Travel and natural disaster: a look at the devastation of Indonesia’s earthquake and what we can do to prevent it.
Indonesia is officially known as the Republic of Indonesia. It is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans consisting of over seventeen thousand islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo (Kalimantan) and New Guinea (Papua). The name Indonesia derives from Greek word of Indos, meaning “Indian islands”.
Indonesia experiences frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions as a result of its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Recently, earthquakes have occurred in various parts of Indonesia with the latest being at south of Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia on the 28th July 2021. The effect of the earthquake has been devastating as over 4,000 deaths have been recorded and hundreds are homeless.
These extreme weather conditions derive from climate change, to which a large contributor is overpopulation. Indonesia has more than 270 million people, making it the world’s fourth-most populous country.
There is a model and example emerged in Indonesia, which can be seen as a significant step for Indonesia’s urban transportation system. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesian, is considered one of the most congested cities in the world, with traffic congestion costing the country billions of dollars in economic output each year. Therefore, developing a low-carbon policy framework and promoting sustainable urban transport in Indonesia at national level is always a priority consideration.
However, Jakarta was successfully recognized as the city that has implemented strategies to increase citizen mobility, reduce air pollution, improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists, eventually, won the 2021 Global Sustainable Transport Award (STA) for its comprehensive public transport plan and city-owned bus network, which made Indonesia become the first Southeast Asian country to win the award.
With an aim of developing a sustainable and low-carbon transport system, there is also an electro-mobility plan is going on. The public seems quite embrace the electric buses. One of the initiatives is integration strategy, which turns the tunnel next to central station into one of the main transit stations for the city’s six public transport modes, passengers can use a variety of public transport at a flat fare. In addition, Jakarta has significantly revamped its walking facilities in the past three years. Even during the massive social restrictions imposed in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic, temporary bike lanes were created, and pedestrians and cyclists were given priority.
“Electric vehicles are firmly on the radar of Jakarta’s public transport operator”, to achieve the goal of fully electrify its fleet by 2030, Jakarta is not only relying on the technique and products from China, but also seeking for more protentional solutions and experience from European cities. A green transportation network has been building on its way.
Satria Aji Setiwawan, a student at QMUL, speaks of the Indonesia environmental crisis claiming, “Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most populous country with more than 270 million people, of which 70% of them are in productive age. Facing demographic dividends might be beneficial to accelerate economic growth, but it might also have drawbacks on the environmental issue. Hundreds of millions of people move daily from their place to their workplace and might causing inefficiency in the usage of unrenewable sources and increasing pollution. Hence, the need for sustainable transportation is inevitable. Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, has initiated sustainable transportation and has come out as the winner of the global 2021 Sustainable Transport Award (STA) for its integrated public transportation programs. Hopefully, it can be adapted by another city in Indonesia to tackle the environmental issue.”
Indonesia is an archipelago that lies across the equator and spans a distance equivalent to one eighth of the Earth’s circumference. It is the 5th most populated country in the world, competing with Brazil in 4th, with a population growth rate of 3 million per year. This is due to a number of factors, including high rate of unemployment, poor levels of education and various customs and religions that encourage women to procreate rather than pursuing a career.
Overpopulation puts enormous pressure on natural resources and infrastructure in Indonesia, making natural disasters such as the recent earthquake (which measured a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale) a huge problem for the local government and authorities to overcome.
Providing safe infrastructure that can withstand severe weather conditions and natural disasters is made furthermore difficult when there is the additional pressure of housing a massive population. The consistent migration of the population from rural into urban areas, with the bulk of the population living in Java, Bali, and Madura, puts further strain on cities, in terms of infrastructure, employment and pollution.
Indonesia has the fourth-highest number of premature pollution-related deaths in the world. Almost a quarter of a million people die every year because of exposure mainly to toxic air, but also toxic water or soil. Air quality monitoring of fine particle matter by the US embassy in Jakarta in 2019 showed more than 50% of the year’s days measured as unhealthy. According to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), the average Indonesian can expect to lose 1.2 years of life expectancy at current pollution levels.
The Indonesian archipelago represents one of the most unusual areas in the world, encompassing a major juncture of Earth’s tectonic plates, making it susceptible to seismic and volcanic activity. It spans two faunal realms and has served for millennia as a nexus of the people and cultures of mainland Asia and Oceania. Due to its unique geographical position and environmental conditions, it is highly susceptible to extreme weather conditions and the impact of global warming has further exacerbated these risks.
Indonesia’s tourism industry is one of their main sources of foreign currency earnings with its contribution to GDP being 4.1% and is responsible for about 10% of the country’s employment. The positive effect of tourism development on reducing unemployment, eradicating poverty, protecting the environment, and improving the image of Indonesia internationally, makes it a crucial element of Indonesia’s development. However, the combination of environmental threats due to pollution, global warming, climate change and increased natural disasters places the tourism industry at risk, as has been seen with the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Fragile and unique ecosystems like the ones found in Indonesia are being put under increasing threat because of a variety of environmental and social issues, many of which are solvable through commitment to global initiatives.
Whilst we are making it our own personal mission to change the way we travel and make it more sustainable, global brands, entire countries and governments, and huge organisations are also making outstanding efforts to make travel more sustainable, helping the environment and making the world a better place to live in. For us, and for the future. Here are some examples of the changes being made by corporations and governments all around the world:
In the UK, Royal Mail have announced that all its company cars will have switched to electric vehicles by 2030. This is part of their mission to ensure that there is no tailgate of carbon emissions attached to Royal Mail in a bid to become a more sustainable organisation. Jenny Hall, Royal Mails director of corporate affairs speaks on the transition of Royal Mail’s fuel powered fleet into EVs, stating, “We’ve already revealed our ambition to turn our fleet to alternative fuel vehicles in order to do the right thing by the communities we serve. It makes sense for us to focus on company cars too, and we hope that this new scheme will benefit our colleagues while reducing overall Company emissions further.”
Similarly in the UK, leading supermarket brand ASDA have switched to an EV only company car fleet. This comes after a staggering 85% of ASDA staff opted for an EV when presented with the opportunity to obtain a company car. Simon Bell, senior manager of the ASDA reward team speaks of the switch, claiming that “reducing our carbon footprint is extremely important to us and our customers so we are always looking at ways in which we can make a difference and be a more sustainable business”. ASDA will be making this switch over the next four years, which will ultimately save more than 2,411 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Norway, also known as the EV capital of the world, is a trailblazer in the movement to live a more sustainable way of life. “In 2020, 54 per cent of the new cars that were sold in Norway were EVs. And it is important to note that when we talk about EVs, we mean fully electric cars. Plug-in hybrids aren’t part of that number. If we included those like they do in many other countries, we would get to a whopping 74 per cent!” states Christin Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association. By 2025, Norway is aiming to have a completely zero-emission car fleet. Not only does this improve sustainability, it comes with a lot of smaller, but more convenient benefits and incentives. With the ownership of an EV in Norway, a person is granted with access to cheaper parking, toll fees and ferry tickets, and the ability to drive in bus and taxi lanes, making for not only a more sustainable journey, but a shorter one, too!
This report highlights the importance of travel and its detriment to the environment. By sharing car rides, taking public transport instead of driving, investing in electric vehicles, and even walking and cycling if you can, will make massive improvements on your own carbon footprint and the earth’s carbon emissions. We don’t need to see anymore people rendered homeless, injured, or even dead by our planet’s natural disasters. We are the reason this is happening, and we can change it.
References:
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/indonesia.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/6c4fc1cd-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/6c4fc1cd-en
https://www.britannica.com/place/Indonesia
https://factsofindonesia.com/why-indonesia-is-over-populated
