A Park for the Dragons

Nestled in the heart of Indonesia’s archipelago lie the volcanic islands of Komodo National Park (KNP). Rolling green hills, dry savannahs, and white and pink sand beaches make up the park’s three large islands (Komodo, Padar, and Rinca) and a legion of other smaller islands, surrounded by clear blue water. Under the ocean’s surface, manta rays, whale sharks, and over a thousand species of tropical fish thrive among an abundance of other species of animals and corals. On land, deer and buffalo roam beside the park’s most famous animal: the Komodo dragon.

It is unsurprising that these lizards are called "dragons." Often weighing more than 300 pounds, these giant lizards can grow up to 10 feet long, run as fast as 12 miles (19 km) per hour, smell blood from almost six miles away, and deliver a powerful bite with venom in their saliva strong enough to kill a human. As the largest, most aggressive animal in the park, they are at the top of the food chain.

While they eat a wide variety of animals, ranging from rats to adult buffalo, their numbers have declined. There are now fewer than 3,500 dragons left in the park due to human-caused habitat loss, illegal hunting, and climate change. Consequently, they are classified as Endangered on the IUCN’s Red List.

KNP was initially established to protect the Komodo dragon and its remaining habitat in 1980. In 1991, due to the park’s dedication to protecting its land and marine life, it was officially designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Despite efforts to protect the park and all life that relies on it, KNP has been and still is under threat of further human impact.

Given the sheer size of the park, one of the main issues preventing effective protection is a lack of monitoring and reporting. Without access to the technology necessary to thoroughly survey the land, there is no way to ensure that conservation guidelines are being upheld and that there are no illegal actions taking place in the park. It also means that, even when human-caused impacts are discovered, there is often a lack of accountability for actions that intentionally or unintentionally impact the environment in illegal or negative ways. 

The beauty and impressive biodiversity above and beneath its oceans' surface make the park an ideal destination for the tourism industry, which thrives there. While prosperous for the local community's economy, tourism can be detrimental to the environment. Visitors bring in the funds that over 3,200 people living in the park and over 16,800 others living in the surrounding areas need to survive. However, because the only way to travel within the park is by foot or by boat, the more people exploring the islands, the more pollution from boats and the more foreign substances from visitors' shoes.

Global Conservation Continues Support to Strengthen Komodo National Park

Global Conservation has continued its support to strengthen the Komodo dragon conservation effort in Komodo National Park (KNP) through the Komodo Survival Program (KSP) in 2022. As an overview, KSP continued implementation of the SMART Program for field data collection and analysis to determine wildlife management strategies to support the Komodo National Park authority and to strengthen the monitoring program within the protected areas of Komodo National Park throughout the areas that had not yet been covered in the previous year. Three major activities are being conducted this year: Smart Patrol implementation, integrated patrolling, wildlife monitoring, and the development of KNP system information management.

During 2022, this implementation project has increased the effort of patrol activities conducted by Komodo National Park, which is supported by Global Conservation, from a total distance of 3,543.69 km to 9,597.83 km, both land and sea, and the wildlife monitoring activities have successfully assessed the distribution of Komodo dragons in the remote parts of Komodo Island to fill in the gap of the Komodo dragon distribution information in this area.

There is evidence that the evolutionary development of the Komodo dragon originated in Australia roughly 3.8 million years ago. They once lived across a huge range, spanning Indonesia’s islands and Australia, but since the 1970s, KNP has been the only place in the world where they can be found.

During the wildlife monitoring activities, a total of 194 camera traps were installed in 164 valleys and small islands that had never been monitored before. We successfully detected the presence of Komodo dragons in almost all camera trapping locations. However, only 12 small valleys (~7%) from all valleys and small islands in KNP were not occupied by Komodo dragons. Furthermore, we detected the presence of Komodo dragons on an additional three small islands, on top of the five major islands that were previously known to be inhabited by Komodo dragons in KNP.

The Loh Wenci Guard Post on the western part of Komodo Island

In 2021, we invited Global Conservation to support the development of SMART-RBM (Resort-Based Management) for KNP which integrates under the Ministry of Environmental and Forestry Central Database. 2022 saw the start of the development, and the system's name is SIM-RBM (SIM stands for “Sistem Informasi Management” in Bahasa or Informa-tion Management System in English). As predicted last year, this system has been essential for park area management.

FUTURE RECOMMENTATIONS:

• Continue to increase the patrol support due to the high risk of marine violations in the prioritized area around the 4 ranger stations (Loh Wenci, Loh Wau, Loh Padar Selatan, and Loh Baru).

• Involve other stakeholders, especially GAKKUM (Ministry of Environment and Forestry Law Enforcement Bureau), to increase the frequency and quality of integrated terrestrial patrols.

• More regular coordination meetings among stakeholders, KNP, GAKKUM, and others.

• Support investigations and law enforcement collaboration between KNP and GAKKUM.

Global Conservation Commits to a New 3-Year Global Park Defense Program

Global Conservation’s Executive Director, Jeff Morgan, was on mission to Komodo National Park in September 2023, meeting with the National Park Authority and GC Partner in Conservation, Komodo Survival Program.

Global Conservation has been funding over $200,000 for park and wildlife protection to deploy Global Park Defense against wildlife poaching and illegal fishing over the past two years. Overall improvements in park and wildlife protection include:

• Supporting a 50% increase in both land and marine patrolling.

• Confiscation of boats, bombs, illegal fish catch, and compressors.

• There has been an increase in patrolling in terms of distance and frequency, especially in areas previously unpatrolled, finding new signs of illegal bomb fishing and deer poaching.

• Training all Komodo Park Rangers in SMART Patrolling Protection and Biodiversity Data Collection

• Integration of SMART with the National IMS Dashboard is now a model for all national parks in Indonesia.

In 2024, Global Conservation has committed to a new 3-year Global Park Defense program, supporting the Komodo Survival Program, which includes:

• Renovation of West Komodo Ranger Station and dormitories for police and law enforcement rotations

• Purchase of a Rapid Sea Patrol Vessel to be stationed full time on the West Coast of Komodo Island

• Marine radar deployment on the West coast of Komodo Island to detect illegal vessels, especially at night, for rapid interdiction

Deer poachers are landing on Komodo Island’s West coast hunting at night, sometimes killing up to 20–30 animals, which fetch up to $500 a piece in local meat markets in Sumbaya. For example, in 2019, a boat with over 90 deer poached in Komodo National Park was intercepted.

With the new GC-sponsored Marine Radar, illegal entry into the National Park at night will be far more difficult.

This new commitment also includes increased Marine Protection against illegal bomb fishing and enforcement, for the first time, of No Take Replenishment Zones within the National Park.

Today, over 500 fishing boats enter Komodo National Park every week. Previously established No Take coastal zones have never been enforced, allowing overfishing of the last good fishing areas in the region. Hundreds of fishermen arrive from faraway Sumbawa as their island has been fish-bombed and decimated, leaving few fish for local communities.

With renewed commitment by the Indonesian Government to maintain staffing levels of full-time Rangers and Consultants, Global Conservation’s critical investments to stop illegal poaching and fishing will continue to secure the future for Komodo National Park and stable dragon populations for years to come.

Global Conservation supports Park Rangers with gasoline and patrolling operational costs in six Ranger stations, including Loh Wenci, which we will be rebuilding along with the dock by the Park Authority in 2024. With a small speedboat, Loh Wenci Rangers have doubled the frequency of their patrols and increased the patrol range.

As a result of this effort, they successfully reported numerous suspicious activities. As Park Rangers are unarmed, all dangerous situations with wildlife poachers and bomb fishermen are informed to GAKKUM (the law enforcement ministry of environment and forestry [KLHK]), which has then been followed up by further investigation based on Ranger intelligence information.

In August 2022, based on Ranger Patrols, GAKKUM conducted an ambush operation and successfully caught the perpetrators bomb fishing. The court has already handed down a final verdict, and the perpetrators have all been put in jail.

Numerous local fishermen continue to practice blast fishing in and around Komodo National Park. To address the problem, we are intensifying routine patrols around the waters of Komodo National Park and also launching a public awareness campaign in communities on a frequent basis. The crackdown will be continued on those conducting blast fishing to deter others from committing this act of environmental crime.