José Stares at Waves That Are Taking His Home
That morning, the Pacific waves were higher than usual. José, a 54-year-old fisherman from Cedeno village, Honduras, sat on a pile of sand—the remains of his house. "My bedroom was there," he said quietly, pointing toward the raging sea. In five years, the coastline has retreated more than 50 meters. The wooden houses that once stood neatly are now ruins, swept away by the current. Cedeno is just one of dozens of Pacific coast villages in Honduras slowly being swallowed by the ocean.
Unforgiving Sea
Climate change is no longer a future threat. In Honduras, the sea level rises 4.5 millimeters per year—faster than the global average. Increasingly frequent and fierce tropical storms worsen erosion. In Cedeno, the entire livelihood of the residents depends on the sea. But it is the sea that is now eroding them. Fish catches have declined because fish move to colder waters. Saltwater also invades shrimp ponds and agricultural land behind the village, making the soil salty and infertile.
The Honduran government has built seawalls and breakwaters. However, funding is limited. Many residents choose to leave—toward the city or higher ground. "We have no other choice. The sea cannot be fought. We can only avoid it," said an elder of the village to the *Republika* team.
Indonesia: A Thousand Threats Along the Same Coast
What is happening in Honduras is not a distant story. Indonesia has the fourth-longest coastline in the world. More than 80 percent of its population lives in coastal areas. Thousands of fishing villages along the northern coasts of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Maluku face similar threats.
In Demak, erosion is eroding the land by up to 10 meters per year. In Semarang, high tides are increasingly flooding settlements. In Muara Gembong, Bekasi, dozens of fishermen's houses have already sunk—residents are forced to build stilt houses on mud.
Data from the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) shows that more than 2,000 small islands in Indonesia are vulnerable to sinking due to rising sea levels. If no serious mitigation measures are taken, the northern coastal area of Jakarta could be permanently underwater by 2050. For fishermen, this threat is not just about losing their homes—but also losing mangroves and coral reefs where fish reproduce.
Stumbling Adaptation
Unlike Honduras, Indonesia has launched an adaptation program: seawalls, mangrove rehabilitation, and relocation of settlements. However, implementation is slow. The massive Jakarta seawall project (*National Capital Integrated Coastal Development*) has not been completed after years of work. In other areas, mangrove planting often fails—erosion continues to attack saplings before their roots are strong.
Climate change is an uneven war. Every centimeter of sea level rise means billions of rupiah in economic losses. In Honduras, people have already felt it. In Indonesia, we have not yet—but the signs are becoming clearer. Local and central governments must urgently allocate more funds to protect coastal villages. If not, we will witness more coastal residents becoming climate refugees in their own country.
Lessons from Cedeno
The glow of the afternoon sun illuminates the calm sea in front of Cedeno. But this calmness is false. Every year, the wave line gets closer. For José and his neighbors, there is no choice but to leave. Their story is not just a report—but a direct warning for Indonesia, which lives in the Ring of Fire and is at the forefront of climate change. The sea that once gave life is now slowly swallowing their lives.
(This article is written based on visual.republika.co.id coverage and data from the Geospatial Information Agency and independent research on the impact of climate change in Indonesia.)