Linking Conservation of Biodiversity and Community Livelihood in Komodo National Park, Indonesia - Island Futures: Conservation and Development Across the Asia-Pacific Region - page 104

management and by providing local communities with sustainable livelihood
alternatives and both direct and indirect economic benefits (Borchers 2004 ).
In spite of its remoteness and rather underdeveloped facilities, KNP receives
more than 27,000 international visitors each year. The park's unique biodiversity
makes KNP one of the most visited nature reserves in Indonesia. The famous
Komodo dragon attracts foreigners (tourists, researchers, documentation film
makers) to come and spend some of their money in the region to enjoy the unique-
ness of the surrounding nature (savannah, coral reef, fish and other sea creatures)
in the Park.
Of course, a strategy of complete financial autonomy that permits protected
areas to become self-funding may be attractive but is unlikely for most of these.
Tourism, for all its benefits, is no development panacea: it can, for example, prove
to be an unstable source of revenue, particularly when based on international visitations.
Moreover, there is danger in correlating the value of a protected area solely to the
revenue it can generate: protected areas have considerable non-market values that
justify state funding (Walpole et al. 2001 ).
Moreover, ecotourism is not a magic cure-all either: it may only be a politically
attractive slogan that provides conservation agencies with the political and economic
justification for an exclusionary, protected area management approach. Instead of
taking into account the (amongst themselves diverse and at times conflicting)
economic, social, and cultural concerns of local residents, a management regime
that adopts ecotourism as a conservation strategy may still ultimately leave local
people struggling to meet their present needs (Borchers 2004 ).
Conservation zones, such as the Komodo National Park, face the difficulties of
balancing conservation goals, the livelihood needs of local communities, and the
prospects of touristic development. In KNP, the most effective and proven approach
is to protect natural resources in protected areas by actively involving the local
communities in park management, and by training and supporting them in seeking
sustainable employment from the tourist traffic generated by the same park. Once
local people directly experience the benefits of conservation, they are much more
likely to support conservation goals and actively participate in park management.
Park managers would do well to look at local communities as important stakeholders
with whom cooperation and co-management of the park area is an essential,
desirable, and worthwhile component.
References
Auffenberg W (1981) The behavioral ecology of the Komodo dragon. University of Florida Press,
Gainesville, FL
Boo E (1992) The ecotourism boom: planning for development and management. WHN technical
paper series no. 2. World Wide Fund for Nature, Washington, DC
Borchers H (2004) Jurassic wilderness: ecotourism as a conservation strategy in Komodo National
Park, Indonesia. Ibidem, Stuttgart
Giannecchini J (1993) Ecotourism: new partners, new relationships. Conserv Biol 7:429-432