Butterflies in the Rain Forest of Irian Jaya, Indonesia

      by World Wide Fund for Nature - Indonesia Programme

Project Overview

The Arfak Mountains Nature Reserve (AMNR) protects lowland rain forest and montane moss forests in the Bird's Head region of Irian Jaya in eastern Indonesia. These forests support such rare and endemic species as tree kangaroos, bandicoots, Bird of Paradise, Vogelkop Bowerbird, and numerous birdwing butterflies. Human activities, however, threaten the biodiversity of the reserve. Agriculture, the collection of gaharu wood for fuel and construction, and poaching of some protected species by the Hatam, who live in and around the Reserve, pose the greatest threats.

Working with the Hatam and other Irianese living in the vicinity of the reserve, WWF-IP and YBLBC are developing an enterprise based upon the sale of butterflies raised in the reserves' bufferzone. The earnings from butterfly sales represent a potential alternative to some of the environmentally destructive practices undertaken by the Hatam. Environmental education and participatory biological and socioeconomic monitoring complement enterprise development. The development of a viable, community-based butterfly farming enterprise, and the demonstration that such efforts are in fact ecologically sustainable, may help encourage GOI authorities to streamline the current time-consuming and difficult CITES permitting process for exporting butterfly specimens. Project partners and local communities also will explore the possibility of expanding the sale of butterflies to domestic markets.

	Current Accomplishments
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

WHY BIODIVERSITY   FIELD STORIES   PARTICIPATE   RESULTS   MARKETSPACE ABOUT THE NETWORK   WHAT'S NEW   LEARNING MATERIALS   SEARCH   LINKS   SITE MAP   HOME