Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) 112–116

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Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecohyd

Original Research Article

Ecohydrology in Indonesia: Emerging challenges and its

future pathways
Gadis Sri Haryani *
Research Center for Limnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Raya Bogor, Km 46, Bogor 16911, West Java, Indonesia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The wealth of inland water resources and the endowed rich aquatic ecosystems in
Received 31 January 2015 Indonesia are exposed to intertwined risk drivers, i.e. land use change related to the
Accepted 21 March 2016 growing population and urbanization, and the adverse impacts of climate change. Recent
Available online 8 April 2016
advances in the wide range of applications of Ecohydrology aimed at sustainable use,
reduction of risks and regulation of water and nutrient cycles from molecular to basin
Keywords:
scale in Indonesia were developed and are presented. These vary from ecohydrological
Tropical Ecohydrology
approach for the aquatic environmental management to obtain maximum benefit of the
Ecohydrological applications
Emerging opportunities lake aquatic resources sustainably, through efforts to improve the aquatic carrying
Inland water resources capacity, efforts to solve the water deficit due to land use change in the catchment area,
Sustainability and initial identification of several urban lakes in Jakarta Megacity area. An attempt to
relate Ecohydrology and disaster risk reduction, especially the slowly approaching
ecosystem disaster, is highlighted in view of addressing the emerging opportunities in
Indonesia.
ß 2016 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction sedimentation impact on the rivers and lakes, and has

Indonesia, like many other Asian countries, is experienc-
ing a rapid economic development and it is projected to be
one of the major economies in Asia. Indonesia ranks fourth
(2010) in Asia (excluding South Asia and Oceania) in terms
of its GDP, after China, Japan, and South Korea (World Bank,
2010). The economic growth and the implementation of
the regional autonomy have taken, however, a considerable
implication to the surrounding ecosystem integrity. The
production of coal has not only driven the economic boom
but also has adverse impact to the terrestrial environment,
particularly the aquatic ecosystem. It has worsened the
* Tel.: +62 218757071; fax: +62 218757076.
E-mail address: gadis@limnologi.lipi.go.id
accelerated the loss of biodiversity.
Human impact on sediment load in Asia has been
described by Walling (2009), who mentioned that the key
drivers can be land clearance, land-use activities and other
forms of catchment disturbance. The sedimentation might
be decreased by the use of sediment trapping by dams, soil
conservation practices and sediment control programs,
and sand extraction from river channels. Increased
sediment loading comprises one of the most important
and pervasive anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosys-
tems globally. In spite of this, little is known about the
overall effects of increased sediment loads on lakes. Also
interactions with other global anthropogenic pressures,
such as invasion by exotic species and climate change, are
likely to be significant, however, little remains known
about the nature or likely strength of those interactions.
Widespread increases in sediment loading to lakes have,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecohyd.2016.03.004
1642-3593/ß 2016 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.
 G.S. Haryani / Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) 112–116
therefore, profound implications for the conservation
and management of global aquatic biological diversity
(Donohue and Molinos, 2009). Southeast Asia, wherein
Indonesia occupies the largest portion, has the highest
relative rate of deforestation of any major tropical region.
Southeast Asia could lose three quarters of its original
forests by 2100 and up to 42% of its biodiversity (Navjot
et al., 2004). The drivers of biodiversity threat include
forest conversion, forest fires, hunting for bushmeat,
wildlife trade, and other potential drivers such as climate
change, nitrogen deposition, invasive species and atmo-
spheric CO2 change.
Indonesia has benefited from inland waters – lake, rivers,
wetlands, reservoirs – which provide supply water for
everyday needs and livelihoods, foods from fishes, hydro-
power for electricity, and also for recreation. However, these
functions have changed due to human activities affecting
directly inland water ecosystems and also through the
modifications of land use of the catchment areas or
watersheds of inland water ecosystems. Indonesian lakes
are facing many problems such as alteration in the physical
habitat, sedimentation, eutrophication, organic pollution,
cyanobacteria blooms and invasive species (Haryani, 2008).
Sedimentation, eutrophication and deterioration of
water quality are the main problem of many lakes in
Indonesia, including for example Lake Rawapening, that
had induced lake shallowness (Soeprobowati, 2014). It was
predicted that the lake might become land, due to heavy
invasion of water hyacinth, Eichornia crassipes and other
aquatic invasive plants, Hydrilla and Salvinia. Other lakes,
like Lake Tondano and Lake Tempe, in Sulawesi Island, are
seriously threatened by increasing siltation, water quality
deterioration and deforestation in the catchment, which
significantly reduced in -lake storage capacity (Hargono
and Pranoko, 2003; Dam et al., 2001).
This paper outlines the issues on water, environment and
societal development in Indonesia and how ecohydrology
can capture the emerging opportunities, despite the huge
challenges posed by the rapid development in the country.
This will be preceded by exposing briefly the current
ecohydrology research in Indonesia. Some explorative
thinking will be proposed at the end, featuring the
amalgamation of Ecohydrology and disaster management
approach when dealing with ecological disaster as a
creeping phenomenon.
2. Issues on water, environment and societal
development in Indonesia
Huge inland water resources occur in Indonesia which
are represented by the presence of 13.85 millions ha of
rivers, lakes and ponds, consisting of 12.0 millions ha of
rivers and floodplains, 1.8 millions ha of natural lakes, and
0.05 millions ha of reservoirs and ponds (Sukadi and
Kartamihardja, 1995; Kartamihadja, 2015). There are
5590 major rivers with 65,017 tributaries in Indonesia with
the total length of major rivers 94,573 km and 1,512,466 km2
of catchment areas (National Committee on Wetland
Ecosystem Management, 2004; Haryani, 2009). Since the
onset of 1980s, large scale changes in land use have been
going on through deforestation, urban and industrial
113
development, and infrastructure networks related to a
diverse developmental purposes. These have resulted in a
significant modification of water cycles in a variety of
ecosystems in the country. Moreover, water was mostly
regarded and taken for granted as a renewable resource. It
was viewed from and managed by its physical aspects,
leaving aside its ecological functions and roles, and its
holistic nature with regards to its ecosystem services as well.
The wealth of water resources and the endowed rich
aquatic ecosystems are exposed to intertwined risk
drivers, i.e. land use change related to the growing
population and urbanization, and the adverse impacts of
climate change. Indonesian population this year is
estimated to be 252,370,792 people, based on the
census data on 2010 and the World Bank growth estimate
at 1.21% per year. Already in the last decade, Verburg et al.
(1999) simulated the land use change in Java. A long
history of increases in population pressure in Java has
caused agricultural land use to expand and intensify. More
recent land use changes caused the conversion of prime
agricultural land into residential and industrial area. They
showed that future patterns of land use change between
1994 and 2010 were simulated assuming further urbani-
zation, in which the results suggest that most intensive
land use changes will occur in Java’s lowland areas.
Climate change will give adverse impact to the inland
waters, including the lake ecosystems. If the country does
not undertake any emission mitigation measures, there will
be gradual increase in rainfall in different parts of Indonesia,
as it was the case between 1950 and 2000 (Susandi, 2007).
Rainfall pattern change will occur in the sea region north of
Java. Shorter rainy season with increasing rain intensity will
increase the surface runoff through rivers and lakes. Longer
dry seasons will reduce water volume and the extent of
water bodies. Physically, there will be threat in basin and
catchment integrity, and in the water budget, temperature
and stratification regime change. Chemically, there should
be expected increasing contamination of water bodies and
sedimentation in lakes, eutrophication induced by increased
phosphorous accumulation and nutrients enrichment, and
consequences of anoxic conditions caused by changed
stratification patterns. In terms of biological impacts, there
will be increasing risk of species extinction, multiscale
changes of the structure and dynamics of ecosystems up to
physiological changes, and the geographical shift of some
taxa.
3. Current ecohydrology applications and their
challenges in Indonesia
A wide range of applications of ecohydrology principles
from molecular to basin scales in Indonesia have been
elaborated by Pawitan and Haryani (2011). These include
several tailor-made constructed wetlands applications for
purification of various kinds of pollution, and Ecohydrology-
based water management scenarios for several water bodies
(lakes) in Indonesia. Another three applications worth to
mention are the experimentation by Chrismadha et al.
(2011) and Fakhrudin et al. (2009) by applying the
ecohydrological approach for the aquatic environmental
management in Limboto Lake, Gorontalo. This application
114 G.S. Haryani / Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) 112–116
consists in implementing the environmental engineering
principles, notably by adapting to the local aquatic
environmental condition to the changes of the lake
environment in order to obtain maximum benefit of the
lake’s aquatic resources sustainably. It was achieved by
sustaining the key environmental functions through pro-
tection, improvement and manipulation of the environ-
ment. The aim was to alleviate the downgrading aquatic
environmental condition of Limboto Lake due to the
upstream land use activities resulting in the sedimentation,
discharge fluctuation and pollution. Ecohydrological engi-
neering by shoreline readjustment and development of
check dams to control the sedimentation and water level
fluctuations have been carried out there. Their experimental
exploitation yielded the increasing water retention of up to
15% and the fishery productivity reached 300 tons/year.
Ecohydrological approach to improve the aquatic
carrying capacity has been implemented also in Semayang
– Melintang (oxbow) Lake system, East Kalimantan
(Chrismadha et al., 2011). Here, the rich fishery habitat
is endangered due to the extreme water level fluctuation.
The water influx from the lakes is also functioning as a
seasonal buffer to the main Mahakam River.
Ecohydrological paradigm had been used to solve the
water deficit due to land use change in the catchment area
in Pulai Reservoir, Bintan Island (Chrismadha et al., 2011).
The ecohydrological model estimated an increase of 15% of
the annual water reserve in the reservoir through 240 ha of
reforestation in the catchment area.
It is interesting to note the work of Ridwansyah et al.
(2006) who presented the hydrodynamic model (receiving
water model) as one of several physical-mathematic
models to quantify the lake water flow dynamics and
represented the hydraulic submodel for the lake water
quality, comprising the transport, sedimentation, circula-
tion, and stratification. This hydrodynamic model can
simulate the physical limnological conditions like the
current pattern, temperature stratification and its distri-
bution. Application of the ecohydrology concept for the
management of lake ecosystem can be evaluated by taking
into account the hydrodynamic input and output model,
integrated with the catchment area model (loading
model), water quality model, and the eutrophication
model (ecological model), all representing the hydrological
and limnological processes. This can be used as a decision
support system in deciding what appropriate control and
restoration strategies should be taken. Some ecohydrolo-
gical concepts which can be simulated include controlling
the lake’s water level in relation to the eutrophication
level, by adjusting timing and duration of the opening and
closing of the sluice (water release), application of
ecological engineering in catchment areas, and shaping
and maintaining the riparian zone as a functional buffer
zone. Chrismadha et al. (2011) have applied the 3-D
hydrodynamic model in Lake Maninjau, West Sumatra, in
order to quantify interactions between the catchment’s
hydrology and its physical limnological aspects.
Henny (2014) found that lakes overexploited by
floating cage fish culture, in extreme weather conditions,
have caused ecosystem disaster unveiled by massive fish
kills and deterioration of water quality in Lake Maninjau,
West Sumatera. To reduce nutrient and organic matter
concentrations, Attracting Fish Device Floating Wetland
(AFDFW) was introduced, which can function as a nursery
ground and habitat protection for wildlife in Lake
Maninjau (Henny, 2014).
Interesting to note is the water quality of several urban
lakes in Jakarta Megacity area. Henny and Meutia (2014)
have identified 5 types of lake surrounding based on the
nearby settlement types, i.e. urban village, rural village,
planned residential area, rural–urban village, and urban-
industrial area. It was found that the lakes in rural village
with natural shoreline and various types of vegetation in
lake’s demarcation area, and lake littoral habitats are still
well maintained as indicated by the presence of sub-
merged and emergent aquatic plants, as well as aboun-
dance of several types of dragonflies and butterflies.
To overcome urban flood and water crises in urban
areas, ongoing restoration is being executed on several
urban lakes in Jakarta, such as Pluit reservoir and Ria Rio
Reservoir. These reservoirs are facing ecosystem deterio-
ration due to urban squatters occupying the banks,
combined with almost 75% of the reservoir coverage by
water hyacinth, as well as wastes pollution, poor water
quality and siltation. The reservoir restoration project
rejuvenates the living environment through settlers
relocation to subsidized apartments, the water quality is
improved through development of off-site wastewater
treatment facilities, storage capacity is improved through
dredging, and the reservoir bank is transformed into
landscaped parks and open space promoting residents
interactions (Secretariat of Guangzhou Int., 2014).
The above mentioned cases and approaches show how
important is to understand the interconnections between
ecological and hydrological processes. Their understanding
is the base to pursue the Ecohydrology’s main goal to
develop a holistic, problem-solving approach by enhancing
water resources, biodiversity, strenghtening the provision
of ecosystem services, and ecosystem resilience, and thus
reaching overall environmental sustainability(Zalewski,
2007, 2014). The increasing global rate of urbanization
creates new challenges and new opportunities for manag-
ing cities, their water resources and related quality of life
(Wagner and Breil, 2013).
Evidently, in Indonesia, both in rural and urban areas,
the concept of Ecohydrology should be implemented
through research and education. It is recognized that the
program of post-graduate education on Ecohydrology is
required. It could be achieved simply by introducing the
basic concepts and principles of Ecohydrology into the
current curricula of natural resources management and
environmental protection programs.
4. Emerging opportunities
With the adverse impact of degrading water quality due
to siltation and pollution of many inland waters in the
country, and the concomittant advent of Ecohydrology in
Indonesia in the late 1990s, the preceding discrete
practices from the earlier part of the decade in the more
restricted fields like hydrology, soil and water sciences,
ecology and/or biology, environmental biotechnology, and
 G.S. Haryani / Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) 112–116
environmental chemistry were gradually combined and
unified. It is expected that Ecohydrology will have an
increasing impact on the efforts to abate eutrophication
and a better use of wetlands to control global and regional
carbon, water and nutrient cycling in order to increase the
sustainability of the environmental, social and economic
development (Jorgensen, 2016). A more interdisciplinary
approach of Ecohydrology has emerged and provides a new
insight into resolving some urgent water related problems.
It gives more tangible results in refining the benefits of
economic development in the country, which otherwise
would ignore its environmental and resiliency compo-
nents. It is recognised that Ecohydrology would be able to
anticipate the general and otherwise inevitable negative
trends in at least four major mainstream areas, i.e.
 Water, space, health and disaster risk reduction nexus,
where integrated coastal management and disaster risk
management are to be seen as the likely logical approach,
including the integrated watershed management, water
supply and climate adaptation strategy
 Water resources management, energy generation, and
Ecohydrology as being totally balanced economic,
ecological and societal combined approach
 (Coastal) urban Ecohydrology, integrated with water
resources management, spatial planning, health and
disaster risk reduction. Particular attention should be
given to integrated coastal management and disaster risk
management in delta regions and megacities, as more
than 53% of Indonesian population now live in urban
areas, many of them are in river deltas. Included in this
mainstream is the holistic approach of integrated
watershed management, urban landscape planning,
water supply and climate adaptation
 Ecohydrology in inland water quality restoration in some
mineral and coal mining, due to the fact that 30% of
Indonesian primary energy will be produced from coal by
2030. Mineral (mostly gold) and coal mining are
outbursting in almost all major islands in Indonesia
since 2000, the majority of which have very poor water
and environmental management, and 20% are trans-
ported through rivers. Some inland waters in Indonesia
(mainly in Kalimantan and Sumatra) are polluted by coal
debris and mercury.
4.1. Concluding remarks
A fair amount of knowledge has been accumulated
and further needs to develop a Tropical Ecohydrology
school for an emerging economy setting like Indonesia,
were identified. The base of knowledge includes the
characteristics of aquatic ecosystems, hydrological
regimes, (micro)climatic variability and the local liveli-
hood circumstances. Ecohydrology has been experimented
and practiced in a number of limnological settings in
Indonesia in different scales and impacts. Accelerated
refinement and better understanding of the key processes
of the well chosen critical cases of Indonesian inland
waters, both in terms of hydrological and ecological
aspects, are of utmost importance to secure their resilience
115
and enhance their ecosystem services for the society,
including the habitat functions which support biodiversity
and productivity of the inland waters.
It is now time to review the scope and methodologies of
the otherwise separate fields of sustainable water
resources management and ecological disaster manage-
ment to become one, integrated and self-reinforcing field.
Through understanding of Ecohydrology an ecological
disaster is seen in a new way, as a slowly approaching and
creeping phenomenon, that can be managed and well
anticipated in the framework of sustainable water
management. By incorporating Ecohydrology into disaster
management perspective, especially in (Asian) developing
countries, including Indonesia, Ecohydrology can be
regarded as a part of the (impending) risk reduction and
disaster preparedness strategy realized by increasing the
resilience to hazard and reducing the risks. Naturally, an
adequate monitoring and development of an ecological
early warning system should be a part of this strategy.
The same also applies to interlinked challenge of climate
change adaptation and water security, where Ecohydrology
can be applied to address the impacts of shifting annual
intensity and frequency of discharge in major rivers, and the
agravating impacts of climate change on degradtion of
inland waters. Special attention is to be given to vulnerable
lakes. Finally, Ecohydrology should be one of the various
applicable tools integrated into spatial planning and
management of urban areas and in addressing the change
in rural and urbanizing rural catchments.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Ethical statement
Authors state that the research was conducted accord-
ing to ethical standards.
Funding body
None declared.
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