Coexistence Study Between Wildlife Keystone Species And Darajat Geothermal Power Plant in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Human activity is inevitably impacting the environment in every media including air, water and soil which potentially affect biodiversity. Considered as renewable and eco-friendly, geothermal power plant would still potentially impact the environment including the biodiversity. The objective of this paper is to study whether the wildlife could possibly coexist with Darajat Geothermal Power Plant which is located within Taman Wisata Alam Gunung Papandayan (Nature Park), Garut Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The objects for this study are the keystone species at Gunung Papandayan Nature Park which are javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) and javan grizzled langur (Presbitys comata). Javan leopard is reported to elude and have never been seen near the power plant. To confirm the existence of javan leopard and javan grizzled langur near Darajat Geothermal Power Plant facilities, Star Energy Geothermal Darajat II, Limited (SEGD) initiated wildlife monitoring around the facilities with cruising method and camera traps. The result of this study shows that Javan leopard was found roaming through geothermal steam pipeline inspection pathway. A group of javan grizzled langur were spotted near high activity sites, and more of them are spotted at low activity site. This study indicates that the keystone species at Gunung Papandayan Nature Park are able to adapt and coexist with Darajat Geothermal Power Plant.