Citarum Action Research Program (CARP)

Citarum Action
Research Program (CARP)

Creating clean, healthy and productive rivers and communities.

Introducing the collaboration between Monash University, Indonesia partners, and an international consortium of research partners to revitalise the polluted Citarum River.

Millions of people rely on the Citarum River for their water, energy, food and livelihoods. The river sustains livelihoods through agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and ecotourism. Yet, it is also one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Each day 20,000 tonnes of solid waste, and 280,000 tonnes of industrial wastewater are discharged directly into the river, mostly raw or untreated sewage from domestic households.

Prioritising healthy environments, wellbeing and access to clean water and waste services has never been more important. But solutions are often developed and applied in isolation from each other. An integrative, socio-technical approach for sustainable transformation of the river corridor is needed.

Project team

Investigators

Partner organisations

Funded by

Undertaken within

(Left to right) Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering collaborates with Environmental Agency Head Dr. Ir. Prima Mayaningtyas, M.Si., Universitas Indonesia’s Head of the Citarum Research Social Team Dr. Reni Suwarso, MPP., Ph.D, and Head of the Citarum Research Engineering Team Dr. Rr. Dwinanti Rika Marthanty, S.T., M.T.

Our vision

Our vision is to create clean, healthy and productive rivers and communities by using new approaches that harness waste, thereby propelling communities towards sustainable growth.

Monash University and Universitas Indonesia are partnering with the Indonesian Government, communities, local NGOs, and the global research community to develop innovations that deliver improved water and waste services, and revitalise the community, economy and environment.

By co-designing new infrastructure, behaviour programs, business models and institutions, our aim is to help communities move away from dumping or discharging waste into the environment, and shift towards circular solutions that recycle, remanufacture and reuse waste.

Our approach

To achieve our vision, we will come together across sectors and disciplines to co-design and test integrative social, technological and economic innovations.

Together, we’ll create new solutions to help restore degraded rivers, revitalise communities and transition to a circular economy. Our aim is to collect rigorous scientific evidence that localised socio-technical innovations can deliver sustainable improvements and growth for rivers and their communities.

We’ll partner with selected villages along a tributary of the Citarum River to demonstrate our community-led, technically rigorous approach addressing pollution, biodiversity loss, community health and poverty in riverine contexts.

Expected impacts

• Restored waterways
• Waste reuse
• Climate change adaptation
• Improved sanitation services
• Strengthened local economy
• Enhanced river governance

The future

With multi-disciplinary evidence of effectiveness in hand, we aim to scale these solutions to transform river catchments and revitalise communities across Southeast Asia.

Living River: A Pathway to Revitalise the Citarum River

The film, which documents the Citarum Action Research Program (CARP), aims to give a voice to the lived experience of vulnerable communities that live along the Citarum River, explore community-led approaches for urban transformation and share key lessons learned through our collaborations with communities and governments in Indonesia to address river pollution together.

By connecting human-scale and village-scale experiences to the catchment area, this film highlights that a new approach is needed for riverine communities: an holistic approach that is sensitive to local landscapes, ecologies, cultures, wisdom, economy, behaviours, governance, and capacities, and brings together technological and social innovation to create real, long-term change. The film was funded by a 2022 Monash Data Futures Institute Seed Grant, 'Interdisciplinary data perspectives: Co-developing sustainable future visions for the Citarum'.

Preliminary research

Who we are

Logos of our various partners – listed below

Lead universities: Monash University and University of Indonesia

Research partners: PRO-BSF, Precious Plastics Bandung, Perkumpulan YPBB, Universitas Padjadjaran, CSIRO, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (eawag) and Research and Development Agency of West Java Province (BP2D)

Government partners: West Java Provincial Government and West Java Environmental Agency

Funding partners: Indo-Pacific Plastics Innovation Network (IPPIN) and Koneksi. Thanks to Study Melbourne and veski who funded our research in 2022–2023.

For more information

Contact: citarum.research@monash.edu

Recent news and events

Monash leads international project to clean up one of the world’s most polluted rivers

Local communities in West Java are collaborating with Monash University and international partners to co-design and test new approaches for preventing waste from polluting the Citarum River.

Revitalising the Citarum river: A collaborative living lab approach

A study led by Monash University is exploring the Citarum Living Lab, a pioneering program that addresses pollution, rapid urbanisation, and climate change.
10 September, 2024

Celebrating winners of urban transformation poster competition

In recently PhDs and postgraduate students were invited to showcase their research on sustainability topics such as energy transitions, urban heat, and the circular economy.
21 August, 2024

First PhD for the Citarum Action Research Program demonstrates how design can be used to facilitate change

Relocating from Indonesia to Australia highlighted the deeper impact of informal developments for Informal Cities Lab PhD candidate Dicky Tanumihardja.
15 July, 2024

Monash team design innovative solutions to reduce waste entering the Citarum River

Last month, members of Citarum Action Research Program team and industry partners travelled to Indonesia to visit the waste pilot facility in Padamukti (TPS-3R) after two months of operation to finalise design improvements.
18 June, 2024
Monash design student Anja Johansen with her prototyped design at the Precious Plastic Bandung workshop.

From rubbish to resource: Monash Bachelor of Design students create furniture out of waste plastic from one of the world’s most polluted rivers

When you do a degree with Monash, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in our research projects and collaborate with industry partners to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges – including the problem of plastic waste.
10 May, 2024

Revitalising the Citarum River demands holistic solutions blending nature and community empowerment

Monash University, Indonesia, held a discussion and screening of the documentary film Living River: A Pathway to Revitalise the Citarum River. The insightful film shed light on the perspectives of various stakeholders involved in the Citarik Ecotourism Master Plan, emphasising the importance of community-based approaches in supporting river revitalisation.
15 November, 2023

Monash University, together with the University of Indonesia and the West Java Provincial Government, launch the Citarik Ecotourism Masterplan

The Citarik Ecotourism Masterplan was launched on 30 August, marking five years of the Citarum River Transformation Project, a collaborative effort between Monash Art, Design and Architecture and the Monash Sustainable Development Institute with University of Indonesia and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. Community representatives and non-governmental organisations, local industry partners, and the global research community have lent support in conducting the activities.
30 August, 2023

Monash and CSIRO partnership tackles plastic waste to revitalise Indonesia's Citarum River

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, Monash University (co-led by Monash Art, Design and Architecture and Monash Sustainable Development Institute) and Indonesian partners, Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Padjadjaran, are working with local governments and communities to develop and implement a waste monitoring program that will benefit both the environment and people of the Citarum River, West Java.
5 June, 2023

Interdisciplinary Data Perspectives for the Citarum

In this talk, Dr Michaela Prescott, Associate Professor Shanti Sumartojo and Professor Alex Lechner address the challenge of connecting broad-geographic scale open access and big data from an array of sources with detailed ethnographic approaches to understand and support the lived experiences of residents.

Webinar: Revitalising the Citarum River and its Communities

On 5 October 2022, Monash University and West Java’s Research and Development Agency hosted a webinar presenting evidence from research undertaken in the Citarum basin spanning 2021 – 2022, and presented a new vision for river and community transformation through integrated water and wastewater solutions.

Community-led solutions key to a revitalised Citarum River

In 2021, the Victorian Government awarded funding to create a living lab along the Citarum River, one of the world’s most polluted waterways. Because of the pandemic, the Monash team has been forced to work remotely until last month when the Monash team visited the river-side villages for the first time in over two years.

Revitalising a River, Revitalising Communities

Changing lives through the Citarum Living Lab: Click here to download the project prospectus.

Victorian Government investment lays groundwork for living lab to transform Citarum River

The Victorian Government has awarded The Citarum Program a grant to establish a ‘living lab’ to address pollution in the Citarum River in West Java, Indonesia. The grant is provided through the Study Melbourne Research Partnerships program, delivered through veski.
5 November, 2021

Citarum Program features at International River Symposium

Monash researchers and the Citarum program team, along with our partners Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java Environmental Agency and R&D Agency, recently participated in the hybrid 24th International River Symposium in Brisbane.
11 October, 2021

Cleaning up Indonesia’s Citarum River, one of the world’s most polluted waterways

The Citarum is the longest and largest river in West Java, running 270km through thousands of communities to connect the people, villages and landscape of the most populous province in Indonesia. It’s also one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
26 August, 2021

Monash University and West Java Government partner to revitalise polluted Citarum River

Monash University and the Provincial Government of West Java, Indonesia, today signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on developing new solutions to restore the Citarum River – one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
22 July, 2021

First informal settlement receives RISE water and sanitation upgrades in Indonesia

Major program milestone reached as demonstration site officially opens.
19 October, 2019

Monash visit to Bandung, West Java

Major program milestone reached as demonstration site officially opens.

Graduate research opportunities

CARP (Citarum Action Research Program)

The project aims to design, deliver and monitor a socio-technical intervention in a strategic location in the upper river catchment of the Citarum River. We aim to develop evidence through a rigorous program of research in ecological health, well-being and community resilience to climate change.

More information