The late-November 2025 floods and landslides across Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra were not “natural disasters” in any simple sense — they were the foreseeable result of climate-amplified extreme rainfall colliding with degraded watersheds shaped by decades of land-use change and weak governance.

In Aceh, the disaster unfolded along a familiar ridge-to-plain pathway: steep headwaters and mid-slopes generated rapid runoff and sediment, while lowland river corridors and floodplains bore the brunt of inundation, housing damage, and displacement.

As of December 27, 2025, official figures indicated 1,138 deaths and 163 missing across the three provinces, with 449,864 displaced; Aceh alone recorded 511 fatalities. Preliminary reconstruction needs were estimated at Rp 51.82 trillion across the three provinces (Aceh Rp 25.41 trillion), while wider economic losses were estimated at roughly Rp 68.6–68.7 trillion.

This rapid assessment proposes a “building back better” agenda for Aceh centered on a jurisdictional landscape approach that links ecological recovery to long-term socio-economic resilience. The report maps interventions from watershed to coast, prioritizing:

1. Conservation of remaining natural assets that stabilize hydrology and protect communities, including key forest and peat landscapes.
2. Large-scale rehabilitation and restoration in the mid-slope belt and along river corridors where degradation has amplified flood peaks, sediment loads, and channel instability.
3. Targeted recovery of productive systems — paddy, smallholder oil palm, fisheries and aquaculture, and Gayo highland commodities — through climate-smart, deforestation-free upgrading and restored logistics.
4. Risk-informed settlement re-planning, including strict river setbacks, safer siting, and, where unavoidable, managed retreat in repeatedly inundated zones.

The recommendations integrate nature-based solutions with engineered measures calibrated to watershed geomorphology, including differentiated responses for low-, moderate-, and high-relief catchments. Complementary investments are proposed for modernized early warning systems and last-mile preparedness.

Underpinning the technical agenda is a governance reform package that includes:

• Watershed-based authority and planning
• Strengthened Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements that explicitly account for hydrology, sediment, and cumulative impacts
• Time-bound audits of high-risk permits, with revocation where violations are found
• One Map–based transparency
• Stronger enforcement and anti-corruption safeguards so that accountability matches the scale of harm

The report concludes that Aceh’s recovery must be treated as an investable, multi-year transition, rather than a short-term reconstruction program. A blended financing strategy is required — mobilizing national and subnational public finance, philanthropy, multilateral support, and private-sector participation, aligned with measurable outcomes in risk reduction, ecosystem services, and sustainable livelihoods.

Done well, Aceh can reduce future disaster risk while protecting its remaining natural capital and rebuilding a more resilient, competitive economy.