Indonesia Plans to Spend $42 Billion on Sea Walls

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Indonesia plans to build $42 billion worth of sea walls to prevent an estimated 1/3 of Jakarta from being flooded by 2050.

Excerpts from the article:

Lacking a comprehensive piped water network, industry and homeowners have tapped into the city's aquifers, causing rapid subsidence in northern Jakarta, home to several million people.

In this area, the swampy ground has been sinking at an average of about 10 centimetres (4 inches) a year. Rising sea levels from a heated-up planet will compound the problem in decades to come.

Jakarta has been described as one of the world's fastest sinking cities — a result of geographic misfortune and mismanagement. The city sits on swampy ground, with 13 heavily polluted rivers running through it. The main cause for the sinking is the over-extraction of groundwater. The weight of taller buildings being constructed in recent years further compresses the ground.