section_path: Geography/Biodiversity
section_name: Biodiversity
paragraph_text: Biodiversity
  
  Recognised by Conservation International as one of 17 megadiverse countries, Indonesia hosts one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity due to its tropical climate, large size, and archipelagic geography. The country's flora and fauna include a mix of Asian and Australasian species. The Sunda Shelf islands (Sumatra, Java, and Borneo) have a wealth of Asian fauna as they were once linked to mainland Asia, while Sulawesi, Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku and Papua evolved unique ecosystems due to their separation from the continental landmasses. In terms of total endemic species, the Indonesian archipelago ranks among the highest globally.
  
  The country also boasts 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles) of coastline, featuring diverse sea and coastal ecosystems, such as dunes and mangroves, as well as coral reefs in the Coral Triangle that harbour the highest diversity of coral reef fish globally, with over 2,000 species. The Wallace Line, described by English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, marks the biogeographical divide between Asian and Australasian species, with the region between the Wallace and Weber Lines (called Wallacea) hosting unique biodiversity as described in Wallace's 1869 book, The Malay Archipelago. Indonesia's extensive forests, comprising 83% of Southeast Asia's old-growth forests, are deemed crucial for the region's ecological balance and carbon storage.
  
  Indonesia faces severe environmental challenges due to extensive deforestation, peatland destruction, and over-exploitation of resources, driven by industries such as logging, plantations and agriculture since the 1970s, and in most recent years, palm oil. Forest cover declined from 87% in 1950 to 48% in 2022, highlighting the country as a leading forest-based emitter of greenhouse gases. These issues are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels and weak, under-resourced governance. They also threaten indigenous and endemic species, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing many as critically endangered, such as the Bali myna, Sumatran orangutan, and Javan rhinoceros. Environmental degradation has prompted some academics to label these activities as ecocide.