by Ifdlol Syukri (Thesis M.Sc Unesco-IHE, Delft, Netherland, 2016) supervised by Prof dr. Roshanka Ranasinghe, Prof. DR. Ir. Robiyanto H.S, M. Agr.Sc, Ali Dastgheib M.Sc, PhD
Indonesia is an archipelago and maritime country facing the impacts of climate change such as air and sea surface temperature as well as sea level rise. The extreme climate change impacts can considerably contribute to the occurrence of flood events in this country. For instance, sea level rise exacerbates coastal inundation, resulting in degradation of coastal ecosystems which are known as highly changeable environment. These coastal hazards considerably occur in Semarang City, the case study of this research which is located in the capital of Central Java Province. This study aims to estimate the monetary value of coastal environment in two selected coastal wetlands (considered as one system) including two beaches called “Marina and Maron” as well as an estuary (Plumbon river) in the western coastal area of Semarang city. The target coastal ecosystems for which the economic valuation has been done consist of mangroves, seagrasses, coastal flora and fauna existed in the area.
The data collection phase has been done through on-site surveys and interviews with students, house agencies, researchers, fishermen, photo shops, painting and book stores as well as 210 visitors who came to the site for recreational purposes. Also, a descriptive questionnaire was developed and used to interlink coastal hazards and the impact of these hazards on the environment and economic value provided by the mentioned ecosystem services and goods.
In this study different economic valuation approaches and techniques have been applied to quantify the value of aforementioned coastal ecosystems. These methods include net factor income, hedonic price and contingent choice method.
Total estimated value or the whole Semarang coastal area, shows that the ‘Fishery value’ accounts for the highest economic contribution of coastal ecosystems as estimated at Rp 23,340,352,861, followed by Amenity value at Rp 439,002,861, and Research value in a range between Rp 238,868,000 and Rp 492,870,000. In addition, the lowest environmental value for the whole coastal area was estimated as ’Art value’ at Rp 214,045,150, although the majority of respondents perceived the importance of coastal nature for artistic works. For the two selected beaches and estuary, the Recreational/Tourism value was estimated at Rp 19,010,974,803, and Rp 1,01 1,087,200, respectively.
Also, these monetary values were calculated “per hectare” of the whole coastal area of Semarang and were exchanged to Euro with the rate in December 2015 estimated at €340, €6.39, “€3.48 €7.18” and €3.12 for Fishery, Amenity, Research and Art Value, respectively. In addition, the tourism and recreational value of the coastal environment has been estimated at €40,154, €541,566 and €2,894 per Hectare of the Marina beach, Maron beach and Plumbon Estuary, respectively.
Based on the derived outcomes of interviews, an overall picture has been drawn by stating the fact that more the coastal ecosystems were hypothetically assumed to be degraded or lost, higher the respondents are willing to pay to not lose the ecosystems and its associated services. In addition, the results present that the value and popularity of the beach area and its provided ecosystems services is much higher than the estuary, since the visitors have given a higher monetary value to the beach area than the estuary.
Keywords: Economic valuation, coastal ecosystems, ecosystem services, climate change impacts, Semarang coastal area. Citations : 74 (1985-2015)
