JP\/17\/KOMOD1<\/p>\n
Dragon kingdom under threat<\/p>\n
Duncan Graham
\nContributor\/Surabaya<\/p>\n
The few Australians who venture east of Kuta and enter Wallacea
\n-- the Indonesian islands crunched between Kalimantan, New Guinea
\nand Australia -- often find the terrain curiously familiar.<\/p>\n
The people, language, culture and lifestyle are all strikingly
\ndifferent but in many areas the landform, savannah and some of
\nthe wildlife are just like parts of Northern Australia.<\/p>\n
Wallacea (named after the famous 19th century English
\nnaturalist, Alfred Wallace) is hot and dry. Vegetation is often
\nsparse; rivers that run in the wet season die in summer.
\nRainfall is shrinking. Fresh water is getting scarce.<\/p>\n
The topography has been tortured by great upheavals in the
\npast. The distinctive ocher hue that paints the arid landscape
\nof the Great South Land -- and thought by many to be unique to
\nthat continent -- also tints this part of Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
For ecotourists the centerpiece of this fascinating transition
\nzone between Asia and Australia is the sea and land that forms
\nKomodo National Park -- five main islands and a splash of islets
\nbetween Flores and Sumbawa. T<\/p>\n
The biggest is Komodo and its major attraction is the
\ninternationally famous 'dragon' (see sidebar).<\/p>\n
Before the economic crisis, terrorist bombings and travel
\nwarnings scared away the tourists, Komodo National Park attracted
\n30,000 outsiders a year, mainly from North America and Europe.<\/p>\n
That number has now been cut by half.<\/p>\n
The 1,817 square kilometer park was created in 1980. Despite
\nits protected status the area and its wildlife are under constant
\nthreat from poachers, according to a new series of guidebooks
\npublished by The Nature Conservancy's Indonesia Coastal and
\nMarine Program. They are titled A Natural History Guide to Komodo
\nNational Park.<\/p>\n
Three volumes cover the land mass, the marine areas and park
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
Written in English and Indonesian, the pages enhanced by fine
\nline drawings by Donald Bason, the books should satisfy the most
\ncurious of tourists and add significantly to the pleasure of any
\nvisit.<\/p>\n
In the past, factual information has been hard to assemble.
\nIt's all there for anyone with a fast Internet connection or
\naccess to a good marine science library, but it's all over the
\nplace.<\/p>\n
In my experience the rangers on Komodo have been as dormant as
\nthe dragons when it comes to presenting facts. That's
\nunderstandable; it takes a real effort to keep smiling in the
\nface of a barrage of questions from bule who have come half-way
\nround the world to see this marvel, and are not going to leave
\nuntil they've sucked the sap out of the experience, whatever the
\nheat.<\/p>\n
Issues that fascinate the visitor may be ho-hum to the ranger
\nwho just hopes to find a placid reptile, make sure no-one goes
\nhome limbless, and then retreat to the shade of a lontar palm.<\/p>\n
Conservation, asset maintenance and promotion are awkward
\npartners.<\/p>\n
So this guide is not just useful -- it is indispensable
\nreading before you brave the washing-machine turbulence between
\nthe islands and after you hopefully make it to land. (Hint:
\nWrap the books in plastic -- getting saturated is just one of the
\nlesser hazards of negotiating the park.)<\/p>\n
More than welcome is the plain English text, particularly
\nuseful to those who don't have the international language as
\ntheir mother tongue. Too many science writers seem to believe
\ntheir credibility depends on producing unintelligible
\npolysyllable-choked sentences the length of a long yawn.<\/p>\n
The author, U.S. 'seacologist' Arnaz Mehta Erdmann, has chosen
\na question-and-answer format. In the hands of government
\npublicists this style patronizes and frequently frustrates; the
\nqueries authorities pose are not those you usually want to ask.
\nBut in this case the questions assume intelligence and the
\nanswers genuinely meet the need.<\/p>\n
Volume Two records the park's marine life. The pictures and
\ndescriptions should be enough to help check anything you are
\nlikely to encounter among the 1,000 plus species of fish. If you
\nwant more help there's a good bibliography. (The author is no
\namateur. With her husband, marine biologist Dr Mark Erdmann, she
\nwon international fame in the late 1990s for identifying the
\nlobe-finned coelacanth, the so-called 'fossil fish', in North
\nSulawesi.)<\/p>\n
More than 3,000 people live in the park. Most are the
\ndescendants of recent settlers. They make their living mainly by
\nfishing for squid and shrimp, and from assisting the
\ninfrastructure of tourism, with the monster lizards being the
\nbox-office stars.<\/p>\n
This industry is fragile; dragons have recently become extinct
\non Padar island. This happened after poachers killed off the
\nTimor deer, the reptiles' main food source.<\/p>\n
The park's 70 rangers have a tough job. They must persuade
\nthe poorly-educated locals (including 16,000 others from the
\nislands of Flores and Sape who also fish the rich waters) that
\nbombing and poisoning the reef may fill the scuppers today but
\nwill surely result in destruction of their livelihood as the
\ncoral dies.<\/p>\n
Firing the savannah may produce a venison steak barbecue, but
\nregular burning and felling will change the habitat and destroy
\nsome of the 254 plant species.<\/p>\n
If these go, so will many of the 277 animal species. Because
\nmost are dependent on each other for food, shelter, fertilizer
\nand other essentials, upsetting the balance has some unpleasant
\neffects: Extinction is forever.<\/p>\n
The Komodo National Park is not just an extraordinary eco-
\nsystem. It is an international treasure that Indonesia has to
\nhusband on behalf of the world. That tricky task can be made
\neasier if rich visitors wanting to gape, and poor locals
\nstruggling to survive, can understand what is happening and why
\nthey should care.<\/p>\n
These books explain all, succinctly and well.<\/p>\n
Further information about the three-part Komodo National Park
\nguide is available from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) on (0361)
\n287272 (contact person Tri Soekirman) or website: www.tnc-
\nseacmpa.org. The Komodo National Park website is:
\nhttp:\/\/www.komodonationalpark.org<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp17komod1-1447899208",
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