The Indonesian government has significantly increased the area of Ramsar Sites in the country by designating Tanjung Puting National Park (408,286 ha; 03°02’47” S and 111°59’45” E).
The Park is one of the most important conservation areas in Central Kalimantan, acting as a water reservoir and representing one of the largest remaining habitats of the endangered Kalimantan Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus. The site consists of seven different types of swamp, including peat swamp forests, lowland tropical rainforest, freshwater swamp forests and as well as mangroves and coastal forest. It supports large numbers of endemic species of flora and fauna adapted to the predominant acidic peat swamp environment.
The area was declared a National Park in 1996, and is currently managed under a long-term plan (2009-2029) to rehabilitate areas formerly used for timber concessions and to prevent illegal logging and encroachment. Local communities depend on the wetlands for fish, fruit and timber and some continue to use traditional methods of fishing and to extract latex from the Jelutong/Gum tree Dyera costulata. However, there is increasing pressure on the natural resources of the area, leading to the decline of endemic species such as the Ramin Gonystylus bancanus and Meranti (Shorea spp.) trees.
Best regards from the Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Marina Monzeglio
Communications Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
28 rue Mauverney, CH-1196 Gland (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 22 999 0331; fax +41 22 999 0169