Coastline strengthening in Indonesia

Building with Nature

Author: Wetlands International

“Building with Nature” is a project initiated by Ecoshape, a consortium of private parties, government organizations, NGOs, and research institutes. A small-scale pilot was initiated in Demak in 2013. Following its success, the Ecoshape consortium and their Indonesian partners agreed, in 2015, on a new five-year cooperative venture to improve coastal safety around Demak to restore 20km of coastline and
increase aquaculture production.

The initiative has enhanced coastal security for about 70,000 vulnerable people and has avoided further coastal flooding and erosion in Central Java. Furthermore, “Building with Nature” gives these people a long-term perspective on sustainable economic development.

Building with Nature intends to manifest an integrated coastal zone management approach that provides resilience by combining smart engineering and ecological rehabilitation while introducing a sustainable land use practice. The project is characterized by the use of services that nature provides as an integral part of the design of hydraulic infrastructure. And thereby offering an alternative to conventional hard-infrastructure approaches to coastal security. 

Instead of fighting nature with dams and dikes, Building with Nature Solutions works with and along the
dynamics of nature. It provides benefits for nature and society – such as adaptation to climate change, flood prevention, biodiversity conservation, food supply, and carbon sequestration.

The “Large-scale Building with Nature” project applies
the following three-pronged approaches:

Reclaiming the land and restoring the mangrove belt
The pilot applies an innovative approach to addressing coastal and water management challenges based on the presumption that coastal safety will be regained if the mangrove greenbelt is restored. The pilot started constructing a new series of permeable structures (permeable dams), mud-nourishment and agitation dredging, and mangrove rehabilitation in the rural area. Permeable dams replicate the structure of mangrove root systems. It was undertaken to reclaim the land and restore the fine sediment balance, thereby recreating a stable environment for mangrove forest recovery. Its principle is to work with and along the sea currents, river flows, and waves rather than fighting against these natural processes.

In this sense, the pilot also introduces Integrated Water Management Planning, river restoration, and demonstration activities that offer an alternative to deep groundwater extraction, which is currently causing land subsidence. Meanwhile, in urban areas with little space, hard engineering techniques are strengthened by mangrove belts, thus diminishing the maintenance costs while increasing value, e.g., for recreation.

Climate smart and productive land-use
The project area was previously a prosperous district; however, with the collapse of the prawn farming, so too did the economy of the community. Therefore, the project has focused on boosting the economic situation by promoting a Bio-Rights1 approach, which has been successfully implemented in other areas in Indonesia. In this case, the project introduces sustainable aquaculture in the abandoned ponds, which
can co-exist with a healthy mangrove forest. It is done in a way that allows space for the mangroves and ponds, using techniques that use fewer chemicals, increase yields, and prevent soil subsidence and hydrological disturbance. This substantially enhances shrimp production and the nearshore fisheries, the two important industries for local economic growth. Part of the extra income will finance coastal safety measures, which in turn will ensure the future sustainability of these activities.

Securing the long-term maintenance of the mangrove belts
To ensure the sustainability of the “Building with Nature” initiative, and training and embedding the approach in policy and planning are crucial elements to enable replication in other areas. The project supports integral solutions for improved coastal zone management by contributing to developing a district-level Master Plan, together with communities, government, private sector, and civil society.

The initiative is the leading international case of the “Building with Nature Innovation program” and is strongly supported by the Indonesian government and local communities. The Building with Nature public-private partnership aims to promote sustainable coastal engineering approaches that use the natural protection provided by ecosystems like mangroves and salt marsh habitats. It represents the transition of traditional infrastructure designs that typically fight against nature towards solutions that work with and alongside nature, which are often more cost-effective, while bringing more prosperity to the local economy, such as through enhanced fisheries and carbon storage.

Source: https://www.wetlands.org/un-recognises-building-with-nature-indonesias-efforts-with-world-restoration-flagship-award/