Surfbirds News: BirdLife International Archives
Indonesia's first “Restoration Forest” gives hope to last rainforests in Sumatra
Following a major change in forestry law in Indonesia, a ground-breaking initiative to protect and restore an area of Sumatra’s remaining dry lowland rainforest has now been made possible.
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, 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.
Storm's Stork, Harapan Rainforest's most threatened bird copyright Rob Hutchinson
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. |
