Coordination Challenges Facing Effective Flood Governance in the Ciliwung River Basin

AbstractThe Ciliwung River in Java, Indonesia, is known to cause frequent flooding in the downstream capital city of Jakarta. From source to mouth the river flows through several administrative units. Indonesia’s decentralised governance structure means that each unit has the authority to develop its own plans and to address its own objectives. Not only that, but flood management spans many sectors, and these sectors need to work together throughout the decentralised governance system. This can pose a significant challenge to achieving integrated river management to mitigate flooding, where plans need to be carefully coordinated and high levels of collaboration are required. This chapter examines the current governance arrangements in the Ciliwung River Basin, to understand what challenges may be preventing successful coordination of flood management. The findings of the study are based on a systematic review of the literature conducted within the frame of the NERC and RISTEK-BRIN funded project: Mitigating hydrometeorological hazard impacts through improved transboundary river management in the Ciliwung River Basin. The findings suggest several issues that restrict the effectiveness of coordination for flood mitigation in the Ciliwung Basin. Imprecisely defined roles and responsibilities, issues including lack of capacity at the local level, insufficient coordination between local administrations, and limitations to the function of coordination platforms are some of the challenges identified. The findings highlight that coordination challenges do not only exist at basin scale, but that coordination issues beyond the basin can also have an impact. Overall, the chapter presents insights into the coordination challenges facing flood governance in urban transboundary basins. It also provides insights for practitioners on what aspects of river governance may need to be improved to support flood risk reduction, as well as potential topics for future research.