Nino Konis Santana National Park

Nino Konis Santana National Park Parque Nacional Nino Konis Santana
IUCN category II (national park)
East Timor with the park at the far eastern tip
Location	East Timor
Nearest city	Tutuala
Coordinates	8°27′00″S 127°20′00″E / 8.45000°S 127.33333°E / -8.45000; 127.33333Coordinates: 8°27′00″S 127°20′00″E / 8.45000°S 127.33333°E / -8.45000; 127.33333
Area	1,236 km2
Established	2007
Governing body	Department of Protected Areas and National Parks, East Timor

The Nino Konis Santana National Park is East Timor's first national park. The park, established on 3 August 2007, covers 1,236 square kilometres (477 sq mi). It links important bird areas such as Lore, Mount Paitchau, Lake Ira Lalaro, and Jaco Island. The park also includes 556 square kilometres (215 sq mi) of the Coral Triangle, an underwater area which supposedly contains the world's greatest diversity of both coral and coral reef fish. Some of the rare birds protected by this park are the critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoo, the endemic Timor green-pigeon, the endangered Timor imperial-pigeon, and the vulnerable Timor sparrow.

The park is named in honor of the independence movement national hero Nino Konis Santana, a former commander of Fretilin, who was born in Tutuala, a village within the borders of the national park.

Part of the park first became a natural conservation reserve during the occupation of the country by Indonesia in the period from 1975-1999. When the country was under the United Nations (UN) Control as United Nations Transitional Administration in Timor Leste (UNTEAT), the same area was declared a “protected wild area” (but combined Tutuala beach and its adjoining forest) in 2000 under Regulation Number 2000/19. The cultural heritage of the five villages and the 15,000 people with their ancient ancestral heritage was made integral to the protected area. It was designated as a Category V Landscape/Sea Scape under IUCN, which considers both nature and culture of the area as one unit for conservation and preservation, and which is akin to the criteria of Cultural Landscapes adopted for UNESCO World Heritage Sites.