Map 2: H
STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN FOR THE CONSERVATION OF RHINOS IN INDONESIA
Figure 1: Globa
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RHINO CENTURY PROGRAM
Unless drastic steps are taken and specific actions are carried out to restore and safeguard rhino populations to adequate levels, the disappearance of more and more of the remaining
populations and eventually the extinction of both species is inevitable.
Indonesia harbors virtually the whole remaining world population of the Javan rhino in Ujung Kulon National Park, and the largest remaining populations of Sumatran rhino in Gunung Leuser,
Bukit Barisan Selatan and Way Kambas National Parks in Sumatra - about 70 percent of the total world population. Therefore the GOI has a pressing responsibility to its people as well as to
the world for the long-termsurvival of these two unique species.
1.3 Threats and Human Pressures
All five rhino species are included in IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species www.iucnredlist.org
. Javan, Sumatran, and Black rhinos are considered Critically Endangered, Indian or Greater one-
horned rhinos are listed as Endangered, and White rhinos as Near-Threatened. There are fewer than 18,000 rhino left on the planet. More than two-thirds of these ~11,330 are white
rhinos Ceratotherium simum .. Despite successes in bringing whites and Indian rhinoceros back from numbers as low as 20-200 in the early 1900’s, all five species still face a global conservation
crisis without continued and effective interventions. .
In Asia, the Sumatran and Javan rhinoceros are the most severely threatened. Increasing population numbers as happened with white and Indian rhinos will prove to be an enormous
challenge. Javan and Sumatran rhinos are secretive, solitary forest-dwelling and browsing animals living in very low densities, unlike the white and Indian rhinos which live in high densities in
savannah environments where they eat grass.
Figure 3 provides a generic overview of the threats from human pressures on rhinos in the Indonesia. All populations suffer from habitat loss and habitat fragmentation due to human
encroachment into areas in which rhinos live. While Javan rhinos appear to now be contained within a secure habitat, poaching remains a potential threat. With the Ujung Kulon population
being the single population remaining in the world, the species could be devastated by catastrophic events such as a disease outbreak, tsunami, or other natural disaster. Sumatran rhinos have
been the victims of poaching more recently than Javan rhinos. The last reported poaching incidents were in 2001 and 2002 in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, and appear to have been isolated
incidents. Protection capacities of National Park authorities have been strengthened through the support of NGOs such as International Rhino Foundation IRF and the Worldwide Fund for
Nature WWF. The deployment of specially-trained Rhino Protection Units has helped to curb poaching more than any other single activity.
Although relatively secure, the Javan rhino population is languishing, if not already facing a slow decrease. Limitations in food availability resulting in limited breeding success are often cited as
possible causes. Ujung Kulon National Park may have reached its carrying capacity for Javan rhinos. Very little is known about both the breeding and foraging ecology of both Javan and
Sumatra rhinos. Even without any further losses, the present populations are so small that they are vulnerable to natural catastrophes and inherent demographic and genetic stochasticities
typical of small populations.
STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN FOR THE CONSERVATION OF RHINOS IN INDONESIA
Photo 4. A young male sumatran rhino was trapped in wire snare in Way Bambang Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in 2001. Unfortunately the animal’s life was unable to
save. Photo by SRS
Photo 5. Various evidences secured during operation of Rhino Protection Units RPUs and Intelligence and Law Enforcement Unit ILEU.
Photo by Cyril Ruoso SRS
Figure 3:
Large fast
