Climate change is a serious issue that is faced by countries in the world, including Indonesia. The La Nina anomaly which is part of El-Nino Southern Oscilation (ENSO) not only threatens national food security but also the sustainability of biodiversity in Indonesia.
Dean of Faculty of Biology Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Dr. Budi Setiadi Daryono, M.Agr Sc., said ENSO became a serious threat to the sustainability of biodiversity in Indonesia. The impact is not felt instantly like food security, but in the long run the loss of biodiversity will damage the ecosystem, which is worse and causes systemic losses.
“The loss of biodiversity in the long run will damage the ecosystem and cause systemic loss that is invaluable,” he said on Thursday (16/3) at Faculty of Biology.
The La Nina that causes higher precipitation and rise in temperature and humidity will threaten the ecosystem and cause natural selection to take place. La Nina will spark bottleneck effectton species that have low tolerance to temperature and submersion due to high precipitation and humidity. For example, the savannah ecosystem in in Nusa Tenggara, parts of East Java, and Bali.
“The Flora and fauna indigenous to Indonesia can be endangered or at least suffer from unfavourable natural selection,” he added.
He pointed out an example of determining the sex of green turtles (Chelonia mydas L.), which is very much influenced by the temperature whilst incubated. In temperature above 29°C, the offsprings will normally be female. In under 29°C the offsprings will generally be male. During incubation, in a temperature higher than 33°C, the embryo will die.
The chairman of Indonesian Biology Consortium (KOBI) said climate anomaly happened due to human activity, among others. He emphasised the importance to sustain biodiversity resource and environment. If these are good, they will support national food security.
“So, let’s together sustain the conservation of nature. If we can conserve the biodiversity resource and the environment, our national food security will be secured, too,” he said.
Budi further asked the government to address the climate anomaly seriously. Government i.e Agriculture Ministry, Trade Ministry, and Logistics Agency are expected to play active role in predicting, drafting, and implementing mitigation efforts that are strategic and efficient, which include food provision from upstream to downstream processes.