[M-IS06] Extreme Weather and Water Related Disasters in Asia

[MIS06-10] International Transboundary Governance in Flood Prevention and Mitigation: A Lesson Learned from Sembakung River Basin

*Harkunti Pertiwi Rahayu¹, Arief Taufik Hidayat¹ (1.Institute Technology of Bandung)

Keywords:Flood, Prevention, Mitigation, International Transboundary River Basin Governance, Discourse Network Analysis

Floods are the most common disasters in most Indonesian regions. In dealing with the threat of flooding, the good governance is needed to reduce flood risk. The Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) concept is an approach to river basin management that has been implemented in Indonesia through Law number 17 of 2019 concerning Water Resource managements as well as flood at the same time. However, this law does not show specific governance arrangements for join operation flood risk management for transboundary river basin, especially for the international transboundary. The Sembakung river basin is in the Kalimantan island, crossing from Malaysia to Indonesia. This river often experiences flooding and disrupts people's lives in the river bank, especially at the downstream which is in Indonesian part (North Kalimantan Province). The complexity of transboundary flood risk management is challenged by the engagement of multi stakeholders involved. The complexity becomes more challenging, if the river crosses two countries. This shows the importance of international transboundary river basin management governance for flood prevention and mitigation to reduce the flood risk. This study aims to formulate transboundary governance in the prevention and mitigation of floods in the Sembakung river basin. Comprehensive data were obtained by in-depth review of related government documents and journals. Followed by in-depth online interviews on 8 national government agencies and North Kalimantan provincial agencies. The analysis used in this study to model the international transboundary governance for flood prevention and mitigation includes content analysis, descriptive analysis and Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) using the UCINET program. Results of the study shows that the existing pattern of cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia in the Pokja Sosek Malindo is not sufficient enough to be used as international transboundary river basin governance for flood prevention and mitigation. The study shows insufficient index, since there is no human resource development, data and information management and finance. Based on the transboundary river basin governance framework developed, Indonesia shows more sufficiently compliance to the framework compare to Malaysia. No comprehensive national and provincial regulatory framework was found in Malaysia side for Sembakung river basin. Thus the international transboundary governance for river basin management especially for flood prevention and mitigation is significantly needed. Further findings using DNA for the mid and downstream Sembakung river basin, which is part Indonesia, shows that Public Works sector plays dominant role in overall coordination and implementation. While from the structure, mandatory and importance perspectives, several other actors plays significant role. They are Ministry of Public Works, River Basin Authority Kalimantan V, and North Kalimantan provincial department of Public Works. Meanwhile the Sembakung river basin governance has been less discussed, since Indonesia has already had the governance at Sesayap River Basin and Sembakung River Basin, i.e. Kalimantan V River Basin Authority and Mahakam Berau River Basin Management Authority. To implement the model for international transboundary river basin governance for flood prevention and mitigation, therefore a bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia is needed to maximise the existence of Sosek Malindo as international transboundary platform for Sembakung River management.