Indonesia's first “Restoration Forest” gives hope to last rainforests in Sumatra

The initiative, planned and pursued for over five years by the coalition of Burung Indonesia, the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK) and BirdLife International, with support from BirdLife Partners, [1] will establish Indonesia’s first “forest ecosystem restoration concession” for the conservation and regeneration of a 101,000 hectares forest block in the lowlands of the island of Sumatra.

The newly named Harapan Rainforest is in an area that was likely to be felled and replaced by plantations for timber or oil palm production. Such plantations clearly have less biodiversity value and extremely limited ecosystem services compared to natural forests. 

The forest is called ‘Harapan Rainforest’ after the Indonesian word for ‘hope’.

The BirdLife International Partnership will put the life back in an area that was previously exploited for timber. They will restore and conserve the native trees, plants and wildlife that remain, and plant many more trees to restore the forest to prime condition.

Sukianto Lusli, Executive Director of Burung Indonesia, said: “We expect big dividends for wildlife as well as for local communities. Sumatra’s lowland forest is already a hotspot for rare wildlife. The restoration of the forest will help prevent forest fires which have been badly affecting local communities as well as the entire region.” 

The forest is home to the Critically Endangered Sumatran Tiger, of which only 100-300 remain in the wild. Around 20 tigers live in Harapan Rainforest. The area is also home to at least 267 bird species, of which 71 are threatened with extinction. Surveys show evidence of Asian Elephants, Malayan Tapir, Sun Bear and two species of gibbon. Many of these species rely on large tracts of undisturbed forest to survive and maintain only a fragile toehold in the remaining forest. [2]

Dave Gandy Storm’s Stork: Harapan Rainforest's most threatened bird. Zoom In | Hi-Res

“We expect big dividends for wildlife as well as for local communities." —Sukianto Lusli , Executive Director of Burung Indonesia

Central Sumatra is home to indigenous people known as the Batin Sembilan people. Many of these people still follow a semi-nomadic lifestyle, harvesting fruits, rattan and honey from the forest. “Now these people have a choice for their future,” Mr Lusli said. “With intact forest remaining, they will have the choice of maintaining their traditional lifestyles. They will also have the option of becoming wildlife monitors or forest wardens, as will other people in the local area. The Harapan Rainforest management will also work with the local government to improve rural livelihood.”

The change in Indonesian law that allows production forest to be allocated for conservation and restoration comes just in time and paves the way for many more of these rehabilitation concessions to be established. Forests in the country have suffered dramatically from forest fires, illegal logging and conversion of natural forests.

Without this effort to secure Harapan Rainforest, the area would almost certainly have been cleared, burned and converted to timber plantations, like surrounding forest lands. [3] Once BirdLife International’s conservation efforts are well underway, the Partnership will protect the forest from illegal logging and allow the trees to regenerate naturally, as well as planting new ones.

Dave Watts Sumatran Tiger: only 100-300 left in the wild. Zoom In | Hi-Res

"We will work towards every success in this initiative, and hope that others follow.” —Marco Lambertini, Director of Network and Programmes, BirdLife International

Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB, said: “It is difficult to express just how significant this breakthrough is. There have been many times in the last five years when our hopes of saving Harapan Rainforest had all but ebbed away.”

“Every part of Harapan Rainforest has been logged to some extent in the last 60 years and some of its species have been staring extinction in the face. But all of the forest can still recover and every single species it hosts now has a toehold on survival.”

Marco Lambertini, Director of Network and Programmes for BirdLife International, said: “Indonesia suffers from some notoriety for its rapid deforestation. However the Harapan Rainforest initiative, and the Indonesian government’s support for it, could mark a turning point for the country’s forests, a new hope for their conservation. Their biodiversity, their role in the mitigation of global warming as well as regulating local climate and preventing floods, make their protection relevant for both the local as well as the global community. We will work towards every success in this initiative, and hope that others follow.” [4]

BirdLife International/Marco Lambertini Work on the initiative by the BirdLife Partnership successfully halted logging in the northern section of the Harapan rainforest in August 2006. Zoom In | Hi-Res

For more information, contact:

PR contact, Burung Indonesia, telephone +62  251 357222  email  hutanharapan@burung.org  (GMT + 7 hours)

Jules Howard, BirdLife International, telephone +44(0)1223 279813, mobile: 07971069098, email jules.howard@birdlife.org

Images:

Images available of:

• Bird species from Harapan Rainforest – Rufous-collared kingfisher, Storm’s stork.
• Logging, encroachment of forest; oil palm plantations.
• Remaining forest.
• Indigenous people of central Sumatra.

To order images, please contact any of the media officer listed above.

Editors’ Notes

[1] BirdLife International is a global Partnership of national grass root conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in their use of natural resources. BirdLife partners operate in over one hundred countries and territories worldwide.

The BirdLife Partners have joined together to protect the forest, which will be managed on a day-to-day basis by an Indonesian company specially created for the purpose: PT Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia.

[2] Harapan Rainforest is extremely rich in wildlife. In the 101,000 hectare area, 267 bird species have been recorded – that’s about as many bird species as breed in the whole of the British Isles. Harapan Rainforest is perhaps most notable for being home to one of the world’s rarest mammals: the Critically Endangered Sumatran Tiger (it has an estimated 20 individuals from a world population of 100-300, although this number is declining). The Sumatran Tiger is one of the remaining sub-species of Asian Tiger – its cousins, the Caspian, Javan and Bali Tigers were driven to extinction in the last century.

Harapan Rainforest supports a wide variety of other wildlife.  Preliminary surveys have already revealed:

•  45 mammal species including a remarkable 7 cat species and 5 primates.
• Of these, several are of conservation concern. The forest has: Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, classified as Endangered by the World Conservation Union, IUCN (www.redlist.org); Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa (recently recognised as a distinct new cat species from the one in mainland Asia), Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca nemestrina, Malayan Porcupine Hystrix brachyura, Sumatran Otter Lutra sumatrana and Malayan Tapir Tapirus indicus, classified as Vulnerable; and Oriental small-Clawed Otter Aonyx cinerea, Near-Threatened.
• Harapan Forest also holds a population of Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus, a threatened species about which we have little data.
• In addition, the forest is home to Long-tailed Macaque M. fascicularis, Silvered Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus cristatus, Banded Langur Presbytis melalophos, Agile Gibbon Hylobates agilis and Pongolin Manis javanica.
• Of the many bird species in the forest, there is one Endangered species, the Storm’s Stork Ciconia stormi and five Vulnerable species: Short-toed Coucal Centropus bengalensis, Large-billed Blue Flycatcher Cyornis caerulatus, Crestless Fireback Lophura erythrophthalma, Wallace’s Hawk Eagle Spizaetus nanus and Large Green Pigeon Treron capelli. There are 65 Near-Threatened species.

Summary of bird conservation importance

• The forest boasts at least 37 amphibian and reptile species, including one that is Endangered (Spiny Turtle Heosemys spinosa) and one that is Vulnerable (Asiatic Softshell Turtle Amyda cartilaginea)
• Preliminary studies revealed a very high density of plants and tree species, including one that is Vulnerable (Bulian Eusideroxylon zwageri) and five that are not globally threatened but are protected under Indonesian law (Balam Palaquim rostratum, Jelutung Dyera costulata, Tembesu Fragrarea fragrans, Surian Toona sinensis and Aren Arenga pinnata).
• The surveys carried out to date have not been exhaustive, BirdLife is confident that it will identify more species in the area. 

[3] Sumatran lowland forests, including Harapan Rainforest, have benefited from a geology and climate that have supported a particularly rich mix of plants and animals. One account (Whitten, Tony et al. Ecology of Sumatra. Hong Kong: Periplus. 1997) calls Sumatran lowland forests the most diverse plant community in the world. Yet their geography makes the forest accessible to loggers and developers. These factors have put the forest under severe threat of destruction.

[4]  Now that BirdLife, working together with Ministry of Forestry, has succeeded in changing Indonesia’s forestry regulation to permit forest restoration in logging concessions, other private management bodies now have the right to apply for similar rights, elsewhere in Indonesia.