A Preliminary Study of Land Use Change and Hydro-meteorological Disaster in The North Coast of Central Java

Abstract

The upstream-downstream area of the north coast of Central Java is categorized as a rapid development area that results in changes in land use and land cover. This region is also prone to floods, landslides, and drought. Land-use change contributes to climate change, increasing disasters such as sea-level rise, erosion, rising surface temperatures, floods, landslides, and droughts. Moreover, hydrometeorological disasters caused by human activity damages the river basin ecosystems, especially land use and land cover changes. This study aims to prove that land-use difference does matter for hydrometeorological disasters in the North Coast River Basin of Central Java in terms of the upstream and downstream areas using a quantitative method and GIS. The river basins are Jratunseluna, Bodri Kuto, Pemali Comal, and Wiso Gelis. The results indicate that from 2009 to 2018, the midstream and upstream river basins areas show the highest land use change compared to downstream. This study also finds that forests reduced significantly in the Central Java river basin, one of the disaster drivers. Above all, through this research, hydrometeorological disaster mitigation efforts in the north coast river basin in Central Java can be appropriately identified.