Conservation International Timor-Leste

Conservation International Timor-Leste (CI Timor-Leste) is the Timor-Leste country programme of Conservation International, based in Dili.^[1]

CI Timor-Leste supports biodiversity conservation and work related to protected area planning and management. Conservation International has been listed as implementing agency for a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed project focused on a national protected area network and priority catchment corridors.^[2][3]

Conservation International has conducted marine biodiversity surveys and rapid assessments in Timor-Leste, including work linked to marine protected area planning around Atauro Island and the Nino Konis Santana National Park area. CI Timor-Leste has also worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry (MALFF) on proposed marine protected areas and coastal ecosystem work on the north-west coast, including sites in Bobonaro and Liquiçá.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

The Government of Timor-Leste listed Conservation International among organisations involved in supporting marine protected area development and management for the Nino Konis Santana Marine Park area in a 2009 planning report.^[9]

CI Timor-Leste was operating by 2013, when it was listed as publisher of A Rapid Marine Biological Assessment of Timor-Leste.^[10]

In 2018, Conservation International was listed as the implementing agency for a GEF-financed project titled Securing the Long-term Conservation of Timor-Leste's Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services through the Implementation of a Functioning National Protected Area Network and the Improvement of Natural Resource Management in Priority Catchment Corridors, with a GEF grant of US$3,340,367.^[2][3] The project integrated community-based sustainable forest management into village-level natural resource management plans and was linked to a terminal evaluation completed in 2024.^[11]

CI Timor-Leste worked with MALFF on national coordination and planning for marine protected area management, including a workshop in Dili linked to proposed marine protected areas on the north-west coast.^[6] CI also supported work to build capacity for protected area management and monitoring in Timor-Leste.^[12]

CI Timor-Leste's work with MALFF on the north-west marine protected area initiative included the Bobonaro sites of Sanirin, Batugade and Aidabaleten and the Liquiçá site of Vatuvou village; the four-site effort was funded by the Government of New Zealand through its embassy in Timor-Leste.^[6]

Conservation International led the Kiwa RESTORE project supporting coastal and nearshore ecosystem restoration and co-management in Timor-Leste in partnership with local organisations.^[8]

At the request of Timor-Leste's national government, Conservation International conducted a marine rapid biodiversity assessment of Timor-Leste's northern coastline in August 2012, focusing on the condition and biodiversity of coral reefs in the Nino Konis Santana area.^[7] The 2012 assessment recorded 741 coral-reef fish species across 20 sites, including a new dwarfgoby later described as Eviota santanai.^[7] Conservation International also published a rapid-assessment report under the Coral Triangle Support Partnership in connection with this work.^[10]

Conservation International surveyed Atauro in 2012 and recommended that the Timor-Leste government consider marine protected area development for the island; the government later requested a dedicated Atauro-focused survey in 2016.^[7] The 2016 survey around Atauro recorded unusually high reef-fish species richness per site and was discussed in connection with proposals for designating Atauro and its waters as a marine protected area, including multi-use zoning and no-take areas linked to fisheries recovery, livelihoods and ecotourism development.^[4][5]

Conservation International recorded very high reef-fish diversity counts in Atauro assessments, including a 2012 site total of 294 reef-fish species at Belio Barrier Reef; the 2016 survey recorded an additional 261 reef-fish species not previously known from Atauro Island and brought the total reef-fish diversity count for Timor-Leste to 894 species.^[7] The Atauro dwarfgoby (Eviota atauroensis) was collected in Berau Bay, Atauro Island, from shallow subtidal (0.5-2 m) coral bommies during CI survey work and technical assistance requested by the Timor-Leste government.^[7] Vila-Maumeta in Atauro was listed among designated marine protected areas in Timor-Leste.^[6]