Biodiversity conservation on a highland ecosystem in West Java, Indonesia: ecological, economic and socio-cultural perspectives

Objectives

• To assess the current and potential uses of biological resources in the Mount Tangkubanparahu area, taking into account their direct, indirect, service and intrinsic economic and ecological values. This will involve (a) setting priorities for the inventory of plant and animal species, including the characterization of their distributions, abundances and ecological/conservation status, and (b) studying trends in biological resource use by the local community.
  
• To identify key problem sources pertaining to biodiversity conservation in the area and suggest action solutions. Based on an assessment of current ecological conditions, it will be possible to determine the degrees of disturbance in different parts of the area and identify current and potential threats, thereby determining the priorities for action.
  
• To gather data and information required to construct a bio-management model for sustainable biological resource use based on ecological, economic and socio-cultural analyses with the aim of ensuring the sustainable use of resources in the site as an example of a densely populated developing area.
  

Research Theme

• Ecological Reconstruction

Activities

• Preliminary assessment of the current ecological state of the study area.
  
• Identification of key factors and critical issues, priority problem areas, and gaps in knowledge.
  
• Inventory of plant and animal species present, including information on their distributions, abundances, ecological roles and relationships, and conservation status.
  
• Database monitoring and studies on the dynamics of change in biotic and abiotic ecosystem components.
  
• Assessment of current and potential uses of biological resources in the are, taking into account their direct, service and intrinsic economic and ecological values.
  
• Survey of economic and socio-cultural trends among the local community.
  
• Construction of bio-management model and formulation of action solutions.
  
• Systematic cataloguing of specimens in the museum and herbarium

Expected Outcomes

• Sustainable use model
  
• Action Plan
  
• Systematic specimen cataloguing

Indicative Budget

• 27,000 euro

Duration

• Three years

Project site

• West Java, Indonesia

ARCBC Remarks

• This project should be linked to other projects in the ARCBC economic studies but also to some of the projects relating to forest fragments and ecological rehabilitation.

Coordinators