Mamberamo

The Mamberamo River is a large river on the island of New Guinea, in the Indonesian province of Papua.

The source of the river is formed from the confluences of its upper tributaries the Tariku, Van Daalen and Taritatu rivers. From there it flows northwards in a great valley through the Van Rees Range (Pegunungan Van Rees), to reach the lowland marshes of its broad delta. The Mamberamo discharges into the Pacific Ocean at the northern point of Point D'Urville (Tanjung D'Urville).

The river's huge valley is home to various uncontacted tribes and incredible biodiversity. In the 1990s, the Indonesian Government had plans to construct a large hydroelectric dam on the Mamberamo that would have submerged much of the area. This plan was shelved after the Indonesian financial crisis from 1998-1999, but there are concerns that it could be resurrected sometime in the future.

In 1545, the Spanish navigator Yñigo Ortiz de Retez sailed along the northern coastline of the island as far as the mouth of this river. At this spot he claimed the territory for the Spanish Crown, and in the process bestowing the name to the island (Nueva Guinea) by which it is known today.

The Mamberamo area also broadly refers to several nearby mountain ranges, including the Van Rees and Foja Mountains (also known as Foya), which were the subject of a recent rapid biological assessment conducted by Conservation International, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and Cenderawasih University. The scientific team discovered the first new bird species from New Guinea in 60 years, and a wealth of other new plants and animals. The Foya Mountains appear to be a globally outstanding repository of biodiversity.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.