Treasures of Cambodia: Central Cardamom Mountain National Park

cardamom-mountains-cambodia — Central Cardamom Mountain National Park. Photo by Conservation International.

Central Cardamom Mountain National Park, over 400,000 ha (more than five times the size of Singapore) is one of the largest protected areas in Asia. As the primary watersheds for 1/3 of Cambodia, this area provides ecosystem services namely water, for more than 30,000 people (directly downstream) and 100,000 within 5 km, as well as supports food production and aquaculture in the lowland, ensuring food security for Cambodian people.

The economic valuation of land resources of Cardamom Mountains is estimated to be more than US$ 5 billion, including ecosystem services and goods provided, including timber, agricultural land, watersheds function, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and tourism (Soussan and Sam, 2011). Read some excerpts of the study in ‘The values of land resources in the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia’.

West Papua, Indonesia: What is a Conservation Province?

13. World’s First Conservation Province — West Papua, Indonesia. Photo by LT&C.org

On 19 October 2015, the Government of West Papua, Indonesia declared the Conservation Province, showed commitment to maintaining ecological balance while creating sustainable livelihood and achieving sustainable development. It is a policy blueprint that embraces nature conservation as the foundation for economic development in West Papua.

West Papua is one of the world’s most biodiverse places. With more than 80% forest, this province is one of the last large tropical rainforests on the planet, and it is also important to the world’s epicentre of marine biodiversity. It also houses vast stores of carbon in its forests and mangroves.

The designation alone is not conservation success – we still have to make it work on the ground. But it is a huge opportunity. Perhaps the biggest conservation opportunity in the world right now.

Click here to see short video about Conservation Province.

See some related blog posts about Conservation Province in here.

Where does water comes from?

Greater Jakarta is a living and breathing cityscape that sprawls over several provinces and is home for more than 30 million people. This city’s water consumption is 1 billion m3/year.

Where does Jakarta’s water come from?

Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, located about 80 km from the city, is the sources of the water for Greater Jakarta. The National Park is one of the oldest parks in Indonesia and was also declared as Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. It has been estimated that the 60 more rivers flowing from the park provide water worth US$1.5 billion for domestic and agricultural uses.

It is one of the examples of the potential role of protected areas in helping to maintain water supply to major cities. More reference about forest protected areas for water supply can be found in this research report by the World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use.

Growing Tourism to 2030: Enhancing a national identity of Timor-Leste

Timor Leste_CBET website

“Taking into account the growth of tourism in the South-East Asia region and the high priority that the Government of Timor-Leste (GOTL) is attaching to tourism development, the new National Tourism Policy will certainly be a very important document to further guide the growth of tourism in Timor-Leste in a sustainable and inclusive manner” UNWTO (2017)

Timor-Leste National Tourism Policy is a pledge by the Government of Timor-Leste to develop a unified and holistic tourism sector that places emphasis on sustainability, community, quality and business competitiveness. This Policy provides the framework to deliver on this ambition and is a call to action by industry, tourism agencies, government departments, academic institutions, and everybody with an interest in Timor-Leste tourism to partner, collaborate, and cooperate to ensure that we collectively achieve these ambitions.

That is from The Timor-Leste National Tourism Policy (2017)

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Mt Mantalingahan, Philippines

Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape. Photo by Jeanne Tabangay.

Today and in the next blog post, I am going to share about UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Asia-Pacific region: Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape in Philippines and Lagoons of New Caledonia.

What do you need to know about Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape? Below are some excerpts from the UNE SCO World Heritage Convention site and references from Conservation International:

The protected landscape declared as the protected area in Palawan through Presidential Proclamation 1815 signed on June 23, 2009. It covers a total area of 120,457 hectares within the territorial jurisdiction of the municipalities of Bataraza, Brooke’s Point, Quezon, Rizal, and Sofronio Espanola.
The peak of Mt. Mantalingahan towering at 2085 meters above sea level is the highest peak in the province and considered sacred by the indigenous Palawan people.
The mountain’s substantial forest cover plays an important role in absorbing and storing carbon. Like many forests in this region, it faces considerable threats — including illegal logging and wildlife poaching, conversion to agricultural land, mangrove loss and unsustainable mining.
Mount Mantalingahan provides more than US$ 5.5 billion in ecosystem services to people. It is a key biodiversity area where new species are still being discovered.
It holds over half its original forest cover and provides an essential watershed for the 200,000 people that depend upon it