Occupying only 1.3% of the world’s land surface, Indonesia is one of the world’s richest nations in terms of its biodiversity. Indonesia is an archipelago made up of about 17,000 islands throughout which there are unique ecosystems containing a large number of diverse species.
Map of the Indonesian Archipelago. Source: indopacificimages.com
According to Conservation International, Indonesia is one of the 17 mega diverse countries, with 2 of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots, 18 World Wildlife Fund’s “Global 200” ecoregions and 24 of Bird Life International’s Endemic Bird Areas.
It also possesses 10% of the world’s flowering species (25,000 flowering plants) and ranks as one of the world’s centres for agro biodiversity of plant cultivars and domesticated livestock. For fauna diversity, about 12% of the world’s mammals (515 species) occur in Indonesia, placing it second, after Brazil, worldwide. About 16% of the world’s reptiles (781 species) and 35 species of primate rank Indonesia fourth in the world. Moreover, 17% of the total species of birds (1,592 species) and 270 species of amphibians place Indonesia in the fifth and sixth ranks, respectively, at the global level.
A mammal, Javan Gibbon, found exclusively in Indonesia. Source: Arkive.org
Apart from the high level of species richness, another great value of Indonesia’s biodiversity is that many of species that occur here are endemic. Endemic species are those that are only found in that region and nowhere else in the world.
- The fish family Telmatherinidae is found solely in Indonesia and it includes the Celebes Rainbowfish.
Source: Arkive.org
