Karimunjawa National Park area is a conservation area designated in 2001, located 201 km in northern Semarang. The area consists of 22 islands of 110.117,30 ha waters area and 1.507,70 ha land area with the total 111.625 ha. The park is home for 509 reef fish species, 76 hard coral genus, 9 seagrass species, 3 sea turtle species, and 45 mangroves and its associated species. This national park becomes really essentials for the natives since it is an important fisheries resources and critical habitat for key fish species in Karimunjawa and Java Sea in general.
Conservation Challenges
Key threats to the marine environment include uncontrolled fishing activities within the park, destruction of corals reefs through overfishing and destructive practices (eg. cyanide poisoning) a lack of government capacity to control damaging activities and a lack of community awareness and involvement in resource management activities.
Conservation Approach
WCS our unique approach is to blend community based approaches with quality scientific investigations to deliver conservation outcomes for Indonesian marine conservation. We specialize in the following areas: Improving community livelihoods in small island networks; Strengthening community and institutional support for marine resource management; Promoting improved marine governance and policy (MPA regulations); Increasing capacity of government and communities to manage marine resources; Improving education and awareness of marine protected area management Design of and development of marine protected areas; Design of scientific programs to monitor the effectiveness of marine resource management; Ecological and socio-economic impact assessments (e.g. overfishing, climatic events) in coral reef ecosystem. Ecological and socio-economic impact assessments (eg. overfishing, climatic events). The project has brought together a team of marine scientists from various universities (Bogor Agricultural University, Syiah Kuala University (Banda Aceh), and James Cook University (Australia).
Activities
Within more than ten years supporting the area and fisheries management in Karimunjawa National Park, WCS Indonesia Marine Program’s activity in Karimunjawa started with ecological studies in 2002 and 2003. We have succeeded in developing database on coral reef ecology, socioeconomic, community compliance, and reef fisheries in this national park. The data and information is essential for the national park authority, local government, and other key stakeholders in formulating policy and management plan, as well as a strong reference for consultancy process between parties in the National Park’s rezoning process in 2005 & 2012.
The main activities of WCS-IP in Karimunjawa are:
- Improve the management capacities of the national park authority, local government, and communities to improve national park management effectiveness.
- Improve reef fisheries management through education, training and research.
- Improve management capacity of national park authority, local government, tourism operators, and community in sustainable tourism.At