Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park is a
national park on the
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 ...
n island of
Sulawesi, in the province of
South East Sulawesi. It was declared in 1989, and has an area of 1,050 km². The park ranges from sea level to the altitude of 981 m.
[Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia]
"Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park"
, retrieved 5 December 2013 It contains the Aopa
peat swamp
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 ...
, the largest in Sulawesi,
[ASEAN]
"Site Nomination for Peat Site Profiles in Southeast Asia"
retrieved 5 December 2013 and is recognised as a wetland of international importance.
Flora and fauna
The park has varied vegetation: sub-montane rain forests, mangrove forests, coastal forests, savanna and freshwater swamp forests. In the park there have been recorded 323 species of plant, including ''
Borassus flabellifer
''Borassus flabellifer'', commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, wine palm or ice apple, is native to South Asia (especially in Bangladesh & South India) and Southeast Asia. It is reportedly naturalized in Socot ...
'', ''
Bruguiera gymnorhiza
''Bruguiera gymnorhiza'', the large-leafed orange mangrove or oriental mangrove,) is a mangrove tree that grows usually to 7-20m high, but sometimes up to 35m, that belongs to the family Rhizophoraceae. It is found on the seaward side of mangrov ...
'', ''
Callicarpa celebica'', ''
Cratoxylum formosum
''Cratoxylum formosum'' is a species of flowering plant in the Hypericaceae family. Its commercial name in timber production is "mampat".
It is a tropical plant found in Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines ...
'' and ''
Metrosideros petiolata''.
It is home to
Babirusa
The babirusas, also called deer-pigs ( id, babi rusa), are a genus, ''Babyrousa'', in the swine family found in the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Togian, Sula and Buru. All members of this genus were considered part of a single species unti ...
, both species of endangered
Anoa
Anoa, also known as dwarf buffalo and ''sapiutan'', are two species of the genus '' Bubalus'' endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia: the mountain anoa (''Bubalus quarlesi'') and the lowland anoa (''Bubalus depressicornis''). Both li ...
– miniature
water buffaloes – and 155 bird species, of which 37 are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to Sulawesi. Birds in the park include the
maleo
The maleo (''Macrocephalon maleo'') is a large megapode and the only member of the monotypic genus ''Macrocephalon''. The maleo is endemic to Sulawesi and the nearby smaller island of Buton in Indonesia. It is found in the tropical lowland and ...
,
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 ...
,
woolly-necked stork
The Asian woollyneck and African woollyneck (''Ciconia episcopus'' and ''Ciconia microscelis'') are two species of large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It breeds singly, or in small loose colonies. It is distributed in a wide varie ...
,
collared kingfisher
The collared kingfisher (''Todiramphus chloris'') is a medium-sized kingfisher belonging to the subfamily Halcyoninae, the tree kingfishers. It is also known as the white-collared kingfisher, black-masked kingfisher or mangrove kingfisher. It has ...
,
Yellow-crested cockatoo,
vinous-breasted sparrowhawk
The vinous-breasted sparrowhawk (''Accipiter rhodogaster'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subt ...
,
Sulawesi black pigeon and
Nicobar pigeon
The Nicobar pigeon (''Caloenas nicobarica'', Car: ') is a bird found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, east through the Malay Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is the only living membe ...
.
The park also provides habitat to a population of 170 endangered
milky stork
The milky stork (''Mycteria cinerea'') is a stork species found predominantly in coastal mangroves around parts of Southeast Asia. It is native to parts of Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. They were once part of the genus Ibis, but is c ...
s.
Primates in the park include the
spectral tarsier
The spectral tarsier (''Tarsius spectrum'', also called ''Tarsius tarsier'') is a species of tarsier found on the island of Selayar in Indonesia. It is apparently less specialized than the Philippine tarsier or Horsfield's tarsier; for example, ...
and the vulnerable
booted macaque.
The park also protects 11 reptile and 20 fish species, and is an important nursery area for crabs, fish and prawns.
Human habitation
The area of the park has been traditionally inhabited by the
Moronene people. During the
Dutch colonial era there were 7 villages within the area of the current national park. In the 1950s many Moronene villagers moved to other parts of the island, but since the 1970s there was a back-migration. However, local authorities doubted that those returning were of Moronene ancestry and would have rights to the land. Consequently, after the national park has been declared, there have been several attempts by local authorities to evict people living in the park. In 1997 security forces burned down 175 houses, and the following year another 88 houses. In a third intervention in 2001, another 100 houses were destroyed.
[Down to Earth]
"Moronene people forced out of national park"
February 2001
Conservation and threats
The national park has been declared in 1989,
and in 2011 it has been designated as a
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 ...
of international importance.
Threats to the park include
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 ...
, poaching and collection of eggs.
See also
*
List of national parks of Indonesia
This is the list of the national parks of Indonesia. Of the 54 national parks, 6 are World Heritage Sites, 9 are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and 5 are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar convention. A total o ...
*
Geography of Indonesia
Indonesia is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia, lying between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is located in a strategic location astride or along major sea lanes connecting East Asia, South Asia and Oceania. Indonesia ...
References
External links
Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park home page
{{authority control
National parks of Indonesia
Sulawesi
Protected areas established in 1989
Ramsar sites in Indonesia
Geography of Southeast Sulawesi
Tourist attractions in Southeast Sulawesi