NTT floated digital Komodo monitoring plan for 2020

Labuan Bajo — East Nusa Tenggara’s provincial administration said on 5 December 2019 that it planned to deploy a digital application from 2020 to monitor tourism and conservation activity on land and at sea in and around Komodo National Park.

Speaking in Kupang, provincial public relations and protocol bureau head Marius Ardu Jelamu said the province had partnered with a technology company based in Singapore to install the system in the park area, according to a report by Validnews that cited his remarks on that date.

Jelamu said the planned application would track cruise ships, tourism vessels and visitors entering the Komodo area. It was described as a way to strengthen oversight of tourism while supporting the park’s conservation role.

Scope of the proposed monitoring

According to Jelamu, the digital system was intended to monitor activity both on land and in the surrounding waters. He said it would be capable of detecting suspected illegal fishing, poaching of deer and damage to the protected area.

The provincial spokesman also said the technology would allow authorities to observe visitors while they were diving in Komodo waters. He did not publicly name the Singapore-based company or provide technical details of the sensors, cameras, software or communications infrastructure involved.

Validnews reported that the province targeted installation of the application in Komodo National Park in 2020. The statement did not identify which ranger unit, government agency or private contractor would operate the system once installed.

Komodo’s evolving digital oversight

Jelamu framed the initiative as part of an effort to manage Komodo more professionally, drawing comparisons with technology-supported oversight in Galápagos and African national parks. His remarks did not specify which technologies or models from those parks might be replicated in Komodo.

Since the 2019 announcement, digital tools for managing visits and monitoring activity in the Komodo area have continued to develop under other programs.

In July 2022, the East Nusa Tenggara provincial government, together with the Komodo National Park authority, launched the Komodo Wildlife System within the INISA application to manage tourist visits and support conservation. The system uses reservation data to track who visits Komodo and Padar islands and nearby waters, helping authorities manage visitor flows, surveillance and patrols.

The INISA platform allows registered visitors to make reservations before entering the conservation area and then scan a barcode at the Labuan Bajo waterfront and at their destinations, according to statements from provincial tourism officials. It is available through major mobile app stores.

Separately, Komodo National Park has developed additional digital tools, including the SiOra application, to support e-ticketing, navigation and online permitting, and to help park managers monitor visitor activity and carrying capacity. Park rangers also use the SMART patrol system to collect and analyse field data for conservation and law enforcement.

From plan to broader digital management

Jelamu’s 2019 comments show that East Nusa Tenggara officials were seeking to introduce digital monitoring of tourism and conservation risks at Komodo from 2020, in cooperation with a Singapore-based technology firm. Subsequent initiatives – including the Komodo Wildlife System within INISA and the SiOra platform – indicate that digital oversight of visitor flows and park management has since been expanded through provincial and park-led programs.

The available reports do not state whether the specific application described by Jelamu in December 2019 was installed as originally envisaged, renamed, replaced or integrated into later systems.

Sources

• Validnews — Pengawasan Wisata di TN Komodo Gunakan Teknologi Digital
• Marketeers — Dukung Pariwisata Berkelanjutan, INISA Hadirkan Sistem Wildlife Komodo
• GIS Coastalindo — Komodo National Park: Conservation Vs Sustainable Tourism
• Wiyata Publisher Journal (Kybernology) — Evaluasi Pelaksanaan Kegiatan Perlindungan dan Pengamanan Satwa Komodo
• Viva NTT — Wisata ke Taman Nasional Komodo Lebih Mudah dengan SiOra
• Global Conservation — Komodo World Heritage Site 2021 Progress Report