Speaker
Description
Water plays a crucial role in sustaining life, maintaining ecosystems, and facilitating economic progress. Nevertheless, its management presents complex challenges in the face of growing demands and environmental changes. Effective water governance is essential for enhancing resilience and ensuring the sustainable management of water resources. The mismanagement or overexploitation leads to the depletion of essential freshwater supplies, thereby leaving communities and ecosystems vulnerable to shortages. Furthermore, excessive extraction and improper waste disposal potentially degrade water quality, harm aquatic habitats, and disrupt the natural equilibrium of ecosystems. Coastal cities face particularly complex water management challenges due to the confluence of climate change impacts, rapid urbanization, and significant land subsidence. For example, Indonesian coastal cities such as Jakarta, Pekalongan, Semarang, and Demak confront an array of escalating water-related problems, including persistent flooding, water shortages, deteriorating infrastructure, and socio-economic disruptions. According to the data from National Disaster Management Agency, floods become the most frequent disaster in 2024. However, water management initiatives are often compromised by fragmented governance structures and constrained authority at various administrative levels, leading to inefficiencies and overlaps in roles and responsibilities. The complexity of governance is further exacerbated by transboundary dynamics. A case in point is the flooding experienced in Semarang City, which is partially attributed to the Garang River's flow originating in the upstream regions of Semarang Regency. Consequently, mitigating flood-related issues in Semarang City requires collaborative efforts with stakeholders from Semarang Regency. As water disregards administrative boundaries, managerial decisions transcend administrative borders, introducing additional layers of intricacy to the existing challenges.
Addressing these multifaceted challenges requires transformative approaches to water governance that integrate technical, social, and financial dimensions. This research examines the dynamics of water governance in Indonesia, focusing on the roles and interplay of various stakeholders across different hierarchical levels. Employing a qualitative approach, the research incorporates policy reviews and in-depth interviews with representatives from governmental bodies, private enterprises, community-based organizations, and academic institutions. The study identifies critical gaps in governance, including overlapping responsibilities, insufficient coordination between vertical (national to local) and horizontal (cross-sectoral) stakeholders, over-reliance on external actors, and financing mechanism. These systemic issues constrain the ability of local governments and stakeholders to implement integrated and sustainable water management practices effectively.
The findings reveal a highly complex network of stakeholders with overlapping mandates and competing priorities, often resulting in fragmented urban water governance. While national and regional governments play central roles in policy formulation and resource allocation, local governments and community groups frequently lack the capacity to implement integrated solutions. Additionally, at all levels, stakeholders in Indonesia tend to prioritize short-term profitability over long-term resilience. These challenges emphasize the urgent need for multi-stakeholder platforms that can foster collaboration, enhance accountability, and build adaptive capacity to address the impacts of climate change and rapid urbanization. Lessons drawn from the Indonesia case provide valuable insights into enhancing water management systems, ensuring they are resilient, inclusive, and adaptive to the evolving needs. This research contributes to a better understanding of stakeholder dynamics in water-related urban development, offering actionable insights for fostering more equitable and sustainable governance frameworks in Indonesia’s coastal cities.
| Keywords | Water Governance; Water Management; Indonesia |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
