Mahalona Lake is located in Towuti District, East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi Province. Geographically, this lake is centered at 121°29’S – 2°36’E and administratively, is a conservation area for the Nature Tourism Park (TWA) of Mahalona Lake.
Lake Mahalona and its catchment area are important for global biodiversity, having qualified as a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) which is defined as: “a site that contributes significantly to the sustainability of global biodiversity”, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Furthermore, Lake Mahalona and
its catchment area are identified as an Alliance for Zero Extinction Site (AZE) which is defined as “a site that contributes effectively to the entire global population area of Critically Endangered or Endangered species (IUCN, 2016). The species in Lake Mahalona meeting the criterion A1e are the ones that make the site an AZE site presented in the table below.