The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra site was inscribed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage 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 ...

site in 2004. It comprises three

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 Gui ...

n national parks on the island of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Gunung Leuser National Park Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, sett ...

, Kerinci Seblat National Park and the

Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a national park in Sumatra, Indonesia. The park located along the Bukit Barisan mountain range, has a total area of 3,568 km2, and spans three provinces: Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra. Together w ...

. The site is listed under Criteria vii - outstanding scenic beauty; ix- an outstanding example representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes; and x- contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation. The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra has been placed on the Danger List since 2011 to help overcome threats posed by poaching,

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 corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a ...

, agricultural encroachment, and plans to build roads through the site.

Location and size

The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra consists of three national parks:

(GLNP) (8629.75 km²), Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) (13,753.5 km²) and

(BBSNP) (3568 km²). The total area of the

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

is 25,000 km². The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra was chosen because, first, it represents significant area of forests on the island of Sumatra, because of the biodiversity, of lowland and mountain forest. This once vast island of tropical rainforest has been condensed to secluded areas, in the space of 50 years. Second, the national parks that make up the heritage are all located on the well-known key spine of the Bukit Barisan Mountains, known as the ‘

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

of Sumatra’, and that all around it there are magnificent views. The mountains of each site represent important mountainous backdrops to the established and developed lowlands of Sumatra. The mixture of the stunning

Lake Gunung Tujuh Lake Gunung Tujuh or ''The Seven Mountain Lake'' in English is a volcanic crater lake in the province of Jambi, Indonesia, located at within Kerinci National Park. Although a young lake, in geologic terms, its surrounding volcano, Mount Tujuh, i ...

(the highest lake in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

), the splendour of the giant

Mount Kerinci Mount Kerinci (also spelled Kerintji, among several other ways, and referred to as Gunung Kerinci, Gadang, Berapi Kurinci, Kerinchi, Korinci/Korintji, or Peak of Indrapura/Indrapoera) is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain in Sumatra ...

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

, many small volcanic, coastal and glacial lakes in natural forested settings. This shows the beauty of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Bukit Sumatra. Lastly, all three national parks have a very varied habitat and have outstanding

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

. Altogether the three sites make up 50% of the total plant variety, in Sumatra. At least 92 local common species have been recognized in GLNP. The nomination contains populations of both the world’s largest flower ( Rafflesia arnoldi) and the tallest flower (

Amorphophallus titanum ''Amorphophallus'' (from Ancient Greek , "without form, misshapen" + ''phallos'', " penis", referring to the shape of the prominent spadix) is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the ''Arum'' famil ...

). The Tropical Rainforest of Sumatra has just recently become a part of the World Heritage List, in 2004. 2.5 million hectares of Sumatra’s rainforests were included on the World Heritage List of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) because of their rich and different biodiversity. Sumatra is the largest Indonesian owned solely by Indonesia.

Geography and climate

Gunung Leuser National Park in the north of the island is 150 km long, over 100 km wide and is mostly mountainous. 40% of the park is steep, and over 1,500 m. 12% of the park only, in the lower southern half, is below 600 meters but for 25 km runs down the coast. Eleven peaks are over 2,700 m and the highest point is Gunung Leuser reaching 3,466 metres. The area surrounding Gunung Leuser is known as the

Leuser Ecosystem The Leuser Ecosystem is an area of forest located in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Covering more than 2.6 million hectares it is one of the richest expanses of tropical rain forest in Southeast A ...

. Kerinci Seblat National Park in the centre extends 350 km down the back of the Bukit Barisan, averaging 45 km width and 2000 m above sea level. The northern half has a lower eastern mountain range, between 800–1500 m. Three quarters of the park is steep. The highest point, and highest volcano in Indonesia, is the Mount Kerinci, standing at 3,805 m. Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is also 350 km long but only 45 km wide on average. The northern two-thirds are rocky, averaging 1,500 m with the highest point, Mount Pulung standing at 1,964 m. The southern half is lower; 90 km of it is a cape and the park borders the sea for half its length. Many of

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

s derive in the parks and there are several lakes and hot springs. The mountains have year-round little changing high temperatures, high humidity and high rainfall for 9 months in wetter areas, 7 months in drier areas. This climate has encouraged the high speciation (formation of new species) and variety of species. Gunung Leuser, receives 3000 mm of

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

, in the north, and collects 4657 mm in the lowland south. Temperatures average between 21 °C to 28 °C and the humidity is always above 60%, especially when over 1700 m. In Kerinci Seblat, the rainfall averages 2990 mm, temperatures range from 16° to 28 °C and humidity is always high (77-90%). In Bukit Barisan Selatan, the rocky west is wet especially during the November to May

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

: rainfall is 3000–4000 mm. The east is drier, with 2500–3000 mm of rainfall and the temperature ranging between 20°and 28 °C.

Flora and fauna

GLNP is a part of the 18 Indonesian regions classified by the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the W ...

(WWF) among the 200 global ecoregions of importance for preservation of the world’s biodiversity. 174

mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...

, 3 being

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 ...

and 21 listed as threatened in 2000. Little is known about the smaller mammals. 380 species of birds are listed, 13 being endemic and 52 threatened. Some of the important species: the

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

Sumatran rhinoceros The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros. It is the o ...

, and the pigtailed monkey. Important plants are: '' Rafflesia arnoldi'', and ''

''. Several important bird species: Rueck's blue-flycatcher, and

white-winged wood 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 cyto ...

. In KSNP, 85 mammal species are recorded, 5 endemic and 23 listed threatened 370 species of birds are listed, 13 being endemic and 58 threatened. Some important mammal species:

Bornean clouded leopard The Bornean clouded leopard (''Neofelis diardi borneensis'') is a subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard. It is native to the island of Borneo, and differs from the Batu- Sumatran clouded leopard in the shape and frequency of spots, as well as ...

, Asian tapir, and Sumatran rhino. The population of

Sumatran tiger The Sumatran tiger is a population of '' Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. Sequences from complete mit ...

s in the Kerinci Seblat National Park is the highest recorded, making it one of the 12 Globally Important Tiger Conservation Landscapes. Several important bird species:

and Sumatran ground-cuckoo. A few of important plant species: ''

Hopea beccariana ''Hopea beccariana'' is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is named for the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari. Description ''Hopea beccariana'' grows up to tall, with a trunk diameter of up to . It has buttresses. The bark is f ...

'' and '' Shorea ovalis'' ssp. ''seicea''. BBSNP, has 98 mammals are recorded, with 1 endemic and 25 threatened 379 species of birds are listed, 7 being endemic and 58. 59 reptile and

amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...

species are recorded. BBSNP has the same bird species as KSNP. Some important mammal species:

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 ...

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage website
{{World Heritage Sites in Indonesia World Heritage Sites in Indonesia Natural history of Indonesia Tropical rainforests of Indonesia Protected areas of Sumatra World Heritage Sites in Danger