Wasur National Park
Encyclopedia
The Wasur National Park forms part of the largest wetland
in Papua province of Indonesia
and has been the least disturbed by human activity. The high value of its biodiversity
has led to the park being dubbed the "Serengeti of Papua". The vast open wetland, in particular Rawa Biru Lake, attracts a very rich fauna.
(see Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
), while the remaining vegetation is swamp forest
, monsoon forest, coastal forest, bamboo forest, grassy plains and large stretches of sago swamp forest. The dominant plants include mangrove
s, Terminalia
, and Melaleuca
species.
The park provides habitat for a large variety of up to 358 bird species of which some 80 species are endemic to the island of New Guinea
. Fish diversity is also high in the region with some 111 species found in the eco-region and a large number of these are recorded from Wasur. The Park's wetland provides habitat for various species of lobster and crab as well.
Common fauna species include the Agile Wallaby
, Pesquet's Parrot
, Southern Cassowary
, Blue Crowned Pigeon
, Greater Bird of Paradise
, King Bird of Paradise
, Red Bird of Paradise
, New Guinea Crocodile
, and Saltwater Crocodile
.
Wasur National Park is the habitat for a number of rare and endemic species. Red-listed species known to be present in viable populations are Southern Crowned Pigeon
and New Guinea Harpy Eagle
, Dusky Pademelon
, Black-necked Stork
, Fly River Grassbird
and Little Curlew
. Three Trans-Fly
endemic bird species have been recorded, including the Fly River Grassbird
and the Grey-crowned Munia
.
The introduction of the Rusa Deer
to Papua by the Dutch at Merauke in 1928, lead to an extensive spread of this species to most of the southern coastlands of the island. According to the indigenous communities of the National Park, this led to major changes to the local ecosystem, including: the reduction of tall swamp grasses and consequent ceasing of breeding of the Australian Pelican
and Magpie Goose, reduction of the Phragmites
reed species, and the extensive spread of Melaleuca
onto the open grasslands.
in 1990. In 2006 the park has been also recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention
. Wasur shares a common border with Tonda Wildlife Management Area (WMA), another Ramsar site in neighbouring Papua New Guinea
. Wasur National Park has been the site of a World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF) conservation and development project since 1991. In 1995 a Tri-National Wetlands Program has been initiated by WWF
between Wasur NP, Tonda WMA
and the Australian Kakadu National Park
, which lead to a Memorandum of Understanding between the three government conservation agencies in 2002.
living in the park, belonging to the tribes of Kanume, Marind
, Marori and Yei, who rely on the area for food and their daily needs. The total population is estimated to be 2,500 within 14 villages. The name of the park is derived from the Marori language in which Waisol means garden. These local communities consume fish, sago
, sweet potato
, deer
, bandicoot
and wallaby. Many aspects of their culture are disappearing although some elements such as festivals, pig feasts, dancing, weaving and traditional cooking remain. There are many sites of spiritual significance including sacred sites. The southern part of the park has large areas of ancient agricultural mounds which are of archaeological importance.
and mimosa pigra
. The New Guinea Crocodile
habitat is in danger as a consequence of skin trading.
As in other parts of Indonesia and New Guinea, illegal logging
has been witnessed in Wasur National Park as well.
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
in Papua province of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and has been the least disturbed by human activity. The high value of its biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
has led to the park being dubbed the "Serengeti of Papua". The vast open wetland, in particular Rawa Biru Lake, attracts a very rich fauna.
Vegetation and fauna
About 70% of the total area of the Park consists of savannaSavanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
(see Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island...
), while the remaining vegetation is swamp forest
Freshwater swamp forest
Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes...
, monsoon forest, coastal forest, bamboo forest, grassy plains and large stretches of sago swamp forest. The dominant plants include mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s, Terminalia
Terminalia (plant)
Terminalia is a genus of large trees of the flowering plant family Combretaceae, comprising around 100 species distributed in tropical regions of the world. This genus gets it name from Latin terminus, referring to the fact that the leaves appear at the very tips of the shoots.Trees of this genus...
, and Melaleuca
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...
species.
The park provides habitat for a large variety of up to 358 bird species of which some 80 species are endemic to the island of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Fish diversity is also high in the region with some 111 species found in the eco-region and a large number of these are recorded from Wasur. The Park's wetland provides habitat for various species of lobster and crab as well.
Common fauna species include the Agile Wallaby
Agile Wallaby
The Agile Wallaby , also known as the Sandy Wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in Australia's north....
, Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot
Pesquet's Parrot also known as the Vulturine Parrot , is the only member of its genus, and its genus is the only member of the tribe Psittrichadini...
, Southern Cassowary
Southern Cassowary
The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary, Australian Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird...
, Blue Crowned Pigeon
Western Crowned Pigeon
The Western Crowned Pigeon, also known as the Common Crowned Pigeon or Blue Crowned Pigeon, Goura cristata, is a large, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females...
, Greater Bird of Paradise
Greater Bird of Paradise
The Greater Bird-of-paradise is a Bird-of-paradise in the genus ParadisaeaCarolus Linnaeus named the species Paradisaea apoda, or "legless bird-of-paradise", because early trade-skins to reach Europe were prepared without feet by natives; this led to the misconception that these birds were...
, King Bird of Paradise
King Bird of Paradise
The King Bird-of-paradise, Cicinnurus regius is a small, approximately 16 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. The male is a crimson and white with bright blue feet and green-tipped fan-like plumes on its shoulder. The two elongated tail wires are decorated with emerald green...
, Red Bird of Paradise
Red Bird of Paradise
Red Bird-of-paradise , is a bird-of-paradise in the genus Paradisaea, family Paradisaeidae.- Description :...
, New Guinea Crocodile
New Guinea Crocodile
The New Guinea crocodile is a small species of crocodile found on the island of New Guinea.-Description:Crocodylus novaeguineae grows to a length of up to for males and for females, although most specimens are rather smaller. The body is grey-brown in colour, with dark brown to black markings on...
, and Saltwater Crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
.
Wasur National Park is the habitat for a number of rare and endemic species. Red-listed species known to be present in viable populations are Southern Crowned Pigeon
Southern Crowned Pigeon
The Southern Crowned Pigeon, Goura scheepmakeri, is a large, terrestrial pigeon confined to southern lowland forests of New Guinea. It has a bluish-grey plumage with elaborate blue lacy crests, red iris and very deep maroon breast. Both sexes have a similar appearance...
and New Guinea Harpy Eagle
New Guinea Harpy Eagle
The Papuan Eagle also known as the Papuan Harpy Eagle, New Guinea Eagle, or Kapul Eagle, is a huge greyish brown raptor with a short full crest, broad three-banded wings, powerful beak, large iris, long rounded tail and white underparts. It has long and powerful unfeathered legs with sharp claws...
, Dusky Pademelon
Dusky Pademelon
The dusky pademelon or dusky wallaby is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is found in the Aru and Kai islands and the Trans Fly savanna and grasslands ecoregion of Papua Province of Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea...
, Black-necked Stork
Black-necked Stork
The Black-necked Stork is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across South and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats to forage for a wide range of animal prey...
, Fly River Grassbird
Fly River Grassbird
The Fly River Grassbird is a species of Old World warbler in the Locustellidae family.It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.Its natural habitats are freshwater lakes and freshwater marshes....
and Little Curlew
Little Curlew
The Little Curlew, Numenius minutus, is a wader in the large bird family Scolopacidae. It is a very small curlew, which breeds in the far north of Siberia. It is closely related to the North American Eskimo Curlew....
. Three Trans-Fly
Fly River
The Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
endemic bird species have been recorded, including the Fly River Grassbird
Fly River Grassbird
The Fly River Grassbird is a species of Old World warbler in the Locustellidae family.It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.Its natural habitats are freshwater lakes and freshwater marshes....
and the Grey-crowned Munia
Grey-crowned Munia
The Grey-crowned Munia Lonchura nevermanni is a species of estrildid finch breeding in West Papua, Indonesia & Papua New Guinea. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 20,000 to 50,000 km²....
.
The introduction of the Rusa Deer
Rusa Deer
The Javan Rusa or Sunda Sambar is a deer native to the islands of Java, Bali and Timor in Indonesia...
to Papua by the Dutch at Merauke in 1928, lead to an extensive spread of this species to most of the southern coastlands of the island. According to the indigenous communities of the National Park, this led to major changes to the local ecosystem, including: the reduction of tall swamp grasses and consequent ceasing of breeding of the Australian Pelican
Australian Pelican
The Australian Pelican is a large water bird, widespread on the inland and coastal waters of Australia and New Guinea, also in Fiji, parts of Indonesia and as a vagrant to New Zealand.-Taxonomy:...
and Magpie Goose, reduction of the Phragmites
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
reed species, and the extensive spread of Melaleuca
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is a genus of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae known for its natural soothing and cleansing properties. There are well over 200 recognised species, most of which are endemic to Australia...
onto the open grasslands.
Conservation
The Wasur area was first designated as a Wildlife Reserve in 1978 with an area of 2,100 km². An extended area of 4,138 km² was later declared a National ParkNational park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
in 1990. In 2006 the park has been also recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
. Wasur shares a common border with Tonda Wildlife Management Area (WMA), another Ramsar site in neighbouring Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. Wasur National Park has been the site of a World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
(WWF) conservation and development project since 1991. In 1995 a Tri-National Wetlands Program has been initiated by WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
between Wasur NP, Tonda WMA
Tonda Wildlife Management Area
The Tonda Wildlife Management Area is a wetland of international importance and the largest protected area in Papua New Guinea. It is located in the south-western corner of the Western Province and is contiguous with Wasur National Park of Indonesia...
and the Australian Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of , extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres...
, which lead to a Memorandum of Understanding between the three government conservation agencies in 2002.
Human habitation
There are four groups of indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
living in the park, belonging to the tribes of Kanume, Marind
Marind-anim
Marind-anim are a people living in South New Guinea, south of the lower parts of river Digul, east of Yos Sudarso Island, mainly west of Maro River . Today the area inhabited by Marind-anim is contained by Papua province of Indonesia.In the past, they were famed because of headhunting...
, Marori and Yei, who rely on the area for food and their daily needs. The total population is estimated to be 2,500 within 14 villages. The name of the park is derived from the Marori language in which Waisol means garden. These local communities consume fish, sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...
, sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, bandicoot
Bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia.- Etymology :...
and wallaby. Many aspects of their culture are disappearing although some elements such as festivals, pig feasts, dancing, weaving and traditional cooking remain. There are many sites of spiritual significance including sacred sites. The southern part of the park has large areas of ancient agricultural mounds which are of archaeological importance.
Threats
Much of the park's natural flooded grassland systems are threatened by large scale changes to scrub and woodland as well as invasions of alien species such as water hyacinthWater hyacinth
The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia. Water hyacinth are a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in...
and mimosa pigra
Mimosa pigra
Mimosa pigra , is an invasive species of the genus Mimosa, in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Neotropics, but has been listed as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species, and has been documented in: Australia, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia,...
. The New Guinea Crocodile
New Guinea Crocodile
The New Guinea crocodile is a small species of crocodile found on the island of New Guinea.-Description:Crocodylus novaeguineae grows to a length of up to for males and for females, although most specimens are rather smaller. The body is grey-brown in colour, with dark brown to black markings on...
habitat is in danger as a consequence of skin trading.
As in other parts of Indonesia and New Guinea, illegal logging
Illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the...
has been witnessed in Wasur National Park as well.