With the current Indonesian capital Jakarta sinking inexorably below sea level, the authorities have decided to replace it with a new city. Nusantara will be located in the heart of the rainforest on the island of Borneo. But daily rains delay the work. So the entrepreneurs successfully requested to carry out a “ weather modification operation “, we learned on Friday June 21.
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The cloud seeding technique involves introducing tiny particles to trigger rain in specific geographic areas and leave others dry. A process that has gained popularity around the world. Usually, the technique is used to combat drought or increase water reserves, but rarely to prevent rain from falling and allow work to resume.
However, it is this last option that the Indonesian authorities are targeting, particularly in the tropical forest of the island of Borneo, to creation of a new capital.
Because the works of the latter, called Nusantara, have suffered floods and landslides since the start of the rainy season, which lasts six months in this part of the archipelago and is expected to end in August. Too long for the Indonesian authorities who therefore asked the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency on Friday “ that the rain that falls every day can be diverted to another place, eliminated in a certain area or at least reduced » near the construction site, said Tri Handoko Seto, a senior agency official.
However, scientists say the technique cannot create the weather – or trigger rainfall of the magnitude seen in countries like Germany and the United States. The cloud-seeding operation around Nusantara began last week and is expected to end on Sunday, followed by an assessment to determine whether it is necessary to continue, Seto said.
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Large-scale deforestation of one of the largest tropical rainforests in the world
The establishment of the new capital is strongly criticized by environmentalists, who denounce the deforestation of one of the largest expanses of tropical rainforest in the world.
Inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on August 17 – the anniversary of the archipelago’s independence – Nusantara should accommodate nearly two million inhabitants by 2045… unless the climate changes. decides otherwise: because the city is located in one of the largest expanses of tropical rainforest in the world. Thousands of civil servants are expected in this city from September, but the project has been delayed for several months due to the slow pace of construction work.
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