The Tonda Wildlife Management Area is a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

of international importance and the largest protected area in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

.UNESCO: Trans-Fly Complex
retrieved 15 May 2010 It is located in the south-western corner of the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

and is contiguous with

Wasur National Park The Wasur National Park forms part of the largest wetland in Merauke Regency, South Papua, Indonesia and has been one of the least disturbed by human activity.

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 ...

. It forms part of the Trans Fly savanna and grasslands

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

Vegetation and fauna

The terrain is flat, generally less than 45 metres above sea level. It includes tidal river reaches,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

areas, swamps, grassland, savanna woodlands and patches of monsoon forest. Most trees are of the genus '' Acacia'' and '' Melaleuca'' while common grasses are '' Phragmite'' and '' Pseudoraphis''. It is an important wetland for over 250 species of resident and migratory

waterbirds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

. Most of the World's population of

little curlew The little curlew (''Numenius minutus'') is a wader in the large bird family Scolopacidae. It is a very small curlew, which breeds in the far north of Siberia. It is closely related to the North American Eskimo curlew. The word "curlew" is imit ...

stage on the plains during migration. The area also provides habitat for

birds-of-paradise The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia. The family has 44 species in 17 genera. The members of ...

and brolga. Fifty-six species of fish have been recorded. Fifty mammals are known to occur in the area, including a number not found elsewhere in New Guinea, such as the

spectacled hare-wallaby The spectacled hare-wallaby (''Lagorchestes conspicillatus'') is a species of macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, a small sub-population is found on Barrow Island, while the mainland type is widespread, though in decline, ...

, false water-rat,

bronze quoll The bronze quoll (''Dasyurus spartacus'') is a species of quoll found only in the Trans-Fly savanna and grasslands of New Guinea and West Papua. History It was discovered in the early 1970s when five specimens were collected, but only descri ...

and

chestnut dunnart The chestnut dunnart (''Sminthopsis archeri'') is a dunnart that was described by Van Dyck in 1986 and is named because of its chestnut colour in the upperparts of its body. The length from snout to tail is 167–210 mm, of which head to anu ...

. Reptiles include

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...

and

New Guinea crocodile The New Guinea crocodile (''Crocodylus novaeguineae'') is a small species of crocodile found on the island of New Guinea north of the mountain ridge that runs along the centre of the island. The population found south of the mountain ridge, forme ...

.Ramsar report for Tonda Wildlife Management Area
retrieved 15 May 2010

Traditional landowners

The land is under customary ownership. About 1,500 subsistence gardeners and hunters live in the area in 12 villages. The western part of Tonda covers land of the Kanum peoples.

Conservation

Tonda

Wildlife Management Area A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected area set aside for the conservation of wildlife and for recreational activities involving wildlife. New Zealand There are 11 Wildlife Management Areas in New Zealand: * Horsham Downs Wildlife Man ...

(WMA) was established in 1975. The WMA Rules restrict hunting by non-customary land owners. In 1993 it was listed as a

of international importance under the

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

. In 1995 a Tri-National Wetlands Program was initiated by WWF between Tonda WMA, Wasur NP, and the Australian

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...

, which led to a Memorandum of Understanding between the three government conservation agencies in 2002. In 2006 it was proposed as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, as part of the larger Trans-Fly Complex.

Cross-border issues

The WMA is the subject of poaching by people from neighbouring Papua Province, Indonesia. Local people also harvest and sell a number of wildlife resources to merchants on the other side of the border, including deer meat and antlers, candlenut, the plastra of freshwater turtles, shark fins, saratoga (''

Scleropages jardinii ''Scleropages jardinii'', the Gulf saratoga, Australian bonytongue , Pearl arowana or northern saratoga, is a freshwater bony fish native to Australia and New Guinea, one of two species of fishes sometimes known as Australian arowana, the other b ...

'') fingerlings and the dried swim bladders of certain fish.Hitchcock, G. 2004
Wildlife is Our Gold: Political Ecology of the Torassi River Borderland, Southwest Papua New Guinea.
PhD Thesis, The University of Queensland

References

{{Reflist Ramsar sites in Papua New Guinea Western Province (Papua New Guinea) Protected areas established in 1975 Protected areas of Papua New Guinea

Vegetation and fauna

Traditional landowners

Conservation

Cross-border issues

See also

References