All stakeholders in Indonesia are called upon to collaborate to optimize the enormous potential of biodiversity as a driver of the economy, community welfare, and also as capital to strengthen conservation.

This was conveyed by Professor of Biology at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Indonesia (FMIPA UI), Prof. Dr. Jatna Supriatna, M.Sc., during his keynote lecture at the Widjojo Nitisastro Memorial Lecture (WMNL) 2022, which was part of the series of events commemorating the 32nd Anniversary of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI), held at the Auditorium of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, on Thursday, October 13, 2022.

At the event, which was officially opened by the 11th Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Professor Boediono, he stated that it is estimated there are 300 thousand species of wildlife in Indonesia, accounting for 17% of all wildlife in the world, even though Indonesia’s land area is only 1.3% of the world’s total.

Indonesian fauna is also very unique because it originates from the continents of Asia and Australia as well as the transition between the two, so there is a region called Wallacea where the fauna is a mixture.

“This is a blessing that must be managed and utilized,” said Prof. Jatna, as quoted from https://forestinsights.id/.

One way that can be done is by developing biodiversity-based ecotourism.

This has already been done in several locations. For example, tours to see orangutans in their natural habitat, such as in Tanjung Puting National Park, Gunung Palung National Park, Leuser National Park, and even the community-managed Tangkahan National Park in North Sumatra.

Each tourist must pay a rate of around 60-100 US dollars per day of visit with the cost of a tour package reaching 2,500 US dollars per visit with amenities, transportation and accommodation.

“Biodiversity should not be seen as an obstacle but as an opportunity. In Rwanda, the fee to see gorillas reaches 120 US dollars, while in Malaysia, the fee to see orangutans is also over 100 US dollars,” said Prof. Jatna.

“Indonesia must also be able to take advantage of this because we have the third largest number of primate species in the world, besides the three species of orangutans,” said Prof. Jatna, whose name is immortalized in one of the primates, namely Tarsius supriatnai, which is found in Gorontalo province.

According to him, utilizing the potential of biodiversity means the economy will move and the funds needed to preserve forests and conserve biodiversity will be more available.

He invited biologists in Indonesia to collaborate with economists in an effort to find opportunities to utilize biodiversity for the economy for the sake of sustainability.

He warned that if the preservation of biodiversity is disturbed, the stability and balance of the ecosystem will be shaken, which could have a negative impact on humans.

Prof. Jatna gave an example of the increasing consumption of flying foxes in Sulawesi. In the past, the supply came only from North Sulawesi, but now flying foxes have to be sourced from across the entire Sulawesi mainland.

“In fact, fruit bats are good hosts for zoonotic diseases, including Covid,” he added.