ANTHROPOGENIC HAZARDS
ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS: DEFORESTATION
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Jakarta floods due to ecological disaster: Environment Minister
“The floods that we now face are all a result of an ecological damage. Our ecology has been completely destroyed,” said Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya, while visiting the devastated are in Bogor on Monday.
“Everything happens because of human behavior which is not environmentally friendly, especially in Ciliwung, where garbage is being dumped into the river,” he said.
The destruction has occurred upstream area of Ciliwung river that runs through the capital, Jakarta, where flooding has already forced more than 65,000 people to flee their homes.
In the Ciliwung Watershed, the forest coverage has decreased from 9.4 percent in 2000 to 2.3 percent in 2010, or a 400-fold drop in the past 10 years.
Balthasar asserts that the flooding in Jakarta and landslides in nearby areas are caused by the ecological devastation in Ciliwung, including the increasing areas of critical land plagued with high levels of erosion and sedimentation, as well as high fluctuation of water flow between the dry and rainy seasons.
“The rate of ecological damage or environmental degradation in Indonesia year to year has been alarming. It was evident from the decrease in the forest coverage from 49.37 percent in 2008 to 47.73 percent in 2012, or degraded by 1.64 percent within four years,” reported Antara
Balthazar has also blamed the ecological disaster in the area on the locals who dump their waste into the river.
Related Links
- Floods Destroy or Damage Thousands of Homes in Indonesia January 20, 2014
- Tens of Thousands Displaced in Indonesia Floods, Landslides January 19, 2014
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