Malaka-Timor, Indonesia

In this chapter, we are introduced to get to know the profile and history of, as well as the geography, and the physical and social characteristics of the Benanain River that I have conducted the empirical research onsite in the research location, Malaka-Timor, Indonesia i.e., West Malaka Subdistrict, Malaka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, West Timor Island. For a thorough introduction of Malaka-Timor, Indonesia, I started by introducing the research location, the history of geographic site, physical and social characteristics, and physical and social characteristics of Benanain River (An overview). I began to provide us  an introduction of the research site is presented in Fig. 3.1 “Research Location i.e., the Distribution of Respondents in the 16 Villages of the West Malaka Subdistrict, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia”. The distribution of 16 respondents’ maps in the research site was created using the Software ArcGIS 10 with Landsat Imagery 8 that retrieved from the registration information in the Earth Explorer, the United States Geological Survey (USGS)’s website (See https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ ), year 2016. This reflects the actual geographical conditions since the research fieldwork ran from July 9, 2016, until February 9, 2017. The administrative map, topography map and land use map for the West Malaka Subdistrict provided by the Indonesian National Body of Disaster Management (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, Indonesia, BNPB), and the Malaka’s Topographic Map, Elevation and Terrain Map, Indonesia from The National Body of Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical, Indonesia (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika, BMKG), Indonesia. This research also used the old version of topography map of the Besikama Village of the West Malaka Subdistrict, scale 1:25.000, year 2000 from the BNPB. Also, a global positioning system (GPS) was used to obtain geographical information for each of the 320 households in the research site. This fieldwork equipment was used in this book to generate the distribution of 16 respondents’ maps in the research location. Meanwhile, The history of geographic site, physical and social characteristics of the Benanain River (An overview) introduce us about the broad and specifics pictures of the updated physical, social, economic, and cultural situations and/or issues where critical areas along the river need to get serious concerns from Indonesian local and national governments. The serious concern that is meant here is that there should be a well-targeted and well-implemented river watershed and environmental protection policies, preventing from damage caused by the risk of natural disasters i.e., flooding, climate change, and man-made interventions who do not have yet the mindset of a local conservant for their nature environment, in addition to the attention of stakeholders and traditional leaders from communities living near/around the river in the upstream, middle-stream, and downstream areas (Malaka-Timor).