location: Leuser

location: Leuser

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Indonesia’s Farwiza Farhan among Ramon Magsaysay awardees for protecting Leuser Ecosystem
- Indonesian conservationist Farwiza Farhan says she was moved to tears upon learning she’d been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, recognizing her work in protecting the Leuser Ecosystem.
- As the founder of the conservation NGO HAkA, she was instrumental in securing a $26 million court fine against a palm oil company and halting a dam project threatening the Leuser Ecosystem, a key biodiversity hotspot in northern Sumatra.
- The award also highlights her efforts to overcome gender-based discrimination and involve women in conservation activities in the most staunchly conservative province in Indonesia.
- Farwiza said she plans to continue her work by developing a conservation school in Leuser.

Hold my ointment: Wild orangutan observed healing wound with medicinal plant
- Researchers observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a facial wound with a plant known for its healing properties, marking the first documented case of such behavior in a wild animal.
- The adult male Sumatran orangutan was observed chewing on the plant Fibraurea tinctoria, which has pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects, and rubbing the resultant ointment on the wound, which later healed without infection.
- This finding supports the idea that orangutans might self-medicate, demonstrating their cognitive abilities and drawing parallels to human practices.
- Conservationists have welcomed the finding, highlighting its significance for understanding forest biodiversity and the urgency of protecting orangutan habitat amid declining populations and persistent threats.

Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation
- A new study from Indonesia’s Leuser forests challenges the traditional use of charismatic “umbrella species” like tigers and rhinos to represent ecosystem biodiversity.
- Researchers found that focusing on these well-known species neglects other important wildlife and may not accurately represent overall biodiversity.
- Instead, the study proposes a data-driven approach using camera-trap data to identify the most suitable umbrella species based on their association with higher levels of community occupancy and diversity.
- The study identified the sambar deer and Sunda clouded leopard as better umbrella species than tigers and rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive approach to wildlife conservation that includes multiple species, not just the most charismatic ones.

Palm oil deforestation persists in Indonesia’s Leuser amid new mills, plantations
- Deforestation for palm oil persists in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, including inside a national park that’s supposed to be off-limits to plantation activity, a new investigation has found.
- The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) characterizes the current deforestation trend as a “death by a thousand cuts,” with a large number of small operators hacking away at the ecosystem, in contrast to past deforestation carried out by a small number of large concession holders.
- RAN’s investigation also identified two new palm oil processing mills near the deforesting concessions, indicating that the presence of the mills, which need a constant supply of palm fruit, may be a driver of the ongoing deforestation.
- There’s a high risk that mills in the area may ultimately be supplying deforestation-linked palm oil to major global consumer products companies, including those with stated no-deforestation policies.

Burn now, pay later: Fines trickle in from Indonesia’s crackdown on forest fires
- Ten years since a landmark lawsuit over forest fires, the palm oil company at the center of the case has finally begun paying its $23 million fine in installments.
- The case against PT Kallista Alam (KA) was supposed to set an example for how the government is cracking down on companies that allow burning in their concessions, but has instead highlighted the difficulty of collecting on the fines.
- KA has paid just $3.6 million of its total fine, and despite a 2021 regulation barring fine payments in installments, the company has been allowed to stagger its payments over time.
- The company is one of 22 sued by the government since 2013 for fires; 14 of these have been found liable and ordered to pay a combined 5.6 trillion rupiah ($353 million), but only one has paid in full.

Palm oil producer mired in legal troubles still razing Sumatran forest
- A palm oil company has resumed clearing forest in its concession in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, the only place on Earth where tigers, orangutans and rhinos coexist.
- Analysis of satellite imagery by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) shows the company, PT Cemerlang Abadi (CA), cleared 309 hectares (761 acres) of secondary and regenerating forests between September 2021 and February 2022.
- RAN says it’s possible that palm oil from trees grown on this deforested land may have entered the global supply chain, as CA isn’t blacklisted by any of the major brands or traders that buy palm oil.

More coffee, less gold: Sumatra farmers alarmed over revival of mine project
- A recent stock exchange filing indicates that a gold mining project in Sumatra’s Gayo Highlands may soon be revived after being stalled due to popular opposition.
- The Linge Abong concession also overlaps onto the Leuser Ecosystem, the largest remaining swath of intact rainforest in Sumatra, and home to critically endangered tigers, orangutans, rhinos and elephants.
- Farming communities here who grow the world-renowned Aceh Gayo coffee, and who would be directly affected by the mine, have called on the authorities to shut down the project for good.
- “A lot of people live and prosper from Gayo coffee. Don’t let the lives they’ve built off of coffee farming be destroyed just for the sake of gold mining,” said a village head.

Groups welcome decline in deforestation in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem
- Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem experienced a decline in deforestation in 2021, after an increase in forest loss in 2020 linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a satellite analysis by local forest watchdog HAkA.
- Leuser, known for being the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans coexist, lost 4,472 hectares (11,051 acres) of its forests as of November 2021, compared to 7,331 hectares (18,115 acres) in 2020.
- Conservationists attribute the decline to an increase in monitoring efforts as well as greater scrutiny of palm oil producers operating in the landscape, by brands and buyers with zero-deforestation commitments.
- Despite the drop in deforestation, experts warn against complacency, noting that forest clearing is still taking place inside oil palm concessions, and areas of primary forest are still zoned for production, which means they can still be legally cleared.

Work starts on new sanctuary for captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos
- Indonesian conservation authorities have started building a new sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos in the Leuser Ecosystem on the northern tip of Sumatra.
- The facility will be the third in a network of Sumatran Rhino Sanctuaries (SRS), joining the Way Kambas SRS in southern Sumatra and the Kelian SRS in Indonesian Borneo.
- Conservationists plan to capture at least five rhinos from the wild in Leuser and move them to the new SRS as part of a captive-breeding program that’s seen as the best option for staving off the species’ extinction.
- There area currently seven rhinos at the Way Kambas SRS and one at the Kelian facility; in the wild, there are believed to be just 30-80 Sumatran rhinos left, all of them on Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands.

Captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos: Where the program stands today
- In a series of video interviews, Mongabay speaks with Sumatran rhino experts to get up-to-date information on efforts to breed the species in captivity.
- The interviews focus on three locations that host the vast majority of Sumatran rhinos, whose entire population is believed to number no more than 80.
- The interviews reveal fears stemming from the dire state of the species, as well as optimism that officials and conservationists are finally working with united purpose to keep the species from sliding into extinction.

Deforestation of orangutan habitat feeds global palm oil demand, report shows
- Palm oil giant Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) has allegedly sourced the commodity from a plantation responsible for deforesting prime orangutan habitat in Sumatra, which would constitute a violation of the group’s no deforestation and no peatland destruction policies.
- An investigation by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) detected deforestation within the plantation operator’s concession in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, home to some of the rarest species on Earth.
- According to the investigation, palm oil from the concession ended up in RGE’s supply chain, and subsequently the global market; RGE is a key supplier to major brands like Unilever, Kao, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Mondelēz, Nestlé and Colgate-Palmolive.
- RGE’s palm oil arm, APICAL, said it had put a monitoring system in place and carried out risk engagement and supplier engagement measures in its supply chain, but RAN said these efforts were not enough as deforestation-tainted palm oil from the Leuser Ecosystem was still ending up in its supply chain.

Never too late to save Earth: Q&A with Leuser forest guardian Rudi Putra
- The Leuser Ecosystem is a protected tropical rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, boasting 10,000 species of plants and 200 species of mammals, dozens of them found nowhere else on Earth.
- For 20 years, Rudi Putra has been working on saving this ecosystem which covers nearly 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles) and is home to the Sumatran rhino, tiger, elephant and orangutan.
- Rudi’s efforts to save Leuser includes reforestation of illegal oil palm plantations, for which he was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2014.

Video: Doomed or viable? Sumatran rhino captive breeding faces a dilemma
- A new animated short film from Mongabay, illustrated by artist Roger Peet, depicts one of the most urgent questions facing experts trying to save the Sumatran rhino from extinction.
- With no more than 80 Sumatran rhinos left on Earth, many of them isolated into groups too small to be viable, the species’ natural birthrate is so low that experts have reached a consensus that human intervention is necessary to stave off extinction.
- The question now is which rhinos to capture: Isolated ones are less likely to be healthy and fertile, but removing rhinos from populations that are still breeding in the wild could risk the survival of these last few viable groups.

Snare traps decline, but still pose a threat to Leuser’s Sumatran rhinos
- The number of wire snares being found in Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem has declined in recent years, but the traps continue to pose a severe threat to the region’s critically endangered rhinos.
- Poachers set the snares to catch anything ranging from wild boars for bushmeat to trophy animals — including the native Sumatran rhinos, elephants and tigers.
- Increased patrols have managed to reduce the numbers of snares found in Leuser, from 1,069 in 2016 to 241 in 2019.
- Conservationists say the Indonesian government must crack down harder on the entire supply chain of the illegal trade in Sumatran rhino parts, from poachers to buyers overseas.

Planned road projects threaten Sumatran rhino habitat, experts say
- Authorities in the Indonesian province of Aceh are planning 12 road-building projects through 2022, some of which will cut through the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran rhinos.
- The species is already under threat from forest fragmentation, which has isolated rhino subpopulations and led to the biggest threat to the animal: the inability to find other rhinos to mate with.
- Conservationists have called for full protection of the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh to safeguard the rhinos’ habitat from the road projects.
- But even in a protected part of the ecosystem, Gunung Leuser National Park, deforestation is already taking place on the fringes.

Palm oil from Indonesian grower that burned forest is still being sold
- An investigation by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) shows that palm oil from PT Kallista Alam, a company in Sumatra, entered the global supply chain and may have ended up in products made by Nestlé and Mars.
- The company was largely blackballed by buyers with sustainability commitments after a 2012 fire on its concession razed 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of pristine lowland rainforest that’s home to critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.
- An “oversight” in the second half of 2019 led to its crude palm oil being bought by a refinery run by the Permata Hijau Group, a top Indonesian palm oil processor that supplies commodities giant Cargill.
- Cargill, in turn, sells palm oil to multinational brands including Nestlé and Mars; RAN has called on the latter two companies to explicitly issue a no-buy order to their suppliers for Kallista Alam’s palm oil.

Poaching in Indonesia’s biodiverse Leuser Ecosystem on the rise amid COVID-19
- Poaching is on the rise in the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, the last place on Earth that’s home to rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants.
- Conservationists say the illegal hunting appears to be by locals targeting wildlife for food, and not for the trade in animal parts or pets that typically target the more exotic species.
- They attribute the increase to economic hardship faced by local communities amid shutdowns imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The pandemic response has also halted patrols in Leuser, with ranger teams unable to mobilize as normal.

Indonesian court cancels dam project in last stronghold of tigers, rhinos
- A court in Indonesia’s Aceh province has ordered an end to a planned hydroelectric project in Sumatra’s unique Leuser Ecosystem.
- Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Aceh government and the dam’s developer earlier this year over potential environmental destruction and violation of zoning laws.
- The area is the last place on Earth that’s home to wild tigers, rhinos, orangutans and elephants — all critically endangered species whose habitat would be flooded and fragmented by the dam and its roads and power lines.
- Villagers in the region were also widely opposed to the project, which they say would have dammed up the river on which they depend and forced them to relocate to make way for the reservoir.

Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem
- A third captive-breeding sanctuary for the nearly extinct Sumatran rhino is set to be built in Indonesia, according to a top official.
- The facility, scheduled to open in 2021, will be located within the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, home to what’s believed to be one of the largest populations of the critically endangered species.
- Global and local rhino conservation groups have welcomed the plan and pledge to help with financial and technical support for the new facility.
- Indonesia currently has two captive-breeding centers for the rhinos: in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park, which holds seven rhinos, and Borneo’s Kelian forest, which has a single rhino.

Rare rhino’s death should light a fire under Indonesia (commentary)
- Tam died on Monday, likely from old age, after living in captivity for 11 years.
- Tam never bred in captivity despite repeated attempts with captive females.
- Tam represented hope when he was captured – today he represents the need to move aggressively on measures to save his species.
- This post is part of “Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild,” a monthly column by Jeremy Hance, one of Mongabay’s original staff writers.

Poachers blamed in second Sumatran elephant death this year
- Forest rangers in northern Sumatra have found one of their patrol elephants dead and missing a tusk inside a protected forest.
- Authorities have cited poisoning by poachers as the cause of death, making it the second such poaching-related elephant killing in Sumatra this year.
- The local conservation agency has called on law enforcers to bring the perpetrators to justice, but past cases suggest this will be slow in coming.

Mining project in Leuser Ecosystem no longer has a valid permit
- The mining permit of a company engaged in a long-running conflict with Aceh villagers has expired.
- Because the company failed to file paperwork on time, the Indonesian government has rejected the company’s request to extend the permit.
- Without a permit, the company cannot legally continue to operate in its concession.

As Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem faces multiple threats, local resistance grows
- Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem covers 2.6 million hectares and is home to some 105 mammal and 382 bird species, many found nowhere else on earth.
- The ecosystem is part of a World Heritage Site that has been listed as “In Danger” since 2011 — a designation that was renewed earlier this month.
- The local government’s plans for the ecosystem include large hydroelectric dams. Deforestation and encroachment for palm oil and pulp and paper production are also major problems for the Leuser.
- Local NGOs and community groups are speaking out against large-scale projects in the ecosystem, citing threats to the area’s human residents as well as to wildlife.

Local NGOs: Ecosystem services, not orangutans, key to saving Leuser
- Sumatra’s Leuser ecosystem covers 2.6 million hectares, encompasses two mountain ranges, three lakes, nine river systems and three national parks. It boasts 10,000 species of plant and 200 species of mammal — dozens found nowhere else on earth. Of the 6,000 orangutans left in Sumatra, 90 percent live in Leuser.
- But the region has been under siege by the government of Aceh, which has repeatedly tried to sell off concessions to oil palm companies that encroach on the borders of conserved lands.
- While international environmental NGOs have focused on saving Leuser’s orangutans, local NGOs have had far more success focusing on the US $23 billion in ecosystem services provided by the preserve — including flood prevention, water supply, agro-ecology, tourism, fire prevention, carbon sequestration, and more.
- Many rural Sumatrans see orangutans not as important endangered species to be protected, but rather as garden and farm pests. Local organizers like Rudi Putra and T.M. Zulfikar are building a homegrown Sumatran conservation movement that relies heavily on litigation over the potential loss of Leuser’s ecosystem services.

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