(Mapping the Vulnerable Areas and Potencies of the Gunungkidul Community)

A Collaboration between Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta & Testimony and Services Division of Javanese Christian Churches (GKJ) Classis in Gunungkidul

Community Empowerment as one of Stube HEMAT's missions is realized through collaboration with the Testimony and Services division of Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) Classis in Gunungkidul through a workshop on Ecology (Monday, 29/03/2021) at GKJ Paliyan, Gunungkidul. This activity is a follow-up to Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta's 'Climate Change and Life Survival' training to help young people and stakeholders realize the places and areas of Indonesia that are prone to natural disasters, and be able to adapt themselves with knowledge related to climate change, natural events, natural damage and how to survive during the disaster as well as disaster management.

In the opening ceremony, Rev. Yusak Sumardiko, S.Th said, “Currently we are learning together about ecology, how we understand disasters, including the skills to map disaster-prone areas around us, and the potencies of the community to respond to disaster threats. The hope is that at the end of the activity there will be joint ideas and actions as a response to environmental problems, especially in Gunungkidul."

Rev. Bambang Sumbodo, S.Th., M.Min, board of Stube HEMAT, in a theological reflection based on the book of Genesis where humans have a mind, humans should be able to take the right attitude and act in response to climate change. There is new knowledge related to disaster management, such as water management and mapping the types of plants that can be used as disaster mitigation. Then, the church is encouraged to include ecological content in the church's teaching and to contribute more to efforts to conserve water and springs in the Gunungkidul area by reforesting the catchment area.

Entering the current topic of climate change Trustha Rembaka, S.Th and Putri Laoli from Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta guided participants to recognize climate change, which can be seen by its phenomenons from an increase in global earth temperature, melting of polar ice, changes in rain patterns, rising sea levels and circulation changes of ocean currents. The global earth temperature is influenced by the extent of forests globally, so the existence of forests must be maintained. As a district that has the largest area in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the people of Gunungkidul should protect the existing forest area.

The involvement of the participants in this activity became closer when Indra Baskoro Adi, S.Psi., MMB, a Disaster Management practitioner accompanied the participants to understand disasters and how to manage them and provide the participants the opportunity to map the threats of disasters that have occurred and those that are prone to occur, as well as to make an inventory of their strengths and potencies of community to deal with them, both mitigation and adaptation. The group discussion presented several findings related to threats and disasters, such as flash floods that hit several villages in Karangmojo district, tornadoes that hit several villages in Nglipar district, and drought that occurred in most districts in Gunungkidul and landslides that  occured in Patuk, Gedangsari, and Paliyan districts. However, community awareness has begun to be awakened, supported by technology to access the internet so that they can quickly find out about disasters and find out why they happened.

 

One of the participants, Agnes from Semin, Gunungkidul, revealed that she felt equipped with the material provided, so that her awareness of the disaster response was enlighted because Semin district had the threat of landslides so that she could determine what steps could be taken to reduce this threat, one of which was by planting trees in vulnerable areas.

These findings related to climate change have motivated the churches in the Gunungkidul region to unite in a joint movement as a manifestation of climate change awareness and response to ecological calls to bring good news to the universe and the environment. ***