Building with Nature in Indonesia: A scenario of business as usual by 2030

Communities in Demak in Northern Java are suffering from coastal erosion affecting hundreds of kilometres of coastline. In the district of Demak more than 3 kilometres of land including entire villages have already been swallowed up by the sea. The Business as Usual scenario shows a fully flooded area with evacuated villages and land loss due to unsustainable groundwater extraction, mangrove loss and expected sea level rise, affecting over 70,000 people and 6000 hectares of aquaculture ponds. In the long run 30 million people may be affected by coastal erosion. As an alternative scenario, we are introducing the Building with Nature approach to address these root causes, integrating mangrove and river restoration, small-scale engineering and sustainable land use.