Participatory and Good Governance: The role of stakeholders in increasing the adaptive capacity of the poor to cope with the impact of climate change. Case studies: Surakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Author(s): Andie Arif Wicaksono

Poverty and climate change considered a global problem. Meanwhile, adaptation to climate change and poverty reduction are context-specific and vary per case. The urban poor is vulnerable to flooding, especially flash floods because most of them live in flood-prone riverbanks. they are also prone to disasters and diseases outbreak. On the other hand, urban poor also have an important role to address the city’s vulnerability to climate change. Some of the urban poor of Yogyakarta who cares about river conservation movement formed the riverside community-based organizations (CBOs).

In Yogyakarta and Surakarta, some evidence indicates that the pro-poor approach is used to build the adaptive capacity of the poor. Together with the government’s task force for poverty alleviation (TKPKD), these CBOs provided medium for participation on the local level in Yogyakarta. The same also happened in Surakarta. These stakeholders initiated supplemental programs acted as the pro-poor approach on the riverside settlement. It consists of in and ex-situ planning at both policies and management at the local level. The in-situ measures consist of addressing the socio-cultural aspect of poverty, improving coverage, efficiency, and sustainability of basic services, and addressing economic poverty. They also included adequate safety net in education and healthcare system through PKMS-BPMKS in Surakarta and KMS in Yogyakarta, while empowering the poor to protect the environment. However, the ex-situ measures consist of micro (sectorial) policy in construction, such as the relocation of the Riverside housing and the improvement of the physical infrastructures’ of the poor. The CBOs responded to the innovative collaboration of these stakeholders by delivering discussions and collective action movements since it was done through transparency, accountability, responsibility, independence, and democracy.

These processes are the implementations of good governance on the local level. The collaboration provides cost incentives on government-owned rental housing buildings and generates active participation among stakeholders. Furthermore, the CBOs initiated the M3K-flood-free housing program. Logically, this M3K reduces the heat island effect in the city, consequently reducing the impact of climate change and the vulnerability of the poor to disaster. This in-depth case studies research is parts of the researcher’s PhD trajectory and uses the empirical exploratory approach with purposive sampling derived from a list of related participants: local government officers, city leaders, NGO person, local academia, and riverside communities. The primary data is collected using interviews with snowball sampling, while secondary data is collected from policies and reports to understand the approaches and setting of multi-stakeholders’ collaboration. The finding indicates that the role of stakeholders is to create a medium through active collaboration. While poses in different situations for each case, this collaboration is important to form the foundation of a pro-poor approach. This approach could enhance the adaptive capacity of the poor to cope with the impact of climate change. Using Yogyakarta and Surakarta as Indonesian case studies, this paper contributes to the knowledge of adaptation strategies in developing countries.

Case study: 55th ISOCARP Congress Presentations
Year: 2019