Indonesia

Indonesia is a vast nation of 17,000 islands spanning a 5,185 km arc along the equator, bridging the gap between Asia and Australasia. In the world’s largest archipelago, the world’s fourth highest human population shares the land and sea with among the highest diversity of life on the planet. From the jungles of Sumatra to the snow-capped peaks of Papua, Indonesia is home to 17% of all the world’s bird species, 12% of all the mammals 16% of all the reptiles and amphibians and an amazing 33% of all the world’s insects.

The WCS Indonesia program first began in 1965 and has grown ever since. Now WCS Indonesia is an established and respected institution committed to saving Indonesia’s wild heritage. 

The Human Aspect

The human population of Indonesia is spread across 6000 islands, ranging in size from Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua to the smallest atolls. The diversity of human culture rivals the biodiversity, with an incredible 400 languages spoken. While vast tracks of uninhabited forest remain in west Indonesia, in most other parts of the country the human population is predominantly rural, widely distributed and exerting an influence on nearly all habitats.

We could not be effective in Indonesia without working in concert with local communities. Not only are these communities those most directly touched by our work, but they invariably have knowledge from which we can learn in seeking conservation solutions mutually beneficial to people and to the wildlife.

Threats

The wildlife and wildlands of Indonesia face many threats. A growing population and a developing economy require carefully guided decisions to ensure that development can meet the needs of a growing nation and maintain Indonesia’s wild. The vast protected area network, which at 320,000 km² covers an area the size of Texas or Germany is managed by a Forestry Department of as few as 15,000 staff. A trend towards decentralized governance similarly leaves local governments frequently under resourced and lacking in capacity. A strong legal system suffers from weak implementation, resulting in frequent illegal exploitation of natural resources. WCS Indonesia is committed to working with the Indonesian Government and civil society to address these threats. 

WCS Activities

WCS Indonesia is implementing it's conservation strategy with programs ranging from nationwide initiatives to small-scale field-based projects. In all our work we pursue our three main themes, examples include:

• Working in partnerships to put effective strategies for conservation in action. Partnerships with government, local NGOs and ordinary citizens are central to our work. We recognize that the future of Indonesian conservation lies in the hands of Indonesians and we will do all we can to pass on the skills and resources needed. Major projects include promoting collaborative management in Sumatran Mountain Heritage sites through capacity building, and promoting collaborative law enforcement by forming networks of authorities and civil society partners sharing information and resources.
• Being a source of knowledge to guide conservation action. WCS Indonesia has an unrivalled reputation for conservation science. We will continue to be one of the most active organizations answering critical management questions with sound science and passing that knowledge on to others. Projects currently range form a permanent research station in virgin lowland forest in Sumatra, through field monitoring of tigers, elephants and birds, to studying the socio-economic causes of forest encroachment and wildlife crime.
• Creating a society that values Indonesia’s wildlife and wildlands. Lasting change in Indonesia will only occur if the 240 million citizens of Indonesia collectively want it. We plan to double our efforts in coming years to take the message of conservation to people by bringing wildlife into ordinary lives. This will be a major theme to our work in years to come. We hope to do this by building our current awareness and education activities in Sumatra and Sulawesi into a nationwide program.

Important Next Steps

• To take lessons learned about successful collaborative management and regional planning and apply them to new situations and locations.
• To develop effective low-cost solutions that fit with Indonesian decentralized governance.
• To develop the collaborative law-enforcement models we have piloted to give the Indonesian authorities the tools they need to effectively tackle wildlife crime.
• To expand our conservation science program to the range of threats that face wildlife and wildlands in Indonesia today.
• To pass on not only the findings themselves, but the means to continue and expand the process.
• To develop a nationwide education and awareness program. This will span the development of university and school teaching, to the development of local nature reserves, starting with Maleo nesting grounds in Sulawesi, to a campaign intended to reach the entire population by using the media that is most accessible to all.