Conservation Challenges in Indonesia

Indonesia faces many challenges in conserving its biodiversity. The most important challenge is deforestation. Deforestation in Indonesia has mostly been associated with inappropriate policies and the misuse of natural resources. Experience has shown that here the decentralization of policies concerning resource extraction at local levels has had very damaging results. The existing economic and political systems tend to view natural resources, primarily forests, as sources of income, without considering sustainability. The situation was made worse because, even though forest concession companies obtained legal permits, they then proceeded to implement unsustainable forest management practices. The consequent high level of forest disturbance leads directly to a decrease in species diversity in the area, as well as to genetic erosion of those populations that manage to persist in the face of the destruction. Ironically, Indonesian biodiversity – despite being ranked as one of the highest in the world in terms of species richness and endemism – is poorly documented overall. As a consequence of this lack of knowledge, the country is on a path to losing a majority of its species and the associated resources without even realizing that they are present. Conservation Biology: Voices from the Tropics, First Edition. Navjot S. Sodhi, Luke Gibson, and Peter H. Raven. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. P: 134-141.