Komodo National Park
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| Komodo National Park | |
|---|---|
| IUCN Category II (National Park) | |
| Location: | Indonesia |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 173,500 ha [1], 219,322 ha (World Heritage Site) |
| Established: | 1980 |
The Komodo National Park is located in Indonesia, in the area of the Lesser Sunda Islands, in the border region between the provinces of Nusa Tenggara Timur and Nusa Tenggara Barat.
The national park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones. At land it encompasses an area of 603 km2, and 1817 km2 in total.
The national park was founded in 1980, at first only in order to protect the Komodo Dragon. Later it was dedicated to the conservation of flora and fauna in general, including the maritime areas.
The islands of the national park are of volcanic origin. Within its area there are living about 4000 inhabitants. In 1991 the national park was accepted as World Heritage by the UNESCO.
The variety of marine life for scuba diving in Komodo rivals the world's best dive destinations. This is the world's epicentre for marine diversity and you'll see loads of stuff here on a diving cruise that you just won't see anywhere else in the world - From whale sharks, sunfish, mantas and eagle rays to pymgy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, clown frogfish, nudibranchs and blue-ringed octopus - all at home amongst a spectacular range of colourful sponges, sea squirts, tunicates and corals - a macro enthusiast's heaven.
Since 1995, the national park authority has been supported by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), an American environmental organization. A new management plan was co-authored with TNC and implemented in 2000 to address the problem of increasing resource exploitation, both marine and terrestrial. Most pressure on marine resources originates from fishing communities and commercial enterprises from outside the park. However, regulations and restrictions on resource use impact mostly on park residents, who have few options to make a living but rely on what the park has to offer. The provision of alternative livelihoods is part of the overall management strategy, but communities within the park are yet to benefit from appropriate measures addressing their needs (WALHI 2004).
The development of – largely marine-based – ecotourism is the main strategy to make the park self-financing and generate sufficient revenue through entrance fees and tourism licenses to cover operational and managerial costs. To this end, a joint venture between TNC and a tourism operator were granted a tourism concession, that also entails extensive park management rights (PKA & TNC 2000:78). This concession has generated an ongoing controversy. The joint venture has been accused of making decisions behind closed doors, and many people in and around Komodo claim that they haven’t been consulted regarding decisions that ultimately affect their lives WALHI 2003, Dhume, 2000, Jurassic Showdown’, Far Eastern Economic Review, March 16th, pp.50-52).
Most controversy, however, was caused by the death of several fishermen since the 1980s. The circumstances of the fishermen’s deaths are contested. While park patrol (including, at the time, police and navy personnel) claim they acted in self-defense, fishing communities accuse park management of having deliberately killed the fishermen (Down to Earth 2003).
Komodo National Park remains an awe-inspiring experience for tourists and travelers, but the conflict between park management, TNC and local communities continues unabated.
