Climate change has disrupted the Javanese skill “Titen” used by fishers to look for signs and characteristics of nature, according to Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) Head, Dwikorita Karnawati.
Karnawati noted that it is not uncommon for fishers to go home empty-handed, as the results of marine catches are not optimal.
The BMKG head noted that fishers are even likely to bear the brunt of accidents and become victims of storms and high waves.
“The skill of titen can hardly be used as a reference. The weather and climate are currently very dynamic and hard to guess,” Karnawati noted in a statement received here on Friday.
While opening the Climate Field School for fishers in Trenggalek District, East Java, Thursday, she also affirmed that climate change has a broad impact on the people’s lives.
As climate change raises the earth’s temperature, the rising temperature alters the climate system that affects several aspects of nature and human life, such as the quality and quantity of water, habitat, forests, health, agricultural land, and coastal ecosystems, she expounded.
“Climate change is a global event, but its impact is felt regionally or locally. (Climate change) has no territorial boundaries,” she stressed.
This condition is what drove the BMKG to bolster the implementation of the Climate Field School for fishers in coastal areas.
Through the school, the agency is keen to ensure that fishers are able to go to sea, get catches, and go home safely.
She expounded that the field school aims to improve the skills of Indonesian fishers in accessing, reading, following up, and disseminating the forecast of weather, maritime climate, and fish location from reliable sources.
The fishers’ climate field school is also part of BMKG’s efforts in realizing Indonesia as the global maritime axis, she added.
“This school activity uses interactive learning, such as methods and practices. The main materials that will be taught are product introduction and comprehension of maritime weather and climate information,” Karnawati noted.
She highlighted that some of the learning practices are ways to read maritime information and the introduction of observation tools.
Source: Antara News