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Indonesia ranks No. 1 for 'natural beauty' on UK comparison site
The archipelago has bested New Zealand and Colombia to lead a comparison of 50 countries for their natural attractions, but purely by numbers.
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A woman perches atop a cliff overlooking Padar Island, East Nusa Tenggara, in this undated stock photo. (Shutterstock/Kzenon) (Shutterstock/File)
I
ndonesia has taken the top spot in United Kingdom comparison service money.co.uk’s Natural Beauty Report, which ranked 50 countries around the world on the number of natural attractions they have for every 100,000 square kilometers.
Scoring 7.77 out of 10, the report says Indonesia is “home to 17,000 incredible islands, which means that it has over 50,000 km of coastline” and “over 50,000 square km of coral reef, teeming with life”.
Published on Feb. 7, the report also notes that Indonesia’s tropical forests on Kalimantan and Sumatra were among its “most popular natural attractions” and that it was home to numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The report makes no mention of the unchecked human exploitation or manmade pollution that continues to wreak havoc on the country’s environment and endemic wildlife.
Ranking second is New Zealand, which scored 7.27 out of 10, while Colombia came third with 7.16 out of 10.
The report praises New Zealand for its “rolling hills, sharp mountain peaks [...] and a number of active volcanoes”, while Colombia is noted for its “very varied landscape [...] from the Andes mountains to the Amazon rainforests”. It also specially credits the country’s high score to “500,000 square kilometers of tropical forest”.
