Wakatobi's Collaborative Reef Conservation Program protects more than 20 km of coral reefs and helps to generate income for 17 communities around Wakatobi Resort. After years of working with local fishermen and village elders on the benefits of reef resource management and honoring a no-fishing sanctuary, the corals and fish populations continue to be healthy.
Wakatobi Founder Lorenz Mader's vision not only set a precedent for private-sector conservation initiatives, but it also put broader plans in motion and actually changed the map. In 2002, the Indonesian government extended the area created by the resort's conservation program to create the Wakatobi National Park. The park encompasses an expansive 13,900 square kilometers of the Tukang Besi island group. Less than a year later, these islands became an autonomous region, renaming itself the Wakatobi Regency. In 2005, UNESCO listed the Wakatobi National Park as a World Heritage Site and in 2012 it was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
As the Collaborative Reef Conservation program enters its third decade, attitudes towards conservation have been transformed as the value of healthy reefs becomes evident, and local fishermen and villagers have become active stewards of the environment.
