ONE of the oldest reserves and last few remaining wetlands and lowland rainforests in Indonesia would be launched as an Asean Heritage Park (AHP).
Way Kambas National Park (WKNP) will be launched as AHP on July 27 at the Elephant Conservation Center within the WKNP in Bandar Lampung, the Philippine-based Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), which serves as secretariat of AHP Program, announced.
Expected to attend the event are Lampung Gov. Muhammad Ridho Ficardo; Saroj Srisai, assistant director and head of environment division, Sustainable Development Directorate, Asean Socio-Cultural Community Department; and ACB Executive Director Roberto V. Oliva.
AHPs represent the best of the best protected areas (PAs) in the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). To date, there are 37 AHPs in the Asean.
The 1,300-square-kilometer park consists of a lowland forest ecosystem with freshwater swamp forest, grasslands and forest on the coast of Sumatra.
In a news release, Oliva said WKNP still has “the big five” or Mega Fauna of the Sumatran forest, which includes the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant, Sumatran rhinoceros, Malayan Tapir and Sun bear. The WKNP is also home for Sumatran wildcats, which include clouded leopard, fishing cat, flat-headed cat, golden cat and leopard cat.
The WKNP is home to Indonesia’s first Elephant Training Center, a center established to domesticate and train wild elephants translocated from other areas of Sumatra. The park has 50 species of mammals and many of them are threatened.
“On behalf of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, I would like to congratulate Indonesia for officially launching its fourth Asean Heritage Park. The other three are Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Lorentz National Park,” Oliva said in the news release.
PAs benefit when they are declared as AHPs through capacity-building activities for park managers and stakeholders in the form of learning events, such as trainings and workshops. AHPs also receive technical assistance from the AHP secretariat, through ACB in-house experts and network of partners.
Being AHPs, PAs also increase their visibility as prime ecotourism destinations and models for effective protected area management through the Communication, Education and Public Awareness Program of ACB, according to Oliva.
Participation of and collaboration among AHP stakeholders in the implementation of research and development programs and projects are also maximized and strengthened when a PA is declared as an AHP. The AHP Program also provides a regional platform for information sharing among AHPs by way of committee meetings and conferences. Likewise, parks declared as AHPs are first in line for available funding through ACB programs and projects.
The Philippine government supports the AHP Program through the Biodiverisity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The Philippines currently has the most number of AHPs, with a total of eight. The Philippine AHPs are the Mounts Timpoong-Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument, Mount Apo Natural Park, Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park, Mount Malindang Range Natural Park and Mout Hamiguitan Wildlife Sanctuary, all in Mindanao; Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park in Occidental Mindoro; Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna; and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan.