DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Unlocking the potential of Seasonal Forests to underpin Wallacea's green economy

Project disclaimer

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Description

This project will investigate the understudied Seasonal Forests of Wallacea in East and West Nusa Tenggara Provinces of Indonesia, specifically the islands of Sumbawa, Sumba and Flores, to assess how they will be affected by imminent environmental change and to evaluate their present and future economic potential. The forests of Indonesia are some of the most biodiverse but unexplored in the world with huge potential to be effectively managed to support economic development. To allow local communities to develop a stable green economy based on the region's natural capital assets, we must fully understand the forests' diversity and distribution. To address this need, we will first produce a Natural Capital Asset Register of the region's plant diversity consisting of species checklist, forest atlas derived from satellite imagery, ecoregion definition, and ethnobotany database. A structured programme of exploration across the three islands, generating plot and soil data, will give us an understanding of the standing biomass and soil fertility to understand ecosystem function. We will then compare these data to climatic variables to model the response of the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea to climate change and map anthropogenic risks, such as development for mining and infrastructure. We will carry out conservation red-listing to assess the resilience of the region's biodiversity to these environmental changes. Finally, we will determine which natural capital assets of the Seasonal Forests can be developed, working at both the species level, identifying plant resources that have further potential for economic exploitation and habitat level, exploring the potential for and risks of forest-based eco-tourism. We will initiate a programme of capacity building to develop regional scientific capacity to deliver these aims. We have assembled a group of experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Surya University, Herbarium Bogoriense, and the University of Nusa Cendana in Indonesia to undertake the programme of exploration, mapping, seed-banking, training, and analysis to inform the development of Wallacea's green economy. The proposed research will have three Work Packages: 1. Documenting the plant diversity of Wallacea's Seasonal Forests and how it is distributed: building an inventory of the region's natural capital. 2. Asessing the resilience of Seasonal Forests in Wallacea to climatic and anthropogenic changes 3. Evaluating the potential of Wallacea's natural capital to underpin its green economy: building in-country capacity around a green economy. The overall goal of this project is to produce new biodiversity data from the Wallacea region, to determine the distribution of, and threats to, selected species, better characterise regional biodiversity associations though ecoregion definition, and understand the resilience at the species and habitat level to future environmental change in Wallacea. These data will be interpreted and made easily available for use by local communities and other stakeholders, enabling them to exploit and manage the biodiversity more effectively, whilst conserving the habitats and endemic, endangered and economic species.

Objectives

The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Indonesia

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