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Harapan – Hope for Tiger & Co.
Unique project in the Indonesian rainforest is helping climate and biodiversity
What is Harapan Rainforest?
Harapan Rainforest is located in the
provinces of Jambi and South Sumatra at the
heart of Sumatra in Indonesia. It consists of
parts of two former logging concessions with
a total area of 1,000 square kilometres. The
previous concession holder stopped logging
in 2007.
Harapan Rainforest is a so-called Sundaic dry
lowland rainforest. This type of forest in
ranks amongst the most biologically diverse
on earth, but is also one of the most
threatened. Sumatran dry lowland
rainforests occupied around 16 million ha in
1900. Today a mere 400,000 – 600,000 ha
remain.
Logged over areas such as Harapan
Rainforest are not primary forests any more.
However, it is amazing, how much wildlife
can still hang on in the smaller trees and
undergrowth, and in the rivers that crisscross the rainforest. As a habitat it still has
enormous value, and with tender care can be
restored and become brilliant for wildlife
once again.
Whilst much of Harapan Rainforest is still
good forest, all of it has been logged to
various degrees. Regeneration is generally
good, but some areas will need replanting
and active regeneration at a scale rarely
attempted elsewhere in tropical forest
restoration. In the long-term, the alliance of
conservation organizations wants to restore
Harapan Rainforest as close as possible to its
condition before logging started. This means
conserving the forest which is left and
restoring the forest and ecosystem functions
and its biodiversity value where it is
degraded. This also means providing local
and indigenous communities, who depend
on this forest for their survival, with the
option to use the non-timber forest resources
(collection of e.g. fruits, medicinal plants,
rattan) and to continue their traditional
lifestyle, if they so wish.
Experience on the ground shows that
unmanaged forests disappear at an alarming
rate. There is little doubt, that without the
cooperation of conservation organizations
and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry,
Harapan Rainforest would by now be either
completely destroyed by illegal logging and
conversion, or by legal conversion to either
oil palm or timber plantations for the pulp
and paper industry.
NABU-INFO – Harapan Rainforest
some time yet. To date, we have identified
more than 290 species of birds, including the
Stom´s stork, the world’s rarest stork species.
Furthermore, approximately 20 of the
critically endangered Sumatran tiger have
their home at “Harapan Rainforest”. Only
100-300 of this charismatic species survive in
the wild. Camera traps revealed also pictures
of Malayan tapir, Asiatic wild dog and other
threatened species. We have also found
evidence of Asian elephant, and recently
scientists made two exciting discoveries: they
found a new butterfly species, Tawny Costa
Acraea violae for Sumatra and with Hopea
mengerawan an endemic plant species which
has only been described twice, many years
ago.
Indonesia has more than 10% of the world’s
rainforests. This is one reason why Indonesia
is one of the most biologically rich countries
on Earth. The country leads the world in
number of mammal species (530), and has
more than 37,000 plant species, 1622 (17%)
of the world’s bird species, 520 species of
reptiles, 270 species of amphibians, 1900
species of butterfly, and 1400 freshwater fish
species. If marine and terrestrial species are
combined, then Indonesia ranks as the
world’s most important mega-diverse
country. One out of three species in
Indonesia is endemic i.e. this species can be
found nowhere else in the world. Thus
Indonesia is one of the richest countries in
the world in endemic species.
The critically endangered Storm`s Stork is
living in „Harapan Rainforest“.
When the conservation organizations started
to manage Harapan Rainforest, the site was
under significant threats from forest fires,
illegal logging, illegal encroachment and
poaching. The consortium has significantly
reduced illegal logging by sending forest
patrols out to raise awareness of the project’s
establishment and its aims. We have put up
observation towers to spot forest fires before
they get out of hand und have installed water
tanks and trained staff and local people in fire
fighting. We are working hard with local
communities to start up sustainable
livelihood schemes such as rubber
cultivation, that will take away the need to
illegally damage the forest by logging or
clearing.
It is perverse that many biofuels, such as
those derived from palm oil, are hailed by
many as the solution to climate change.
Consumers would be horrified if they knew
that priceless rainforests habitat is often been
destroyed in the process and that this
destruction can lead to the release of more
damaging carbon into the atmosphere than is
saved from the replacement of fossil fuel.
That's why consumer awareness and pressure
on suppliers is a critical leverage point in
saving tropical forests. NABU and its
Invaluable biodiversity
The inventory of plants and animal species in
Harapan Rainforest will not be completed for
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NABU-INFO – Harapan Rainforest
partners therefore campaign for rigorous
sustainability standards for biofuels to be
imported into Europe and elsewhere.
European transport policies must not drive
rainforest destruction and loss of
biodiversity.
forest. The new licence, which was
introduced in 2004, allows concession
holders to manage the forest for ecosystem
restoration and conservation. This type of
licence is for areas, which have undergone
some form of logging in the past. Some 60
million hectares of Indonesian rainforest is
classified as “Production Forest”, of which up
to 30 million are considered unmanaged and
therefore often converted to oil palm, timber
plantations or agriculture. The Harapan
Rainforest model provides an alternative to
this devastation. Harapan Rainforest is the
first area under the new licence.
Joined forces
Harapan Rainforest is a joint initiative of a
consortium of the Indonesian conservation
organization Burung Indonesia, the British
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB) and BirdLife International, the
world’s largest network of conservation
organisations. NABU is the German Partner
of BirdLife International and has decided to
support Harapan Rainforest through
fundraising, technical advice and promoting
the lessons learned to policy makers.
Harapan Rainforest is a long-term
commitment (the licence is for up to 100
years). Running costs are considerable, at
present approx USD 2 million per year, plus
a similar amount for approx 10 years to
restore the forest. Burung Indonesia, the
RSPB and BirdLife International are
charities, who depend on members’
subscriptions, donations and grants.
Funding for Harapan Rainforest come from
many sources, including members from the
RSPB, and BirdLife Partners in Switzerland,
Belgium, Singapore, Luxembourg, and the
Netherlands. We have received grants from
the European Union, the UK Government
Darwin Initiative, Conservation
International, the British Birdfair, the Italian
Nando Peretti Foundation, and companies in
Japan, Singapore and the UK. With 7.5
Million Euros the German Ministry of
Environment (BMU) International Climate
Initiative is now providing a significant grant,
through KfW.
In order to manage Harapan Rainforest,
Burung Indonesia, RSPB and BirdLife
International have created the non-for-profit
foundation Yayasan Konservasi Ekosistem
Hutan Indonesia (Yayasan KEHI). This
foundation will implement the project
funded by the German Ministry of
Environment (BMU) International Climate
Initiative, through KfW. The foundation
Yayasan KEHI is major shareholder of the
Company “PT Restorasi Ekosistem
Indonesia“ (PT REKI). Object of the venture
is the administration of the forestry
concessions, which can be assigned just to
companies under Indonesian law. Unlike
other companies PT REKI has committed
itself to the condition not to cut the
rainforest, but in contrary to protect it and to
restore the ecosystem for example through
afforestation.
Contact
Thomas Tennhardt, NABU Vice President,
International Affairs; phone: 030030-284984284984-1721;
1721; email:
email:
[email protected]
As part of the Harapan Rainforest initiative,
the consortium, led by Burung Indonesia,
worked with the Indonesian Ministry of
Forestry to introduce a new licence for
Production Forests. Until then, forest
concession holders were obliged to log the
Imprint: NABU-Bundesverband, Charitéstraße 3,
10117 Berlin, www.NABU.de, 03/2010. Text: Dr.
Dieter A. Hoffmann (RSPB), Annika Natus (NABU),
Photo: Hung V. Do;
www.flickr.com/photos/roninstudio
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