Abstract

Indonesia is an archipelagic country with many small islands as the outer border of the territory. Special attention and development programs are important due to it relates to the improvement of public welfare and national sovereignty. Therefore, the vulnerability study for small and outer islands is urgently conducted as an initial step for regional development programs. This study aims to analyze the vulnerability level of Bepondi Island, West Papua from various threats either directly from nature by biologically, geologically, climate change effect, or anthropological and social-economic. To determine the small and outer island’s vulnerability, composite vulnerability index (CVI) has been applied. Several ecological indexes have been composited were coastal index (CI), Isolation Index (II), Land-used degradation index (LDI), Ecosystem degradation index, and Sea Level Rise Index (SLRI). The results showed that Bepondi Island has CVI calculated for 0.47, which means the island was exposed to medium-high vulnerability. This was caused by the threat from abrasion, potential landslide, and isolation. On the other hand, this island has a fairly high fishery potential. Therefore, mitigation plans to cope with disasters were urgently needed and communication infrastructures must be promptly built as a countermeasure for the island’s isolation problem.

Highlights

  • Indonesia is an archipelagic country with more than 17.000 islands

  • The Outermost Small Islands (OSI) were situated far from the capital region and center of development, they are usually faced with limited infrastructure and limited economic development

  • Special attention for OSI is urgently needed both for improving the welfare of the community and as an effort to uphold the sovereignty of the Nation

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Indonesia is an archipelagic country with more than 17.000 islands. The archipelagic layout of the country means that there are many small islands that are situated at the outermost territory or at the edge of the national territory border. The Outermost Small Islands (OSI) were situated far from the capital region and center of development, they are usually faced with limited infrastructure and limited economic development. Based on this condition, special attention for OSI is urgently needed both for improving the welfare of the community and as an effort to uphold the sovereignty of the Nation. A study of vulnerability assessment of small islands is needed as a basis for making development plannings and to identify possible threats such as; natural threats, biological, geological, and unforeseen hazards due to climate change, as well as the threat of social sectors

Objectives
Methods
Results
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call