Analysis on Interaction between Human and Environment in Yogyakarta River Area

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1. Research Background

Many scientists and researchers found that river has many crucial funtions for world (see, for example, Mulyanto, 2007). When we are talking about sustainable development, we cannot forget that river, as an essential part of environment, will play a significant role in in ecological balance of our environment. Many creatures and fishes who live in river makes a new habitat and ecosystem of land-water. It might not be beneficial for an unsustainable development, especially for a city planning, because take care of water possibly means minimalize the profit they produce from the business.

But on the other hand, river for a big ciy like Yogyakarta has a very important function on sustainable development. Morphologically, river is used in cycle of erosion and cycle of hidrology (van Noordwijk, et.al., 2005)¹. It is very useful in establishing an ecosystem balance, especially for a big city. Sustainable development itself, according to WCED (1987), has to reach intragenerational and intergenerational equity, and it should fit the ability of each generation to fulfill their basic needs². A clean environment and a proper housing, doubtlessly, is a basic need for a human being. A good quality of river is an important aspect to be fulfilled in order to maintain those significant points.

For a city like Yogyakarta, river is a very important thing that should be cared by society and government. There should be some open space for the riverstream area (Daerah Aliran Sungai). The river should not only clean and cared, but also protected from industry, fabric, warehouse, or housing. On the other side, the interaction between people and river to fulfill their daily need should also limited on some points, like garbage disposal.

In fact, the place for garbage in Dabag, Condong Catur, Sleman, is located very close to river, and the pollution happens. Unfortunately, people who live near the river does not care with the pollution, even they use the river for their own need. It will be a very vital concern for every elements of academic life. The river in Yogyakarta is not as complicated as river in Banjarmasin, which cover almost half of Banjarmasin but diminished by development. It is not too late to prevent the river from pollution in Yogyakarta, but the action agenda should be proposed. It is not only a homework for government, but also for the academic life who care with the fate of environment.

This research, in order to responds that problem, tries to explain the quality of rivers in Yogyakarta on social perspective and the interaction between human and environment around the river Area. Yogyakarta will be a case study to reflect sustainable development implementation.

2. Research Question

Research question I formulated in this research is : “How is the interaction between human and environment in Yogyakarta river Area?”

Within this research question, in general, this research will explore two variables:

1. Interaction between human and river in their daily life;

2. Sustainability of government’s housing policy and river management.

3. Conceptualization

a. Sustainable Development

The first basic concept used in this sustainable development concept. A Sustainable development is defined by World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It means, sustainable development –reflected on government’s policy— should take care the existence of next generation and their ability to fulfill their basic needs.

The basis of sustainable development itself is built in two pillars: political economy and environment. WCED (1997) put two key concepts to explain sustainable development:

1. the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given;

2. the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

Turner (2004) put human awareness as a vital point to sustainable development. He categorized human awareness to environment into several levels. Similar to Turner, van der Heijden (2002)³ also put political awareness by political parties and NGOs as a crucial point in establishing sustainable development. In global environment politics, political parties represent anxiety from several elements of people who concern with this world’s fate. Sustainable development will also include political will from political parties and advocacy or campaign from civil society.

Another problem in sustainable development is biological diversity. According to Van Der Heijden (2002), biological diversity refers to the richness of genes, species and ecosystems. There are three different areas of concern, as been told by UN Convention on Biological Diversity: (1) problems relating to genetic erosion and genetic engineering; (2) the endangering and extinction of species; and (3) the destruction and loss of whole ecosystems. In Yogyakarta, the biological diversity will be harmed if the river –as an important factor in environment—does not managed well.

In Yogyakarta, biological diversity is connected with urban development. Alberti (2005) analyzes urban development from ecological perspective. Within that context, urban development affects patch structure by altering the size, shape, interconnectivity, and composition of natural patches. It also produces a variety of unprecedented and intense disturbances through physical changes in the landscape. It means, urban development should consider environmental aspects by the policy that government produces⁴.

2. River Functions in Sustainable Development

Morphologically, river is used in cycle of erosion and cycle of hidrology. van Noordwijk et.al., (2006) said that riverstream hidrology functions have corelations with riverstream capabilities, especially in: (1) water transmission; (2) pillars in the top of rain; (3) water removal; (4) water quality; and (5) decreasing the movement of soil mass.

But nowadays, the condition of water seems to be destructed by unsustainable development. Wen et.al. (2006) estimated that more than 60% of the rivers in the world have been experienced high levels of human modification⁵. It implies a fact that river systems have now become one of the most deeply human-affected ecosystems in the earth. Further, Alberti (2005) analyzed that urbanization is a factor that influence the interaction between ecosystem and human being. Wen et.al. (2006), refers to several researches before, also assume that urbanization had a dramatic impact on the health of river system,

In Indonesia, the condition even worse. Ministry of Environment report their anxiety by these words,

Sempadan sungai, bahkan bantarannya sudah menjadi tempat pembuangan sampah bagi masyarakat yang bermukim di sepanjang sungai. Sungai belum dipandang sebagai wilayah yang indah dan nyaman bagi seluruh lapisan masyarakat yang memanfaatkannya sebagaimana yang diinginkan dalam penerapan water front city.

(Ministry of Environment Republic of Indonesia. Menghentikan Praktek Membuang Sampah Ke Sungai)⁶

Those words show us that there is a big problem of river in Indonesia. It is also including the excess of urbanization, as been explained by Alberti (2005) and Wen et. al. (2006). River function has been deviated, not for hydrological cycle anymore, but for housing and business interest. If the river is mismanaged by government or city stakeholders, the function of water as hydrological cycle will be decreased. It is vulnerable with natural disaster such as landslide, flood, or even disease.

According to a survey from Ministry of Environment and JICA, 29% of respondents who live near river seems to waste their garbage or disposal to the river. That survey also inform us that 30% of respondents who live less than 10 meters from river throw their disposal to the river. So, many people who live around the river area seems not to be responsible to their environment.

This behaviour, linked to sustainable development, is obviously contraproductive. The garbage does not only harm the environment, but also vulnerable with disaster like flood or landslide. The tragedy of Situ Gintung can be a real model to the excess of that behaviour. One kind of sustainable development concept who concern with this behaviour is reorienting technology and managing risk that possibly produced (WCED, 1987).

4. Research Method

This paper will tries to observe the quality of a big river in Yogyakarta: Kali Code. It is obvious that I will focus my observation at some locations which are near and familiar with public life (near with citizen’s housing). There will be some samples of the location in Yogyakarta, based on sample’s characteristic which is designed by observer.

This research use two methods: Observation and interview. The observation will be focus on how the river is treated by citizen and government, and its social implication for environment, public health, and poverty. This observation will also tries to make some recommendations for political ways that government should take to prevent the destruction and pollution of river in Yogyakarta. Interview is used to strengthen the observation and make an objective data on citizen’s opinion.

Although is difficult to ge a high point of reliability (Shively, 1974), but in order to get an acceptable data, this observation will be based on some measure instrument that we designed before do the observation. Of course it will be subjective, because the basis is observer’s conclusion on what happen in the field of research. This observation will analyze some variables:

1. The cleanliness of water;

2. Citizen behaviour;

3. Government attention in taking care the river;

In process, researcher will break down these variables into several indicators. Each indicator will be graded in scale, from 1-5 (bad  good), according to the real condition of water. Researcher will also make an interview with some citizens to strengthen the observation data. The interview will decrease the degree of subjectivity that may be produced by the observation.

This is the scheme of this research mechanism:

Input: Observation

(researcher’s view)

Output: Data

(analysis of two inputs)

Input : interview

(citizen’s view)

Conclusion

(generalization, synthetizing data)

This research also uses several instruments:

1. Observation worksheet;

2. Interview guide;

3. Recommendation Letter from Jurusan HI as a legal basis.

4. Camera.

5. Place Description

Yogyakarta is the capital of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province, which is located in the south of Central Java. Since this city is located in the south of Java, some cities around Yogyakarta like Bantul has some borderlines with Indies Ocean. It implies a riverstream which is emptied in the Indies Ocean.

There are three primary rivers in Yogyakarta: Kali Code, Kali Winongo, and Kali Gajah Wong. Among these rivers, Kali Code is the most popular river because of its density and its location which divide Yogyakarta into two regions. Kali Code flow from the south side of Yogyakarta until the north side, and continued to antoher Kali in Merapi.

This research will focus on two Kecamatans: Mergangsan and Jetis. These three Kecamatan is located around Kali Code and dense with population. The residence around those Kecamatan is densed by people, and the interaction between human and environment also happened more intensive than the other place. Researcher will choose a dusun in a kelurahan to be observed and a villager to be interviewed.

6. Research Objectives

This research is designed with some objectives:

1. To get some informations about citizen activities near Kali Code;

2. To analyze citizen behaviour in their interaction with environment around the river.

3. To analyze sustainability of government’s housing policy in Yogyakarta, according to sustainable development concept

4. To analyze quality of river that has some corelations with the sustainable development in Yogyakarta.

Bibliography

Alberti, Marina. The Effects of Urban Patterns on Ecosystem Function. International Regional Science Review 28, 2: 168–192 (April 2005). Downloaded from http://irx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/28/2/168

Ministry of Environment, Republic of Indonesia. 2008. Menghentikan Praktek Membuang Sampah ke Sungai. Downloaded from http://www.meneglh.go.id/

Van der Heijden, Hein-Anton. Political Parties ad NGOs in Global Environmental Politics. International Political Science Review (2002), Vol 23, No. 2, 187–201. Downloaded from http://ips.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/23/2/187

Van Noordwijk. et. al. 2006. Peranan Agroforestri dalam Mempertahankan Fungsi Hidrologi Daerah Aliran Sungai. Document downloaded from http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Publications/files/bookchapter/BC0223-06.PDF

World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987 .Our Common Future. Report of World Commission on Environment and Development. Document downloaded from http://www.un.document.org/

Wen, Yuan et. al. Impact of Urbanization on Structure and Function of Water System. Chinese Geographical Science Volume 16, Number 2, pp. 102-108, 2006.

Endnotes

1 Van Noordwijk. et. al. 2006. Peranan Agroforestri dalam Mempertahankan Fungsi Hidrologi Daerah Aliran Sungai. Document downloaded from http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Publications/files/bookchapter/BC0223-06.PDF

2 World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987 .Our Common Future. Report of World Commission on Environment and Development. Document downloaded from http://www.un.document.org/

3 Van der Heijden, Hein-Anton. Political Parties ad NGOs in Global Environmental Politics. International Political Science Review (2002), Vol 23, No. 2, 187–201. Downloaded from http://ips.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/23/2/187

4 Alberti, Marina. The Effects of Urban Patterns on Ecosystem Function. International Regional Science Review 28, 2: 168–192 (April 2005). Downloaded from http://irx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/28/2/168

5 Wen, Yuan et. al. Impact of Urbanization on Structure and Function of Water System. Chinese Geographical Science Volume 16, Number 2, pp. 102-108, 2006.

6 Ministry of Environment, Republic of Indonesia. 2008. Menghentikan Praktek Membuang Sampah ke Sungai. Downloaded from http://www.meneglh.go.id/