Drought tightens grip across Indonesia

Thousands of Indonesian households are grappling with severe water shortages as the El Nino phenomenon intensifies the dry season. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has urged regional administrations to bolster drought preparedness and called on the public to conserve water and prevent land fires.

Gunungkidul in Yogyakarta, Semarang in Central Java, and Jember in East Java are among the latest regions added to the list of drought-affected areas. At least 700 households in these locations now rely on water distributed by tanker trucks. This exacerbates the existing crisis for over 7,100 households already facing water scarcity in Central Java, West Java, and Maluku.

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BNPB urges all regional administrations and the public to strengthen preparedness against drought, clean water shortages, and forest and land fires.

Several regions have declared 90-day drought alert statuses to expedite emergency responses. West Lombok declared a drought emergency in June, while West Java issued its alert in July. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecasts that the dry season could be "extreme" in 2026, increasing the risk of prolonged drought and crop failures. By mid-June, 37 percent of Indonesia's climate zones had entered the dry season, with nearly half the country recording below-normal rainfall. The BMKG anticipates below-normal rainfall across more than 80 percent of the archipelago between July and September.

Experts have warned that extended drought periods could jeopardize national food security. The BMKG has recommended immediate mitigation measures, such as adjusting planting schedules, using drought-tolerant crop varieties, and diversifying food crops to reduce the impact of limited water supplies.

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Several measures need to be implemented immediately, including adjusting planting schedules, optimising the use of crop varieties that are drought tolerant and early-maturing, and diversifying food crops.