Introduction to the Indonesia projects

Operation Wallacea established its first research programme in Indonesia, with sites in the Wallacea region. This area is in the centre of the Indonesian archipelago, where deep ocean trenches separate the islands to the east and west. These trenches prevented the islands from being joined to the main continental landmasses 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, leading to this region containing some of the most endemic-rich forests in the world. These forests are also some of the least studied regions, and are likely to become some of the most threatened. Therefore it is important to study these areas in order to understand the forests and implement conservation strategies. The Operation Wallacea forest site is based in the Lambasango Forest Reserve on Buton Island. The marine research centre that Opwall has established in the Wakatobi Marine National Park is based in a region that contains very high levels of diversity of coral genera, the proxy commonly used to assess overall diversity of coral reefs.  The research centre is contributing to international coral research.

As part of the drive by Operation Wallacea to maximise income generated from the projects for local communities, the different parts of the projects are now managed by wholly Indonesian owned NGOs or organisations with strong involvement from local communities.

Terrestrial projects

The Lambusango forests are part of a continuous tract of forest that runs north through the remainder of the island and at the northern end is protected as the North Buton Nature Reserve.  Despite this designation, virtually no data are available on the diversity of this Reserve and Opwall is establishing a field camp to start annual surveys from 2012 onwards in these northern forests.  These data, together with those from Lambusango, can then be compiled into a Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance report that will make the Buton forests eligible for corporate sector funding under the REDD initiative.  Corporate investors benefit by receiving Voluntary Carbon Scheme (VCS) credits and quantifiable benefits to biodiversity and poverty alleviation to surrounding communities from the annual REDD payments, which are based on performance in protecting the forests.

Marine projects

Located in the heart of the Wakatobi National Park is the Hoga Island Marine Research Centre, the most active research facility within this unique bioregion.  The Coral Reef Research Unit (CRRU), based at Essex University and comprising marine biologists from both UK and US universities, is developing the Hoga Island Marine Research Centre as an internationally recognised centre for marine research.  The CRRU has developed a thematic research programme with research areas including 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.