Comments colin has made

komodo

People on and around Komodo had several regulations inflicted upon them - on Komodo there were limitations on what they could grow, on the livestock they could keep as well as more stringent policing of bomb and poison fishing - which has resulted in villagers being tortured/shot.

At the same time there is, or was, massive poaching of deer on the island which involved people from the village, the neighbouring islands and park rangers if villagers are to be believed. There has also been a huge increase in population on the island due to migration and corrupt village leaders and this has increased environmental degradation in the area.

The Nature Conservancy didn't really create any new income streams either from tourism, seaweed farming or grouper farming and they failed to communicate their intentions to the islanders who live in the park - they may have aggressive media relations at international level, but people who have worked for the tnc in the park describe their communications with locals as laughable. At the same time, plans (now abandoned I think) to develop Komodo National Park tourist facilities created resentment - particularly as they would have used a relatively large amount of water - scarce on the island to be begin with.

Tourist infrastructure in the region has not necessarily improved (more dive schools?) and transport links have got worse in some ways with the local ferry no longer stopping at Komodo Island and isolating villagers there further.

All this is based on visits from a few years ago - basically the TNC promoted a highly selective version of events that is as disingenuous as the versions of corrupt village leaders, rangers and government officials.On How to protect biodiversity in the developing world posted 3 years, 1 month ago 3 Responses