Study of the public perspectives on the problems of Batang Kuranji River Basin management in Padang City, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Batang Kuranji is one of the main rivers that divide the city of Padang, West Sumatera, Indonesia from the Bukit Barisan mountains in the east to the Indian Ocean in the west. Batang Kuranji River Basin has a 202.70 km2 watershed with the main river length of 32.41 km. Over the last three decades, there has been an increase in the frequency of problems caused by the declining quality of watershed management, such as upstream landslides, and flooding downstream in urban areas. This study aim to explore and identify the watershed management issues, from upstream to downstream, based on community perspectives along the river basins. Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were applied through surveys with respondents, semi structured interviews with key informant and Focus Group Discussion with stakeholders. In general, each community group along the river basin has a explain more details of the more frequent flooding problems and the higher of flood. However, the factors that cause the problems for each community are different with each group blaming one another. This study explores these differing views between groups and provides recommendations for policy makers towards integrated management.