Wetlands in Kerinci-Sablat Nature Reserve
Location:
1°30'-2°40'S, 101°00'-101°50'E; part of the Bukit Barisan mountain chain, Sumatra Barat, Jambi, Bengkulu and Sumatra Selatan Provinces, Sumatra.
Area:
Area of wetlands unknown; Nature Reserve 1,484,600 ha.
Altitude:
50-3,000m (including the highest peak in Sumatra).
Biogeographical Province:
4.21.12.
Wetland type:
11, 12, 14 & 22.
Description of site:
The Kerinci-Sablat Nature Reserve is situated in the Bukit Barisan mountain range between Bengkulu and Padang. It incorporates the undisturbed forests in the main water catchment areas for the extensive settled region of southern Sumatra. The reserve includes some of the most outstanding scenery in Sumatra, including a 3,000m high volcano (Indrapura), numerous rivers, many lakes and extensive montane and lowland forests. It is characterized by alternating high massifs and alluvial plains, producing steep slopes with broad alluvial fans at their base. Many large rivers, including the Batang, Musi and Teba, have their headwaters in this region. The largest lake in the reserve is Kerinci Lake. This lies in a flat-bottomed valley at an elevation of 783m; it is about 9.5 km long by 6 km wide, and 1 lOm deep. The lake lies within the Kerinci Enclave, a cultivated area of 140,000 ha inside the reserve. Gunung Tujuh Lake, a crater lake at 1 ,996m elevation, is one of the last undisturbed moufitain lakes in Sumatra. It is approximately 1,000 ha in area, and 8-40m deep. Other lakes include Danau Lamkat, Danau Sati, Danau Ladeh Panjang, Danau Dua, Danau Kecil, Danau Pauh and Danau Dipatjampat. Danau Bentu (Sangir Hulu), a high altitude forested bog, is of considerable botanical interest.
Climatic conditions:
Humid tropical to temperate climate, depending on altitude. in the western part of the reserve, the rainfall reaches a peak in April and again in November. The average temperature in the lowlands is 28°C.
Principal vegetation:
The main vegetation types within the reserve are lowland rain forest, sub-montane rain forest, montane rain forest, cloud forest, riverine forest, swamp forest and highland bog forest.
Land tenure:
The site is state owned (PHPA); surrounding areas are owned by the local people and the Indonesian Government.
Conservation measures taken:
The site has been afforded some protection since 1929, and was designated as a Nature Reserve (Cagar Alam) in 1980.
Conservation measures proposed:
A proposal has been made to upgrade the reserve to the status of National Park (Taman Nasional). A buffer zone management plan will be developed for the Kerinci Enclave.
Land use:
Nature reserve; rice is cultivated in the Kerinci Enclave. There are numerous small settlements around the perimeter of the reserve.
Possible Changes in Land use:
No Information.
Disturbances and threats:
The most serious threat is continuing expansion of the Kerinci Enclave, as agricultural land encroaches further and further into the forest. There are seven other settlements with a total population of over 1,100 people within the area of the proposed National Park. Logging is a problem in the west coast lowlands, and the present levels of fr wardening and law enforcement are inadequate. The introduced aquatic weed Eichhornia ciassipes has become a pest in Kerinci Lake.
Economic and social values:
The reserve is of considerable geological, botanical and zoological interest, and has considerable potential for outdoor recreation and tourism. It is extremely important for watershed protection, and constitutes an important gene pool, particularly for commercial timber species and rattans.
Fauna:
No information is available on the fishes. The reserve supports an extremely rich avifauna, including six species of kingfishers (Alcedinidae), five species of hornbills (Bucerotidae), and several very rare species such as Salvadori's Pheasant Lophura inornala and the scops owl Otus stresemanni (known from only one specimen collected in this area). The reserve is, however, of only limited importance for waterfowl; species known to occur include Egretta intermedia, Gallinula chioropus and Gallinago gallinago.
The mammalian fauna is also very rich. The reserve contains probably the world's largest contiguous population of the Asian Two-horned Rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, estimated at between 250 and 500 individuals. Other vulnerable or rare mammals include Tiger, Asian Elephant, Tapir, Clouded Leopard, Siamang, Dark-handed Gibbon and Serow (Panthera tigris, Elephas maximus, Tapirus indicus, Neofelis nebulosa, Syrnphalangus syndactylus. Hylobates agilis and Capricornis sumatrensis). The Sumatran Hare Nesolagus netscherl (endemic to Sumatra) may have its last refuge in the reserve. Reptiles include Varanus salvator, Python reticulatus and Dryophis prasinnus. Frogs are common everywhere in the reserve.
Special floral values:
The forested bog at Danau Bentu (Sangir Hulu) is claimed to be the highest forested marsh in western Indonesia. Unfortunately, much of the bog has been destroyed for rice cultivation during the last decade. The exceptionally rich flora of the Nature Reserve includes the world's largest flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, and the world's tallest flower, Amorphophallus titanum.
Research and facilities:
Various brief faunal and floral surveys have been carried out in the Nature Reserve, e.g. by Frey-Wyssling in 1933, Jacobs in 1958, Borner in 1973, Meyer in 1977, and Ohsawa and Suharto in 1979. The reserve has been selected as a study area for a long term research programme under the "Tropenbos-programme", a joint effort between several Dutch research institutes and universities. The programme was scheduled to begin in 1987.
References:
Blouch (1985); IUCN (in prep); MacKinnon & Artha (1982a).
Criteria for Inclusion:
1a, 1b. 1e, 2a, 2b..
Source:
Marcel J. Silvius.