As the indisputable "Capital of Batik," Pekalongan, located on the north coast of Central Java, is supplying over 70% of Batik domestic demand. Unfortunately, the "ugly side" of batik is readily apparent to anybody visiting Pekalongan today: hazardous working conditions jeopardize the health of employees, and conventional manufacturing methods seriously degrade the ecosystem in the rivers. The majority of the 1,500+ batik producers in Pekalongan are living in poverty as a result of inadequate marketing, bad entrepreneurship, and a lack of modern business skills. This has negatively impacted their capacity to invest and develop, and it has also made batik an unappealing career option for new generations.

In order to solve the wastewater and water issues related to batik, the Dutch government has pledged to collaborate with the Pekalongan government (Bappeda) since 2020. The Water Agency (2022–2023) conducted a Solutions Matchmaking, Deltares and Universitas Diponegoro (2021) conducted a Scoping Study, Royal HaskoningDHV (2021–2022) produced a Solutions for Wastewater Report, and the Blue Deal program (ongoing) provided technical advice and training.

To support Green Batik even more, on 27 November 2023, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in collaboration with The Water Agency and Sabine Bolk (a batik activist), hosted the “Green Batik Workshop." Relevant stakeholders, including Pekalongan city government officials, Dutch businesses in the sectors of water, waste, and circular economy, CSOs, universities, batik communities from Pekalongan, Bandung, and Yogyakarta, as well as sustainable textile and craft entrepreneurs, participated in the workshop. This forward-thinking workshop addressed actions and explored potential collaboration from a variety of areas, including water and environment, social and economic, as well as entrepreneurship and market, to realize the Green Batik workshop.

This event was financed through the Partners for Water program as part of the bilateral cooperation on water. If you want to know more, please contact Ivo van der Linden as the Delegated Representative Water: ivo.vanderlinden@rvo.nl