Tambrauw Utara

A(i)Site contains one or more globally threatened species

Nine species are single site endemics to Mount Nettoti in the North Tambrauw range: Calamus kebariensis (LC), Agalmyla dentatisepala, Agalmyla wekariensis, Kania nettotensis, Falcatifolium sleumeri (NT), Grenacheria royenii, Leichhardtia kebarensis (DD), Vaccinium xerampelinum and Acronychia similaris.
There are also several other records of Bird's Head endemic plants from this area, some of which are assessed as threatened, for example Hydnophytum kebarense (from North Tambrauw and Ayawasi), and Tetractomia kostermansii (EN).

Tambrauw Utara comprises a large part of the Tambrauw Regency in the administrative area of Southwest Papua Province. The area, which is already allocated as a Nature Reserve (Cagar Alam Pegunungan Tambrauw Utara), lies to the north of the Trans Papua Highway, which runs approximately east to west in between the mountain ranges of Tambrauw Utara and Tambrauw Selatan. This site adjoins the Kebar Selatan TIPA on its southern boundary.

The Tambrauw Utara region is mountainous, with the lowest elevation at around 100m, and the majority of the area between 500 and 2200m. The vegetation comprises mainly lower- to mid-montane forest, which is relatively undisturbed and lacking any major urban developments although small scale settlements are present throughout. Many plant species endemic (or subendemic) to the Bird’s Head are known to occur in Tambrauw Utara. Of these, seven have a threatened status according to IUCN Criteria: one is CR, four have a status of EN, and two are VU. Additionally, eight species of Bird’s Head endemics with a conservation status of Near Threatened (NT) are known to occur in Tambrauw Utara.

The majority of this area comprises montane forest, but the range of elevations present mean that there are diverse types of forest present, from lower montane forest with Lithocarpus and Elaeocarpus, to mossy montane forests with numerous epiphytes, and high elevation dwarf forests. The vegetation of the Tambrauw Utara area is classified as Vogelkop montane rainforest in the WWF Ecoregions scheme.

Although the whole area is designated as a Nature Reserve, which affords some protection, it is still impacted by the resident human population. Small-scale forest clearance in proximity to human settlements is widespread, and subsistence hunting impacts local populations of birds and mammals.
The percentage of forest cover in the Tambrauw Lifescape region as a whole has decreased from 95% in 1994 to 89% in 2019 (Tetuka et al. 2020). Whilst the forest cover remains high, the rate of decrease has accelerated since 2010 (Tetuka et al. 2020), and this trend should be monitored.

The forests of Tambrauw are indicated to be part of a government initiative to return to a model of community-based forest management in some areas (Fatem 2019). This is seen as a potential way to sustainably manage forest resources. However, social forestry can be complex to implement and maintain, and may if improperly done represent a threat to the conservation of the forests (Parsch et al. 2022).

Furthermore, although Tanah Papua has the largest area of forest resources in Indonesia, research on and about the region is severely lacking (Fatem 2019). A significant risk to the forest of Tambrauw Utara is a lack of baseline data concerning which species occur there and their distributions. This applies to all groups of organisms including plants, birds, invertebrates, fish and mammals.

The entire area of Tambrauw Utara falls within the designated ‘Crown Jewel of Tanah Papua’ initiative area, which is expected to confer some level of protection from future deforestation.

The Tambrauw forest ecosystem provides many resources for local communities. The watersheds protect fisheries, the forest provides timber and other construction materials, hunting, ecotourism, crop pollination, soil fertility regeneration during shifting agricultural practice, and many non-timber forest products

Ruth Clark, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Laura Jennings, Royal Botanic Garden Kew

Jimmy Wanma, State University of Papua

Charlie D. Heatubun, The Provincial Government of West Papua and Universitas Papua

Date of first assessment: 3rd Nov 2025