The moratorium has the support of Indonesian Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, who said the Ayung River Basin, which encompasses Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, had lost 97 per cent of its forest cover to development.
“If only 3 per cent remains, its capacity to withstand extreme rainfall is clearly very low,” Hanif said.
Denpasar regularly floods at the beginning of the wet season because the drains are blocked with rubbish and sludge. But the floods this month were extreme.
“I have lived in this home my entire life, and it has never flooded that high. Ever,” Wayan Sundri, 85, said. “The floods usually just go up the riverbanks. It has never gone into my house.”
