Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and the Lore Lindu National Park

Sulawesi belongs to the five major islands of Indonesia (UNDP 2005). The area of Sulawesi is about 187,880 km² and it has about 6000 km coastlines (Rhee et al. 2004). “Even in a country kn

most extraordinary places on Earth, with an astonishing 98% of mammal species and 27% of bird species that exist nowhere else on the world” (The Nature Conservancy 2005). It does not have the richest terrestrial biodiversity, but an extremely high proportion of faunal endemics.

Furthermore, it harbours a great marine biodiversity.

The geologic history can be seen, as the main reason for it is unique natural and biotic diversity. As a consequence of continuous northern movement of the Gondwanic plate million years ago, the shape resulted from a

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Sulawesi is located in the province of Central Sulawesi. Central Sulawesi is characterised by diverse habitat and richly bio diverse mountains from two previous landmasses (Rhee et al.

2004). The altitude in Sulawesi ranges mostly above 500m above sea level (a.s.l.). In 20% of the area even over 1000m a.s.l. The highest mountains are located in North and Central Sulawesi.

Sulawesi’s population is quite sparse, but highly ethnically heterogeneous. Since 1970 the process of converting natural forest to other forms of vegetation, like it took place over a period of hundreds of years, has accelerated due to governmental supported commercial d intensified crop production. Nowadays, the entire Sulawesi has logging, transmigration an

lower deforestation rates than elsewhere in Indonesia. The reason is mainly because the lowland forests were cleared in the 1980s and the lowland area of Sulawesi is anyway only 25% of the total area (Rhee et al. 2004).

The research area is located in Central Sulawesi, just on the south of the equator. The climate in the region is classified as tropical rainy after Köppen. The annual precipitation is > 2500 mm, but because of the mountainous area the rainfall distribution is very heterogeneous.

There are not distinct dry seasons in the area, but greater rainfall in November and December as well as from March to June, because of the movement of the ITCZ. The mean annual temperature ranges between 25° and 26° C (Kleinhans et al. 2004). The regional capital Palu is one of the driest places in Indonesia, because of its location on the coast and two mountain chains in the south of it.

Lore Lindu National Park

In 1977 the UNESCO declared an area of 217,991 ha in Central Sulawesi as Man and Biosphere Reserve. The aim was to “protect landscape wildlife values and social customs in

illegal logging. For the preservation of Lore Lindu National Park the participation of the surrounding communities in park management is very important

ed by creating so-called Community Conservation Agreements (The Nature Conservancy 2005a).

the adjoining communities” (Rhee et al. 2004, p. 3-61). The Indonesian Government in partnership with The Nature Conservancy converted this Biosphere Reserve into Lore Lindu National Park in 1992 (The Nature Conservancy 2005). The altitude of the park ranges between 500 and 2600m a.s.l. and the typical landscapes within the park are sub-mountain forest and low land rainforest. The Park harbours some of the last intact forest tracks in Sulawesi, but suffers from

(RHEE et al. 2004). This is forc

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The area in the vicinity of the Lore Lindu National Park has been mainly cultivated in the last 100 years. Due to migration in the last two decades, the growing population pressure has a high impact on the natural resources and therefore also on the rainforest margins (Kreisel et al. 2004).

In the vicinity of the park, 117 villages with approximately 120,000 inhabitants are located (ANZDEC 1997). The park provides water resources for about 300,000 people in the area.

Although, the villagers use the park traditionally, illegal harvesting of forest resources and agricultural conversion threatens wildlife and forest. This process is mainly driven by severe poverty in the surrounding villages (The Nature Conservancy 2005a ).

Figure 2: Map of the research area

Source: STORMA

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There are high deforestation rates along the park boarder. The main cause of deforestation is the smallholder conversion of forest area into agricultural land use. One possible reason may be that the research area is highly affected by migration and therefore high land requirements exist. The clearings are mainly done, because area for cash crop production as cocoa plantation is needed. This tendency has increased dramatically after the economic crisis. The landscape at the forest margins is a patchwork of different land-use systems. The predominating land use systems in the area are rice paddies, agro-forestry and annual cropping (Kleinhans et al 2004).

The conservation of the remaining tropical rainforest is not only important in terms of biodiversity or carbon sequestration, but also in terms of hydrological functions. The tropical rain forest has a high impact on watershed hydrology. Shorter vegetation like annual crops leads to more run off. The deforestation has a high influence on water availability, and therefore water supply, as well as on water quality. Higher sediment transport is especially caused by deforestation and has a negative impact on water quality. In the research area the problems of water scarcity and poor water quality will come in near future. This trend is also influenced by the occurrence of the El Nino phenomenon in the area, which causes droughts in the region (Keil et al. 2003, Kleinhans et al 2004).

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Chapter 4. Methodology of field research and results of descriptive data