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Thirty-six years ago, I went to Sulawesi as a young ornithologist volunteering for the Asian Wetland Bureau on a year long survey of the wetlands of Sulawesi’s southeast province. This month, I will return for the first Sulawesi Freshwater Conservation Conference (SFCC), organised by SHOAL with TARSIUS, together with PROGRES, Yayasan Aksi Konservasi Celebica (Celebica), and Yayasan Bumi Sawerigading with generous support from Synchronicity Earth, Re:wild, Rainforest Trust, the Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust, the University of Antwerp, and VLIRUOS.
It is a gathering I am particularly looking forward to, for reasons that go well beyond my role at SHOAL.
On a visit in 2020, I met a community member whose father had worked with us on that first trip more than three decades ago. There is something sobering about meeting the next generation of a family you worked with as a young man. But it was a rather beautiful full-circle moment too: a connection from more so much earlier in my life.
That encounter has stayed with me. For those of us whose work takes us between countries and projects, it is a useful reminder that the places we work in are home to people whose connections to the landscapes and species there run much deeper than our own. Their knowledge and commitment are central to any prospect of lasting conservation. It is also a reminder that successful conservation takes time. Rather than a quick win that ends after a survey, it is a multi-generational process spanning decades of consistent work.
That is very much the thinking behind this conference.
Across Sulawesi, people are doing extraordinary work for freshwater biodiversity. Community organisations, researchers and conservation practitioners are studying species, protecting habitats and finding ways to tackle difficult problems. The conference gives them an opportunity to share what they have learned, celebrate successes and spend time with others facing similar challenges.
There will be plenty to discuss. Sulawesi’s freshwater habitats face habitat loss, pollution and invasive species. Understanding how these pressures affect individual lakes and rivers, and deciding what to do about them, requires people with different kinds of experience to work together. We want the conference to help make those connections, including with government and universities, and give existing partnerships time and space to develop.
For SHOAL, Sulawesi deserves this level of attention because its freshwater biodiversity is exceptional. Its lakes and rivers support fish, shrimps, crabs, snails and other wildlife found nowhere else. The ancient lakes are particularly remarkable. Losing their species would mean losing part of the world’s natural history that cannot be replaced elsewhere.
But biodiversity alone does not explain why we are putting so much energy into Sulawesi. We also have committed partners there, with whom we are already supporting a range of freshwater conservation projects. Organisations including PROGRES, Celebica, TARSIUS and Yayasan Bumi Sawerigading bring different experience and relationships to this work. There is a great deal to build on, and a real opportunity to achieve more together. We have brought together the organisations doing the most to protect and conserve Sulawesi’s incredible freshwater biodiversity. From this strong foundation we can participate as an alliance working in unison, skill sharing and boosting all our knowledge, capacity and effectiveness.
I hope the conference will give those partners, and the many other people attending, a chance to take stock. What is working? What can others learn from it? Where is support most urgently needed?
The programme includes time to work through threats and discuss solutions, locations and timescales. We are confident we will leave Makassar with a clearer understanding of what needs to happen next, who can contribute and how SHOAL can best help.
I am also looking forward to hearing about work I know too little about, meeting new colleagues and thanking people whose efforts deserve wider recognition.
Returning after 30 years inevitably prompts some reflection. But the most encouraging part of this visit will be spending time with the people taking Sulawesi’s freshwater conservation forward. I am very glad that SHOAL can help bring them together.
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