Butterflies in the Rain Forest of Irian Jaya, Indonesia

      by World Wide Fund for Nature - Indonesia Programme

What's at Stake?

Irian Jaya's Arfak Mountain Reserve is a last enclave of lowland rainforests and ethereal montane moss forests. In these forests live an extraordinary diversity of rare and endemic creatures such as tree kangaroos, bandicoots, birds of paradise, bowerbirds and birdwing butterflies. The Hatam people who live in and around the reserve eke out a subsistence existence through agriculture, the collection of wood for fuel and construction, and historically -- by poaching.

Working with the Hatam and other Irianese living in the vicinity of the reserve, WWF-IP and YBLBC have developed a butterfly enterprise. Six spectacular species of endangered birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera and Troidesspp.) are farmed on the perimeter of the Arfak Mountains Nature Reserve. Iridescently colored and about the size of teacups, birdwing butterflies are highly prized by collectors as "objets d'art". Before the farms were established, birdwing butterflies were poached and sold through the black market, with little economic gain to the local people and no regard for the species' survival. Through butterfly farming, villagers have become guardians of their wild "livestock" policing for poachers and marrying traditional ecological knowledge to scientific studies. The farmers also recognize that their livelihood depends on thriving wild populations of butterflies which increases their support for the survival of the larger reserve.

	1997 Update
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