Introduction and Location
The Karimunjawa National Park (KNP), situated 80 km off central Java’s northern coast, is made up of 27 islands. It was the first marine park established in Indonesia in 1986 and has become an important area for conservation and marine biodiversity protection. The KNP is renowned as the ‘jewel of the Java Sea” among the emerging Javanese urban middleclass. Around 8,850 people live on the three inhabited islands of Karimun & Kemujan, Nyamuk and Parang that belong to the sub-district of Karimunjawa, Jepara Regency.
The island of Karimunjawa is representative of various islands and coastal areas around the world experiencing rising tensions due to land and resource use conflicts. An important question thus arises, of how to enable biodiversity conservation and the development of local development simultaneously. It is the national vision of the Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to build and promote Karimunjawa as “the “Eco – Island Resort of Indonesia”. Unfortunately however, unsustainable land and resource use threaten the likelihood of such plans succeeding.
Click here for the factsheet (3 pages):FS_029_Karimunjawa
