Damer, or Damar, (), also called Kenli Island, is a small

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

island in the Barat Daya Islands group in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

's Maluku province, on the southern side of the

Banda Sea The Banda Sea (, , ) is one of four seas that surround the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean, but surrounded by hundreds of islands, including Timor, as well as the Halmahera Sea, Halmahera and Ceram Seas. It is about ...

. It is flanked by four smaller uninhabited islands - one to the east (Layeni), one to the west (Nus Leur) and two to the south (Terbang Utari and Terbang Selatan). Together they are called the Damar Islands, and constitute one administrative district within the Maluku Barat Daya Regency, lying on the undersea ridge which forms the most easterly extension of the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

. Continuing the line of the ridge further to the northeast are several small and remote islands at increasing distances from Damer Island; these are Teon Island, Nila Island, tiny 'Nil Desperandum' islet, Serua Island (and its offshore islet of Kekeh-Besar) and - far to the north and administered as part of Maluku Tengah Regency - Manuk Island; all of these far-flung islands are isolated

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

es and are uninhabited. The district has a combined land area of 201.80 km² and had a population of 5,718 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 6,362, all on Damer Island itself.

Description

Damar is about 20 km (12 mi.) long by 18 km (11 mi.) wide. It lies about 125 km (78 mi.) east of Romang and 200 km (124 mi.) east of Wetar. The northern part of the island has been largely cleared for

dryland farming Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical ...

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

s, coffee beans,

cocoa bean The cocoa bean, also known as cocoa () or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', the cacao tree, from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cacao tree ...

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

s and

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

s, while the southern part is still mainly forested. Habitation is concentrated in the north and east; most islanders are farmers or fishers. The highest point of the island is 868 m (2,847 ft) Mount Wurlali, an

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

. There are seven villages on the island - Batumerah on the northwest coast (which has the postcode of 97128), and Wulur, Kuay Melu, Kumur, Bebar Timur, Ilih and Keyli in the east (which share the postcode 97652).

Villages

The island is administratively divided into seven villages (''desa''), listed below with their officially-estimated populations as at mid 2022,Badan Pusat Statistik, 2023, Kecamatan Damer, Katalog/Catalog: 1102001.8108050. together with their postcodes. Notes: (a) the most southern ''desa'', includes the small islands of Terbang Utari and Terbang Selatan. (b) comprising 3,127 males and 2,896 females.

Important Bird Area

The forested part of the island has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

because it supports the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Damar flycatcher, which is largely restricted to lowland

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

forest habitat.

References

Barat Daya Islands Important Bird Areas of Indonesia Populated places in Indonesia {{Maluku-geo-stub