Is Bali’s Kuta Beach disappearing? Coastal erosion crisis threatens famed shoreline

Powerful waves have chewed away large sections of Bali’s iconic Kuta Beach, raising fresh concern about the future of the Indonesian island’s most famous stretch of sand. Officials say the latest damage, driven by recent rough seas, has intensified a long-running problem of coastal erosion that experts warn is being worsened by extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island. Abrasion along Kuta’s shoreline is not new, but officials say this year’s extreme weather has made it more severe than in previous years. “Regarding the erosion on Kuta Beach, it’s currently quite severe. The last few weeks, especially during the peak of the full moon, the waves were quite high, and some areas looked critical. But this isn’t new erosion; it’s happened before, it’s just worse this week,” I Nyoman Arya Arimbawa, manager of Kuta Beach Tourism Destination, said on Tuesday, as cited by news portal RRI. Kuta’s traditional village head I Komang Alit Ardana also attributed the severe abrasion to extreme weather, which triggered heavy flooding on the island last month. “Abrasion is a natural factor. How do we combat it? We have worked with the River Basin Agency to build barriers such as breakwaters to prevent further erosion,” Alit Ardana told local news outlet Nusa Bali on Monday. Footage from Kuta posted this week shows that the long stretch of white-sanded shoreline that made Kuta famous has disappeared, swallowed by strong waves. Sandbags and stones lining the main pedestrian footpath have not been able to prevent local vendors from being splashed by the waves at high tide. “So sad. I have spent many wonderful afternoons on Kuta Beach, watching the sunset with a beer. Kuta never seemed to recover from the Covid [pandemic] as well as some other areas. This may just be the nail in the coffin,” a user said on social media. Rapid erosion rate The latest damage also reflects a broader trend affecting Bali’s coastline. A 2024 study on shoreline change in Bali found that between 2016 and 2021 the island lost 6.04km of shoreline, or about 1.21km per year, including in Kuta. This meant Bali’s shoreline shrank from 668.64km in 2016 to 662.59km in 2021, according to the study led by Amandangi Wahyuning Hastuti, a researcher with the Institute for Information Management of Marine and Fisheries Resources at Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Researchers used high-resolution imagery to survey the coastline. “This decline [is] mainly attributed to human activities and coastal hydrodynamics where the southern part of Bali is more vulnerable to erosion compared to the northern part,” the study said. The southern coast includes beaches in Badung regency such as the popular Kuta and Canggu. “On the other hand, human-caused shoreline advancement, such as land reclamation, harbour, and airport construction, has resulted in a net land increase of 1.25km².” According to the study, man-made infrastructure – including airports and harbours – and silty shorelines increased by 4.85km and 2.41km respectively, between 2016 and 2021. In January, the Coordinating Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development said erosion since the 1980s had caused the Kuta Beach shoreline to retreat between 15 and 20 metres. However, for Putu Rumawan Salain, the changes in Kuta date back much further. “I often visited Kuta around 1969. I surfed there when I was a college student. The changes in Kuta have been remarkable, especially since the Indonesian government developed Bali to boost tourism, including the construction of hotels and Ngurah Rai airport,” Putu, a lecturer in architecture at Udayana University in Denpasar, told This Week in Asia. Over the years, the runway of Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, located near Kuta Beach, expanded from 1,200 metres long in 1963 to the current 3,000 metres to increase airport capacity and cater to widebody aircraft. “Coastal erosion in Bali will continue to spread to the north coast. If we’re not careful, beautiful places will be lost,” Putu said. He cited marine debris and garbage, washed up during high tide, and traffic congestion as other factors that would “drive tourists away because they’re no longer happy in Kuta”. Solution for abrasion To restore Kuta’s shoreline, the Badung regency government has allocated 250 billion rupiah (US$14.7 million) this year to construct breakwaters and revetments, alongside efforts to replenish sand and rebuild the pedestrian track. The Bali government has also turned to Japan to help protect its coastal zones. Last month, the Japanese government granted 9.85 billion yen (US$61.8 million) to extend the construction of groynes – narrow structures built to trap and accumulate sand – as well as breakwaters and sand replenishment projects at beaches in Kuta, Legian and Seminyak. Work is expected to be completed by 2028. Japan previously spent 9.5 billion yen from 2000 to 2008 to launch similar projects in Sanur, Nusa Dua and the shore surrounding the sacred Tanah Lot Temple. I Made Suniastha Amerta, tourism expert at Warmadewa University in Denpasar, said he welcomed any solution to prevent the coastal erosion crisis, as a wiped-out Kuta Beach would hurt the island’s tourism sector. “We, the community, the government, and the traditional villages, must work together to find the best solution immediately,” he said. “Otherwise, tourists’ perception of Bali will not be good, especially for those who expect to enjoy the sunset at Kuta.”

Is Bali’s Kuta Beach disappearing? Coastal erosion crisis threatens famed shoreline

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Experts warn extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island have worsened the situation

Experts warn extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island have worsened the situation