Climate Change in Indonesia: A Glimpse of Riau and East Kalimantan

Abstract

Indonesia is the largest and widest archipelago in the world with a coastline length of 81,000 km alongwith 17,508 islands, which makes it one of the most vulnerable countries to climatic changes. This paper focusses on the climatic changes in Indonesia with special reference to Riau and East Kalimantan. It is based on secondary literature and examines the effects of greenhouse emissions, deforestation, changes in land use, etc. on environment, biodiversity, and livelihood options of the people living there. Finally, the article explores the national/governmental efforts and the international assistance provided to help Indonesia deal better with climate change adaptation. The future priority areas of intervention would be decentralized risk reduction initiatives and resource conservation, educating farmers and vulnerable communities, coastal area research, local interventions, and coordination between the provinces.