Balancing Environmental Conservation and Socioeconomic Welfare: Sustainable Cultivation of Suboptimal Lands in Pulau Burung District of Riau Province

Tay Juhana Foundation, Jalan Rawa Bebek Utara No. 26, Jakarta, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: zara@tayjuhanafoundation.org

Abstract

Due to its complex and often difficult nature, suboptimal lands are either under-utilized and left as abandoned space or over-utilized and generate environment problems. In reality, it can be the answer to the future challenge in 2050, where the growing population needs more food to survive. It results in intense competition in land conversion to agricultural and nonagricultural purposes. This paper introduces Water Management Trinity as an integrated water management system applied to exert the highest benefits from sustainable suboptimal lands cultivation in Pulau Burung District for at least the last 50 years. The three main components: the canal, the dike, also the dam and water gate principally regulate the freshwater from the precipitation events. With a cumulative length of more than 4000 km, the canals hold a volume of at least 45 million m³ of freshwater. Combined with the soil technology, the current agriculture practice is proven to reduce environmental damage by maintaining the land humidity so that the fire and flooding risk are both diminished while the land subsidence rate is kept under 0-4 cm/year in the last ten years. Simultaneously, the local socioeconomic sector flourishes as the system secures the water requirement for plant commodities production and supports freshwater supply.