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The Welang River in East Java, Indonesia, is a crucial lifeline for nearby communities, providing water for daily use and supporting local agriculture. As cities expand and populations grow, however, the river has faced increasing challenges such as flooding, erosion and pollution. The Governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands, through its Partners for Water programme are investing in the Welang River Basin Transformation Project to tackle these challenges and protect both the river and the people who depend on it. This is the third article in the miniseries on the Welang River Basin project, highlighting the role of Nature-based Solutions for integrated water management.

During the rainy season, the Welang basin, specifically in Sidogiri and Welang Lama, experiences floods at least once a year. Notably during the recent rainy seasons in 2022 and 2023, floodwaters of up to one-meter caused the Welang Lama river to overflow, inundating several districts including the villages of Sukorejo and Karangketug. This disaster caused economic and infrastructural losses to affected people in this area.

In response to the recurring flooding issues, the Indonesian government, through the East Java Province, has partnered with the Netherlands government to implement the Welang River Basin Transformation Project. This initiative will be executed by a Netherlands-Indonesian consortium, consisting of Witteveen+Bos, Nuffic Southeast Asia and AidEnvironment. Sidogiri and Welang Lama were selected as pilot sites to address the flooding challenges. One of the project’s primary objectives is to design effective flood protection measures for these areas through a collaborative co-creation and design phase.

Project location

Collaborative co-creation (co-design) supports participatory design as a fundamental aspect of Sustainable Design Principles (SDPs). The co-design process involves active participation from local communities, landowners and government stakeholders, fostering inclusivity and ensuring that the final outcomes are tailored to the specific needs and contexts of those involved. The process is divided into four stages:

  • Needs and Demands: this stage focuses on identifying the challenges and needs of the communities while understanding local environmental issues. To achieve this, the consortium, in partnership with students from Universitas Negeri Malang (UM), Universitas Brawijaya (UB) and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), conducted site visits along the Sumber Pinang and Welang Lama rivers. These visits included hydraulic modelling and flood assessments to gain a comprehensive understanding of the area’s vulnerabilities.
  • Co-Creation of Solution: during this stage, technical expertise is combined with local knowledge to design effective interventions. Stakeholder workshops were organised, involving the consortium, the Department of Public Works and Water Resources, universities and local villagers. These sessions facilitated knowledge sharing and discussions, leading to the identification of potential structural and non-structural measures to address flooding.
  • Complementing Solutions: Solutions were refined based on community feedback and further analysis. Conceptual designs were developed in collaboration with the Department of Public Works and Water Resources, the consortium and the universities. These frameworks were then shared and discussed with villagers to ensure that the solutions reflected their needs and input.
  • Validation and Implementation: The final stage involved evaluating the proposed solutions to ensure their effectiveness and alignment with institutional policies. Final outcomes were presented to the communities, outlining the next steps with an emphasis on transparency and trust-building.

By following these structured stages, the co-design process promotes inclusivity, knowledge sharing and community-driven solutions to effectively address local environmental and flooding challenges. Each phase employs distinct participatory design approaches to ensure that all parties are involved and can contribute based on their background and expertise. The following table outlines the co-design process, detailing each stage and the corresponding participatory design methods used:

Recommended set of measures in the report: first picture Welang Lama area | second picture Sidogiri area

Miniseries on the Welang River Basin project

This is the fourth article in the miniseries on the Welang River Basin project, highlighting the role of youth in sustainable waste management. Below you can find the links to other articles in the series:

Article 1: The role of trusted advisors
Article 2: Practical implementation of Nature-Based Solutions
Article 3: Empowering youth for sustainable waste mangement
Article 4: A participatory design approach

The Welang River in East Java, Indonesia, is a vital resource for the nearby communities providing water for daily use and supporting local agriculture. However, as cities expand and populations grow, the river has faced increasing problems such as flooding, erosion and pollution. In response, the Governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands, through its Partners for Water programme have initiated the Welang River Basin Transformation Project to tackle these challenges and protect both the river and the people who depend on it.

Waste disposal in the river can lead to flooding, as the accumulation of waste can block drainage systems. In this context, youth engagement in environmental protection, particularly in waste management, is pivotal. Youth has the potential to be the “agents of change” in keeping the river clean from waste by implementing innovative and sustainable waste management practices and sharing the practices with other generations.

Empowering youth in waste management begins with education, making schools crucial platforms in fostering awareness and encouraging better behaviours such as sorting and recycling to ultimately reduced waste that enters rivers. Recognizing this, the Welang River Basin Transformation organised waste management workshops for two public elementary schools (Sekolah Dasar Negeri-SDN) in the Welang Catchment Area: SDN Sukorejo and SDN Tambakrejo. These schools, located in flood-prone regions, were strategically chosen as they serve as contained communities and provide an excellent opportunity to engage youth as potential agents of change in their local communities. The workshops were facilitated by Forum Kabupaten Pasuruan Sehat (FKPS) under the leadership of Mr. Apri, demonstrating a collaborative effort to address environmental challenges through education.

The workshops included in-class presentations and hands-on activities focused on waste sorting, creating simple biopore infiltration holes and using stacked buckets. The students actively participated and responded with enthusiasm. During the workshop, SDN Sukorejo students brought their household waste to school, while those at SDN Tambakrejo acted as “waste detectives,” collecting and sorting waste on campus. They organised waste into organic and inorganic categories, disposing of organic waste in biopore holes or stacked buckets. To keep the learning process engaging, competitions were introduced that encouraged proper waste sorting.

While a more extensive educational programme is indeed necessary for sustained behavioural change, this workshop provided foundational knowledge on the link between mismanaged waste, flooding, waste sorting and waste recycling. This initiative aims to improve awareness among youth on river conditions and waste management, empowering them to protect and preserve their environment for the life of future generations.

Miniseries on the Welang River Basin project

This is the third article in the miniseries on the Welang River Basin project, highlighting the role of youth in sustainable waste management. Below you can find the links to other articles in the series:

Article 1: The role of trusted advisors
Article 2: Practical implementation of Nature-Based Solutions
Article 3: Empowering youth for sustainable waste mangement
Article 4: A participatory design approach

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