3.  Conservation Area Management 

3.1 Overview 

Chapter Three focuses on NRMP field site experiences with preparing management plans for 

Bunaken National Park in North Sulawesi and Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park within West 

and Central Kalimantan.  With regard to undertaking national park management planning, 

emphasis in this chapter is on the need for more accurate identification of stakeholders, more 

effective local community consultative processes for planning and implementation, and enabling 

more positive impacts on biodiversity conservation goals.  Lessons learned for conservation 

area management focus on i) national park management planning constraints, ii) park 

management and regional development planning, iii) financing effective conservation 

management, and iv) institutional reform for conservation management. 

Regional development planning must link conservation with economic development, supporting 

the goals of both long term sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The 

management of national parks and the rest of Indonesia's conservation area system is an 

essential contribution to the country's development process and a prudent long term 

investment.  While the focus is on national park management, effective protection of the 

biodiversity within a park requires sustainable management of resources beyond its borders.  

Development and conservation are not mutually exclusive, but interdependent.  National park 

management must be viewed in a wider context.  Parks and other protected areas should be 

seen as supportive of a wider system of integrated natural resources management.  Thus, parks 

management planning needs to be linked to broader regional spatial planning. 

Park management planning must be flexible and people oriented.  NRMP experiences in the 

national parks at Bunaken and Bukit Baka Bukit Raya have confirmed the fundamental 

importance of developing adaptive, multi stakeholder national park management.  Innovative 

management by a coalition of stakeholders at each park could provide effective protection of 

Indonesia's conservation system and support sustainable regional development if supported by 

appropriate enabling policies at the national level.  The role of PHPA as an important 

stakeholder in park management must be strengthened.  Their relatively insignificant 

involvement in the planning process was seen by NRMP as a serious constraint to effective 

management planning and subsequent implementation. 

3.2   The Role of Conservation in Indonesia's Development  

The importance of Indonesia's natural resources for economic growth and development has 

been discussed.  However, effective efforts to conserve these natural resources in terms of 

maintenance of both long term biological diversity and ecological functions must be considered.  

It is argued that natural resources conservation is essential to maintain long term sustainable 

development and ensure new future economic opportunities.  Underpinning Indonesia's natural 

53