Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia

by Wildlife Messengers
Play Video
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia
Raising awareness on wildlife trade in Indonesia

Project Report | Oct 31, 2022
Buru Island, Maluku | 2022 October

By Dudi Nandika, La Eddy, Dwi Agustina | Indonesian Project Leaders

Mountain habitat in Buru Island, Maluku
Mountain habitat in Buru Island, Maluku

Dear Supporters,

In the past few months we mainly worked in Buru Island, which is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands, located west to Ambon city, and consisting of 8,473 km² landmass and 427 km (265 miles) of coastlines. The topography of Buru is very hilly, with mountains up to 2,736 m (almost 9,000 feet) above the sea level. The habitat is mainly dominated by primary tropical rainforest and semi-evergreen lowland forest, but almost all lowland forests have been converted into cultivated land, mainly for producing Cajuput oil. Buru Island has 94 villages, many of them engaged in gold-mining, especially in the Botak mountain located in Wayapo.

As one of the largest islands in Wallacea, Buru Island also has lots of flora and fauna endemic to this region. Its island endemic fauna includes four species of mammals (from the 25 species found on this island) and 10 species of birds (178 in total). As for parrots, Buru has three endemic species that are only found on this island: the Blue-fronted Lorikeet (Charmosyna toxopei; Critically Endangered), Black-lored Parrot (Tanygnathus gramineus; Vulnerable), and the Buru Racquet-tail (Prioniturus mada; Least Concerned). There is very poor data available on these and other endemic birds to Buru Island, not much is known about their populations and even less about their behaviour.

Based only on our own observations in Buru Island this year, we encountered 51 bird species from 26 families, including four parrot species. Sadly, from the endemic parrots, we only found the Buru Racquet-tail, while the other species are very difficult to observe, because of their low population density and poor ecological data about their occurrence. Unfortunately, there is almost no data available from these wild parrot populations, even though it would be very important to study them and other endemic birds to Buru Island.

During our visit, we did not see any of the endemic bird species traded or kept as pets, although we did observe some other parrot species like the Red Lory (Eos bornea; Least Concerned) and the Coconut Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus; Least Concerned) as pets. In Buru Island, the land conversion into cultivation and the illegal gold-mining are probably the biggest threats to birds. In addition, the illegal gold-miners use mercury to extract the gold, polluting the environment, plants, animals, and even humans.

To prevent any parrot poaching in Buru Island, it is important to give conservation awareness talks and remind local communities about the negative effects of destructive activities and give examples of more sustainable ones. In an ongoing collaboration with the Pattimura University in Ambon, we will continue to raise awareness about these issues on the island and other locations in Indonesia.

Thank you as always for your continuous support and please feel free to share our work with others!

Collaboration with the Pattimura University, Ambon
Collaboration with the Pattimura University, Ambon
Moluccan King-parrot (photo by Dudi Nandika)
Moluccan King-parrot (photo by Dudi Nandika)
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Jun 24, 2022
Educational campaign in Ambon | 2022 June

By Dudi Nandika and Dwi Agustina | Directors, Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia

Feb 15, 2022
Parrot trade campaign in Indonesia | 2022 February

By Dudi Nandika and Dwi Agustina | Directors, Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.

Sign up for updates

Organization Information

Wildlife Messengers

Location: Richmond, VA - USA
Website:
Facebook: Facebook Page
Twitter: @wildlifemess
Project Leader:
George Olah
Budapest , Budapest Hungary
$1,778 raised of $5,000 goal
 
77 donations
$3,222 to go
Donate Now

Help raise money!

Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.

Start a Fundraiser

Learn more about GlobalGiving

Teenage Science Students
Vetting +
Due Diligence

Snorkeler
Our
Impact

Woman Holding a Gift Card
Give
Gift Cards

Young Girl with a Bicycle
GlobalGiving
Guarantee

Get incredible stories, promotions, and matching offers in your inbox

WARNING: Javascript is currently disabled or is not available in your browser. GlobalGiving makes extensive use of Javascript and will not function properly with Javascript disabled. Please enable Javascript and refresh this page.