CENTRAL JAVA: Rasjoyo could only watch in silence as his small wooden boat sailed through Semonet, a sleepy fishing village in the northern coast of Java he once called home.
The coast has receded about 1.5km inland in the last two decades, submerging 54 houses and hundreds of hectares of fish farms and rice fields. All of the land access to the now deserted village has also been cut off by brackish seawater.
“We used to have everything here in Semonet,” the 38-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told CNA.
“We would catch crabs in the morning, tend to our fish ponds around noon and in the afternoon, pick flowers and fruits from our farms. You can say…