Sembilang National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

covering 2,051 km² along the east coast of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

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, ...

. The park is dominated by swamps as peat forests, like the neighbouring Berbak National Park, and both parks are

Ramsar wetland The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

s of international importance."Ramsar Database"
, retrieved 14 December 2014 The park is considered to have the most complex shorebird community in the world, with 213 species recorded, and supports the world's largest breeding colony of

milky stork The milky stork (''Mycteria cinerea'') is a stork species inhabiting predominantly mangroves in Southeast Asia. It is native to Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is currently included in the genus ''Mycteria'', is around tall, with a ...

s. From

Palembang Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...

to the Sembilang National Park needs one hour drive plus one and a half hour by boat and then one hour overland.

Flora and fauna

About half of the park is covered by

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

s, while the rest is covered by

peat swamp forest Peat swamp forests are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist forests where waterlogged soil prevents dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing. Over time, this creates a thick layer of acidic peat. Large areas of th ...

, lowland tropical forests, mud flats,

freshwater swamp forest Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are foun ...

s and

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

s. The park provides habitat for 53 mammal species, including the endangered

Sumatran tiger The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali tiger, Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. DNA sequencing, Sequ ...

Sumatran elephant The Sumatran elephant (''Elephas maximus sumatranus'') is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2011, IUCN upgraded the conservation status of the Sumatran elephant from endan ...

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir, oriental tapir, Indian tapir, piebald tapir, or black-and-white tapir, is the only living tapir species outside of the Americas. It is native to Southeast Asia from ...

agile gibbon The agile gibbon (''Hylobates agilis''), also called the black-handed gibbon, is an Old World primate, and is a part of the gibbon family. It is native to Indonesia, specifically, on the island of Sumatra. The agile gibbon can also be found in ...

and

siamang The siamang (, ; ''Symphalangus syndactylus'') is an endangered arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching i ...

, as well as the vulnerable

Sunda clouded leopard The Sunda clouded leopard (''Neofelis diardi'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to Borneo and Sumatra. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2015, as the total effective population probably consists of fewer than 10,000 mature ...

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small Felidae, wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatene ...

flat-headed cat The flat-headed cat (''Prionailurus planiceps'') is a felinae, small wild cat with short reddish-brown fur. Its head is elongated, and its ears are rounded. Its slender body is long with a tail of , and it weighs . The flat-headed cat was first ...

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a bear species in the Family (biology), family Ursidae found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'' and the smallest bear species, standing nearly ...

and

southern pig-tailed macaque The southern pig-tailed macaque (''Macaca nemestrina''), also known as the Sundaland pig-tailed macaque and the Sunda pig-tailed macaque, is a medium-sized macaque that lives in Sundaland, southern Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is known ...

. Reptiles include the

saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

and

false gharial The false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), also known by the names Malayan gharial, Sunda gharial and tomistoma is a freshwater crocodilian of the Family (biology), family Gavialidae native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. It ...

. The rivers of the park are inhabited by over 140 species of fish and 38 species of crab, as well as the threatened

Eurasian otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, European river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia and the Maghreb. The most widely distributed member o ...

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is a freshwater otter species from regions of South and Southwest Asia, with the majority of its numbers found in Southeast Asia. It has been ranked as " vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List since ...

, Malaysian giant turtle,

Amboina box turtle The Amboina box turtle or Southeast Asian box turtle (''Cuora amboinensis'') is a species of Asian box turtle widely distributed across Southeast Asia. It is native to the Asian mainland from northeast India, through Bangladesh, Burma and Thail ...

Asiatic softshell turtle The Asiatic softshell turtle or black-rayed softshell turtle (''Amyda cartilaginea'') is a species of softshell turtle in the Trionychidae family. Despite its name, it is not the only softshell turtle in Asia (most trionychines are Asian). Ta ...

finless porpoise ''Neophocaena'' is a genus of porpoise native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as the freshwater habitats of the Yangtze River basin in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. ...

and

Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...

. Within the park is the largest breeding colony of

s in the world, and one of the largest colonies of

lesser adjutant The lesser adjutant (''Leptoptilos javanicus'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus, it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary ...

. Other threatened birds in the park include the

Storm's stork Storm's stork (''Ciconia stormi'') is a medium-sized stork species that occurs primarily in lowland tropical forests of Malaysia, Indonesia and southern Thailand. It is considered to be the rarest of all storks,Hancock JA, Kuschlan JA, Kahl, MP. ...

white-winged duck The white-winged duck or white-winged wood duck (''Asarcornis scutulata'') is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus ''Cairina'' with the Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and allied with the dabbling ducks. However, mtDNA cyto ...

Nordmann's greenshank Nordmann's greenshank (''Tringa guttifer'') or the spotted greenshank, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Description The Nordmann's greenshank is a medium-sized sandpiper, at long, with a slightly upturned, bicol ...

and Far Eastern curlew. The total bird population of the park has been estimated to be up to one million, while during winter up to 100,000 migratory birds stop over for rest.

Conservation and threats

The national park has been declared in 2003. It is under threat from small scale

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

, 15 meters abrasion a year and coastal fish ponds activities.

Mangrove restoration Mangrove restoration is the regeneration of mangrove forest ecosystems in areas where they have previously existed. Restoration can be defined as "the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed ...

has been implemented for 200 hectares and still been added. Together with the neighboring Berbak National Park in the province of

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of i ...

, Sembilang is acknowledged as a part of UNESCO

World Network of Biosphere Reserves The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) covers internationally designated protected areas, known as biosphere or nature reserves, which are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature (e.g. encourage susta ...

in 2018. On January 15, 2020, the Jakarta Post announced that an uninhabited island in the park, Betet Island is now submerged at 1 meter below sea level as a result of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Betet Island was formerly home to an endangered

References

External links

Ministry of Forestry: Brief description
{{authority control National parks of Indonesia Protected areas of Sumatra Protected areas established in 2001 Geography of South Sumatra Tourist attractions in South Sumatra 2001 establishments in Indonesia Climate change in Indonesia Sunda Shelf mangroves Musi basin