Clere River

The Clere River protected landscape (Sungai Clere) lies on the south coast of Timor-Leste in Manufahi Municipality, about 75 km southeast of Dili. It is a mosaic of dry forest, freshwater swamp forest, grassland and the roughly 1,000 hectare Lake Modo Mahut, and covers about 423 km²^[1].

BirdLife International designated the site an Important Bird Area for 26 species, including the Timor green-pigeon, pink-headed imperial-pigeon, yellow-crested cockatoo, olive-headed lorikeet, iris lorikeet, Timor sparrow and Timor blue-flycatcher^[1]. Large numbers of waterbirds use Lake Modo Mahut.

A band of seasonally flooded coastal swamp forest dominated by Canarium trees runs along the coast, with secondary dry forest and savannah grassland much of it converted from alluvial forest^[1].

The area is low-lying coastal plain, with a freshwater lake of about 10 km² at Modo Mahut and alluvial land.

Timor has a tropical monsoon climate with a wet season and a dry season.

Village communities have converted much of the lowland alluvial forest to ricefields, dryland crops and settlement over the past two decades.

Part of the site was gazetted as a protected area in 1996, and it was later listed as a protected landscape under the 2016 national law^[2].

Lake Modo Mahut is the main feature, an internationally important wetland on the eastern coastline of Manufahi.

The area is in Manufahi Municipality on the south coast, about 75 km southeast of Dili^[1].

Conversion of lowland forest for agriculture and village expansion is the major concern.