Desktop Study on - Regional Climate Change Adaptation ...

Assessment of Capacity Gaps and Needs of South East Asia Countries
in Addressing Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Variability and Climate Change
on geographical situations. The UK
Meteorological Office identifies that
climate change causes a decrease of
crop harvest in West Java and East
Java (Amin, 2004 cited in PEACE,
2007). Specifically, a 30-day delay of
monsoon will reduce January-April
rice production in West/Central Java
by about 6.5% and in East Java/Bali
by 11% (Ministry of Environment,
2007). Also, the UNDP study shows
that the areas highly vulnerable to
climate change are some upland
regions whose soil cover is projected
to reduce due to the soil erosion
caused by the change in rainfall
pattern (2007). The yield of upland
crops such as soybean and maize
could decrease by 20 to 40 percent,
and this agricultural pressure has
significant implications for national
food security. While the harvest
failure was 100,000 ton per district
during 1981 - 1990, it reached
300,000 ton in the period of 1991 - 2000 (Boer and
Las, 2003, cited in Republic of Indonesia, 2007).
Climatic threats therefore endanger Indonesia’s
agriculture development program that aims to
increase food security and to increase farmer welfare
(Republic of Indonesia, 2007).
In Central Sulawesh, farmers suffer from the ENSOrelated
drought (Keil et al., 2008). 82% of the
enquired households have already been affected by
exceptionally long dry periods, especially in the years
of 2002 and 1997/98. The most severely affected
crops in the region were irrigated rice and cocoa,
declining of yield to 64% and 62% respectively,
compared to no ENSO affected years.
Vulnerability and Adaptation in the
Agriculture and Food Security Sector
At the time of dry season, some downstream farmers
adapt to the water shortage through pumping
groundwater, which is increasingly polluted by
intrusion of seawater. In some districts, the farmers
respond to water dispute and tension among
farmers through choosing one of their traditional
respected leaders as a mediator. Through reliance
on the traditional scheme, they ensure their turn for
water (UNDP Indonesia, 2007). These practices are
ex-post strategies that are applied only for the short
term solution on climate change impacts. The study
of Keil et al. (2008) found out that only 24% of the
sample households employ ex-ante strategies for the
Figure 28: Example of long term plan for adaptation for
the agricultural sector (Boer, 2007 cited in
Ministry of Environment, 2007)
case of drought conditions, including to have food
stocks (62% of these households) and to realize cash
savings (31%).
Meanwhile, some researchers and organisations have
developed the framework of long term adaptation
strategies and introduced the community-level
adaptation practices to farmers in Indonesia. Boer
et al., suggested the planned adaptation strategies
for over the next 30 years, starting from cropping
pattern and irrigation facility adjustment followed
by policy set-up for conversion of rice field to other
sues in Java and development of new irrigation
facility in vulnerable areas for rice production
(Ministry of Environment, 2007). This example of
long term adaptation plan is illustrated here with a
time line till 2030 (Figure 28).
The ADPC assists in the institutionalization of climate
information application for many sectors including
the agriculture sector (Boer et al., 2006). The ADPC
identifies the barriers against reducing farmer’s
vulnerability to extreme weather events: difficulty
in understanding climate forecast information
that contains probability; lack of effective climate
information dissemination system; limited capacity
to implement climate forecast in practical use; and
missing awareness on the economic significance
of climatic forecast information (Boer et al., 2006).
In order to tackle these barriers, a focus is placed
on increasing rice farmer’s knowledge on climate
information application through the Climate
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