Background

Briefing Report:
Bio-Physical
Aspects
Sam Tarrant: S2895645
Indonesian Study
Tour
1 December 2015

Introduction
Bio-physical aspects refer to both the abiotic and biotic environment. This paper illustrates
the bio-physical aspects of Indonesia, more specifically Java. A comparison of the Australian
environment with a focus on the South-East region of Queensland will be made to the biophysical aspects of Indonesia and Java. This will allow the reader to gain a greater
understanding of the bio-physical aspects of Indonesia through the use of text and
photographs. The importance of understanding bio-physical aspects of a place will be
addressed with links to urban and environmental planning. The report will also include a
summary of some of the main locations within Indonesia that will be visited by the Indonesia
study along with the bio-physical aspects that could be expected at each location.
The locations of Australia and Indonesia must be identified to account for any expected
climate differences. Although it is difficult to accurately describe the bio-physical aspects of
Java and South-East Queensland due to their large size, the best approximate representation
of the environment will be described. Below in figure 1, Indonesia is shown in red with the
island Java represented by a red circle. Australia is shown as blue with South-East
Queensland illustrated with a blue circle.
1cm =
500km
N

Java

S.E. QLD

Figure 1: Map of Australia and Indonesia (Google Maps 2015)

Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands consisting of all different shapes and sizes. Java
is an island in Indonesia and can be seen in figure 1. Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and is
located on the island of Java. Indonesia is home to approximately 257 million people. The
1

island of java is substantially smaller than Australia so differences in bio-physical aspects and
planning practices are to be expected.
It is critical to understand the environment and its processes such as energy, water and
pollutant fluxes so that a sustainable and practical urban planning scheme can be created
(Mitraka, Diamantakis, Chrysoulakis, Castro, Jose, Gonzalez, Blecic 2014, p.7983).
Indonesia is different to Australia in many ways, with a larger population and lower sociodemographic standard. It would therefore be expected that the cities of Indonesia will be
different to the cities of Australia. Designing spaces for people to live and function in
Indonesia would also be different to that of Australia. Changes in environmental quality,
social-economic values and ecology all affect the way cities are designed and function
(Karvounis 2014, p. 3). The environment and planning must be considered together for a
sustainable future. Cities will reach their socio-ecological limits if we continue to live the
way we have in the past (Byrne, Sipe & Dodson 2014, p. 3). Understanding the environment
and how people interact with it is therefore crucial to ensure we can maintain a high standard
of living. Better environmental planning in Indonesia could then improve the Indonesian
standard of living and help declassify it as a developing city.
Bio-physical aspects of Indonesia
Indonesia is located closer to the equator than Australia so it can be expected that the climate
of Indonesia would be warm and humid. The island of Java is also much smaller than that of
Australia (Figure 1) and therefore anywhere on the island could be considered to be in
relative close proximity to the ocean compared to inland Australia. Due to the large
population of people living in Java, environmental impacts are going to be present.
Deforestation can be a large problem for Indonesia as finding room to house 257 million
people on islands much smaller than Australia can be difficult. Development projects and the
growth in the timber industry are the main two reasons that Indonesia is suffering from
deforestation (Sunderlin & Resosudarmo 1996, p.1). Careful planning is required so what
remains of the forests of Indonesia is not destroyed and the native fauna and flora can still
survive. The endangered orangutan is an example of a native animal of Indonesia that is
being put under more stress with its habitat being cleared due to deforestation. Replanting
some of the areas that have been affected by deforestation could help revitalise the forests of
Indonesia, while sustainable plantations could be constructed so that the timber industry does
not have to suffer. Urban planning needs to be a top priority so that the people of Indonesia
have places to live without destroying the natural environment. One solution could be high
density; building housing upwards rather than outwards could protect what is left of the
forests of Indonesia. These solutions arent always easy to implement as they all connect with
other aspects of planning such as the economic side. These projects take time and money, but
over time could save Indonesia many problems associated with deforestation and other
environmental issues.
The geography of Indonesia is often mountainous with many volcanoes present. Indonesia
lies on an area known as the ring of fire where earthquake and volcanic activity is common
due to the meeting of the Philippine and Indo-Australian plates (Allaby, 2013). In figure 2
2

below, the abundance of volcanoes along Indonesia can be seen compared to Australia which
has no major volcanoes associated with this fault line. The triangles represent the locations of
major volcanoes associated with subduction zones.

Figure 2: The Ring of Fire (Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences)

The Australian Government (2015), suggests that Indonesia is subject to natural disasters
including volcanoes, earthquakes, floods and tsunamis and visitors should constantly check
for weather warnings. Recently airports in Indonesia have been closed due to ash clouds from
volcanoes. The environment of Java is resilient and is constantly changing with new sediment
being turned over due to volcanic activity (Lavigne & Gunnell 2006). The volcanoes play an
important role in the environment, often acting as storage places for water, sediments and
biodiversity as well as shaping the topography of lower lying parts of Java (Lavigne &
Gunnell 2006). Increased pressure is being placed on the resilience of the environment with
continued deforestation (Lavigne & Gunnell 2006). Careful planning and environmental
management is essential in Indonesia to minimise the potential destruction caused by such
natural disasters.
Air quality in Indonesia may be very different to that of Australia. Large increases in human
population, numbers of cars and industry development have all lead to a significant increase
in air pollution within Java, Indonesia (Shah & Nagpal 1997). Developing countries often
have high levels of air pollution compared to developed countries. Companies often relocate
heavy polluting processes to developing countries like Indonesia as they have lower
environmental regulations (Porter 1999). Having stricter environmental regulations could

lower the air pollution however it could also have an effect on the number of companies
using Indonesia for labour, in turn hurting the economy.
The Australian Government (2015), advise that people boil their water or only drink bottled
water while in Indonesia as waterborne disease are common. This could be due to the more
lenient regulations regarding health and safety in Indonesia compared to Australia.
Insufficient infrastructure could also be to blame as it is expensive to supply clean water to
such a large population. Just like the other environmental problems in Indonesia it could be
solved, though it requires time and money. Other infrastructure may also be less advance in
Indonesia such as the roads, buildings and drainage. These man-made structures all shape the
way people interact with their environment and can therefore be considered in the biophysical aspects of Indonesia.
Bio-physical aspects of Australia
Representing the bio-physical aspects of Australia is difficult due to its immense size as one
place in Australia may have a completely different environment compared to another place.
Australia is situated at lower latitude compared with Indonesia and therefore it would be
expected that the climate would be slightly colder and less humid due to its location further
south of the Equator. The bio-physical environment of South-East Queensland will be
compared to that of Indonesia and more specifically Java.
The estimated residential population in Queensland as of 2014 was 4.7 million (ABS, 2014).
Queensland is a very large state and has a much smaller population than that of Indonesia.
Although most of the population is found along the coast line it would be expected that
Australia has a much less significant problem with deforestation as there are less people to
house.
The air quality in Indonesia would be expected to be much worse than that of Australia due to
Indonesia being a developing country. High levels of air pollution are often associated with
developing countries (Porter 1999). High amounts of air pollution can have negative impacts
on human health and urban visibility (Shah & Nagpal 1997). The following images compare
the air quality of Jakarta and South-East Queensland. It can be seen that figure 3 of Jakarta
has significantly more smog than that of figure 4 in the Gold Coast.

Figure 3: Jakarta (Mark Edwards)

Figure 4: Gold Coast (Sam Tarrant)

Australia and Indonesia differ in many ways in regards to bio-physical aspects. The most
noticeable difference will be due to the massive difference in population and socioeconomics. Indonesia requires smart and innovative planning policies to help transform its
cities into sustainable and developed world cities.
Indonesian study tour
An understanding of the places that will be visited on the study tour is essential so that the
study group can identify any problems and differences associated with the bio-physical
aspects of each location. Having background knowledge on the locations and possible
solutions on some of the issues surrounding planning in Indonesia will allow the study group
to design innovative plans to create sustainable and liveable environments within Java.
The three main locations in Java that will be explored on the study tour are shown below.
Other locations surrounding these three cities will also be explored. Placing these cities on a
map allows for an understanding of the distance that will be travelled in Java and also the
elevation and proximity to the coast of each city.

Jakart
a
Bandun
g

Yogyakar
ta

Figure 5: Map of Java Indonesia (Wikipedia)

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia with an approximate population of 10 million people. The
airport that the study group will land in Indonesia is located in Jakarta. As the capital city of
Indonesia it would be expected that Jakarta is heavily populated. Traffic congestion is a major
problem in Jakarta and is expected to worsen without a change in the current transport
planning system (Asri & Hidayat 2005, p. 1792). Some issues with high population growth,
such as pollution, congestion and deforestation may be visible in Jakarta. The growing
population in the Jakarta region has resulted in environmental degradation where
environmental regulations have often been disregarded (Asri & Hidayat 2005, p. 1792).
Bandung is the second place that will be visited by the study group. As seen in Figure 5,
Bandung is located at a higher elevation in comparison to Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Bandung is
surrounded by mountains and the natural geography of the area will be considerably different
to Jakarta. There will be an opportunity to see a volcano in South Bandung with possible
connections to environmental aspects associated with the volcanoes of Indonesia as stated
earlier. Bandung will be less congested with a smaller population than that of Jakarta which
may present opportunities to see how the people of Indonesia live rurally. Farming practices
such as tea plantations may be observed in South Bandung.
Yogyakarta is found a substantial distance east of Bandung; hence the bio-physical aspects
may be different to both Jakarta and Bandung. The Borobudur temple is found just out of
Yogyakarta. The Borobudur temple is a world heritage site that is fundamental to the
Indonesian culture and heritage (Canny 2013). This will give the study group a chance to

understand and explore traditional Indonesian culture and history that may be less present in
the capital city of Jakarta.
Understanding how bio-physical aspects relate to planning is essential if Indonesia is to
become a smart and sustainable world city. Background knowledge of the environment at the
places that will be visited by the study group will allow for the study group to easily observe
possible complications with the way people interact with the environment. Only through a
greater understanding of the issues faced with environmental planning will it be possible to
improve the standard of living and create a sustainable future in Indonesia.

References
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Press.
Asri, D.,U. & Hidayat, B. 2005, Current transport issues in Jakarta and its impacts on
environment, Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, vol. 5, pp. 1792-1798.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2014, Queensland, viewed 25 Nov. 15, available:
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3235.0Main
%20Features252014?
opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3235.0&issue=2014&num=&view=.
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Future Prospects, Routledge, Abingdon.
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