Biodiversity in Indonesia and South Sumatra

1 Background

1.1 Biodiversity in Indonesia and South Sumatra

Indonesia — one of the 17 “megadiverse” countries identiied by Conservation Interna- tional — belongs to the most biodiversity rich nations in the world. Two of the world’s 125 34 biodiversity “hotspots” can be found in Indonesia and it is estimated that the 17,000 islands of the Indonesian archipelago are home to roughly 12 of the world’s mammals, 16 of the world’s reptiles and amphibians, 17 of the world’s birds and 25 of global ish populations 1 . Indonesia is also home to about 10 of the world’s lowering plants of which many are endemic. As Indonesia harbours vast areas of forests, many of these 130 species can be found within forested areas A wide variety of forest types occur in Indonesia and include, among others, low–land, mountain, swamp, peat, and mangrove forests. These forest types can also be found in the Province of South Sumatra Provinsi Sumatera Selatan. The lowland rainforests of South Sumatra are among the biologically most diverse forest types on earth and are 135 home to animals such as the Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae Pocock, the Sumatran elephant Elephas maximus sumatranus Temminck, or the clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa Griffith. Most of these species can be found in protected areas of which there are ten in South Sumatra, including the Sembilang National Park and the Kerinci National Park. The latter is part of the United Nations Educational, Scientiic 140 and Cultural Organization UNESCO World Heritage “Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra”. Indonesia’s rainforests are not only home to some of the highest levels of biological diversity in the world, they also sequester and store large amounts of carbon. Peatland forests in Indonesia and South Sumatra, for example, are among the largest near–surface 145 reserves of terrestrial organic carbon [Page et al., 2002]. These forests play, thus, an important role in the global carbon cycle. To the concern of many, the area covered by forests is decreasing rapidly in Indonesia, resulting in large amounts of carbon released to the atmosphere. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO states that Indonesia lost about 24 of its forest area between 1990 and 2005. Globally 150 almost one ifth of the annual CO 2 emissions are forest related, i.e., deforestation and forest degradation. The share of forest related emissions on total emissions in Indonesia is expected to be much higher than the global average. Forests in South Sumatra also undergo rapid changes. Estimates of changes of forest cover at the provincial level are, however, often highly uncertain. Prasetyo et al. [2014] 155 cites estimates of forest cover in South Sumatra from two diferent sources: the Provincial 1 See: http:www.fauna-flora.orgexploreindonesia 9 1 Background Spatial Plan of 1994 states that about one third of the provincial area was covered by forests 4.3 million hectares. The second source, Alikodra et al. [2013], estimated a forest area of 3.7 million hectares in 2012. In South Sumatra the main forces for the loss of forest area are man–made forest ires, forest conversion for estate crops e.g., oil 160 palm, unsustainable levels of timber harvest, illegal logging activities and the expansion of mining and farming areas, as well as the development and expansion of settlements and infrastructure. Not only in Indonesia but also in many other tropical countries, forests are an im- portant livelihood source for people living in around the forest. Data at the provincial 165 level showed an inversely proportional relationship between population density and areas covered by forest [Indrarto et al., 2012]. Given the rapid population growth in many parts of South Sumatra, large areas of forest are expected to disappear in the future. Deforestation and forest degradation often go hand in hand with the loss of forest biodiversity. Many plant and animal species are now threatened by extinction in South 170 Sumatra. As forests are cleared planned or unplanned for e.g., palm oil plantations and iber production, habitats are lost for many species.

1.2 Biodiversity conservation in Indonesia and South Sumatra