The Mt. Ramelau (Tatamailau) Sustainable Management Plan was prepared in 2022 by Chemonics International for USAID’s Tourism For All Project. The project chose three of Timor-Leste’s 46 protected areas as pilot sites for sustainable management: Ataúro Island, Cristo Rei and Mount Ramelau. This plan covers the tourist eco-trail from the sanctuary at Hatu-Builico to the summit, its buffer areas and the places where pilgrims and visitors gather. It is the main planning document for the country’s most visited mountain.
Key contents
- Context: Mount Ramelau is the highest mountain in Timor-Leste. The plan gives 2,986 m, while 2,963 m is the figure more commonly cited. The protected area was first designated internationally in 2000 and legally recognised under Timorese law 16 years later. Its management has not yet reached international standards for final classification.
- Visitors: some 25,000+ a year, mostly Timorese pilgrims on the two summit pilgrimages (25 March and 6–7 October). The main attraction is the 3 m statue of the Virgin Mary, a gift from Italy in 1997.
- Situational analysis: landscape, boundary, flora and fauna, the summit chapel and campground, the sanctuary at the trailhead, the Hatu-Builico communities, and governance. Governance involves the Catholic Church, lisan and tara bandu customary rules, MAF (protected areas), the tourism ministry (MTCI) and the local association ASTRABEKA.
- Key challenges (protected-area level): boundary demarcation, coordination between agencies, lack of management and rule enforcement, unclear roles, habitat loss, community tourism training and project continuity.
- Key challenges (trail level): chapel redevelopment, poor basic facilities, trail maintenance and safety, waste and graffiti, sanctuary development, value for money of tourist user fees, and operational funding.
- Four management objectives: (1) review and formally demarcate the protected area’s boundaries; (2) survey socio-cultural and terrestrial assets and land use; (3) agree core values, threats and opportunities; (4) agree combined government operating parameters and management targets for the sanctuary-to-summit trail. Under Decree-Law 5/2016, the plan proposes ASTRABEKA as the seed of a formal Planning and Management Team.
Document details
- Publisher: USAID’s Tourism For All Project (prepared by Chemonics International Inc.)
- Year: 2022
- Language: English
- Pages: 66
- Download: PDF (timorleste.tl)