Sea Level Rise in South Kalimantan, Indonesia - An Economic Analysis of Adaptation Strategies in Agriculture

This study from Indonesia finds that building dikes would be the best strategy to protect farmland from rising sea levels that are being caused by climate change. In Indonesia there is considerable concern about the impact this problem will have on large areas of re-claimed coastal swampland in South Kalimantan - land which is already experiencing freshwater salination due to rises in sea level. It is thought that over 150,000 ha of this land, which is currently being farmed for rice and other food crops, are at risk, and that this will jeopardize the livelihoods of many thousands of farmers and their communities. To help decide what is the best response to this unfolding crisis, two researchers from Lambung Mangkurat University look at different strategies that the government could take to respond to the problem - one of these is building dikes, the other relocating farmers to new agricultural areas inland. The researchers find that building dikes to protect farmland is a more cost-effective response.