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Eco-floristic sectors and deforestation threats in Sumatra: identifying new conservation area network priorities for ecosystem-based land use planning

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Abstract

Biogeographical studies are a necessary step in establishing conservation area networks. Determining the ecological factors influencing vegetation is also a basic principle for hierarchical ecological classifications and a necessary prerequisite for ecosystem-based land use planning. Eco-floristic sectors (EFS) have already been identified for the Indonesian island of Sumatra, combining both approaches, dividing it into 38 EFSs representing unique ecosystems in terms of tree flora and environment (Laumonier 1997). The impact of deforestation on individual EFSs has been highly varied and in some cases extreme. We assigned one of five ‘extinction risk categories’ to each EFS based on the percentage of forest lost between 1985 and 2007. Eighty-five percent of all forest loss (10.2 million ha) occurred in the eastern peneplain, western lowland regions and swamps. In 2007, only 29% of forests were protected by conservation areas, only nine of the 38 EFS had more than 50% of their remaining forest cover protected. 38% of remaining forest was “critically endangered”, “endangered” or “vulnerable” EFSs (5 million ha) but only 1 million ha (20%) were protected. Sumatra’s existing network of conservation areas does not adequately represent the island’s ecosystems. Priorities for a new conservation area network can be formulated for integration into Sumatra’s new land use plans at provincial and district level. Decision makers can now use EFSs to locate new conservation areas so they represent and maintain the whole range of the island’s diversity.

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Notes

  1. Throughout this paper the term forest refers exclusively to ‘natural’ forest, representing undisturbed forest with a 100% forest cover and including logged-over forest with more then 75% forest cover.

  2. Forest function categorization in Indonesia refers to ‘Production’, ‘Protection’ (hydrological protection), ‘Conservation’ forests and ‘Conversion’ when the remaining timber potential is so low that it justifies “conversion” to other land use.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is based on an oral presentation given at the Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting, ‘Conservation: harmony for nature and society’, Beijing, 11–16 July 2009. The research was partly funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Wildlife Fund. The authors wish to acknowledge these institutions, Jean-Laurent Pfund and Terry Sunderland, all of whom offered comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Two anonymous reviewers for this journal provided useful critiques and insights, for which they are acknowledged and thanked.

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  1. Yves Laumonier

    Present address: Center International for Forestry Research (CIFOR), PO Box 0113, BOBOC, Bogor, 16000, Indonesia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Societies Department, UR 36, Center International for Research on Agronomy and Development (CIRAD), Montpellier, France

    Yves Laumonier

  2. WWF US, 1250 24th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20037, USA

    Yumiko Uryu & Michael Stüwe

  3. WWF-Indonesia, Kantor Taman A9, Unit A-1, Kawasan Mega Kuningan Jakarta, 12950, Indonesia

    Arif Budiman & Oki Hadian

  4. BIOTROP-SEAMEO Center for Tropical Biology, Jl. Raya Tajur Km 6, PO Box 116, Bogor, 16000, Indonesia

    Budi Setiabudi

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  1. Yves Laumonier
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Correspondence to Yves Laumonier.

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Laumonier, Y., Uryu, Y., Stüwe, M. et al. Eco-floristic sectors and deforestation threats in Sumatra: identifying new conservation area network priorities for ecosystem-based land use planning. Biodivers Conserv 19, 1153–1174 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9784-2

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