Ecological performance of local initiatives on water resources management in Timorese communities, Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the countries under the threat of a water crisis. A total of 106 districts from 16 provinces, including East Nusa Tenggara, experienced drought and clean water crisis of 1.50 billion m3 year−1. This involves ecological characteristics accumulation of semiarid regions, degradation of forest resources, and increased critical land. Mitigation research on a watershed scale provides an understanding of the strong relationship between land degradation and water crisis. However, specific information on biophysical spring sources in semi-arid ecosystems is still very limited. This study aimed to obtain ecological performance based on rainfall, critical land, and land cover from a community-based water resource management model on the Timor island. This study was conducted through field observations at 63 units of water sources and structured interviews. The results showed that the characteristics vary from rainfall distribution, land cover, critical land, and utilization pressure. Furthermore, water source units have a limited carrying capacity of rainfall, the land conditions are generally critical, including the threat of land fires and community use of springs. Meanwhile, the variations of these characteristics determine the management interventions undertaken by the community. Therefore, through various management models of community-based water sources, local initiatives need to get support to preserve water sources for the people’s livelihood.