Gunung Palung National Park

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Gunung Palung National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Gunung Palung Jungle.jpg
Vegetation of Gunung Palung
Borneo Locator Topography.png
Red pog.svg
Gunung Palung NP
Location of Gunung Palung NP in Borneo
Location West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Nearest city Pontianak
Coordinates 1°14′24″S110°14′21″E / 1.24000°S 110.23917°E / -1.24000; 110.23917 Coordinates: 1°14′24″S110°14′21″E / 1.24000°S 110.23917°E / -1.24000; 110.23917
Area 900 km2 (350 sq mi)
Established 1990
Governing body Ministry of Forestry

Gunung Palung National Park lies on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, north of Ketapang and east of Sukadana.

Borneo island

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra.

Indonesia Republic in Southeast Asia

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands, and at 1,904,569 square kilometres, the 14th largest by land area and the 7th largest in combined sea and land area. With over 261 million people, it is the world's 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, contains more than half of the country's population.

West Kalimantan Province in Indonesia

West Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307 km² with a recorded 2010 census population of 4,395,983 . Ethnic groups include the Dayak, Malay, Chinese, Javanese, Bugis, and Madurese. The latest official estimate is 4,546,439. The borders of West Kalimantan roughly trace the mountain ranges surrounding the watershed of the Kapuas River, which drains most of the province. The province shares land borders with Central Kalimantan to the southeast, East Kalimantan to the east, and the Malaysian territory of Sarawak to the north.

Contents

History

Gunung Palung was first protected in 1937 as a forest nature reserve covering 300 km2 (120 sq mi). [1] In 1981, the size was increased to 900 km2 (350 sq mi) and its status raised to a wildlife reserve, [1] and on 24 March 1990 the area became a national park. [1]

Geography

The park is notable for its diversity of habitat types, ranging from mangrove and freshwater swamp forest, to lowland alluvial (empran bench) forest, to montane forest, and for its diversity of wildlife. It is one of only a handful of parks in the world where orangutans can be seen in the wild.

Mangrove A shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water

A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The total mangrove forest area of the world in 2000 was 137,800 square kilometres (53,200 sq mi), spanning 118 countries and territories.

Swamp A forested wetland

A swamp is a wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along large rivers where they are critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations. Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes. Some swamps have hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more correctly termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water or seawater. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo.

Orangutan Genus of mammals

The orangutans are three extant species of great apes native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Orangutans are currently only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were originally considered to be one species. From 1996, they were divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan. In November 2017 it was reported that a third species had been identified, the Tapanuli orangutan.

A research station (Cabang Panti) was established at the western foot of the main Gunung Palung mountains in 1985, and is owned and operated by the park management authority. Research there has contributed significantly to our understanding of Borneo forest biology.

Illegal, non-mechanized, 'hand logging' has been a problem in the park, especially from ca. 2000-2003. Initiatives by park authorities and NGOs (increased policing, monitoring by microlight, educational activities) contributed to a reduction of illegal activities, however, illegal logging continues at several hot-spots. In 2007, Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) clinic was established to provide affordable health care and alternative livelihood training for villagers living around the park. This intervention has greatly reduced illegal logging throughout Gunung Palung as locals with reliable health care access and more economic opportunities are less likely to rely on income from illegal timber. [2] [3] The park was one of the key sites of the EU-funded Illegal Logging Response Center (ILRC, now continued in FLEGT).

Illegal logging harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws

Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a protected area; the cutting down of protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits.

Research

In 1985 Dr. Mark Leighton established the Cabang Panti Research Camp deep within the National Park. The site encompasses over 2,100 hectares networked by over 25 km of well-marked trails extending throughout all seven forest types including the upper montane forest.

Following a short period of non-occupation from 2004-2007, Cabang Panti Research Station was rebuilt in 2007 with money provided by two research teams from the United States. Projects led by Dr. Andrew Marshall of the University of California at Davis and Dr. Cheryl Knott of Boston University funded the reconstruction. The current facilities include a main two-story wooden building complete with six private rooms, three office areas, a kitchen, living area and a mezzanine. Three out-buildings include one five-room bunkhouse for local research assistants, and two one-room houses for Principal Investigators. These buildings were donated to Gunung Palung National Park in 2011.

Mezzanine intermediate floor between main floors of a building

A mezzanine is, strictly speaking, an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building. However, the term is often used loosely for the floor above the ground floor, especially where a very high original ground floor has been split horizontally into two floors.

Cabang Panti is currently home to a number of researchers including two long-term interests: the Gunung Palung Orangutan Project, and the Gibbon and Leaf-Monkey Project.

In September 2011, all researchers were expelled from Cabang Panti by the local Park Office after an NGO sent a letter to Jakarta detailing encroachment by illegal logging into the research site. The park justified the reaction by saying they needed all four buildings to house the rotating 4-6 person teams of forest police. After an appeal to Jakarta, researchers were allowed back into the area, however were not granted access to the buildings.

Orangutan conservation

The orangutan is considered the umbrella species for conservation in the National Park, and is also an important ecological agent for seed dispersal and seed predation. It is believed that orangutans at Gunung Palung constitute one of the most dense and largest populations on Borneo. A census conducted in 2001, part-funded by The Orangutan Conservancy, gives an estimate of 2500 individual orangutans, about 17% of the estimated population in Borneo and close to 10% of the world’s population.

The Gunung Palung Orangutan Project was established in 1994 by Dr. Cheryl Knott. [4] This project integrates scientific research about orangutan biology and ecology with conservation programs aimed at the preservation of this endangered species and its habitat. Cheryl Knott is conducting scientific investigation of the factors governing orangutan reproduction and population viability, increasing awareness on the local level to encourage support for conservation of the park and community education around the park and capacity-building for National Park Office staff. [5]

Illegal logging, in conjunction with fires raging across the Indonesian rain forests, make immediate conservation action in this area of paramount importance. The Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program was initiated to address the threat to orangutans and their habitat.

Tourism

The park has potential for ecotourism, and has a number of attractive sites for visitors. The only way to gain permission to enter the park is by paying for a package offered by Nasalis Tour and Travel or one of its partners. Nasalis is a for-profit corporation owned and operated by local National Park staff and administrators. As of August 2011, the park had not approved any other tourism companies to operate within the park boundaries.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Endriatmo Soetarto; M. T. Felix Sitorus; M. Yusup Napiri; Center for International Forestry Research (2001). Decentralisation of Administration, Policy Making and Forest Management in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan. CIFOR. p. 42. ISBN   978-979-8764-85-1.
  2. ↑ Webb, Kinari; Jennings, Jonathan; Minovi, Darya (May 2018). "A community-based approach integrating conservation, livelihoods, and health care in Indonesian Borneo". The Lancet Planetary Health. 2: S26. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30111-6. ISSN   2542-5196.
  3. ↑ "Health In Harmony | Conservation". Health In Harmony. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  4. ↑ Website of Gunung Palung Orangutan Project
  5. ↑ http://www.orangutan.com/projects/gunung-palung
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