NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN INDONESIA

The report identifies critical areas in Indonesia where nature-based solutions (NbS)—specifically the conservation and restoration of forests and coastal ecosystems—can mitigate climate risks such as flooding, landslides, and coastal erosion. Using biophysical modeling, the study finds that protecting just 16% of the country's land area (those most impacted by infrastructure) can support climate resilience for 147 million people and 68% of the road network. It argues for integrating these spatial analyses into 'upstream' national and subnational infrastructure planning to avoid high-risk areas and invest in restoration, which could benefit over half the population and 53% of the road network. The report recommends mainstreaming NbS into the Medium and Long-Term Development Plans and the 2020-2040 Road Network General Plan.

• Conserving the top 10% of priority areas most impacted by road and settlement development (covering 16% of Indonesia's land area) is critical for the climate resilience of 147 million people and 68% of the national road network.
• Restoring degraded forests on 11% of the country's land area represents a major opportunity to enhance climate resilience, potentially benefiting 143 million people and 53% (approximately 47,000 km) of the road network.
• A broader conservation approach targeting all potential NbS areas (18% of land area) would support climate resilience for 113 million people and 44% of the road network.
• A significant portion of identified priority areas for NbS are currently unprotected; 56% of unconstrained conservation areas and 73% of areas within the road impact buffer lie outside the protected area network.
• The priority areas for restoration are even more likely to be unprotected, with 88% of these areas lying outside of existing protected areas.
• Cost-benefit analysis using the Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) tool in West Kalimantan indicates that including intangible non-road benefits increases the Benefit to Cost Ratio (BCR) from 0.35 to 6.05 and the Internal Return on Investment (IRR) to 69.5%.
• The report identifies four essential ecosystem services for climate resilience: water provision, sediment retention, coastal protection, and flood risk reduction.
• Infrastructure development, particularly roads, exacerbates environmental degradation; in Borneo, roads and settlements have been shown to affect biodiversity up to 250 km into sensitive ecosystems.

APA

Bartlett, R., Joshi, S., Chaplin-Kramer, B., Sharp, R., Hadian, O., & Jati, V. (2025). NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN INDONESIA. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/723/5b3m9qdsqz_WWF_SIPA_Indonesia_May2025.pdf

Chicago

Bartlett, Ryan, Shail Joshi, Becky Chaplin-Kramer, Rich Sharp, Oki Hadian, and Virta Jati. NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN INDONESIA. WWF International, 2025. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/723/5b3m9qdsqz_WWF_SIPA_Indonesia_May2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bartlett |first1=Ryan |last2=Joshi |first2=Shail |last3=Chaplin-Kramer |first3=Becky |last4=Sharp |first4=Rich |last5=Hadian |first5=Oki |last6=Jati |first6=Virta |title=NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN INDONESIA |publisher=WWF International |date=2025 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/723/5b3m9qdsqz_WWF_SIPA_Indonesia_May2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bartlett2025naturebased, author = {Bartlett, Ryan and Joshi, Shail and Chaplin-Kramer, Becky and Sharp, Rich and Hadian, Oki and Jati, Virta}, title = {{NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN INDONESIA}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/723/5b3m9qdsqz_WWF_SIPA_Indonesia_May2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }