Page 45 - The World About Us

Clownfish
2.2.3

What are Indonesia’s natural and human resources?

Indonesia's Ecosystems The tens of thousands of kilometres Indonesia. The climate allows Indonesia
of coastline provide habitats for rich to grow coffee, cocoa, coconuts and
Indonesia has a wide range of aqua c ecosystems. many spices as well as rice, oil palms and
ecosystems. By far the largest land area rubber trees.
Coral reefs: Indonesia's coral reefs
is tropical rainforest, which is the
are the most biodiverse on Earth, In addi on to agricultural and forest
dominant ecosystem of Sumatra and
containing up to 3,500 species. By resources, Indonesia has significant coal,
Kalimantan. These forests are global
comparison, 1,500 species are found on oil and natural gas reserves. The country
'hotspots' for biodiversity.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Indonesia also has significant mineral ore resources
Biodiversity: The isolated nature of contains 17% of all the coral reefs on the including copper, n and gold.
Indonesia’s islands means that many planet.
have developed their own varie es of Human resources
The Raja Ampat Islands, to the north
'endemic' creatures, found only in one The diverse cultural and natural
west of Papua, contain the richest
place. In this respect, Indonesia is marine biodiversity on Earth with 537 landscapes of Indonesia have become a
second only to Australia: 36% of its coral species found on the reefs (75% of resource in themselves, helping to draw
1,531 bird species and 39% of its 515 in tourists from across the globe. In
all coral species on the planet). There
mammals are found only in Indonesia. 2015, 9.73 million tourists visited the
are nearly 700 species of mollusc and
To the east of the ‘Wallace Line' 1,500 species of fish, including the country, including 3 million visitors from
(which runs north/south between curious wobbegong carpet shark. Singapore and Malaysia, over 1 million
Kalimantan and Sulawesi and between from Australia and nearly 300,000 from
the UK. In 2014, tourists contributed
Bali and Lombok) the species are more
over $25 billion to the Indonesian
Australian in origin. To the west of this economy.
evolu onary divide, species become
more Asian, with apes, gers, elephants, Indonesia’s most dynamic and
rhinoceros and other large mammals. adaptable resource are its people, all
263 million plus of them. However, as
East of Bali, species become more we shall see in the next sec on, the
Australasian. The island of Papua (New fig.115 Mangrove forest. popula on of Indonesia has not always
Guinea) contains many diverse species, Mangrove forests: Mangrove forests had an easy or stable life over the last
including birds of paradise, as well as are found along many of Indonesia’s century or more.
marsupials like tree kangaroos and
coastlines. They provide a breeding
echidnas.
ground for fish and crustaceans whilst
South Pacific Ocean protec ng coastal areas from serious
China storm damage.
Sea
Sea grass beds: Shallow expanses of
coral sand are colonised by sea grass.
Kalimantan
(Borneo) Unlike sea weed, this is actually a
Sulawesi West
Papua flowering plant. The sea grass beds
provide feeding grounds for many fish
Java
species, such as white spo ed puffers.
Indian Ocean Bali Lombok
500km Estuaries: With heavy rainfall on the fig.118 Rice paddy on Lombok island.
Wallace Line
islands, Indonesia has many large rivers.
fig.116 The Wallace Line. These rivers carry large quan es of KEY TERMS
sediment from inland areas to the sea,
fig.117 Goodfellows tree kangaroo.
where it is deposited in estuaries to form
mud flats. At high des these flats are
feeding grounds for fish and shrimps. At
low de they become feeding grounds
for wading birds and fiddler crabs.

Natural Resources
The climate and rich volcanic soils,
coupled with rich and produc ve seas,
have been a vital natural resource for

45

Many factors contribute to a country’s economic development.