Tourism raises eco concerns at Komodo park
JAKARTA, Indonesia — On a dirt path, forked yellow tongue darting from its mouth, a member of the world’s largest lizard species lazes on an island in eastern Indonesia’s Komodo National Park as tourists snap photos. And about 18 miles away on another park island that harbors Komodo dragons, trees have been removed and concrete poured for new tourist facilities that have aroused the ire of residents and environmental activists.
The construction is part of an ambitious Indonesian initiative that has generated tensions between a government that wants to develop natural attractions for luxury tourism and conservationists who fear habitat for the endangered Komodo dragon will be irreparably harmed. U.N. officials have also voiced concerns about potential tourism impacts on this unique wildlife-rich park.
Encompassing about 850 square miles of land and marine area, Komodo National Park was established in 1980 to help protect the famed dragons. Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry estimates around 3,000 of the reptiles live there today, along with manatee-like dugongs, sea turtles, whales and more than a thousand species of tropical fish.
Because of its biodiversity and beauty, the park became a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in 1991. And it’s one of Indonesia’s crown jewels for tourism, typically drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
Part of that multimilliondollar tourism development is a project on Rinca Island, where more than one-third of the park’s dragons are estimated to live on generally hot and dry terrain. The construction includes an expanded ranger station, viewing platform, boat dock, toilets and other infrastructure.
UNESCO — the United Nations body that designates World Heritage Site status — has also raised concerns about development in the park.
“The state party did not inform us, as required by the operational guidelines,” said Guy Debonnet, chief of the body’s natural heritage unit. “This is definitely a project of concern, because we feel that the impacts on the universal value (of the park) have not been properly evaluated.”
The opening date for the new Rinca Island facilities has yet to be announced. UNESCO’s Debonnet said it is engaged in talks with Indonesian officials to arrange a monitoring mission to assess the impact of ongoing development on the park.