Construction of tourist facilities in an Indonesian national park is stirring fears about damage to habitat for endangered Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards.
Because of its biodiversity and beauty, the park became a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in 1991. And it’s one of Indonesia’s crown jewels for tourism, typically drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year.
Part of that multimillion dollar tourism development is a project on Rinca Island, where more than one-third of the park’s dragons are estimated to live on generally hot and dry terrain. The construction includes an expanded ranger station, viewing platform, boat dock, toilets and other infrastructure.
UNESCO — the United Nations body that designates World Heritage Site status — has also raised concerns about development in the park. “Third-party information transmitted to the State Party indicates that a target of 500,000 annual visitors for the property has been proposed, which is more than double the pre-COVID-19 pandemic visitor numbers,” said. “This raises the question of how this tourism model fits vision of moving away from mass tourism to more sustainable approaches.”
After multiple attempts to get permission from government authorities, The Associated Press was unable to gain access to the construction site, which has been closed to the public for months. But satellite imagery shows construction continued after UNESCO requested the project be paused. The government did not respond to an email last week seeking comment.