Community-led coastal resilience: Integrating local knowledge and collaborative disaster management

Abstract

Background: The community of Oesapa Fishing Village, Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara Province has an inspiring story of facing disaster risks. The actions are appreciated because the community has demonstrated resilience and the ability to adapt to disasters and climate change. Methods: Qualitative methods with direct observation techniques and in-depth interviews as well as an active participation approach. Informants in this study are the community of Oesapa fishing village as internal parties and external parties are the Pikul Foundation and several government agencies in Kupang City including the Oesapa sub-district government. Findings: The categories of disasters that often pose a threat to the community of Oesapa Fishing Village are high waves, strong winds, drought and at least flooding. High waves are caused by the position of the village area which is in the coastal area and the lowest topography, precisely in the Kupang Bay area. This study aims to explore the form of community knowledge in understanding disaster risks, find intervention models and their impacts from external parties on the community, as well as behavioral patterns and strategies of the Oesapa fishing village community to develop their knowledge to build community resilience in facing disasters.  Conclusion: The study finds that communities view disasters as human-induced environmental consequences, external interventions—by PIKUL Foundation, BPDAS Benain Noelmina, BPBD Kota Kupang, and BMKG Stasiun Maritim Tenau—have shifted local wisdom toward technology-based systems, and collaborative disaster management has strengthened community resilience while reducing risks and losses. Novelty/Originality of this article: The existence of norms of going to sea as community social capital, fishermen's livelihoods as economic capital and mangrove plants as coastal environmental capital.