Operation Wallacea - History

History

Operation Wallacea first started operating expeditions to South East Sulawesi, Indonesia in 1995. This region is known as the Wallacea region, after the work of the famous 19th Century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and the creation of Wallace's line (the boundary separating the ecozones of Asia and Australia). It is from this scientifically important area that Operation Wallacea took its name.

This region was specifically chosen for three reasons:

a) Its high biodiversity and scientific importance, especially its high level of terrestrial endemism, and its location in the major centre of biodiversity for Scleractinian corals.

b) Increasing pressure and anthropogenic impact on important habitats including primary forest and coral reefs. Deforestation, hunting and overfishing are important examples of these threats, and are specifically focused on by the work of Operation Wallacea.

c) The urgent need for conservation to tackle these human pressures, due to a lack of existing conservation and research effort in this region.

Much of Opwall's early work was concentrated in the Tukangbesi archipelago, conducting volunteer-led rapid assessments of large areas. This baseline data allowed the identification of key areas in need of urgent protection, and resulted in the establishment of the Wakatobi Marine National Park in 1996, the second largest marine park in Indonesia, and protection of the Lambusango rainforests on the island of Buton.

Much of this early work concentrated on establishing research bases at both the rainforest and marine sites, and providing partner Indonesian NGO's with much needed data for the development of legislation and continued management of protected areas.

In 2003 Operation Wallacea's success in Indonesia attracted the attention of NGO's in Honduras. The result was the creation of new research sites in both the cloud forests of mainland Honduras and the coral reef clad islands of los Cayos Cochinos. Since then, expeditions have been set up in nine more countries, with the number of sites visited each year now totalling 25.