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USAID to help Indonesia with disaster mitigation amid global warming
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Houses destroyed by a weekend flood in Jorong Galudua village, Agam, West Sumatra, are pictured on May 15, 2024. At least 50 people died in the disaster. (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
T
he United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed to helping Indonesia improve its capacity to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, as the country sees more and more natural disasters triggered by global warming.
USAID Indonesia mission director Jeffery Cohen said the organization was working with local communities, NGOs and the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to improve disaster resilience across the vast archipelago.
"We work with communities in the upper watershed to ensure that they protect their water sources and plant trees so when heavy rainfall hits, there won't be flooding downstream," Jeffery said on Wednesday during an event in Jakarta to commemorate 20 years of Indonesia-US disaster response partnership.
"We also cooperate with local organizations to train villagers on how to respond quickly when disaster strikes. We teach villagers where and how to evacuate and how to save their livestock," he added.
According to Jeffery, the US is seeking to work with Indonesian authorities to protect urban environments by building more parks and planting more trees in cities to capture carbon emissions.
Read also: Climate change hurts hydropower production, PLN says
USAID also plans to contribute to Indonesia's efforts to restore 600,000 hectares of degraded mangrove – an area larger than Bali – to protect the country's coastal areas.
