The Aceh Coastal Rehabilitation program has rehabilitated 220 hectares (nearly 544 acres) of mangrove swamp. CI Indonesia planted 230 thousand mangrove seedlings of the species Rizhopora mucronata and Rizhopora apiculata along the coastal areas near Desa Deyah Raya village. By the end of the project, about 80 percent of the mangroves in the nursery were surviving successfully.

IN PHOTOS: Mangrove Restoration in Banda Aceh

In addition to the mangrove nursery, CI Indonesia helped establish a village shrimp growers group called Kelompok Tambak Deyah Raya. The group signed a partnership agreement to help 30 fishery owners grow organic shrimp as a source of income to assist their economic recovery after the tsunami disaster.

Batang Toru Forest Range & Batang Gadis National Park

In the Batang Toru watershed and surrounding areas, a CI education and awareness campaign is targeting groups both in the public schools at the elementary and primary levels, as well as the local public. The main topics of discussion focus on the key role of orangutans and tigers in maintaining the balance and health of the rivers in the watershed.

Several villages near the Batang Toru forest are now encouraging community participation and sharing responsibility for protecting the Batang Toru forest cover. These villages have taken leadership in guarding orangutan habitat in the southern part of the forest by focusing on protecting the natural richness of Batang Toru.

CI Indonesia has also been involved in Batang Gadis National Park, another important conservation area in the southwestern part of the North Sumatra Province, since it was first declared a park in 2004. Here CI works with local communities to make sure they are aware of the national park’s boundaries and monitors key areas in the park with camera traps.

CORRIDORS

Northern Sumatra Corridor

The Northern Sumatran Corridor (NSC) stretches out over more than 100km (62 miles) along the Bukit Barisan mountain range. The area includes four major ecosystems: Seulawah, Leuser, the Western Toba Watershed and the Angkola ecosystem, which cover 1.8 million hectares (nearly 7,000 square miles) in North Sumatra and Nangroe Aceh Darussalam Provinces.

CI’s NSC program supports local communities in their efforts to protect orangutan habitat in the forests of Batang Toru, and a biodiversity monitoring program run by CI program managers to identify the species richness of the area. Endangered species such as the Serow (Capricornis sumatrenis), Asiatic golden cat (Pardofalis temminckii), banded linsang (Prionodon linsang), and porcupine (Hystrix sumatranus) have been identified.

Conservation International furthered NSC protection efforts by encouraging the local governments to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Conservation International Indonesia and the regency of Southern Tapanuli. The MoU declares that the Batang Toru and Rawa Siondop areas are included as a part of the Grand Forest Park conservation area category.


Gedepahala Corridor

Since 2003, CI Indonesia has initiated various rehabilitation and restoration approaches in the Gunung Gede Pangrango area. The “Green Wall” ecosystem rehabilitation plan has successfully partnered with local communities to replant native trees, as well as economically valuable trees in order to ensure their benefit from these natural resources.

IN DEPTH: Learn more about the Green Wall project.

CI has scaled up the restoration and rehabilitation programs in Gunung Gede National Park, and added the Gunung Halimun and Gunung Salak (Gedepahala) areas, to the Gedepahala Corridor strategic plan. This ambitious program aims to rehabilitate nearly 10 thousand hectares (almost 25,000 acres) of degraded land in these national parks, and emphasizes working in partnership with the surrounding communities. The program also includes a tree adoption commitment to plant native trees and maintain them for up to three years.

Mamberamo Corridor

By 2011, CI Indonesia will establish the 4.5 million-hectare (over 17,000 square miles) Mamberamo Conservation Corridor within the Mamberamo Catchment, which will connect the four established national protected areas (Rouffaer, Foja/Mamberamo, Jayawijaya and Lorentz) by linking indigenous forest reserves. CI has worked to map the local resource use by communities, sacred areas and traditional conservation zones. The mapped area covers approximately 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres), half of which is considered traditional conservation forest by local communities.

LEARN MORE: Follow along with scientists on an expedition to the Mamberamo region.