Mount Tompotika: A 1,000 Ha reserve is being created

Mount Tompotika is a 1,600 m forested mountain situated on a peninsula at the extreme eastern tip of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Considered a sacred place of origin for all three of the ethnic groups indigenous to the area, the mountain forms the center and focal point of the Tompotika peninsula, which includes forests, grasslands, mangroves, coastal beaches, and nearshore coral reefs, and covers roughly 2,500 km2. Until recently, the mountain was completely uninhabited, shrouded by sacred tradition and mystery, but that has begun to change, and Tompotika’s forests are now being logged, roads have been built, and new villages have been established in its foothills. Additionally, in the last year a new and urgent threat of nickel mining has arisen in the Tompotika area, with nickel bores being drilled right on the very slopes of Tompotika itself amid what, until recently, was primary tropical forest. Tompotika’s pristine rainforests and the unparalleled biodiversity that they support—a biogeographically spectacular mix, including primates, marsupials, hornbills, psittacines, and a remarkably rich herpetofauna representing the best of Wallacea—are gravely imperiled. In terms of amphibians, a preliminary two-day search of the area by local herpetologists uncovered Giant Limnonectes, Rana celebensis, Rana mocquardii, Occidozyga semipalmata, Limnonectes cf modestusand a new Polypedates species. The upper reaches of the forest have yet to be surveyed.
Outcomes

The ASG is supporting local partner the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation, or “AlTo” to establish a new protected area in the heart of Mt. Tompotika, an area that is both one of the most biologically valuable and most immediately threatened areas in the region. Situated on the slopes of Tompotika

The core forested area—which AlTo has already informally protected through an agreement with the local villagers—will, under the proposed project, enjoy strict protection from logging, hunting, mining, and other anthropogenic threats. It will also, in effect, serve to protect the mountain’s flanks on both sides and above it, since this area is currently the main gateway for local people to access the rest of the mountain. This gateway is clearly delineated by a stream, which forms part of the lower/western boundary of the protected area. A buffer area surrounding the Reserve will be the site of forest replanting and restoration activities carried out by the local people.