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‘Endangered’ status should spur Komodo dragon protection: Activists
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Komodo dragons lounge on Rinca Island, East Nusa Tenggara, on March 29, 2018. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari )
T
he International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) recent reclassification of the Komodo dragon, a species endemic to Indonesia, as “endangered” should provide a stronger impetus for the protection if its habitat, activists and experts have said.
In the latest update to its Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN categorized the Komodo dragon as endangered because of threats related to climate change, noting that the giant lizard’s habitat could be reduced by 30 percent over the next 45 years due to rising sea levels.
The Komodo dragon was also listed as endangered because of its relatively low population. The IUCN estimated that the giant lizard’s adult population was about 1,383 and expected that figure to decline by more than 30 percent over 40 years from the 2010 baseline.
The dragon’s population is concentrated on the islands of Komodo and Rinca, which, along with Padar, Nusa Kode and Gili Motong, form the Komodo National Park in East Nusa Tenggara. Smaller populations have been observed on the western and northern coasts of the nearby island of Flores.
The IUCN assessed more than 130,000 species in its latest Red List update, which was released on Sept. 4. More than 38,000 of those species were categorized as threatened.
The IUCN last published the Komodo dragon’s assessment status in 1996, when it declared the species “vulnerable” – a notch below the dragon's current status.
In the report, the IUCN estimated that while the reptile’s population inside Komodo National Park was currently stable and “well-protected”, populations outside the national park were threatened by habitat loss due to “ongoing human activities” on Flores.
