Indonesian Woman Defends Her Home Against Rising Sea Levels

TaiwanPlus News

Pasijah has been on a battle to defend her home from rising sea levels on the northern coast of Java. In her neighborhood, hers is the only residence still inhabited and she's turned to planting mangroves to keep the tides at bay.

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00:00In this small village on the northern coast of Java, Indonesia, Persija now has

00:07to get around on a makeshift boat. She's battling the rising tides that long

00:12drove out her neighbors in an area that was once dry. But determined to stay in

00:18a home of 35 years, she's not giving in so easily.

00:21The floodwaters come in waves, gradually, not all at once. I realized that after the

00:29waters began rising, I needed to plant mangrove trees so that they could spread and provide

00:34protection for the house from the wind and the waves.

00:38Persija says she plants around 15,000 saplings every year and has been doing it for the

00:46past two decades to protect her family home from the floodwaters. A battle that is an inescapable

00:52reality for many in Indonesia, with its coastline spanning around 81,000 kilometers, making

00:59even more susceptible to the impacts of climate change. But it's not just global warming that's

01:05to blame.

01:08Of all these land subsidence issues, human activities on land such as building and development contribute

01:1570 to 80 percent. There have been multiple studies on this. The remaining 20 to 30 percent

01:21is caused by climate change.

01:25Ten percent of the mangrove forests along the North Java coast, like the ones Persija works

01:31hard to grow, have been affected by government developments like roads and highways. Persija

01:37says she's asked officials to stop construction, but her pleas have been ignored. And with the

01:43tides rising as they are, Persija is also no longer able to grow her own food. She and her

01:49family have had to find a way to adjust to this new reality.

01:55I'm no longer concerned about how I feel about being isolated here, since I decided to stay

02:00here. So we take all these hurdles with a pinch of salt. If we really wanted to go ashore, we

02:06go to the nearest land in Pandansari or to the market. Once again, I have the intention to

02:11stay here and my feelings for this house persist.

02:16With more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world.

02:22To help defend against the threat of rising sea levels, the government here has promised

02:27a 700-kilometer seawall to protect the coastline. But with construction estimated to take 20

02:34to 40 years, for now, these mangroves are serving as Persija's lifeline in her battle against

02:41the tides. Justin Wu and Izzy Wells for T1+.

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