Indonesia has started a dam-building initiative with the goal of having 57 new dams built by 2024 in order to increase agricultural water storage, strengthen food security, and defend itself from extended droughts and extreme rainfall caused by climate change.
Yet, the activity hasn’t always resulted in more security for those who are in the way of such construction projects.
The little durian fruit plot that farmer Gunawan owned in Central Java, Indonesia, was devastated as a result of continuing construction of the 690-hectare Bener Dam, depriving him of his livelihood.
The 33-year-old claimed that despite not being designated for demolition when the government released its plans for the project, his farm in the Purworejo region was bulldozed to make space for the dam.
The $132 million dam is expected to be completed in 2024.
Gunawan, who lives by one name like many Indonesians, said in the village of Guntur, “I’m sad and also… upset,” adding that he was making 20 million rupiah ($1,318) a year after selling his durian harvest.
He claimed that in order to make ends meet, he is now forced to work as a truck driver on occasion.
“What can we do against the government?” wondered Gunawan, one of thousands of farmers and people in area who believe they have been uprooted by the dam project.
Indonesia is constructing more water retention dams in response to growing water security concerns, claiming that doing so will provide irrigation, lessen the likelihood of flooding, and provide source of low-carbon hydroelectric power.
However, residents and campaigners claim that the construction of dams, such as the Bener Dam, is bringing about its own set of problems, including the disruption of local inhabitants’ livelihoods and additional losses of forests and agricultural land.
According to Ully Artha Siagian, campaign manager for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), a nonprofit organization, deforestation in particular can influence rainfall patterns and the capacity of the soil to hold water.
The future threat of a clean water crisis “will actually be made worse by the Bener dam,” she claimed. “Thus, turning forests into dams is not the solution.”
In response to concerns raised by activists, Dwi Purwantoro, a representative of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR), stated over the phone that building dams was crucial for improving flood management as well as increasing water security.
Different needs
As the effects of climate change worsen, nations like Indonesia are seeking to be proactive in adjusting to the inevitable changes and searching for ways to reduce emissions, like by putting in renewable energy.
However, many of the potential adaptations and emissions-reduction initiatives place new pressure on the limited land, pitting competing priorities like protecting land rights, preserving the environment, enhancing food security, and mining minerals necessary for the green transition against one another.
In some circumstances, the decisions made could cause social upheaval, particularly if populations are uprooted without permission or sufficient compensation. They also create significant issues regarding how to balance many competing “good” uses for land.
As the effects of climate change grow, Indonesia announced a climate resilience development policy in 2021 that listed four priority areas for action: agriculture, seas and coasts, health, and water.
The Sajogyo Institute researcher Eko Cahyono said he understood why the Indonesian government wanted to increase water security but insisted that it shouldn’t come at the expense of people’s rights and means of subsistence.
He questioned, “How can the government secure social, economic, and ecological justice, so that there are no further breaches of people’s rights, if this (the Bener Dam project) is genuinely a component of climate change mitigation and adaptation (efforts)?
Losses of land
The Bener Dam would have an impact on 600 hectares of land belonging to at least 3,480 individuals, according to a 2019 government land procurement plan and project map.
The letter also highlighted that a quarry being built nearby to extract stone for the dam will have an impact on 114 hectares of land, 617 garden plots, and 617 persons.
Despite not having been designated in the planning documents, other locals, including Gunawan, claim that their land was also destroyed. As a result, they are now asking for compensation.
The public works representative Purwantoro stated that “regarding numerous residents’ land (being) outside the project plan… today we are suggesting revisions to the map so it would be increased.”
According to the state-owned construction company PT Waskita Karya, which is working on the project, construction on the Bener Dam was momentarily suspended in August 2022 as a result of local protests.
According to business representative Setyawan Nugroho, “We still expect that there will be the best solution for the residents.” She added that negotiations on compensation were ongoing.
Depending on the location in question, the government has offered compensation ranging from roughly 60,000 rupiah ($4) to 215,000 rupiah ($14) per meter of land. In interviews, a number of residents admitted that they had rejected the conditions.
According to Ully of WALHI, the project in Purworejo caused “social tension” because many people lost their food supplies and lost green spaces that had been in their families for centuries.
Authorities are looking for six suspects who are allegedly responsible for vandalizing a dam project office after there have been skirmishes between neighbors, police, and troops doing land surveys.
As a national strategic project (NSP), the Bener Dam is a government priority. However, opponents claim that declaring a project as an NSP can lead to land being taken or destroyed in the name of development and the general good.
The Consortium for Agricultural Reform’s (KPA) secretary-general, Dewi Kartika, encouraged the government to examine its development strategy since it “had triggered agrarian conflicts in several places.”
KPA recorded 212 such confrontations in 2018; this is an increase from 207 in 2021. She claimed that they occurred in 459 communities and that at least 346,00 people were affected.
Future of dams
Dam construction has been mentioned by the Indonesian government as a key answer to the nation’s water security issues, however hydrology specialists are uneasy about this strategy.
According to Gunawan Wibisono, a lecturer at Merdeka Malang University, Indonesia’s dam projects will cause the loss of forests and their ability to increase water security may be limited as sediment carried downstream fills them up and as a result of the lack of consideration given to recharging groundwater in their design.
Heru Hendrayana, a hydrologist at Gadjah Mada University, claims that none of Indonesia’s proposed dam projects are meant to help increase groundwater supplies (UGM).
The issue is that most dams serve the purpose of collecting water rather than absorbing it, he said.
Residents of the village of Guntur, including Gunawan and Miftakhul Hafid, are adamant about continuing their protests against the Bener Dam because they believe the project will cause them more harm than good.
“The government must ensure … that people’ rights are met,” said 28-year-old Hafid, a community leader.
