Partners. in Conservation ANNUAL REPORT 2007

Transcription

1 Partners in Conservation ANNUAL REPORT 2007 The Nature Conservancy Indonesia Program Graha Iskandarsyah 3rd Floor Jl. Iskandarsyah Raya No. 66C Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Indonesia Tel Fax The Nature Conservancy Coral Triangle Center Jl. Pengembak No. 2 Sanur Denpasar, Bali Indonesia Tel Fax The Nature Conservancy Tropical Forest Initiative Jl. Polantas No. 5 Markoni Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur Indonesia Tel Fax

2 Table of Contents Cover images Top: Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua Bottom: Tropical rainforest in East Kalimantan, Borneo Photography Credits All Illustrations by Don Bason. Cover: (top) Muhammad Barmawi/TNC, (bottom) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 2: (LtoR) Jones/Shimlock-Secret Sea, Don Bason/TNC, pg 3: (LtoR) Moray McLeish, Jones/Shimlock- Secret Sea, Marthen Welly/TNC, Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 4: (LtoR) Jack Wyllie, Elis Nurhayati/TNC, Ratna Yulia Hadi/TNC, pg 6: Peter Tjahjadi, pg 9: (top left) Marthen Welly/TNC, (top right) TNC Raja Ampat staff, (top middle) Riza Marlon, (bottom right) Fitria Rinawati, (bottom left) Christoforus Terry/TNC, (bottom middle) TNC Raja Ampat staff, Pg 10: (top) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Jones/Shimlock-Secret, pg 12: Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 13: (all top photos) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Hirmen Sofyanto, pg 14: Jones/Shimlock-Secret Sea, pg 15: (top) Veda Santiadji, (left) TNC-SEACMPA, (right) Anton Wijonarno/ TNC, pg 16: Marthen Welly/TNC, pg 17: (all top photos) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Mimi Mawawi, pg 18: Jones/Shimlock-Secret Sea, pg 19: (top) Lukas Rumetna/TNC, (bottom) M. Korebima/TNC, pg 20: Jones/Shimlock-Secret Sea, pg 21: (left & top right) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom right) Rili Djohani/TNC, pg 22: (top) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Christoforus Terry/TNC, pg 24: Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 25: (left & right) Riza Marlon/TNC, (bottom) Fitria Rinawati/TNC, pg 26: Fitria Rinawati/TNC, pg 27: (top left) Don Bason/TNC, (top right) Riza Marlon/TNC, (bottom) Nikmah U. Dewi, pg 28: Fitria Rinawati/TNC, pg 29: (top) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (botttom right) Djeri Kaesang/TNC, (bottom left) Moray McLeish, pg 30: (top left) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (top right) Fitria Rinawati/TNC, (bottom) TNC, pg 31: (top) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Don Bason/TNC, pg 32: (top) Ismet Khaeruddin/TNC, (bottom) Gunawan Wicaksono/TNC, pg 34: (all photos) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, 35: (top) Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, (bottom) Abdul Hadi/TNC, pg 36: Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 37: TNC, pg 38: (all photos) Elis Nurhayati/TNC, pg 39: Ahmad Fuadi/TNC, pg 44: Fitria Rinawati/TNC, inside back cover: TNC The Year in Conservation: 2007 Highlights 2 Where We Work 5 A Message from the Country Director 6 A Message from the Board of Advisors Co-Chairs 7 The Nature Conservancy in Indonesia 8 Marine Program: Our Waters 0 Forest Program: Our Lands 22 How We Work 34 Financial Summary 40 Glossary & Acronyms 42 Board of Advisors & Leadership Team 43 Our Supporters 44

3 The Year in Conservation 2007 HIGHLIGHTS In a year when the environment was on the minds of many in Indonesia in Bali with the UN-led conference on climate change, in Kalimantan with timber companies pursuing forest management certification, and in the far west and the far east where village communities declared their own locally protected areas The Nature Conservancy (TNC) linked arms with partners across the country to expand its programs. Here are a few of the year s highlights that illustrate the scope of our most recent work in the world s largest archipelago. Coral Triangle Initiative: Linking the Amazon of the Seas At the UN climate change conference in December 2007, TNC supported Indonesia s President Yudhoyono in advancing the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs Fisheries and Food Security, a sweeping intergovernmental agreement to protect the marine region known as the Amazon of the Seas. Spanning the waters of six countries in Southeast Asia, the initiative seeks to collaboratively protect 2 percent of the world s oceans that harbors 33 percent of all reefs and sustains the lives of 126 million people. Orangutan Action Plan: Saving Endangered Great Apes by Protecting Forests Launched by the Indonesian president in 2007, the National Action Plan for the Conservation of Orangutans presents the first specific, enforceable agenda to protect the world s last wild orangutans. TNC pledged US$1 million to support the plan, which targets the survival of 10 percent of orangutans currently threatened by habitat conversion in Borneo and Sumatra. By protecting forest habitat from conversion and harvesting, the plan also hopes to prevent 700 million tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere. Greener Timber Blocks: Certified Concessionaries in Borneo TNC led efforts in the lowland tropical rainforests of eastern Borneo to prepare two commercial timber blocks for certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a worldwide accreditation organization that identifies companies that harvest timber legally and sustainably. If successful, this will increase Indonesia s FSC-certified forestland by as much as 25 percent, contributing market-led solutions to the country s widespread problem of illegal logging. Wakatobi National Park Joint Planning: A Mapping and Zoning First The TNC-WWF Joint Program helped revise Wakatobi National Park s zoning system to make it the first in Indonesia jointly developed by the central and local governments in partnership with local communities. The new plan protects Wakatobi district s fisheries and reef life by designating major critical habitats as no-take areas, enabling areas of high productivity to aid in the replenishment of connected ecosystems. The plan allows villagers all of whom live within park boundaries to use the waters for their livelihoods while reducing the destructive fishing practices that threaten the remarkable diversity of the area s coral reefs. Outreach in the Raja Ampat Islands: Education under Sail In late 2007, TNC and Conservation International jointly launched an innovative conservation education program in the Raja Ampat islands of West Papua. Teams of six facilitators sail through the remote region to meet with residents and present threeday marine education programs in villages that are part of seven connected Marine Protected Areas. Activities take place on a 100-foot wooden sailing ship, the Kalabia (the local name for the Epaulette or walking shark) to make educational outings to coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangrove forests. Community Patrols in Derawan: Protecting Sea Turtle Nesting Sites The TNC-WWF Joint Program in Derawan, teamed with the Berau Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the Turtle Foundation to begin regular, community boat patrols of the largest green turtle nesting grounds in Southeast Asia. The patrols support the enforcement of a 3 million acre Marine Protected Area that includes numerous turtle nesting beaches, all of which have been declared legally protected. Reef in Indonesian waters of the Coral Triangle Orangutan in East Kalimantan Timber labeling in East Kalimantan Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi Children of Misool Island, West Papua Newly hatched green turtle in Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan 2 3

4 World-Class Ecotourism Arrives in Komodo National Park Honey at Home: Cultivating Alternative Livelihoods in Sulawesi Wehea Forests Community Protection Locally Funded Conservation: Budgeting for Forests in East Kalimantan Where we work In 2007, through its joint venture Putri Naga Komodo (PNK), TNC built new ecofriendly facilities in Komodo National Park, site of our longest-running marine program and home to the world s remaining Komodo dragons. With a visitor s building, restaurant, markets and interpretation pavilions, the new facilities are designed to increase funds for conservation by promoting responsible tourism among the tens of thousands of visitors who come to see the world s largest living lizard each year. With 49 representatives of community groups and institutions, PNK also inaugurated the Forum for Community Communications to provide local communities with a formal opportunity to assist in the park s management. In 2007, TNC introduced beekeeping in two villages with community conservation agreements outside Lore Lindu National Park. Using the easily bred Apis cerena honeybee, TNC provided training and supporting facilities to 70 subsistence farmers who now market the honey in the provincial capital of Palu. The project s goal is to reduce encroachment on protected park land, and, if successful, to serve as a model for similar communities living in or near forests throughout Indonesia. In a community-led initiative to restore cleared or converted areas of local forests, villagers in East Kalimantan unilaterally declared an ex-timber concession a locally protected forest. TNC helped facilitate a community monitoring system whereby four groups of 10 members each take month-long turns patrolling the 100,000- acre Wehea Forest, recording forest health indicators such as forest cover, animal and plant distribution and water levels while also reporting signs and incidents of illegal logging. Matching the most money ever allocated for conservation by a provincial budget in Indonesia, the local government of East Kalimantan, with TNC technical assistance, earmarked $200,000 to support the protection of orangutan habitat in two forest districts. The money is being used to build guesthouses, management offices, paved roads, a research station and a monitoring station to support the habitat of 10 percent of the world s remaining orangutans. New tourist pavilion at Komodo National Park Beekeeping in Bobo, Central Sulawesi Community forest patrol in East Kalimantan, Borneo Orangutan nest in East Kalimantan, Borneo East Kalimantan Central Sulawesi 4 The Nature Conservancy 5

5 A MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR One Planet Connecting People So many things have changed in the last two decades. On the most remote islands we now find houses with satellite dishes and villagers using cell phones. With the Internet, millions of people now have much greater access to information. The growing notion that we are all living on one planet, depending on the same natural resources, air, timber, water and oil, has led to some spectacular initiatives in the field of climate change and ocean conservation. Indonesia, at the heart of reef and forest systems that effect the environment far beyond its borders, has a major role to play in safeguarding its natural assets as a global refuge of diversity. The value of seeing these connections, and using them to unite people and ecosystems for their common good, is tremendous. With globalization, there is also the widespread decentralization of governments and an increased spirit of collaboration across sectors and organizations. In Indonesia, many opportunities exist to develop innovative approaches and partnerships that can make a difference both in the country and across its borders. Where TNC used to work with one government department on a single project in 1991, today we are engaged in 10 initiatives with five departments and a host of private sector, nongovernmental and academic partners across 10 districts. In the past five years our annual budget has increased more than 100 percent, and with close to 200 staff today we are the largest of all TNC international programs. At the UN climate change conference in Bali last year, the president of Indonesia launched two major programs: the Orangutan Action Plan and the Coral Triangle Initiative. TNC has been instrumental in catalyzing these programs, building upon our 16 years of work in forest and coral reef conservation in Indonesia. We have also pushed ahead in our site-based Marine and Forest programs, finding innovative ways to protect our oceans from overfishing and our forests from land conversion in partnership with all stakeholders dependent on Indonesia s natural resources. The challenges and constraints to our further progress are numerous, but so are the opportunities. This is now my 5th year as country director, and I believe we are poised to go to scale to support marine and forest ecosystems across the archipelago. I am an optimist. Having lived in Indonesia since 1989, I have witnessed and engaged in changes in this country in the field, in the cities and in interacting with people who both destroy and depend on these natural resources, the people who can make a difference. I ve seen, too, the growing awareness and dedication among the younger generations and the rallying behind an issue that affects us all: the conservation of our planet. We have to act fast. Time is not on our side but together we are making a difference by connecting people and resources in Indonesia and around the globe. To all of our donors and partners across the world who continue to support TNC in Indonesia, we thank you for your spirit in believing and sharing in our mission. This is a bond that connects us, and drives us, as we work to protect our diverse lands and waters for the benefit of all. A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF ADVISORS CO-CHAIRS The Good News As board members of one of the world s leading conservation organizations, we re often asked how we view reports of all the bad news. The messages we hear in Indonesia, especially, are ones of a deforested Sumatra, of forest fires blowing smoke from Borneo into the Malay Peninsula, of bleaching coral reefs and district-wide floods caused by sprawl, logging and land conversion. Where s the good news? Our answer: There s good news all around. Not every day, and not often enough to relax for long, but enough that we see hope in the future. Since 1991, TNC has worked in Indonesia to develop partnerships to conserve the livelihoods and natural wonders of the world s largest archipelagic nation. With a population only slightly less than that of the United States, this is no small task; everywhere you turn there are people with generational ties to the reefs and forests and streams, culling their livelihoods from the great wealth of natural resources. Balance is the key, of course, and though in many places the balance was lost years ago, attaining it again increasingly seems more than a distant dream. More than a dream because TNC isn t alone. In 16 years you meet some people, and learn to work with them, and learn to believe in a better future together. In Indonesia we ve met local communities and learned how to restore fisheries and forests without leaving people out of the picture. We ve met with the central government and helped launch plans for new protected areas, enabling regulations to save a host of Indonesia s treasures from the wild interior of Borneo to the fish of the world s most abundant and productive reefs. And in the wide world of well-intentioned but often competing environmental and foreign aid groups, in the last year we ve partnered with a dozens or such groups to make conservation a shared reality. We applaud all our partners, and offer our heartfelt thanks to all local and overseas donors, without whose help it would be impossible to move forward. Perhaps the greatest source of hope and new partnerships in conservation lies in our future generations. At the heart of nature conservation is education, and with more than 60 million children in Indonesia under the age of 15, the potential to teach our youth to love and care for their natural environments is a source of both challenge and inspiration. Another key, looking forward, is the involvement of the Indonesian private sector. We encourage boards of directors of major corporations to take an interest in the activities of TNC in Indonesia, to share their experience, to make constructive suggestions and to explore the possibilities for partnership and collaboration wherever they exist. In 16 years, we ve partnered with quite a few people. And if we can maintain these connections, and press ahead with more, in another 16 we ll see our hope manifest in a greener, bluer, healthier and more prosperous Indonesia. That s hope, and that s the best news. Rili Djohani Country Director Leonard van Hien Board of Advisors Co-Chair Shanti Poesposoetjipto Board of Advisors Co-Chair 6 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 7

6 The Nature Conservancy in Indonesia There s no place on Earth quite like Indonesia. No other archipelago is so large, so diverse or so filled with the treasures of the natural world. Spanning the Indomalayan and the Australasian biogeographic regions, the world s largest island nation supports more than 225 million lives and enough plants and animals that even in its underexplored state it s known as one of the five most speciesabundant places on the planet. At least 75 percent of the world s coral species, 18 percent of the world s coral reef, more than 2,000 fish species, 3,300 amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles and nearly 30,000 kinds of vascular plants are only found here, amid 17,000 islands that span an ocean area nearly the size of the United States. That s a lot of ground and water to cover. It means our orangutan monitoring huts in Borneo are more than a thousand miles from the workshops we hold in West Papua villages. Travel to some of our project sites is a days-long venture of small planes, small boats and trekking through roadless wilderness. Nothing is easy when the distances are this great, but despite this our programs and scope continue to expand. Centered on the island of Bali, some 600 miles east of Jakarta, is our Marine Program headquarters, the Coral Triangle Center. Here we oversee all the TNC ocean-related projects across the country, protecting the life and livelihoods at the very heart of the greatest store of reefs and marine life in the world. Nearly 800 miles northeast of Jakarta, straddling the equator and looking out over the Makassar Strait, the lowland tropical rainforest of the world s third-largest island is home to our Forest Program. From our head office in the East Kalimantan provincial capital of Balikpapan to our project sites in inner Borneo, Sulawesi and beyond, it s here we focus our efforts on the sustainable use and management of the world s third-largest store of tropical forests. The three offices together act as the gateways to all TNC work in Indonesia, each governed by the distinct challenges of their respective programs but united in efforts to safeguard the lives, wildlife and natural resources of the country s marine and forest ecosystems. Komodo Islands Members of a Dayak community in Lesan, East Kalimantan Kingfisher in Sulawesi Reef monitoring in Raja Ampat Holding together our far-flung projects is our National Program headquarters in Jakarta. From the urban metropolis of Indonesia s capital city, we re ideally positioned to meet with government bodies and national and international nongovernmental and multilateral organizations. Here we work closely with the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, and just up the road are some of our regular partners. It s also here that TNC does much of its policy work, coordinates with TNC worldwide and compiles the bulk of TNC publications in Indonesia. FACT Some 6,000 of Indonesia s approximately 17,000 islands are inhabited, with more than 50 percent of the population concentrated on Java. Lowland tropical rainforest in Sulawesi 8 The Nature Conservancy Marine protected area community training in Raja Ampat

7 DERAWAN RAJA AMPAT Our Waters KOMODO WAKATOBI CORAL TRIANGLE Jetty off Kakaban Island, Derawan. Marine Program Indonesia is blessed with more species of marine fish and hard coral than any other country in the world. From 75 percent of the world s coral species to a productivity that influences ecosystems far beyond its borders, the marine world here offers unparalleled opportunities for resource use and conservation. TNC s Marine Program has worked in close partnership with the Indonesian government, local communities and other nongovernmental organizations to protect the country s marine resources since Our Bali-based Coral Triangle Center (CTC), established in 2000, acts as a unique resource to link partners and transfer knowledge of marine conservation and management to practitioners, policymakers and the public. It also facilitates the use of proven resource conservation tools such as sustainable financing and ecosystem-based management to sustain coastal fisheries. The CTC works to implement field-based programs across four longestablished protected areas Komodo National Park, Wakatobi National Park, the Derawan islands and the Raja Ampat islands and several more just recently created. The CTC is uniquely positioned to address threats to the world s most species-abundant seas while also helping resource users sustain their livelihoods. The Coral Triangle a marine area spanning eastern Indonesia and parts of Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands comprises just 2 percent of the world s seas but is home to a third of its life-sustaining reefs. Our on-site work focuses on priority ecoregions areas especially prone to environmental degradation or important for their roles in region-wide replenishment and serves as a learning platform for marine conservation in the Coral Triangle. Further afield, we leverage our experience to influence policy across Indonesia and Southeast Asia while also serving as an international training, outreach and networking center. To protect Indonesia s most biologically rich seascapes, the CTC is establishing and supporting networks of resilient Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) connected by ocean currents. MPAs protect areas rich in marine life to ensure that human use, such as fishing, is restricted to safeguard their function as a source of replenishment for the wider marine ecoregion. In this way, MPAs also help increase regional fish populations by protecting fish spawning areas from unsustainable harvesting techniques. In the last year, the CTC provided technical support to the central and local governments in designing MPAs and MPA networks, specifically in the Papua Bird s Head and Lesser Sunda Seascapes, as well as in providing training workshops on MPA design and management to more than 100 conservation practitioners, resource managers, academics and local communities. In all these efforts, TNC engages local communities, governments, and a variety of other stakeholders to ensure conservation efforts are balanced, understood and enforceable, made to last the rigors of time and politics. *) For a more detailed Marine Program map see the insertion in the back inside cover. Healthy reef of the Coral Triangle ecoregion The Nature Conservancy 11

8 FACTS Derawan Our 2003 Rapid Ecological Assessment of the Derawan Islands revealed a coral diversity second only to Raja Ampat, with 460 species, as well as 870 species of fish ranging from tiny pygmy seahorses to giant manta rays. Nestled atop the coastal shelf of East Kalimantan, the 31 islands of Derawan make up one of the most biologically rich areas in Indonesia. The area is home to more than 460 different species of coral, giving it the world s second-highest level of hard coral diversity, and the white sand shores of Sangalaki Island hold Southeast Asia s largest nesting grounds for endangered green and hawksbill turtles. The other islands in the chain include Semama, an important bird sanctuary, and Kakaban Island, where a single lake is home to four endemic species of stingless jellyfish. Lake Kakaban, Derawan, home to a unique species of stingless jellyfish Marine surveillance station off the coast of Derawan Stingless jellyfish of Derawa A fisherman maintains his lift net cage in Derawan 25 area villages, the program has seen success, with one patrol intercepting a foreign fishing vessel carrying several hundred sea turtles. In cooperation with the local community and government, the TNC-WWF Joint Program also mapped out ecologically vital areas to lay the groundwork for the creation of an MPA zoning system that protects spawning grounds, controls marine pollution and increases energy efficiency in fisheries. To spread local awareness of the zoning system, the program hosted a camp for area youth, and led community forums and MPA workshops for government officials and local leaders. DERAWAN CORAL TRIANGLE The richness of Derawan is threatened, however, by overfishing, turtle poaching and destructive fishing practices, with the livelihoods of 120,000 coastal inhabitants in the balance. To address these threats, this past year the TNC-WWF Joint Program partnered with the Berau Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the Turtle Foundation to build guard posts and begin patrols along several islands. With these additions, one of our new goals is to end illegal turtle egg harvesting in the entire district of Berau. The patrols monitor fishing and poaching in parts of an MPA that encompasses 9,300 square miles of land and 4,900 square miles of sea. Supporting the effort, the local district head issued a decree on an integrated surveillance team consisting of the Fisheries Agency, the district police, the Navy, the Army and the Berau Court. Targeting By mapping out and defining fishing areas and no-take zones, we will be able to adjust our activities, limiting them in spawning areas, areas that are important for migration and areas that are already depleted of their resources and trying to recover. This way our catches won t continue to decrease but will, in the long run, grow. We are constantly telling people that the MPA is developed to protect fishermen, not restrict them. ANDI ERSON Berau Fishermen s Community Network chairman To foster awareness of alternative livelihoods, in 2007 the program also introduced seaweed cultivation, nature-based tourism, fish packaging and virgin coconut oil processing while also aiding area residents in obtaining micro-business loans from small cooperatives. We also continued our community empowernment program through MPA training for teachers and the Navy, police and fisheries extension officers, as well as in community forum presentations on village mapping. 12 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 13

9 Wakatobi World-renowned for its spectacular coral gardens off the coast of the octopus-shaped Sulawesi Island, Indonesia s second-largest MPA holds one of the largest reef complexes in Southeast Asia. Cool upwelling currents make the coral resistant to bleaching, and no one less than Jacques Cousteau called Wakatobi probably the finest diving in the world. Today some 80,000 people make their livings from the natural bounty of the area s 3.4 million acres of land and sea, including thousands of Bajau, the traditionally nomadic seafaring people who today trade and fish along the southern coast of Sulawesi. WAKATOBI CORAL TRIANGLE Coral gardens of Wakatobi National Park Like many of Indonesia s marine areas, Wakatobi s diverse coral habitats are threatened by overfishing and destructive fishing involving the use of bombs and cyanide. This past year TNC partnered with the WWF and park authorities to revise the park s 25-year management plan and zoning system, designing both to allow for continued livelihoods while easing pressure on areas most important for the replenishment of resources. To do this, we consulted a broad range of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the district government, communities and resource users to develop a formal Wakatobi Stakeholders Consultation Forum for discussing resource management among all parties. In the next year, we will work with the park authority to conduct surveys of the area s natural resources, raise awareness of the A TNC resource management workshop on maintaining healthy fisheries The stakeholders forum has given me and other fishermen the chance to be involved in the planning and managing of Binongko s coastal area. It was a long time in the making, but we ve all seen now how useful it can be in settling disputes and keeping the fish stocks healthy. For example, we now have a fishermen s group in my village, called Posaiendu. This group has given us more leverage to negotiate with fishermen from outside the park. We now use a kind of profit-sharing system for fish caught in our waters, and fishermen from outside Binongko provide a fish aggregating device in return for fishing in Wakatobi. One-third of their catch is given to the Posaiendu group. The forum has also given us some power to help prevent destructive fishing practices in our area. Fishermen who were using bombs to catch fish near Makaro-Taipabu have been prosecuted thanks to cooperation between the fishermen s group in that village and the rangers in Wakatobi National Park. LA ISAI A fisherman from Taipabu village, Binongko Island, and a member of the Wakatobi Stakeholders Consultation Forum Grouper in Wakatobi importance of MPAs for sustainable development, and develop community support for collaborative MPA management. At the same time, we will take action to reduce destructive fishing practices by training park rangers and local nongovernmental organizations to begin regular patrolling throughout the park. Our ultimate goal is to protect Wakatobi s coral reef resources by building a network of regional MPAs that are linked by ocean currents. This will also support the livelihoods of local people by replenishing fish stocks, as will new employment opportunities made possible by sustainable tourism development. By involving communities, focusing on collaborative management and building a firm legal foundation for park zoning and enforcement, we hope to ensure that conservation in Wakatobi is made environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. FACTS Wakatobi consists of 39 islands and is named for its four largest: Wangi- Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko. The national park comprises the entire regency of Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi. The area is home to the largest single coral reef system in the world after Australia s Great Barrier Reef. 14 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 15 Wakatobi, SE Sulawesi, Indonesia.

10 Komodo Nestled in a volcanic chain known as the Lesser Sundas, Komodo National Park is the site of TNC s longest-running marine project in Indonesia. Famous for harboring the world s last remaining Komodo dragons and a terrain that falls from mountains to open grassland and woodland savanna on its way to white sand beaches, the park s half million acres also provide habitat for the endangered hawksbill turtle and humpback, sperm and killer whales. Seraya Island in Komodo, East Nusa Tenggara Komodo wood carving Komodo Dragon FACTS There are currently around 3,000 Komodo dragons on the islands of Komodo, Rinca and Gili Motang, or more than half of all remaining Komodo dragons in the wild. The dragon s staple diet, the Timor deer, is endemic to the area. The park was established in 1980 initially to protect half of the world s remaining Komodo dragons, but since 1995 protection has been expanded to cover its marine waters. The park was also named a World Heritage Site and a Man and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in Komodo features one of the world s richest marine environments, with coral reefs, mangroves, and sea grass beds that harbor more than 1,000 species of fish, 260 species of reef-building corals and 70 species of sponges. local community with a formal opportunity to assist in the park s management, serving as a model for community stewardship programs elsewhere in Indonesia. The forum came by decree of the West Manggarai district head, cementing the local government s commitment to transparent and accountable conservation in Komodo. KOMODO CORAL TRIANGLE In 2007, TNC helped open new tourist facilities at Komodo through its joint venture Putri Naga Komodo (or PNK, an enterprise partnership between TNC, the Global Evironment Facility and the International Finance Corporation). The facilities include a low-impact, environmentally friendly visitor s center with trails and information panels, trained natural history guides, a restaurant and markets for local handicrafts. The facilities were designed to improve visitor experience in Komodo and generate revenue to help make the park financially self-sufficient. So far the park has seen a rise in tourism-based revenue, in part reflecting a recent trend of 10 percent of all visitors staying three days or longer. Equally important in the last year, PNK worked with 49 representatives of community groups and institutions to inaugurate the Forum for Community Communications to provide the MOBILE DOCTOR PROGRAM Most of the island communities of Komodo are supplied with a basic health clinic intermittently staffed by a government health worker to distribute basic vitamins and painkillers. Their most common function is to conduct maternal and prenatal health checks and midwifery services. For more complex services, residents usually need to travel by speedboat to the provincial capital of Perabun Baju, a journey both expensive and physically taxing. In early 2007, PNK, the Komodo National Park Authority, the West Manggarai District Health Office and subdistrict government initiated a free medical service for villagers living in and around the park. Approved by the park authority and the local mayor, the program today serves the four villages in the park and another five outside, with teams of one doctor and two nurses visiting each village at least once a month. Thus far, more than 1000 people have seen doctors during a total of 26 visits. Other new initiatives include an ecotourism venture and support for patrols led by park rangers, the Indonesian Navy, the local police and the water police. Under this program, speedboat teams patrol the park weekly, with larger floating ranger station boats providing a more permanent presence at vulnerable sites. These efforts uncovered 59 cases of illegal fishing and poaching last year, and continued monitoring shows live coral cover has increased since the ban on destructive fishing. To support around 3,000 people in four villages within the park and a greater population of some 20,000 people outside and on the mainland of Flores, PNK is working with local communities to develop alternative livelihoods, add income and develop microfinancing schemes to substitute for destructive fishing practices. One successful example on Komodo and Rinca Islands is the establishment of cooperatives for souvenir carving, weaving and tourism guide training. 16 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 17

11 Zet Watem, 55, is a lifelong fisherman and father of 10 in Balal village of Kofiau Island, Raja Ampat. Each day he uses a hook and line to catch grouper and red snapper in the waters near his house, selling to buyers who visit the village. Raja Ampat The seas around the remote Raja Ampat ( Four Kings ) archipelago are possibly the richest in the world. The area s massive reefs contain 75 percent of all known coral species and more than 1,000 fish species, receiving strong currents that may help sweep coral larvae across the Indian and Pacific Oceans to replenish reef ecosystems throughout Southeast Asia. A part of the Bird s Head Seascape that contains the largest marine national park in Indonesia, Raja Ampat s coral diversity, resilience and ability to replenish reefs led locals to establish seven connected MPAs throughout the region in CORAL TRIANGLE RAJA AMPAT Coral off the coast of Raja Ampat, West Papua Though human impacts here are less severe than elsewhere in Indonesia, Raja Ampat faces increasing risks in the form of overfishing, destructive fishing, turtle poaching, shark finning and unsustainable logging. To address these issues, TNC recently launched a new project to protect nearly 10 million acres of land and sea off the northwestern tip of West Papua. We work alongside Conservation International to support the new Marine Protected Areas, which cover 50 percent of Raja Ampat s marine ecosystem. Together we provide training, workshops and technical support for sustainable management, environmentally friendly tourism and patrolling. One way we help spread the word about the MPAs is by sending outreach teams on a 100-foot wooden sailing vessel, the Kalabia, to present three-day programs on My elders used to say there were a lot of fish in Kofiau, but today that s getting harder and harder to see, he says. His earnings scarcely cover his children s school needs, a fact he attributes to the bomb fishing of some villagers. We are dependent on the sea; why would we destroy it? I think about the lives of my children and their children, my grandchildren and I wonder what will happen if we keep using bombs to get our catch. But if we destroy the fisheries, what are people going to eat? Where would I get money for their education? That s what I ask people. A couple days each week, Watem visits public gathering places to talk informally with others about the link between the reefs and livelihoods. I try to make a connection between the waters in front of their homes and the classrooms of their youngest children. People listen to his message, he says, but they need to hear it more. That s why I say that anyone who wants to promote a sustainable future in Kofiau is welcome. TNC has helped spread the awareness, and that s a first step. conservation in villages throughout the islands. The trips also include taking residents on short trips to visit reef, sea grass and mangrove habitats. TNC is also supporting the local government in developing a joint patrol system to decrease illegal fishing. A technical workshop resulted in a draft standard operating procedure, with TNC helping to secure a community patrol boat, the Imbekwan. The boat is manned by a six-member crew, and patrol activities are carried out by a joint enforcement team made up of the Raja Ampat Fisheries Agency, the police and community representatives. With the increased awareness of Raja Ampat as a tourist destination, the region s tourism agency developed a tourism entrance fee system with the consultation help of CI and TNC. The proceeds from the entrance fee are channeled to the Raja Ampat Treasury, welfare programs and conservation activities, with community consultations deciding some of the revenue would go toward health and nutrition projects for pregnant women and children. TNC is also helping local communities in Kofiau Island work with nonprofit organization Seacology to receive funding for various projects in recognition of the area s conservation efforts. Seacology provides textbooks, sports equipment and teaching materials for the village s elementary school, as well as a solar-powered refrigerator and basic medical equipment for their healthcare centers. Building upon the MPA training provided to local elementary teachers, TNC and an international network of locally managed marine areas have also carried out a series of environmental education workshops with teachers from six elementary schools in Kofiau and Misool. Through this, we hope to develop local conservation content for incorporation into the elementary school curriculum. FACTS Community members declare an area temporarily off limits to fishing to allow the marine life time for replenishment In 2002, a survey by TNC and partners recorded 535 species of coral 75 percent of all known coral species and 1,071 species of fish in Raja Ampat. On land, the survey team found lush forests, rare plants, limestone outcroppings and nesting beaches for hundreds of sea turtles. Raja Ampat means four kings, a reference to the archipelago s four largest islands: Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. Raja Ampat is home to over 67,000 people, the majority of whom obtain their livelihoods directly from the sea. Due to the archipelago s crossroads location at the far western tip of Papua, the population comprises people from Papua, South Sulawesi and Maluku. 18 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 19

12 New Initiatives Coral Triangle Initiative The Coral Triangle contains 30 percent of the world s coral reefs and supports the livelihoods of 126 million people. Spanning all of Indonesia and touching the shorelines of five other countries, the Amazon of the Seas is thought to be the most biologically diverse marine region on Earth. In August 2007, Indonesia President Yudhoyono proposed the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security, a multilateral partnership among six countries to protect the region s extraordinary marine and coastal biological resources. The initiative was subsequently endorsed by heads of state at the APEC Summit and by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and followed by a first CTI Senior Officials Meeting during the 2007 climate change conference in Bali. In Bali, country representatives agreed to develop a comprehensive CTI Plan of Action, one that would include targets and timetables to be adopted at the highest political levels. Over the past year, TNC has provided significant technical and scientific support to the CTI process, particularly to the Indonesian government. Looking ahead, we plan to continue providing this support as Indonesia and the Coral Triangle governments progress toward a truly visionary initiative to safeguard the region s unparalleled marine and coastal resources. Underwater life in Indonesia FACTS The Coral Triangle covers an area of 2.3 million square miles three-quarters the size of Australia across the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. Nusa Penida, Bali The three islands of Nusa Penida, off the southeast coast of Indonesia s international tourist haven of Bali, have gradually been transformed into tourism resorts over the last 10 years, leaving their reefs vulnerable to degradation. Starting in 2008, TNC will work with Conservation International, the local government and nongovernmental organizations to expand its marine conservation activities in the Penida area to establish a co-managed and multipurpose MPA. Designed for sustainable use by the tourism and fisheries industries, the new MPA will become a footprint for establishing networks of MPAs within the country s Lesser Sunda Seascape and the regional Coral Triangle, contributing to the government s goal of establishing 25 million acres of new MPAs by Banda Island, Maluku Also in 2008, the CTC will expand its field presence to the volcanic Banda Islands of Maluku. Our initial surveys indicate the coral reefs of the Bandas still retain the near pristine qualities reported by German botanist Rumphius during his stay in the seventeenth century, while the reef fish population reflects relatively low exploitation pressure. We hope to design and establish a multipurpose MPA to become part of the wider networks of MPAs within the Banda Sea Seascape and the broader Coral Triangle, contributing, as with Nusa Penida, to the government s goal of establishing 25 million acres of new MPAs by Seaweed farming in Nusa Penida, Bali Mangrove forest, Nusa Penida, Bali Mount Api on Banda Island in Maluku FACTS Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Banda Islands were the world s only source of the spices nutmeg and mace. 20 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 21

13 EAST KALIMANTAN CENTRAL SULAWESI Our Lands Lowland rainforest in East Kalimantan, Borneo Forest Program From the volcano-fed forests of Sumatra and the underexplored interior of Borneo to the mountainous terrain of immense Papua, Indonesia s forests hold stores of natural wealth as remarkable as the number of human communities they support. Javanese teak and oak tower over eucalyptus, flowering ferns, coastal peat swamps, acacia and grasslands that are unlike those found anywhere else in the world. Indonesia s forests, the world s largest after Brazil and Congo, are one of the world s most important stores of biodiversity. They re also among the world s fastest-disappearing forests, under threat due to both population growth and market pressures. In 20 years the country has seen the loss of forests to logging, land conversion and fires at the rate of 4 to 8 million acres per year the low-end equivalent of some five soccer fields cleared or burned every minute. approaches to the giant islands of Borneo and Papua. We ve set a goal of effectively managing 13,500 square miles of Borneo forests, or about one third of the world s third-largest island, by We re also increasing efforts in Sulawesi, aiming to effectively manage 8,000 square miles of forests by the same year. An exciting and ambitious forest program is currently being developed in Papua that will build on our experiences of working with local communities in Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and other initiatives continue to aid timber concessionaries in pursuing sustainable management. At the heart of all the Forest Program s work is our goal to move ahead in partnership with the people who depend on forest resources for their livelihoods, helping local communities come into stewardship of their environments. TNC s Forest Program in Indonesia has been working to change this. In Borneo and Sulawesi, TNC is safeguarding areas of ecological importance by engaging the private sector and local communities to improve forest management practices and develop equitable distribution mechanisms. Key to these efforts is supporting communities through technical assistance, alternative livelihood education to manage protected forests and protect the habitats of forest species through balanced management. TNC s approach of involving government, local communities and industry is leading to success at a community level, but in the face of ongoing forest destruction our present challenge is to scale up our *) For a more detailed Forest Program map see the insertion in the back inside cover. Dayak women in East Kalimantan The Nature Conservancy 23

14 East Kalimantan Borneo. A few acres of the storied island can contain four times as many tree species as are found in all of North America, and Indonesia s portion of it Kalimantan is home to one of the last large, intact wilderness areas in the entire region. The interior of the world s thirdlargest island stores untold treasures 360 new species have been discovered here in the last decade and its lowland rainforests give rise to a population of 2.5 million people and one of the highest counts of endemic flora and fauna in the world. Running from the Sulawesi Sea up to some of the highest mountains in Southeast Asia, the verdant tapestry of East Kalimantan courses through primal rain forests, limestone karst spires and huge tracts of undisturbed mangroves to provide the habitat for 11 different primate species, including proboscis monkeys, gibbons, macaques and many of the world s last wild orangutans. EAST KALIMANTAN Lowland rainforest of East Kalimantan Despite the vast amounts of distinctive biological wealth in East Kalimantan forests, very few have protection status under Indonesian law, leading to increasing threats from land conversion, logging and fires. To meet these challenges, TNC runs four sites in East Kalimantan that comprise a total area of nearly 400 square miles. Under our long-range Tropical Forest Initiative, we hope to bring about the effective management of an area 250 times this size a third of all Borneo. In 2007, TNC worked with the government, locals and the private sector in two districts of East Kalimantan to protect large areas of forest against deforestation by implementing conservation management in tracts outside government-protected areas. One approach is to promote legally and ecologically sustainable timber harvesting to area concessionaries by facilitating forest management certification from the international accreditation body, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). In 2007, TNC started three new Dayak women in East Kalimantan After a timber company moved out the forests around Wehea (when its concession contract expired), I started to think about protecting Wehea from industries and all the temptation of financial offers. The forest is the source of our livelihoods, where we get food and medicinal plants, so when TNC came in to talk about community conservation, we welcomed them. A year later, the East Kutai government and its people initiated the change of Wehea s status to a protected forest, which was facilitated by TNC. I was overjoyed. The proposed status gives the Dayak people of Wehea the right to protect and manage our forests, and we set our own customary laws. For example, it s now prohibited for people to cut trees or clear land for their personal needs. On a couple occasions, the local legal council has been able to apply sanctions. The new arrangement also helps us maintain our own tradition, our own values. With TNC s support, our Wehea Dayak Society has been holding regular cultural festivals, and this has been a way to preserve our culture for our next generation. Just like the forests, we hope. LEDJIE TAQ Wehea Dayak tribe leader Mushrooms in East Kalimantan Borneo FACTS More than 80 tree species in Berau district are listed as threatened by the World Conservation Union. The forests of East Kalimantan are home to hundreds of commercial timber species, as well as Borneo s earliest known indigenous inhabitants, the traditionally nomadic Dayak. Just a step off the equator, TNC s East Kalimantan working areas are home to rare, threatened and endangered species including clouded leopards, Storm s storks, sun bears, mouse deer and wild cattle. concessionaries on the road to FSC certification by creating assessment maps of their forest resources, and also continued our support for the largest FSC-certified timber concession in all Southeast Asia. If the new concessionaries successfully attain certification, they ll bring the country s total number of FSC-certified concessionaries to 10, increasing such managed forest area by as much as 25 percent. In community-based programs, we helped developed a watershed management program along the Kelay River. We also worked with the Lesan Dayak people of Kelay subdistrict to integrate local customs into a five-year conservation plan, leading villagers to create a community conservation network and participate in a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) task force in Berau. In the future, our sites in East Kalimantan may provide the ground for some of Indonesia s first REDD pilot projects. In a community-led initiative, villagers of Wehea unilaterally declared an ex-timber concession locally protected forest. TNC helped facilitate a community monitoring system under which four groups of 10 members now take month-long turns patrolling a 100,000-acre forest area, recording ecological health indicators such as forest cover, animal and plant distribution and water levels while also reporting signs and incidents of illegal logging. 24 The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy 25