Effects of Climate Change on City Life: Case Study in the City of Ambon, Indonesia East Region

It is no stranger that the diminishing amount of forest land to become non-forested in the world has changed the microclimate in almost all urban and rural areas. Thus it globally has triggered climate change. The influence of forests or vegetated areas on climate, especially the microclimate and mesoclimate, is important. The disrupted microclimate will cause anomalies in elements of the microclimate such as rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind, etc. Microclimate changes will affect the presence of forests in the region because plants have a large dependence on climate and weather conditions. The impact of climate change that is beginning to be seen and felt today has caused discomfort for urban and rural communities. The aim of this present paper is to investigate the comfort level of the population and the availability of green open space (GOS) in Ambon City, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The city of Ambon turned out to provide less comfort for residents who live there. Extreme rainfall has triggered the occurrence of flooding and has been detrimental to city residents, especially during the rainy season. On the contrary, very hot weather in the dry season has made city residents uncomfortable. This situation was triggered by the expansion of settlement construction in protected forest areas as a result of humanitarian riots that occurred in years 1999-2002, limited GOS, and the effects of climate change.