Following increasing attention on delta city problems worldwide, the Indonesian National Coordination Agency for Survey and Mapping organized a two-day workshop in Semarang, a delta city on the north coast of Java island, Indonesia. This event was well supported by the Delta Alliance Indonesia Wing, the Diponegoro University, Gadjah Mada University (UGM), and the International Centre for Interdisciplinary and Advanced Research – Indonesian Institute of Sciences (ICIAR-LIPI). This was the first workshop in Indonesia focusing on deltas.

The workshop took place on October 21st and 22nd in the Grand Candi Hotel, Semarang. It was officially opened by the Vice Governor of the Central Java Province, Ms. Rustriningsih. She emphasized the need for a clear job description and distribution of institutions involved in delta management, and a synergy among them. She appreciated the initiative to create a delta forum, which is very useful for knowledge and experience exchange and in-line with the effort to increase understanding on Indonesian deltas in order to reduce natural and human induced disaster risks associated with deltas.

More than 170 people attended the workshop, representing academic institutions, international and national research organizations, governments, consulting firms and practitioners. The workshop presented a number of keynote speeches, including speeches by Prof. Jan Sopaheluwakan from ICIAR-LIPI representing the Delta Alliance Indonesia Wing, and Mr. Jan-Jaap Brinkman representing Delta Alliance International. A number of scientific papers and posters from various case studies in Indonesia were discussed and displayed that enriched the exchange of knowledge. On this occasion, the Vice Governor Ms. Rustriningsih urged Delta Alliance to help the planning of the City of Semarang. On the second day of the workshop, the participants visited Wulan Delta in Demak, West Java. The participants could as such see the delta problems and monitoring activities in the field.