Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering IPB University with the Indonesian National Committee-Drainage Irrigation Holds a National Webinar on Water Resources

Climate change has had an impact on water resources in supporting agricultural activities. To deal with this, infrastructure readiness is needed. The Indonesian National Committee for Drainage Irrigation (KNI-ID) in collaboration with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SIL), Faculty of Agricultural Technology (Fateta) IPB University held a national webinar with the theme ‘Readiness of Water Resources Infrastructure Due to Climate Change Impacts on Food Security in Indonesia’ in a hybrid manner at the Fateta Cyber Center, Dramaga Campus of IPB.

The webinar was opened by the Chairperson of KNI-ID, Dr Sarwo Edhy. In his remarks, he said that this webinar was KNI-ID’s contribution in formulating the right ideas in dealing with climate change, especially in preparing the infrastructure.

In this webinar, three speakers were presented, namely Dr Tesar Hidayat Musouwir (Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing/PUPR), Dr Rahmanto (Ministry of Agriculture/Ministry of Agriculture) and Kadarsah, MSi (Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics) moderated by Ir Suparji, SST , MT (KNI-ID General Secretary).

“The Ministry of PUPR has prepared water resource infrastructure, including by utilizing information and communication technology (ICT) systems in dealing with climate change,” explained Dr Tesar when giving a presentation.

On that occasion, Dr Rahmanto said that the Ministry of Agriculture had made various efforts to save plants in maintaining production with supporting infrastructure. Meanwhile, Kadarsah, MSi presented data that real climate change occurs with extreme events (El-Nino and La-Nina) with shorter and more frequent occurrences.

In the discussion, thoughts and ideas were raised to save water from water sources (dams), canals and the farmer’s level in dealing with climate change. In addition, there is a need to synchronize irrigation modernization from all stakeholders including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of PUPR.

“We must be optimistic in dealing with climate change, universities are ready to provide input and thoughts in addressing this phenomenon,” said Prof. Budi Indra Setiawan, lecturer at the SIL Department of IPB University. (CHA/Rz) (IAAS/HAP)