Building with Nature: Demak Coastal Project on Display

On behalf of the Building with Nature Indonesia Consortium, Fokko van der Goot from EcoShape is participating in the Expert Dialogue on technologies for averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage in coastal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn.

Their project in Demak, Northern Java, is presented as an example of how the Building with Nature approach of mangrove restoration and sustainable aquaculture could contribute to disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation.

The main causes of the erosion problems are the removal of mangrove belts for aquaculture development, the construction of coastal infrastructure that disturbs sediment build-up from offshore sources, and groundwater extraction, which causes land subsidence and river canalization.

“We are introducing the Building with Nature approach to address these root causes, integrating mangrove and river restoration, small-scale engineering and sustainable land use,” said EcoShape.

Semi-permeable barriers have been built from poles and brushwood to dampen the waves and capture sediment.

Once the near shore bed level rises enough, mangroves will regenerate naturally, developing a natural defense that will protect the hinterland from further erosion.