Comment: Java’s coastal cities and rising sea levels

Jan. 8, p. 6

The major cities on the north coast of Java — Jakarta, Cirebon, Semarang and Surabaya — are centers of economic activity and are growing rapidly and experiencing high population growth.
But, that growth and the development of socioeconomic activities in those cities and their surrounding areas are linked to environmental problems such as intensive land conversion, land subsidence due to groundwater extraction and floods that have recently become a hot issue. (By Tommy Firman, Bandung)

Your comments:

Wait, is this about sea levels rising (SLR) or rather big cities sinking? Big cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya and other large coastal cities on the north coast of Java are areas where unlimited development, construction and subterranean water extraction are causing these areas to sink lower in comparison to the sea level.
What do studies carried out on other undeveloped coastal areas show? Have any been done? Or have studies only been done in Jakarta, Surabaya etc?
John Brian
New Zealand

These observations about the rising sea level and Java’s north coast are extremely enlightened and on target.
For more than two years I have been researching and writing a book about rising sea levels impacts on coastal property.
John Englander
Florida, the US