Sembilang National Park is a national park covering 2,051 km² along the east coast of Sumatra,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The park is dominated by swamps as peat forests, like the neighbouring Berbak National Park, and both parks are

Ramsar wetland The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

s of international importance."Ramsar Database"
, retrieved 14 December 2014 The park is considered to have the most complex shorebird community in the world, with 213 species recorded, and supports the world's largest breeding colony of milky storks. From Palembang to the Sembilang National Park needs one hour drive plus one and a half hour by boat and then one hour overland.

Flora and fauna

About half of the park is covered by mangrove forests, while the rest is covered by

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of these forests are being logged at high rates. Peat ...

, lowland tropical forests, mud flats,

freshwater swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found ...

s and

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered chann ...

s. The park provides habitat for 53 mammal species, including the endangered Sumatran tiger,

Sumatran elephant The Sumatran elephant (''Elephas maximus sumatranus'') is one of four recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2011, IUCN upgraded the conservation status of the Sumatran elephant from endang ...

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since ...

, agile gibbon and

siamang The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching in height, a ...

, as well as the vulnerable

Sunda clouded leopard The Sunda clouded leopard (''Neofelis diardi'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature ...

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the ...

flat-headed cat The flat-headed cat (''Prionailurus planiceps'') is a small wild cat native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra. It is an Endangered species, because the wild population probably comprises fewer than 2,500 mature individuals, with s ...

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...

and

southern pig-tailed macaque The southern pig-tailed macaque (''Macaca nemestrina''), also known as the Sundaland pig-tailed macaque and Sunda pig-tailed macaque, is a medium-sized macaque that lives in southern Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is known locally as ber ...

. The rivers of the park are inhabited by over 140 species of fish and 38 species of crab, as well as the threatened

Eurasian otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is an otter species occurring in most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and is threa ...

Malaysian giant turtle The Malaysian giant turtle or Bornean river turtle (''Orlitia borneensis'') is a species of turtle in the family Bataguridae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Orlitia''. It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia. This species is the largest fresh ...

Amboina box turtle The Amboina box turtle or Southeast Asian box turtle (''Cuora amboinensis'') is a species of Asian box turtle. It is found in the Nicobar Islands, eastern India (Assam), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, central and southern Vietn ...

Asiatic softshell turtle The Asiatic softshell turtle or black-rayed softshell turtle (''Amyda cartilaginea'') is a species of softshell turtle in the Trionychidae family. Despite its name, it is not the only softshell turtle in Asia (most trionychines are Asian). T ...

finless porpoise ''Neophocaena'' is a genus of porpoise native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as the freshwater habitats of the Yangtze River basin in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. ...

and

Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...

. Within the park is the largest breeding colony of milky storks in the world, and one of the largest colonies of

lesser adjutant The lesser adjutant (''Leptoptilos javanicus'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus, it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary ...

. Other threatened birds in the park include the Storm's stork,

white-winged duck The white-winged duck or white-winged wood duck (''Asarcornis scutulata'') is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus ''Cairina'' with the Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and allied with the dabbling ducks. However, mtDNA cyt ...

Nordmann's greenshank Nordmann's greenshank (''Tringa guttifer'') or the spotted greenshank, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Description The Nordmann's greenshank is a medium-sized sandpiper, at long, with a slightly upturned, bicol ...

and

Far Eastern curlew The Far Eastern curlew (''Numenius madagascariensis'') is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown ...

. The total bird population of the park has been estimated to be up to one million, while during winter up to 100,000 migratory birds stop over for rest.

Conservation and threats

The national park has been declared in 2003. It is under threat from small scale

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corruption, corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, o ...

, 15 meters abrasion a year and coastal fish ponds activities.

Mangrove restoration Mangrove restoration is the regeneration of mangrove forest ecosystems in areas where they have previously existed. The practice of mangrove restoration is grounded in the discipline of restoration ecology, which aims to “ ssistthe recovery of re ...

has been implemented for 200 hectares and still been added. Together with the neighboring Berbak National Park in the province of Jambi, Sembilang is acknowledged as a part of UNESCO

World Network of Biosphere Reserves The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature (e.g. encourage sustainable de ...

in 2018. On January 15, 2020, the Jakarta Post announced that an uninhabited island in the park, Betet Island is now submerged at 1 meter below sea level as a result of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. Betet Island was formerly home to an endangered Sumatran tiger.

References

External links

Ministry of Forestry: Brief description
{{authority control National parks of Indonesia Protected areas of Sumatra Protected areas established in 2001 Geography of South Sumatra Tourist attractions in South Sumatra 2001 establishments in Indonesia Climate change in Indonesia