Harapan Rainforest

The Harapan Rainforest initiative is Indonesia’s first official forest for ‘ecosystem restoration’. A unique global partnership led by Burung Indonesia, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Birdlife International aims to create a bright future for the forest, its wildlife and people by linking local communities, national conservation organisations and government. Also to protect, restore and sustain 101,000 hectares of dry lowland rainforest habitat in Sumatra and provide a restoration model to help and encourage similar initiatives in Indonesia and elsewhere. Harapan Rainforest is located on the island of Sumatra. The 101,000 hectares of dry lowland forest straddles the border of South Sumatra and Jambi province. The dry lowland rainforests of Sumatra are among the most biologically diverse yet most critically threatened habitats on earth. From an estimated 16 million hectares in 1900 there now remains only 500,000 hectares. The Harapan Rainforest site represents 20% of the remaining dry lowland forest in Sumatra.