According to The Times’s senior correspondent for Asia, Hannah Beech, “Jakarta has a lot of problems, but its most existential one is that it is sinking in some places by up to a foot a year.” This is due to the rising Java Sea, which surrounds Indonesia’s capital, as well as the thousands of illegal wells dug by Jakartans in search of clean water, which deflate the marshes underneath the city. With 40 percent of Jakarta lying below sea level, flooding is becoming increasingly common. To combat this, Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, is moving the country’s capital to a new city called Nusantara, which is being built from scratch in Borneo, about 800 miles from Jakarta. Joko promises that Nusantara will be a model of environmental stewardship and carbon neutrality within a few decades. However, it remains to be seen whether his ambitious plans will succeed, as the new capital is behind schedule and not all potential successors support the move. Nonetheless, Hannah believes that the success of Nusantara would demonstrate that a developing country can create its own vision for itself and be a successful democracy.
Read Hannah’s full story and view accompanying photographs and videos.
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2023-05-17 05:48:53
Original from www.nytimes.com