Nilai Penting Sumberdaya Air Karst sebagai Pertimbangan Penyusunan Zonasi Taman Nasional

Abstract

The existence of national parks provides many benefits for communities. However, the formulation of national park zoning, which is the bases for national park management in Indonesia, in general used biodiversity values which very often limit the utilization of resources within the national park. Apart from biodiversity, national parks also provide environmental services which offered greater possibility of utilization because of its non-exploitative nature or can be utilized outside the national parks’ boundaries, such as water resource. One supplier of water resource is karst landscape. National parks that have significant karst landscape should be capable in providing water as their environmental services to local communities thus enhancing benefits of national parks for improving communities’ welfare. Unfortunately, no national park in Indonesia with extensive karst landscape that formulates its zoning based on the hydrological function of karst itself. One national park with extensive karst landscape and undergoing zoning preparation is Manupeu Tanahdaru National Park (MTNP) in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Therefore, study of potential karst water in MNTP was conducted to provide considerations for MNTP zoning formulation to aid in reducing water shortages that the local communities experienced during drought period. The main objectives of this study were to map karst water resources and determining priority areas for karst protection (karst priority). The study was conducted in MNTP from May to June 2010 to collect field data and from August to December 2010 in GIS Laboratory of Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism, Bogor Agricultural University. The research methods comprised of literature studies, interviews, and ground check. Data analysis was performed by spatial analysis and water demand analysis. Furthermore, descriptive analysis was done to provide explanation for the general condition, the potentials of karst water, water requirement for the local communities and water utilization by the local communities. Karst area of MTNP was proof that some karst areas are protected. Results of field identification indicated the existence of a total of 23,609.25 ha of karst area within the MTNP, covering approximately 32.33% of the entire park. Water cwhich originated from the karst aquifer would flow through the cave and channelled out as springs and gave inputs to surface water rivers. These location were spread out within the national park and partly flowing into the residential communities. The community utilized water to meet daily needs and irrigation of agricultural land. The total water demand of the community was 880,682,366 litres/year. Water requirements could only be met for 6 months with the assumption that water could be stored for 2 months after 4 months of rainy season. Interviews with resource person and local communities showed that there were as many as 19 out of 22 villages that experienced water shortages, especially during dry season. The villages that were experiencing the most water shortages were located adjacent to the MTNP’s area. Water potential and the presence of karst areas should be taken into consideration in determining priority karst area. The total area of karst in MTNP priority was 15,934.29 ha or 69.35% of the total area of the karst. Under national park’s zoning, these karst priority areas could be categorized into karst core, protection and utilization priorities.