Kathryn Monk - Ecology of Nusa Tenggara

Foreword

For too long, both Indonesians and other nationalities working in, or thinking of working in, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku have believed that little was known about the natural resources of the region. As this book amply demonstrates, a massive amount of material was available but was scattered and difficult to access. Development and research programmes alike faced the daunting task of establishing the known facts before beginning their own work. Too frequently, work was repeated, or worse, abandoned because no reference material was available.

For over four years the authors and their support teams have worked throughout the region, indeed throughout Indonesia and many other countries, to comply and analyse the varied and detailed information presented here. They have been helped tremendously by many others, particularly residents of the region itself.

Nusa Tenggara and Maluku is the least known of the regions covered by the Ecology of Indonesia series, but the most vulnerable and complicated. This collection of small, mainly oceanic islands rises from some of the deepest and richest seas on Earth and acts as a corridor between two major biogeographical regions of the world. The book constantly underlines the fact that much baseline data is known and that the way forward is to now examine the interactions between the people and the varied flora and fauna within this environmentally sensitive marginal region. The title The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku is thus perhaps misleading. The ecological studies are waiting to be done. I hope that this book will encourage our students, scientists, and administrators to look afresh at this region.

The sustainable development of small islands is sufficiently different from that of larger land masses to have warranted a United Nations Global Conference of its own in Barbados in 1994. It is my hope that this book will draw attention to the importance of the ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku in the wake of this conference and in the light of the Government of Indonesia East Indonesia Development Programme.

Sarwono Kusumaatmadja

State Minister for Environment

Jakarta, February 1996

Jakarta 10110, Indonesia

Tel. 62-21-3807566

Fax. 62-21-351515