Ecosystem restoration in Indonesia

Sixty million hectares of Indonesia's forest land is categorised as production forest Picture: Clare Kendall / RSPB-images.com

June 2010: Indonesia's forests, which have been severely diminished by logging and burning in recent decades, have received a boost as the Government of Indonesia doubled the size of the country's first forest for ‘ecosystem restoration'.

Indonesian Forest Minister Zulkifli Hasan announced that he would expand the 52,000 hectare concession held by Burung Indonesia, the RSPB (UK) and BirdLife International in central Sumatra to a total area of 98,000 hectares. The restoration area now equals two-thirds the size of Greater London and is bigger than Singapore.

This welcome news comes as other applications for ‘forest restoration' licences are flowing in to Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry - a sign that the BirdLife consortium's pioneering work has inspired others to follow. In 2009, the Ministry received as many applications for forest restoration licences as it did for logging concessions. Applications for forest restoration totalling a further two million hectares are now being assessed.

Harapan Rainforest is one of the last remaining areas of dry lowland Sumatran forest and is one of the most threatened rainforests in the world. It is home to a host of rare animal and plant species, including the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, of which fewer than 300 remain in the wild. It supports an amazing 55 mammal species, including the globally-threatened Asian elephant and Malayan tapir, as well as the world's rarest stork - the Storm's stork (Ciconia stormi) - and a rich diversity of other wildlife.

Five million trees to be planted

An initial licence of 52,000 hectares was granted to the environmental consortium in 2008, allowing them to protect, nurture and restore the forest in a former logging concession. Burung Indonesia, the RSPB and BirdLife International can boast considerable achievements from the project's first phase, including the creation of 170 ‘green' jobs in forest conservation and a massive programme of planting more than five million trees.

RICH RESOURCE: The Harapan Rainforest is home to a huge variety of wildlife Picture: Clare Kendall / RSPB-images.com

Agus B. Utomo, the Executive Director of Burung Indonesia, said: ‘The Ministry of Forestry had the foresight to create a new form of forest management in 2004 with the "ecosystem restoration" licence. We're delighted that ecosystem restoration is now an integral part of forest management strategies in Indonesia. As a result, Burung Indonesia is already planning to expand our portfolio of ecosystem restoration concessions.'

He added: ‘Sixty million hectares of Indonesia's forest land is categorised as production forest, but much of this - like Harapan Rainforest - has significant density of trees and an amazing richness of biodiversity. It makes sense for our economy and our natural environment to turn such areas of great potential into thriving centres of forest restoration. When such forests are burned or converted to agriculture, it's an invaluable loss to our heritage and the natural resource base that sustains us all.'

Marco Lambertini, Chief Executive of BirdLife International, said: ‘Harapan Rainforest breaks new ground in Indonesia as the first forest for ecosystem restoration and as such, we hope it will act as a model for other, similar initiatives around the country as well as in other countries across the tropics.'