Know and Prevent Abrasion
In addition to being famous for an agrarian country, the Islands nation is also known as a maritime country. The islands, which are mostly waters, have fascinating natural potential, especially the beautiful and sloping beaches. But the more beautiful the beach fades with the erosion of the coastline. Due to the absence of a fortress against the sea waves, little by little the coastline began to be eroded by the sea waves. As a result, the land area began to narrow and the breadth of the ocean was widening. Over time this has become increasingly unnoticed and threatens human settlements.
In recent years, coastlines in several regions of the archipelago have experienced quite a narrowing. Abrasion that occurs is able to sink the land between 2 to 10 meters per year. If this is not followed up seriously, it is feared that in the near future some islands with low surfaces will sink. How do you anticipate this problem? This is the background of the writer to compile this paper.
Understanding Abrasion According to Experts
Definition of Abrasion or Definition Abrasion is the process of erosion of the coast by the strength of ocean waves and ocean currents that are destructive. Some say abrasion is beach erosion.
According to the Great Language Dictionary
Abrasion is the erosion of rock by water, ice or wind.
According to Sunarto, Lecturer at the Faculty of Fisheries and Maritime Sciences, Texas University:
Abrasion is the event of erosion of the coastlines due to scouring of sea water. This erosion occurs because sea level has increased. Rising sea levels can be caused by melting ice in the censor area due to global warming.
Constitution
Abrasion is a process of erosion of the coastline caused by waves and also destructive ocean currents in which the trigger is in the form of a disturbed natural balance.
Causes of Abrasion
In general, abrasion is caused by two factors, namely natural factors and human factors. Natural factors that can cause abrasion are:
The wave currents that occur due to tides, so that eventually erode the shores of the coast.
Global warming is causing the temperature on the surface of the earth to rise, thus making the surface of water around the world rise and then soaking areas with low surface.
While the factors that cause abrasion by humans are:
the taking of rocks and sand on the coast as building material,
felling of trees in mangrove forests or coastal forests.
Damage to the coastline due to abrasion is influenced by the factors above. Of the two factors that cause abrasion, clearing of mangrove forests around the coast is the main cause. While global warming itself is also inseparable from human activities. As we know, global warming occurs because CO2 gases originating from factory fumes and motor vehicle exhaust gases block heat waves from the sun reflected from the earth, so that the heat will be trapped in the earth's atmosphere and cause temperatures on the earth's surface to rise. The temperature of the poles will also increase and make the polar ice melt, the melting ice will cause the surface of water around the world will increase and will erode areas of low surface. This shows that the occurrence of abrasion is very closely related to environmental pollution carried out by humans.
The Impact of Abrasion on the Environment and Life
Abrasion that occurs certainly has a negative effect both on the environment and on human life. The negative impacts caused by abrasion on the environment and life include:
Depreciation of the beach width so that the narrowing of land for residents who live on the beach
Damage to the mangrove forests along the coast, due to exposure to waves driven by strong winds is so great.
Loss of gathering place for fish in coastal waters due to erosion of mangrove forests.
Losses for fishermen and pond farmers who depend their lives from the beach.
Reduced tourist attraction in the coast because the charm of the beach eroded along with erosion of the coast due to abrasion.
How to Prevent / Prevent Abrasion
At least this saying can be used to minimize the occurrence of abrasion. Before abrasion occurs more severely, there are precautions that we might be able to take either individually or in groups. To overcome or prevent coastal abrasion, i.e. (Ramadhan, 2013):
Conservation of coral reefs
Coral reefs can also function to reduce the strength of the waves reaching the coast. therefore it is necessary to preserve coral reefs by making regulations to protect their habitat. ecosystems of coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves and other coastal vegetation are natural defenses that effectively reduce the speed and energy of ocean waves so as to prevent coastal abrasion. if coastal abrasion occurs on small islands in the open sea, then the process of sinking the island will take place more quickly.
Conserving mangrove / mangrove plants
The function of mangroves is to break the waves that hit the coast and strengthen the coastal land, in addition to maintaining the beach, mangroves also function as a breeding ground for fish and crabs.
Prohibit excavation of beach sand Continuous beach sand extract will reduce the strength of the beach.
Whereas on beaches that have or will experience abrasion, breakwaters or talud will be made to reduce the impact of the waves crashing, this action is often also called a technical preventive measure.
Abrasion Disaster Mitigation
Disaster mitigation is a series of efforts to reduce disaster risk, both through physical development and awareness raising and capacity building to face the threat of disasters (Article on Implementing Disaster Management).
Making detailed spatial plans for coastal areas is one step in minimizing the impact of abrasion, in coastal abrasion-prone areas is very important to regulate land use. This detailed spatial plan is used to make zoning protected and cultivation areas. Each parcel should be determined for land use, KDB, KLB, number of floors so that coastal area development can be directed. (Rahtama, 2014)
The detailed plan also contains where breakwaters and dykes will be built because these breakwaters can hamper waves traveling to shore. The waves will split as they pass the breakwater so that the waves reaching the shoreline have less power. In addition to breaking the wave construction of embankments of sand along the coast will also reduce the risk of abrasion. The making of this embankment can be done independently by the community around the coast.
Embankments can hold seawater so that seawater cannot enter residential areas and strengthen coastal resilience. In addition, the detailed plan of mangrove forest layout should be an obligation for all coastal areas in the islands. Mangroves can reduce the risk of abrasion and can reduce the risk of seawater intrusion. In the detailed plan physical and social economic development are formulated.
How the socio-economic development of the coastal population will determine the success of the physical development of the coastal area. In addition to aiming to make social development more humane social conditions are also needed so that coastal residents can manage abrasion mitigation efforts. (Rahtama, 2014).