Nature Conservancy Magazine: Winter 2008

Now & Then
Out of the woods
Locals carve komodo dragons from the wood of hibiscus or teak trees. A medium carving sells for about $20 to tourists, while a small one goes for about half that price.

Go Deeper

Komodo National Park
Indonesia's Komodo National Park — made up of three rugged volcanic islands — is the last remaining natural habitat of the famed Komodo dragon, of which only 3,000 remain..

How Marine Protected Areas Help Alleviate poverty
In one of the first studies of its kind, The Nature Conservancy has worked with leading academics on a study that conclusively proves that marine protected areas (MPAs) can help alleviate poverty.

Now & Then: New Livelihoods Revive Economy and Ecology of Komodo

By Jennifer Winger

In a chain of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, there’s a place where dragons still roam. Arid forests and savannas in Komodo National Park are the only native habitat left for 10-foot-long, 300-pound lizards known as Komodo dragons.

A menagerie of other plants and animals also thrive on the park’s nearly half-million acres of land and sea. Today, Komodo is a natural sanctuary on the mend. But not so long ago its sea-grass beds, mangrove forests, coral reefs and rich offshore waters were an ecological war zone.

Komodo, Rinca and Padar islands were designated a national park in 1980 and declared a World Heritage Site six years later. But without boats or rangers to patrol its waters, the park was protected in name only. Fishermen stuffed Coca-Cola bottles with a deadly mix of fertilizers and kerosene and threw them into the seas. These Molotov cocktails—designed to explode on impact and kill a lot of fish in a short amount of time — not only killed target species but also decimated coral reefs.

“Homemade explosives turned the coral reefs to rubble,” says Rili Djohani, program director for The Nature Conservancy in Indonesia. “And in an area with strong currents, the coral larvae couldn’t re-establish themselves.”

In 1996 the Indonesian government asked the Conservancy for help. Years before, when the park was established, new regulations — such as banning agriculture on the islands — left some locals without legal livelihoods and without an explanation. The Conservancy first needed to gain the trust of the nearly 4,000 people who lived inside the park’s boundaries.

Many local people were resistant to the park, says Djohani, “but we showed them that conservation is directly related to economics. If coral reefs are destroyed, the fisheries will collapse and the park will lose a lot of tourism potential.”

The Conservancy helped locals develop legal alternatives that could be more lucrative than destructive fishing practices. Cultivating sea grass and raising fish on farms for the international seafood market have been particularly successful. Today, blast fishing has decreased by 90 percent, and 60 percent of coral reefs have rebounded, thanks to floating ranger stations that enforce the ban on blast fishing and poaching. Islanders have also established cooperatives that produce handicrafts such as coconut-bead bracelets and woodcarvings.

Although blast fishing has decreased in Komodo National Park, it continues throughout Indonesia. But Djohani says conservation lessons learned in Komodo can be applied elsewhere.

“Komodo is a learning ground for new approaches to marine conservation,” says Djohani. “Educating villages about alternative incomes and supporting them long-term pays off for the people and the natural communities.”