Wakatobi Dive Resort‘s landmark community-based conservation program is now in its 27th year. As this inspiring video shows, Wakatobi’s innovative approach to protecting coral reefs has reaped substantial benefits for both the environment and the local communities.
Wakatobi Founder Lorenz Mäder'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.
