Overcoming poverty in coastal communities

The Australia-Indonesia Centre’s newest research program is putting a focus on coastal communities to look at ways to tackle some critical economic and social gaps.

Indonesia has made substantial efforts towards poverty reduction and these have been recognised by the World Bank which found in 2023 that extreme poverty in the country had been “basically eradicated”.

While progress may have occurred, the experience has not necessarily been mirrored in coastal communities.

In August this year, Nunung Nuryartono, the Deputy for Coordination of Social Welfare Improvement and an Australia-Indonesia Centre senior fellow, talked of the need to eradicate poverty and that “coastal areas turn out to be the hotspots for poverty, followed by agricultural areas”.

Coastal communities are a key focus of the AIC’s Partnership for Australia-Indonesia Research (PAIR) Sulawesi program launched earlier this year.

Data from Indonesia’s national statistics agency, Badan Pusat Statistik in March 2022 shows there were 3.9 million people living in extreme poverty in coastal areas compared with 1.65 million extremely poor people listed in non-coastal regions.

At that same time, 17.74 million people in coastal areas were categorised as poor, while there were 8.4 million poor people in non-coastal areas.

It has been noted that the poverty rate in rural areas (11.79 percent) exceeds the rate in urban areas (7.09 percent).

The Indonesian government has previously pledged to overcome coastal poverty, for example through social assistance for food and direct cash.

Research by other entities has noted that coastal communities in most parts of Indonesia are among the poorest community groups.

South Sulawesi, where Universitas Hasanuddin (Unhas) is based, is one province where people have experienced hardship, with BPS data showing the “total poor population” trended upwards from 767,800 people in 2019 to 784,980 people in 2021.

West Sulawesi, another coastal province, recently reported a slight decrease in the percentage of “poor people”, but also experienced a rise in the percentage of poor people in urban areas.

A UNICEF report into Sustainable Development Goals for West Sulawesi noted “relatively high” prevalence of malnutrition.

The province of North Sulawesi, of which fishing and agriculture are important economic sectors, is also said to have a “relatively high” prevalence of malnutrition, with child mortality remaining a challenge.

Analysis from Unhas listed a number of causes of coastal poverty including geographic and social isolation, lack of education and climate change.

Sharing ocean and coastal resources

During a recent presentation, Unhas rector, Jamaluddin Jompa, said coastal communities had been “unable to benefit from the country’s abundant ocean and coastal resources”, leading to widespread poverty.

“Numerous policies and programs implemented by the government have been found to impose undue burdens on coastal communities,” said Professor Jompa, also noting that “coastal development programs and policies frequently tend to marginalise the interests of coastal communities”.

“Projects such as reclamation, mining, and tourism often neglect community voices and restrict the livelihood opportunities available to coastal residents,” said Professor Jompa.

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In regards climate change, by-products such as ocean acidity and alternation in rainfall patterns have the potential to affect industries such as aquaculture and seaweed which rely heavily on clean water.

According to the World Bank, in Indonesia “climate change is likely to impact water availability, health and nutrition, the ability to manage disaster risk and urban development, particularly in coastal zones, with implications for poverty and inequality”.

Examples from Sulawesi already describe communities, homes and farmlands being impacted by rising sea levels.

A number of recommendations have been proposed to overcome poverty, one being a greater focus on the welfare of children given their greater vulnerability.

Unhas has noted the need for more targeted evaluations of government programs, social empowerment of coastal communities and more government investment in health, education, electricity and clean water.

Feature image by PAIR.