Talaud Islands Regency

The Talaud Islands Regency (Kabupaten Kepulauan Talaud) is a regency of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The Talaud Islands form an archipelago situated to the northeast of the Minahasa Peninsula, with a land area of 1,251.02 km2. It had a population of 83,434 at the 2010 Census, increasing to 94,521 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 97,312 (comprising 50,061 males and 47,251 females).

The largest island is Karakelong, on which lies the regency seat in the town of Melonguane. To its south lie the islands of Salibabu and Kabaruan, while the Nanusa group of 7 small islands lies to the northeast of Karakelong, and Miangas island is situated midway between Karakelong and the Philippines. It is one of the three regencies to the north of North Sulawesi that are located between Sulawesi and the Philippines, along with the Sitaro Islands Regency and Sangihe Islands Regency; originally these formed a single regency, but on 10 April 2002 the Talaud Islands were split off to form their own Regency.

The island of Miangas is the most northerly in the regency and is widely regarded as the northernmost point of Indonesia. As a result, it is often referenced to describe the territorial integrity of Indonesia in various patriotic statements and songs together with Sabang, Merauke, and Rote Island (respectively the most western, most eastern and most southern points in Indonesia).

History
The islands were known as Maleon, Sinduane, Tamarongge, Batunampato, and Tinonda. Human settlements in the region have been present since prehistoric times, as shown by several artifacts of hand axe and chopper from 6,000 BC. There were also remains of chinaware, suggesting there had been continuous trading activity between the natives of the islands and the outside world.

It was thought that inhabitants of the island originated from Southern Philippines especially Mindanao and also traders from Ternate.

Geography


Grouping Talaud with the Sangihe Islands and Sitaro regencies, there are 77 islands in the Talaud-Sangihe archipelagos, of which 56 are inhabited. Compared with the Sangihe archipelago, the islands are low-lying and forested, with hills rising to 2,231 feet (680 metres). The coast of Karakelong Island is steep except on the southern shore, which is fringed by a wide reef.

The region is regularly rocked by large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as the Molucca Sea Plate is being consumed in both directions. A notable earthquake was the 2009 Talaud Islands earthquake, which was felt in the Philippines as well.

Governance
The Regency is divided into nineteen districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as of mid-2022. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 142 rural desa and 11 urban kelurahan), and its postcode.

Notes: (a) including 3 kelurahan - Lirung, Lirung I and Lirung Matane. (b) including 3 kelurahan - Melonguane, Melonguane Barat and Melonguane Timur. (c) including 3 kelurahan - Beo, Beo Barat and Beo Timur. (d) including 2 kelurahan - Makatara and Makatara Timur. (e) comprising the 7 Nanusa Islands.

Economy
The regency's GRDP was valued at 2,266 billion rupiahs in 2020, an increase of 59 billion rupiahs from the previous year. The regency's economy is still dominated by agriculture, fishing, and forestry-related industries. The agriculture sector alone made up 42.57% of the regency's GRDP. The second biggest sector in the regency was trade and retail, which made up 13.22% of the regency's GRDP in 2020. Other significant sectors are construction with a contribution of 11.64%, administration, and social security with 11.58%, and transportation with 4.50%. The overall economic growth of the regency was 4.69% in 2019 but then declined to 0.43% in 2020.



The fastest growing sector in the regency in 2020 was electricity and gas with a growth of 9.14%, followed by the health sector with a growth of 8.93%, insurance, and financial services with 7.55%, and the information and communication sector with 7.01%. The food services sector experienced a sharp decline of 9.03% in the same year, while the transportation sector also declined 5.34% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were 1,635 registered merchants classified as small-scale businesses, while 26 merchant business were classified as medium-sized as of 2020. In addition, there are 150 registered cooperatives on the same year in the regency. Leading agriculture product from the regency is banana, with output of 34,384 quintals in 2020. Other fruit produced by the regency is mango with 913 quintals, durian with 509 quintals, papaya with 9,046 quintals, and salak with 297 quintals. Other than banana, coconut is also a major cash crop in the regency which coconut plantation occupied 22,146 hectares of land as of 2020. The production of coconut in 2020 was 19,185 tons, followed by nutmeg production of 4,113 tons. There's also significant chili production which results in 59,917 tons as of 2020.

People and culture


The population of the Talaud Islands was 97,312 according to the mid-2023 official estimates. The total population of the Talaud, Sangihe and Sitaro Islands combined was 310,809 in mid 2023.

Most of the population are involved in agriculture, which includes coconuts, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, ebony and ironwood as well as copra and sago. Numerous volcanoes produce very fertile volcanic soil on many of the islands. Fishing is an important aspect of Talaud's livelihood, culture and economy.

The Austronesian Talaud language is spoken on the islands by the native ethnic group, the Talaud.

Christianity is the majority religion of the islands (Protestantism). There is a significant Muslim minority community also.

Biodiversity
The Talaud Islands are a hotspot of endemism and zoological diversity, and are situated in the Sulawesi lowland rain forests ecoregion.

Endemic mammals include the endangered Talaud flying fox (Acerodon humilis), the critically endangered Talaud bear cuscus (Ailurops melanotis), the endangered Short-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys caurinus), and the endangered Long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys talaudium). Birds endemic to the Talaud Islands include the vulnerable Talaud bush-hen (Amaurornis magnirostris), the endangered Talaud rail (Gymnocrex talaudensis), the near-threatened Talaud kingfisher (Todiramphus enigma), and the vulnerable Red-and-blue lory (Eos histrio), which formerly lived across the Talaud and Sangihe islands, now restricted only to Karakelang. The Talaud black birdwing (Troides dohertyi) is a butterfly endemic to the Sangihe and Talaud Islands.

Sangihe and Talaud were largely deforested by 1920, and there is minimal natural forest remaining on these islands. A survey has been proposed to determine appropriate locations for additional protected areas around the remaining forest (Stattersfield et al. 1998). There is a Wildlife Reserve on Karakelong [246.69 km2 (95.25 miles2)].

Education
There are 74 kindergartens, 117 elementary schools, 43 junior high schools, and 24 senior high schools, in addition of 13 vocational high schools. Of the 24 senior high schools, five of them are Christian senior high schools (SMAK) which are administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs instead of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.

There's only one college in the regency, Rajawali Computer Science College which is private. It was established after the MoU between the regency government and IPB University in 2006. The main campus was previously located in a temporary location in Melonguane town, but later relocated to town of Beo in 2011 where the newly built campus complex was located.

Healthcare
There are two main hospitals, 42 Puskesmas, and six registered pharmacies in the regency; 17 Puskesmas have inpatient care. There are also 153 healthcare centers in the regency as of 2020. Talaud Regional Hospital, which is the main hospital of the regency, is located at the town of Melonguane and classified by Ministry of Health as C-class hospital. The other hospital is located at town of Gemeh, is RSB Gemeh Talaud which has smaller building and classified as D-class hospital.

Transportation


Total length of road in the regency as of 2020 was 470.771 kilometers out of which 265.44 kilometers are sealed with asphalt and 38.147 kilometers were gravel surface. Almost half of the roads are under the authority of the regency government, while the other half are under the authority of the province. Only 66.05 kilometers are under direct authority of the central government. The main port in the regency is Melonguane Port, located in the town of Melonguane. It is connected to other smaller ports scattered around the regency as well as big ports in mainland Sulawesi by Sea Toll Program. In addition, the Melonguane Port also host an Indonesian Navy naval base.

The regency is mainly served by Melangguane Airport, which has regular flight to Manado. There's also recently built Miangas Airport serving the island of Miangas which has flights to Manado and also Melonguane. It is one of the most remote airports in Indonesia and was inaugurated by Joko Widodo in 2017. As of 2021, there's one proposed airport that would be built in Marampit, which has been approved by Ministry of National Development Planning.