Community participation in soil and water conservation as a disaster mitigation effort

Abstract

Upstream watershed management that is not suitable for its carrying capacity causes watershed degradation, shown by the land degradation and landslides in the upstream area (on-site), sedimentation, flooding, and drought in the downstream area (off-site). One of the disaster mitigation efforts is the implementation of soil and water conservation in the upstream watershed, which requires community participation. Generally, community participation is still passive participation. The research aimed to identify community participation in soil and water conservation, and efforts to increase community participation in mitigating hydro-meteorological disasters. The research was conducted in the Micro Naruan Catchment, upstream of the Keduang Sub Watershed, the Bengawan Solo Watershed. Data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and Focus Group Discussions. The data are community perceptions of soil and water conservation, local wisdom related to soil and water conservation, and community participation of soil and water conservation activities from planning to evaluation. As mitigation efforts, soil and water conservation activities include planting perennial crops and controlling surface and gully erosion. The results show that: 1) people in the upstream watershed do not fully understand the linkages between upstream and downstream in the watershed; 2) community participation in soil and water conservation is not yet optimal; and 3) the community has local wisdom in soil and water conservation. To increase community participation in soil and water conservation, it is recommended that the techniques and patterns applied are not only to reduce disaster risk but also to improve the community’s economy.

Water Pollution of Some Major Rivers in Indonesia: The Status, Institution, Regulation, and Recommendation for Its Mitigation

“…Based on these regulations, the community has not been encouraged to be self-reliant. In fact, for the sustainability of a program, the communities must be empowered and encouraged to be self-reliant [84].…”

“…Yet, efforts to involve the community in monitoring and mitigating river water pollution still place the community as an object [10]. To foster the community's willingness to participate in preventing river water pollution, the community needs to increase its awareness and be placed as a subject, meaning that the community is positioned as a decisionmaker [84]. It is important to involve the community from the planning stage so that the activity matches the community's needs [104].…”

“…Learning from the existing experience, if the community is the decision maker, their participation will also be high at the implementation stage. It is because the activities are carried out according to their needs, and there is a sense of belonging [84]. Thus, environmental education is the basis for the success in mitigating of river water pollution.…”

Interdisciplinary perspectives on conservation and culture

“…Conservation strategies and policies are also closely related to disaster mitigation efforts. These efforts can be carried out by involving community participation such as in soil and water conservation (Indrawati et al, 2022) and mangrove area development (Utama et al, 2022;Khakhim et al, 2021). Other efforts are made through the use of local wisdom such as the adoption of customary laws in the coastal areas of Aceh Besar (Sulaiman et al, 2021), the study of local cultural storytelling (Fakhruddin & Elmada, 2022), and the inventory of local culture as a means of learning disaster mitigation (Afrian et al, 2020).…”

Sustainable Management for Healthy and Productive Watersheds in Indonesia

“…Narendra, Siregar, Dharmawan, Sukmana, Pratiwi, Pramono, Basuki, Nugroho, Supangat, Purwanto, Setiawan, Nandini, Ulya, Arifanti, and Yuwati [4] state that community participation is the key to success in soil and water conservation practices. Several points related to the importance of community participation in soil and water conservation need to be considered: (1) the government and private community, religious, traditional, youth, female, and other figures can raise public awareness to actively participate in various programs [82]; (2) the implementation of soil and water conservation needs to be carried out based on local wisdom to ensure sustainability [83]; (3) community participation can increase with innovative programs that can improve the community's economy [84]; and (4) community capacity building is positively correlated with program sustainability [85]. In 2022, the Directorate of Soil and Water Conservation applied mechanical techniques by constructing 2985 units of soil and water conservation buildings consisting of 983 units of retaining dams and 2002 units of gully plugs, as well as vegetative techniques by holders of the Forest Land Use Agreements (PPKH) covering an area of 18,498.36 Ha.…”