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SOME time ago, UNESCO issued a Convention document on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage numbered WHC/21/44.COM/7B. The document was issued after the online convention on July 16-31 2021 in China.
The document discusses a number of places that are included in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites or the World Heritage List, one of which is the Komodo National Park (TN) in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) located in Labuan Bajo which is also one of the five super priority destinations (SPD) announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.
Broadly speaking, reported by Kompas.com, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) discussed the development of tourism projects in the National Park which are feared to have an impact on the Extraordinary Universal Value (OUV) in the region.
The WHC also asked the Indonesian government to stop all construction of the project temporarily until the Indonesian government submitted a revised Environmental Impact Assessment (AMDAL) which was reviewed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Related to this, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno responded to UNESCO’s request to temporarily halt project development in Komodo National Park.
“I’m asking for the minutes of the meeting from UNESCO and I don’t want ‘he said,’ he said. But I want to see in detail, be real and discuss line by line from the discussions held at the meeting that became the reference,” said Sandiaga during the Weekly Press Briefing, Monday (8/2).
He added that the news that developed might be slightly different from what was recorded by his party at the UNESCO meeting.
“For us, of course, the focus of Labuan Bajo and these five super priority destinations is to present quality and environmentally sustainable tourism. So, whatever we will do in Labuan Bajo must be based on a study of the impact on the environment,” he said.
He further explained that the preparation of the AMDAL must be coordinated with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK). In the end, the goal is also to direct us to Komodo National Park which is managed with great care so that its ecosystem is not disturbed.
Sandiaga also mentioned the travel pattern that develops other aspects of Labuan Bajo as a SPD. So, there are some destinations that may be geared more towards more tourists, while specifically in very, very limited areas this will be based on environmentally sustainable visits or ecotourism. [sources/photo special]
