Yahoo News 1 Aug 08;
East Timor opened its first national park Friday, turning a remote former rebel stronghold into a conservation area of forests, mountains, pristine beaches and sea.
The 123,600 hectare (305,400 acre) Nino Konis Santana National Park incorporates the entire eastern tip of East Timor, previously home to pro-independence rebels fighting Indonesia's 24-year occupation.
The protected area comprises 68,000 hectares of land and 55,600 hectares of sea. It covers one of the largest remaining intact tropical lowland and monsoon rainforests in the region, as well as extensive coral reefs.
"The government and all of us should be joyful, because this is something that must be defended, something that our children and grandchildren will depend on for their livelihood," Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said.
"We'll only succeed if all the community is aware that we have to preserve our wealth, which gives rain and refreshment to our country, to ensure the future of our sons," he said.
The park is to be jointly managed by the government and local communities, with assistance from Birdlife International and the Australian state of New South Wales.
It is named after Nino Konis Santana, a commander of Falantil, the armed wing of the movement that fought for independence from Indonesia, who was born in the village of Tutuala within the park.
Continuously occupied for more than 40,000 years, the area is rich in archaeological heritage and has many sites from the colonial Portuguese and World War II Japanese occupation eras.
East Timor gained formal independence in 2002 and despite rich deposits of oil and gas, it remains one of the world's poorest nations.
