Fighting Climate Change Impacts in Indonesian Slums

While most of us wring our hands about how to stop climate change, some brave souls are getting on with helping people adapt to the coming changes. Mercy Corps is among them; the organization has launched its Indonesian Cities Project, which will help two Indonesian cities cope with the impacts of global warming, according to the Foundation Center.

The project is being supported by the Urban and Regional Development Institute and a recently announced $525,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation through its Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN).

The cities in question, Semarang and Bandar Lampung, are dealing with flooding, polluted water and the spread of disease, all problems made much worse by the changing climate. The year-long project will collaborate with government, universities, research institutions and local NGOs to analyze the ways climate change impacts the communities and work on developing adaption and risk-reduction strategies.

Mercy Corps aims to have the project represent a model for other communities that face immediate global warming-related impacts. By 2012, ACCCRN will replicate the effort in other cities in Indonesia and perhaps in other countries.

Photo courtesy of Ahron de Leeuw, via Flickr