Demak, Indonesia: Indonesia wants to build an $80-billion, 700-kilometre (435 miles) seawall along Java’s coast to tackle land loss as climate change lifts tides and groundwater extraction prompts land to sink.
For residents who have seen the tide come more than a kilometre inland in parts of Java, the plan sounds like salvation.
But with a timeline of decades and uncertain financing, it looks unlikely to arrive quickly enough, and climate experts warn it could even make matters worse by pushing erosion elsewhere and disrupting local ecosystems.
