A major recommendation calls for the integration of the existing wildlife sanctuaries into the national park system and the creation of a graduated scale of parks and reserves. The result will be a network of 196 protected areas covering 4 percent of the total land area of Indonesia. The fifth most populous country in the world, Indonesia possesses important stands of tropical rain forests. The new conservation programme, funded to approximately the same level as its predecessor, has as a principal objective the coordination of projects with development activities of the World Bank National Park Development Project. It seeks other funds from international development agencies, not only for parks, but for housing about 500000 people living in areas bordering on the parks.
Indonesian initiatives signal an optimistic trend in conservation efforts.
The 1982-1983 WWF Tropical Forests and Primates campaign chose Indonesia as one of 12 countries destined for priority attention. Indonesia is a country rich in both fauna and potential. Damage to the environment in developed countries costs approximately three to five percent of the gross national product, according to Nature , newsletter of the Council of Europe. The amount of money that is being spent on repair of such damage, reports Nature , is only one to two percent of the gross national product.