Introduction to the Indonesia Expedition

Indonesia was the first site established by Operation Wallacea and was selected because of two main reasons. Firstly the forests of the Wallacea region of Indonesia, which comprise the islands of the central part of the archipelago and which are separated from the islands to the east and west by deep ocean channels, are the most endemic rich forests in the World. The deep trenches prevented these islands from being joined to the main continental land masses during the lowered sea levels of the Ice ages. As a result of the long period of isolation a large number of unique species have evolved. Moreover the forests of central Indonesia are one of the least studied areas biologically and one of the most likely places to discover vertebrate species new to science. Secondly there is a triangle of reefs in eastern Indonesia part of which lies within the Wallacea region that have the highest diversity of coral genera, the proxy commonly used to assess overall diversity of coral reefs. Operation Wallacea established a research programme in 1995 in the islands off the SE Sulawesi coast, the least visited and most remote part of the Wallacea region. Since that time annual research programmes have been carried out in the forests of Buton Island and on the reefs of the now Wakatobi Marine National Park. In 1997 after Operation Wallacea presented the first biological survey results and completed political lobbying the Wakatobi National Park was created covering 1.39 million ha making it the second largest marine protected area in Indonesia. The Wallacea Foundation, which is a high powered Indonesian NGO led by Professor Sangkot Marzuki, the most famous molecular biologist in Indonesia, is the local counterpart organisation for the research programmes. The Wallacea Foundation are particularly focused on completing genetic bar coding of all fish species found within the Wallacea region and the Operation Wallacea teams are helping with provision of samples.

 

 

Forest Research

The results of the forest surveys on south Buton Island from where 21 vertebrate species new to science have been described, resulted in a $1 million World Bank/GEF grant being obtained to establish an example of best practice conservation management for a lowland forest. Overall the project has been successful with the Lambusango forests remaining intact and a high level of support amongst local government and communities for their continued survival (see Trust pages for more details). The Operation Wallacea forest research programme is based in the village of Labundo and provides continued monitoring of the biodiversity of the Lambusango forests and the impacts of conservation on the local communities as well as conducting more in depth ecological studies of target species groups. The forest projects are run by an Indonesian NGO called Lawana Ecotone formed by local Indonesian staff. 

 

 


Anoa before charging! - Nurul Winarni


Position of marine research sites - Tom Mullier		 Marine Research

Located in the heart of the Wakatobi National Park next to Kaledupa Island is the Hoga Island Marine Research Station, the most active research facility within this unique bioregion. The Coral Reef Research Unit, comprising marine biologists from both UK and US universities, and based at Essex University, is developing the Hoga Island Marine Research Station as an internationally recognised centre for marine research. The CRRU has developed a thematic research programme with such research areas as coral reef dynamics, coral reef diversity, fisheries ecology and reef based economics, within which a series of research tasks are completed each year. To date it has published nearly 50 scientific research papers within top-ranked, peer-reviewed journals and continues to attract international funding to support this research. An Indonesian NGO called Lembaga Alam and formed from local Indonesian staff administers the research station. The level of artisanal fishing on the reefs around Kaledupa is so great that the fishery is on the verge of collapse. A UK government Darwin Initiative grant has been obtained to establish an example of how a sustainable reef fishery can be achieved and this project is ongoing (see Trust site). The Darwin fisheries project is run by the Operation Wallacea Trust and works with a Kaledupan based NGO called Forkani. Operation Wallacea has established research stations in Ambuea village on Kaledupa and in Sampela within a Bajo community to help with the fisheries and socio-economic research programmes.