use change, and the lack of public awareness of the environmental impact on the height of landslides in Menoreh mountains, Yogyakarta, which resulted in a high death toll and the economic loss.

Disaster recently as reported by various news media is massive drought in several regions in Indonesia due to the long dry season, so residents are forced to use river water for daily consumption needs because their wells dry up. Zavalloni et al. (2008) in his study explains that global warming accelerates land surface drying, increasing the incidence of extreme weather events such as severe droughts with devastating effects on ecosystem structure and function.

Society’s Adaptation

Related to the impacts caused by climate change, according to Karamouz et al. (2011) reservoirs, ponds, and pond water storage play an important role in mitigating drought, therefore the reservoir operate algorithm in the time period of drought and can help to mitigate the effects of drought caused by subtracting the estimated water savings.

Management of water resources effectively is necessary to anticipate the water deficit, and watershed management (DAS) is so important to estimate and surface flow for irrigation, industrial and domestic. Hadmoko et al. (2010) also provides an explanation related to the mitigation, prevention, and mitigation of landslides by providing early warning information system in the form of maps, leaflets, and posters in prone areas to such disasters.

Society’s adaptation to these conditions is the right decision for their survivals. One form of mitigation of the impacts of climate change is the environmental aspect of preserving the environment by reforestation on marginal areas, the management of industrial and household waste according the rules of the environment, control of the conversion of land use, as well as reducing gas emissions. In addition, efforts to restrictions on population growth, icreasing welfare, as well as in social and economic progress is also main indicator for mitigation.

Contributions to the academics collaborate with government officials trying to invite the community to come together to participate in the mitigation of natural disasters due to climate change. Here are the challenges of Indonesian society today, whether it remains strong with net daily habits by disregarding the problems that have been described trends by various parties, or will change habits with better and more useful for survival in the future?

References:

Burroughs J.W. (2007) Climate Change: A Multidisciplinary Approach, UK, Cambridge University Press

Hadmoko D.S., Lavigne F., Sartohadi J., Hadi P., Winaryo, 2010, Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment and their Application in Risk Management and Landuse Planning in Eastern Flank of Menoreh Mountains, Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, Nat Hazards (2010) 54: 623-642

Karamouz M., Imen S., Nazif S., 2011, Development of a Deman Driven Hydro-Climatic Model for Drough Planning, Water Resour Manage, DOI 10.1007/s11269-011-9920-0

Marfai M.A., King L., Sartohadi J., Sudrajat S., Budiani S.R., Yulianto F., 2008, The Impact of Tidal Flooding on a Coastal Community in Semarang, Indonesia, Environmentalis, (2008) 28: 237-248

Schubert R., Schellnhuber H. J., Buchmann N., Epiney A., Grießhammer R., Kulessa M., Messner D., Rahmstorf S., Schmid J., (2008) Climate Change as A Security Risk, London, Earthscan

Şen Z., (2008) Solar Energy Fundamentals and Modeling Techniques: Atmosphere, Environment, Climate Change and Renewable Energy, London, Springer-Verlag London Limited

van Dam J.C. (1999) Impacts of Climate Change and Climate Variability on Hydrological Regimes, UK, Cambridge University Press

Zavalloni C., Gielen B., Lemmens C.M.H.M., De Boeck H.J., Blasi S., Van den Bergh S., Nijs I., Ceulemans R., 2008, Does a Warmer Climate with Frequent Mild Water Shortages Protect Grassland Communities against a Prolonged Drought?, Plant Soil, (2008) 308:119–130