Indonesia urges ministries to prepare for strong El Niño in 2026

Indonesia's National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) is calling for heightened preparedness across all ministries and institutions to confront the anticipated strengthening of El Niño in 2026. Minister Rachmat Pambudy emphasized that addressing the impacts of climate change can no longer be solely reactive, but must be driven by anticipation, scientific analysis, and cross-sectoral coordination.

Pambudy highlighted a national dialogue on responding to the strong El Niño event as a critical moment for aligning stakeholders and mitigating climate disaster risks. He stressed that the response must be measurable and integrated into the national action plan. "We must ensure that the response we build is no longer just reactive, but an integrated, measurable early action deeply rooted in our climate analysis," he stated.

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We must ensure that the response we build is no longer just reactive, but an integrated, measurable early action deeply rooted in our climate analysis.

The agency underscored that scientific foundations and cross-sectoral collaboration are key to maintaining national development sustainability and bolstering Indonesia's resilience against global climate dynamics. Consequently, all ministries are urged to use the dialogue as a basis for formulating concrete short, medium, and long-term strategies.

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If El Nino, the anticipation has already been done two to three months ago. The problem is that rivers dry up, and reservoirs also dry up. We are indeed doing a lot of drilling to find groundwater sources.

The potential impacts of El Niño, including below-normal rainfall from July to October, could disrupt clean water availability, increase the number of hotspots, trigger forest and land fires, and raise the risk of acute respiratory infections. Government interventions are therefore prioritized for the agriculture, forestry, health, water resources, energy, and maritime sectors to prevent these climate impacts from destabilizing the nation or hindering development goals.

Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo noted that his ministry has been anticipating El Niño for months, accelerating the construction of boreholes to secure water supplies as river and reservoir levels drop during the dry season. Collaborating with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the ministry is using isotope technology to locate groundwater sources, reinforcing national water resilience and supporting agricultural productivity to ensure food self-sufficiency in 2026 and 2027.

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So that food self-sufficiency in 2026, 2027 can still be maintained.