Four outstanding graduate students from Master Program on Planning and Management of Coastal Area and Watershed (MPPDAS) faculty of Geography UGM visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Joint Student Project (JSP). This Joint Student Project lasted for 1 week (16—24 August 2014). The fortunate students are Wahyu Tyas Pramono, Hendy Fatchurohman, Annisa Hamidah, and Alfiatun Nur accompanied by two lecturers, who are Bachtiar Wahyu Mutaqin, S.Kel., M.Sc. And Dr.rer.nat M. Anggri Setiawan, M.Sc. Together with students from the host university, Institute of Geosciences, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) Niteroi Brazil, and 5 students from Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico, they had a research in the topic of Urban growth in the Rio de Janeiro coastal area. This activity is also included in the consortium of Center for Natural Resources and Development (CNRD) consists of 11 institutions from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa.
The JSP took theme of Land Use Change and Urban Growth in the Coastal Area. The method is utilized 5 years of Multi-Temporal imagery satellite analysis, i.e. 1991, 2000, and 2010 which was verified by field survey. One of the field survey spots is Lagos Micro Region which is a tourist central coastal region developed as new settlements around the lagoon and the coastal area faces straight to the Atlantic Ocean.
The coastal area is a dynamic environment, for example the landuse change. One example of landuse change s the changes of non-settlement area to settlement area which is the proof of human activity’s impact in coastal area. Increased demand for housing and infrastructure in the growing city has put the rapidly dynamic land over time, no exception in Lagos Micro Region Coastal Area, Rio de Janeiro.
In the future, the faculty of Geography UGM will continue to increase coastal study due to the coastal development in Indonesia as an archipelago country. It is also hoped through this program, the Master Program on Planning and Management of Coastal Area and Watershed (MPPDAS) will be considered to be partner in the world wide.