Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation | |
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Location | Sumatra, Indonesia |
Nearest city | Semangka |
Coordinates | 5°54′58″S104°33′22″E / 5.916°S 104.556°E |
Area | 45,000 hectares (170 sq mi) |
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Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation (TWNC) is a 45,000-hectare forest and 14,082-hectare marine conservation area on the southern tip of Sumatra. The area is remote, with no public transportation available. [1] [2] TWNC was founded by Tomy Winata, an Indonesian businessman and philanthropist. Owner and chairman of the Artha Graha Group and Network, Winata also founded the nonprofit Artha Graha Peduli Foundation.
Since 1996 (followed by a 2010 agreement), TWNC has been funded and managed by the foundation. As part of a July 2008 agreement with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, TWNC is part of the 365,000-hectare (1,410 sq mi) Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park.
The area has experienced illegal activity, including poaching, illegal fishing and unauthorized logging and land use. As a result of these activities, deforestation in the national park has destroyed about 20 percent of the forest. Coral reefs were damaged by an exponential increase in fishing over an approximately 20,000-hectare (77 sq mi) area around the TWNC. [3]
The Go-Green Society began the foundation’s program to restore TWNC in 1998. The recovery progress was relatively slow because of extensive damage caused by illegal activity in the area, and the foundation spent years reducing and stabilizing the rate of deforestation in the conservation area.
Foundation programs and efforts implemented in TWNC include: [4]
As indicated by its absence of tigers in conflict, TWNC's natural forest is an example of a complete food chain. [5] Its marine conservation has attracted individual visitors and national and international institutions such as UNESCO, [3] the IUCN, the World Bank, Phantera, [6] and UNODC. In 2012, Kylie Minogue visited Tambling during her visit to Indonesia. Fifteen foreign ambassadors visited TWNC during the 2009 Krakatau Festival. [7] Media outlets, including The New York Times , [8] have visited TWNC. [9] [ failed verification ]
The mantangan plant (Meremia peltata), a flowering vine in the morning glory family which limits trees' access to sunlight, is an environmental challenge. Another challenge is the loss of TWNC's coastal area. Several areas in TWNC have eroded as much as 20 metres (66 ft) due to rising sea levels triggered by global warming. Indonesia had comprised 17,508 islands, but the loss of small islands to rising seawater has reduced its total to about 17,400. [10]
Although it is the third country classified as a "lung of the world", Indonesia faces a challenge in sustaining funding for its conservation activities. [11] [12] [13]
On 16 July 2014 TWNC received an award from Panthera for its success in Sumatran tiger conservation at the annual Tigers Forever meeting in Jakarta. [14]
The siamang is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m (3.3 ft) in height, and weighing up to 14 kg (31 lb). It is the only species in the genus Symphalangus. Fossils of siamangs dates back to the Middle Pleistocene.
The Sumatran tiger is a population of Panthera tigris sondaica on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct.
The Javan tiger was a Panthera tigris sondaica population native to the Indonesian island of Java until the mid-1970s. It was hunted to extinction, and its natural habitat converted for agricultural land use and infrastructure. It was one of the three tiger populations in the Sunda Islands.
Tesso Nilo National Park is a national park in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. It was declared a national park by the Indonesian government in 2004. The original area of the park was 385.76 km2, but the decision has been made to expand it to 1000 km2. Tesso Nilo National Park houses some of the largest coherent lowland rainforests remaining on Sumatra. The Center for Biodiversity Management has surveyed over 1,800 plots in tropical forests around the world. They found that no other plot has as many vascular plants as in Tesso Nilo. Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) surveyed forests throughout Sumatra, and also found that Tesso Nilo housed by far the most species.
Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, settled in the Barisan mountain range, is named after Mount Leuser (3,119 m), and protects a wide range of ecosystems. An orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang is located within the park. Together with Bukit Barisan Selatan and Kerinci Seblat National Parks, it forms a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
The Sumatran striped rabbit, also known as the Sumatra short-eared rabbit or Sumatran rabbit, is a rabbit found only in forests in the Barisan Mountains in western Sumatra, Indonesia, and surrounding areas. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Kerinci Seblat National Park is the largest national park on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It has a total area of 13,791 km2, and spans four provinces: West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra.
The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. It comprises three Indonesian national parks on the island of Sumatra: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. The site is listed under Criteria vii - outstanding scenic beauty; ix- an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes; and x- contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation. The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra has been placed on the Danger List since 2011 to help overcome threats posed by poaching, illegal logging, agricultural encroachment, and plans to build roads through the site.
The Sumatran ground cuckoo is a large, terrestrial species of cuckoo. It was introduced to Western science in 1879 and was formerly considered conspecific with the Bornean ground cuckoo but was given status as a unique species in 2000. This elusive species was initially known from just eight specimens and evaded notice from 1916 until 1997, when it was rediscovered and photographed by Andjar Rafiastanto. The Sumatran ground cuckoo's diet is thought to consist of invertebrates, small mammals, and reptiles.
Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a national park in Sumatra, Indonesia. The park located along the Bukit Barisan mountain range, has a total area of 3,568 km2, and spans three provinces: Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra. Together with Gunung Leuser and Kerinci Seblat national parks it forms a World Heritage Site, Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
The Sunda clouded leopard is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend. On both Sunda islands, it is threatened by deforestation. It was classified as a separate species, distinct from the clouded leopard in mainland Southeast Asia based on a study in 2006. Its fur is darker with a smaller cloud pattern.
The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) is a Texas-based charity focused on the conservation of the five species of rhinoceros: the White Rhinoceros and Black Rhinoceros in Africa, and the Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoceros in Asia.
Bukit Tigapuluh National Park - The Thirty Hills - is a 143,223 hectare National Park in eastern Sumatra, consisting primarily of tropical lowland forest, largely in Riau province, with a smaller part of 33,000 ha in Jambi province. It is famous as one of the last refuges of endangered species such as the Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant, and Asian tapir, as well as many endangered bird species. It forms part of the Tesso Nilo Complex biodiversity hotspot. The Park is inhabited by the indigenous peoples of the Orang Rimba and Talang Mamak tribes.
The Sumatran clouded leopard is a subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard and is native to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Batu. It differs in molecular, craniomandibular and dental characteristics from the Bornean clouded leopard. It was recognized as a valid subspecies in 2017.
Tomy Winata is an Indonesian businessman with interests in banking, property, gambling and infrastructure, whose wealth comes from his business deals for the Indonesian Military. His philanthropic interests include the environment, particularly the Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation a 45,000 hectare forest, endangered wildlife and sea conservation area, located in southern Sumatra.
Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu Bioreserve is a peatland area in Riau Province of Sumatra, covering 705,271 hectares (2,723.07 sq mi) and large parts of Bengkalis Regency and Siak Regency. It is a declared UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve and supports a sustainable timber industry. It is home to two wildlife reserves, namely Giam Siak Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Batu Wildlife Reserve; flagship species include the Sumatran elephant and Sumatran tiger.
The Artha Graha Peduli Foundation is an Indonesian social, humanitarian, environmental and philanthropic foundation whose activities began during the 1990s. It was founded in 2010 by Tomy Winata, an Indonesian businessman and philanthropist with a vision "to be able to feed at least three million people throughout Indonesia". The foundation focuses on environmental activities to mitigate the effects of global climate change.
Mangrove Care Forum Bali (MCFB), also known as Forum Peduli Mangrove Bali (FPMB), is formed with the aim to protect, preserve, rehabilitate, replant and educate, as a concerted effort to save the mangroves. Supported by the Artha Graha Peduli Foundation, the team at the Mangrove Care Forum Bali draws from 16 years of experience the foundation has in caring for and operating the Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation Park, located at South Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, within 356,000 hectares of Tropical Rainforest and 21,600 hectares of Marine Nature Reserve.
There are three species of orangutan. The Bornean orangutan, the most common, can be found in Kalimantan, Indonesia and Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia. The Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan are both only found in Sumatra, Indonesia The conservation status of all three of these species is critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
The Sumatran montane rain forests ecoregion covers the mountainous elevations of the Barisan Mountains Range that runs the length of the southwestern side of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The ecoregion is almost completely surrounded by the lower elevation Sumatran lowland rain forests. The area is one of very high biodiversity - because of the relative isolation, and variety of forest types, there are 7 endemic species of mammals and eight endemic species of birds.