Indonesia is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of biodiversity, spanning 5,400 km along the equator and encompassing more than 17,000 islands. Indonesia has a large protected area network, however its coverage is uneven; both in terms of biodiversity and in terms of the allocation of human and financial resources. The weakest coverage is in the islands of East Indonesia, in particular within the 1,000s of islands of Sulawesi, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara; as provinces bigger in size than many south-east Asian and Pacific countries.
BROWSE :
The Human Aspect
Population Status and Threats
WCS Activities
Important Next Steps
Within these islands are found some of the highest levels of terrestrial endemism and marine diversity in the world. This is the land in which Sir Alfred Russell Wallace drew parallel conclusions to those drawn by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos.
The Human Aspect
Three key things threaten the integrity of natural ecosystems in the small islands of east Indonesia: population increase, economic pressure and national policy. In the last decade, human population in northern Sulawesi increased by more than 20%. Job scarcity lingers from the time of the economic crisis of the mid 1990s. The easiest way for poor farmers to find a livelihood is to expand agricultural land into the natural forests and over-exploit marine resources.
Threats
Habitat loss and unsustainable exploitation threaten the island ecosystems of east Indonesia. The current model of protected area management in Indonesia, which relies heavily on large well resourced and staffed National Parks, does not serve the small islands of Indonesia well. For the successful protection of the unique and important marine and terrestrial biodiversity of small islands new approaches to protected areas need to be employed. Indonesia has highly devolved government, with much of the responsibility for the natural resource management passing to provincial and district governments. Greater incentives need to be created for local government, at all levels from village upwards, to manage and finance protected areas.
- Forests & Islands of North Sulawesi (FINS). Our work to protect the natural ecosystems of small island is being piloted in North Sulawesi. WCS has worked continuously in North Sulawesi since 1995. Through a range of project activities we are seeking to safeguard marine and terrestrial resources through the northern island arc of north Sulawesi, from the mainland through to Siau, Sangihe and Talaud islands.
- Community-led natural resource management: WCS is the lead implementer of the national pilot of the ‘Green PNPM’ in North Sulawesi. This rural development program provides training and education to rural communities in small-scale natural resource management projects (both marine and terrestrial) that can be implemented with funds from the national PNPM rural development program. The project currently operates in four districts of north Sulawesi, including Sangihe islands.
- Alternative management & financing of protected areas: WCS is leading the way in North Sulawesi to develop alternative models of protected area management. This includes conversion of former logging concessions to de facto nature reserves, in close collaboration with local government and funded by carbon-financing, and the private purchase and management of critical areas by local community and civil-society groups. Both of these approaches have a wide application within the small island ecosystems of east Indonesia where central government funds are lacking but local incentives to manage sustainably may be very high.
- Species protection and wildlife trade: Within Indonesia WCS is the leading NGO seeking to address the threat of unsustainable exploitation of wildlife. Protecting areas alone is never sufficient in Indonesia to protect highly exploited wildlife. WCS works closely with management authorities, enforcement agencies, central government and the judiciary to investigate and understand the economic dynamics of wildlife exploitation and to remove the barriers that prevent effective control, both at a policy and law level, and through local enforcement and incentives.
- To expand alternative approached to protected area management within east Indonesia, targeting former logging concession areas of northern Maluku province as the first priority. To disseminate lessons learned widely among local and central government policy makers.
- To expand the approach of community and civil-society led land purchase, including development of ecotourism, agriculture and carbon-based financing.
- To take lessons learned from community-based natural resource management in North Sulawesi and initiate similar programs within the islands of North Maluku province.
- To expand the coverage of our collaborative wildlife trade monitoring and enforcement network within East Indonesia.
- To raise the profile of conservation within small island ecosystems of Indonesia
Tags: East Indonesia, Forests, Islands, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi
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