Since 2013, The National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) has predicted that half of Jakarta will be underwater by 2030 due to global warming. Rachmat Witoelar, DNPI executive chairman at that time, said that certain measures had to be taken to anticipate the impacts of climate change. Jakarta has a major contribution to environmental damage, caused by air pollution, tree-cutting, and lack of green spaces.
According to Dailysabah.com, they had an interview with a hydrologist from Universitas Indonesia in 2017, Firdaus Ali, who has identified two main factors. The first is the global warming phenomenon. The second is overuse of groundwater plus the massive development of high-rise buildings in the city has caused Jakarta to sink, little by little, adding the surface of Jakarta was declining by 5 to 12 centimeters per year.
Lately, US President Joe Biden mentioned that Jakarta is in danger of sinking in the next 10 years. His statement came while talking about climate change at the office of the US Director of National Intelligence on July 27, 2021. He said that Indonesia is planning to move to the capital city because in 10 years it will be underwater.
Some experts predict Jakarta could sink if no precautions are taken. A researcher from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Heri Andreas, said to Indonesiaexpat.id if the risk of Jakarta sinking is not a joke. Based on their model, around 95 percent of North Jakarta will be submerged by 2050 and in the last 10 years, the land surface of North Jakarta has subsided by 2 to 2.5 meters.
