Climate change push factor in migration, says LIPI

Experts have said climate change is one of the push factors for the migration of local communities in various areas across Indonesia, highlighting a need to help people better adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ (LIPI) deputy chairman for humanity and social sciences, Aswatini, said findings of the institute’s research in Lamongan regency, East Lombok and North Lombok showed that migration was the last adaptation strategy for society groups, especially farmers, affected by the impacts of climate change.

“Decreases in land production results and harvest failures have forced local residents, especially men and/or household heads, to work outside their hometowns to be able to maintain the economic resiliency of their families,” she said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Aswartini further said the impacts of a changing climate, such as seawater intrusion and increased water surface, could be felt by fishing communities in coastal areas.

Such conditions, the researcher further said, resulted in a decreased quality of life experienced primarily by society groups that depended on marine resources and tourism for their livelihood. Moreover, the climate change had resulted in the re-emergence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria in several areas in Indonesia, she added.

LIPI’s Research and Population Center (P2K) conducted the research to explore climate-related issues, including manpower in the fishery sector, in various areas across Indonesia prone to the impacts of a changing climate.

“On the manpower issue in the fishery sector, a lack of institutional synergy has caused overlapping efforts toward achieving improved human resource skills in the fishery sector,” said P2K executive chairman Herry Jogaswara.

He said the research findings offered a human resource management model that was able to accommodate values and knowledge.

Moreover, he added, improved individual capacity of fishermen and fishing organizations in the local level was very important to achieve an optimal manpower absorption in the fishery sector. (ebf)