Gunung Leuser Ecotourism Development Programme – QUARTERLY REPORT I
July 8, 2011
During the first quarter of 2011 we have seen many developments, including renovations to the Info Corner, local school visits to Bukit Lawang, and the completion of the fourth and final module, Communication, Documentation, and Publication, for the fourth cohort of guides and GLNP rangers as part of our training programme. We also report on developments for the excaptive orangutans Mina and Rada Ria, who have been involved in repeated negative interactions with visitors and guides
A. Training Cohort IV Final Module
The final module, on the topic of ‘Communication, Documentation, and Publication’, was hosted in the OIC’s Community Digital Opportunity Centre (CDOC) in Bukit Lawang, from 11 – 18 February 2011. This module is intended to teach guides how best to document and promote their work, to provide a better visitor experience and enhance their business and livelihoods. As evidenced by this quarter’s visitor questionnaire survey (see Appendix) 27% of visitors rely on internet blogs for information about tourism activities in Bukit Lawang, and 23% rely on word of mouth, so it is important that guides are able to promote their work effectively.
Throughout the week-long course, participants created and developed their own web logs and in some cases new websites 1 to promote their forest treks and local ventures, all highlighting the forest guidelines, which will assist in increasing the number of responsible tours in the forest. Those guides needing assistance in computer literacy were given special attention. The guides who have completed our training course can now professionally market their services to a larger audience, with the power of the internet allowing for past customers to comment on and share their experiences with potential future customers. Examples of new websites created by guides:
- www.jungletribesumatra.com
- www.bukitlawangexplore.com
- www.orangutanexpedition.com
B. Translocation of orangutans
After a number of meetings and discussions regarding the ex-captive orangutans in Bukit Lawang with the various stakeholders (GLNP authority, HPI G
uide Association, local businesses focused on orangutan tourism, SOCP, and the OIC), finally it was decided by the national park authority on 28 January 2011 to translocate Mina and Rada Ria to an area without any marked human presence. We did not expect Rada Ria to be included in the intended translocation, as although he is indeed quite habituated to human presence, he has not been involved in any attacks on visitors. However, due to his lack of fear of humans and propensity to come into contact with them, and with the GLNP rangers claiming that he is starting to show signs of aggression towards them, it is best that he too be moved to a site that does not host any tourism ventures. On 17 February 2011 veterinary staff from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) arrived to capture Mina and Rada Ria and bring them to their quarantine and care centre in Batu Mbelin, North Sumatra, for the required initial health checks and quarantine process, before being moved to a new site. Rada Ria was quickly captured and placed in a transport cage and taken to the quarantine centre without the need of any sedatives, with a GLNP ranger able to easily handle him for the process.
Read full report by downloading the OIC Gunung Leuser Ecotourism Development Programme – Quarterly Report I ( January – March 2011 ) in PDF Version.
OIC GLNP Restoration Performance Report (reduced)
June 25, 2011
Executive Summary
The Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) has been conducting a forest restoration project in the Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP), to undo the damage caused through the large-scale conversion of at least 500 hectares by two relatively small plantation companies operating in the Besitang subdistrict of Langkat district, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Since the programme’s inception in 2007, thus far 254,000 seedlings from 57 indigenous tree species have been cultivated and planted on 236 hectares of degraded national park land. The programme took place in the SPTN VI Sei Betung Resort of the GLNP, in collaboration with the park authority, as well as with KETAPEL (~Farmer Protector’s Group of Leuser), a local community group established as a result of this initiative.
The project aims to bring stakeholders together in an effort to rehabilitate degrade land within the park to manage the replanting of thousands of indigenous tree seedlings. By doing so, there has resulted a significant shifting in the mindset of the local community, regarding conservation issues and the protection of the park, which is also comprises the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra UNESCO World Heritage Site. The programme has resulted in more positive views about the need to sustain and protect the forests from encroachment, not only because the ecosystem has been granted full legal protection by the national government, but also to sustain the valuable ecological services that forests freely provide, which are essential for the daily lives of both wildlife and people. In addition, local people participate in useful training and capacity-building exercises in support of the restoration work, including tree nursery development, improved plantin methodology, planting maintenance, etc., and also they benefit financially through receiving a stipend for programme-related assistance. All of which in addition to helping restore this degraded tract of forest, has already resulted in local communities observing that they are already regaining the natural ecological services, namely a restoration of the local water table and drought resistance, previously lost to forest clearing and monoculture agricultural development.
This report details activities undertaken by the OIC with support from Rainforest Rescue Australia from April 2010 to March 2011. Together with KETAPEL members, 15 hectares of degraded land were planted with 38,015 indigenous seedlings cultivated with the help of local people, in a tree nursery established within the national park replanting site. Furthermore during this period seedling maintenance on 20 hectares of previously planted land was conducted; in addition to monitoring for tree growth progress and the presence of wildlife on the restoration site through transects and the use of camera traps. Awareness raising activities for people living around the project site was also conducted, in order to engage more people in GLNP conservation efforts, with the OIC believing strongly that local communities are key in realising effective, lasting conservation.
Read full report by downloading the OIC GLNP Restoration Performance Report (reduced) in PDF Version.
Oil-Palm Plantation Roadshows Performance Report Final
August 13, 2009
Oil-Palm Plantation Roadshows Performance Report Final
Statement of Need
There is an urgent need for conservation action in order to retain viable wild populations of orangutans. Once widespread throughout the forests of Southeast Asia, they are now confined to two islands in Indonesia and Malaysia, where two genetically distinct species exist: the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and the Bornean orangutan (P. pygmaeus). Between 1950-2000, 40% of Indonesia’s forests were cleared, reducing ground cover to 98 million hectares (FWI/GFW, 2002). Forest cover in Sumatra was reduced by 61% from 1985-1997 due to logging, infrastructure development, internal migration, and plantation development (McConkey, 2005), and there are now less than 900,000 hectares of orangutan habitat left standing on the island, restricted to the northernmost provinces of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra (Singleton et al., 2004). Habitat loss has not been restricted to private land, as vast tracts of the Gunung Leuser National Park, part of the UNESCO “Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra” World Heritage Site, which is also located within the Leuser Ecosystem (considered the last stronghold of the Sumatran orangutan), have also been degraded or converted and lost to plantation agriculture. Populations have declined from an estimated 12,770 in 1994, to an estimated 6,624 in 2008, with the downward trend continuing to this day (Singleton et al., 2004; Wich et al., 2008). Thus the Sumatran orangutan is now classified as Critically Endangered and listed as one of the top 25 most endangered primates in the world (IUCN, 2008).
Introduction
Experts in the field of orangutan conservation agree that the conversion of high conservation value forests to monoculture oil palm plantations is now the most urgent threat to the orangutans’ continued existence in the wild (Buckland, 2005; Nellemann et al., 2007). As land is cleared for development, this can cause wildlife, including orangutans, to be forced into sparse forest fragments with poor resource availability and low carrying capacity (Nellemann et al, 2007), and/or crossing through or becoming isolated on lands developed by humans, which can result in crop-raiding or unintentional crop damage. Perceived as a threat to both the community and profits, these endangered and protected species, flagships for the conservation of rainforests, are considered as pests and are killed or captured and sold into the pet trade (Brown and Jacobson, 2005; Nijman, 2005; Shepherd et al., 2005).
Thus it was the goal of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) to initiate the Plantation Roadshows Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Programme to enhance the engagement of local communities in conservation activities in orangutan habitat areas and stimulate community-led solutions to human-orangutan conflict issues. The acceleration of further plantation development has dramatically increased incidents of direct conflict between humans and orangutans (Yuwono et al, 2007, Husson et al, 2002), resulting in substantial economic losses in areas bordering protected areas (Hill 1997, Naughton-Treves et al, 1998). However the assumption often made by farmers: that orangutans enter plantations in order to raid crops for food, is a misconception, as in actuality it is more likely that due to decreased habitat availability the animals are often obliged to cross through these lands to move between isolated forest fragments.
Executive Summary
The roadshow programme took place in 18 villages adjacent to orangutan habitat located in the Langkat and Pak-Pak Barat districts of the North Sumatra province of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This involved a series of screenings of targeted conservation films focusing on the orangutan and the destruction of its habitat, with the screening and distribution of a specialised conflict mitigation training film for orangutan encounters in plantations. Active and passive techniques to mitigate conflict were also introduced and demonstrated, so that local people better understand the issues and are able to implement the techniques which are safe for both orangutans and people. The roadshow was also accompanied by interactive focus group discussions, the collection of data regarding local communities’ attitudes towards conservation and their environment through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, and complementary outreach activities such as educational exhibitions.
In total 1,694 people participated in the programme, with over 2,500 reached through general education and awareness efforts and materials distributed. It is apparent that those involved in the training were better prepared to coexist with their animal neighbours, through an improved perception of orangutans and also an increased ability to deal with any problems in a humane, nonlethal manner. Also through the more generalized environmental educational aspect of the initiative, they gained better knowledge and awareness about the importance of protecting orangutans and their forest homes.
Read full report by downloading the Oil-Palm Plantation Roadshows Performance Report Final in PDF Version.
Gunung Leuser Ecotourism Development Programme: Progress Report 1
June 17, 2009
During the period of January-March 2009, the Sumatran Orangutan Ecotourism Development Project focused primarily on the preparation and implementation of tour guide training. It is crucial that the guides have a high level of knowledge on the forest, as well as associated conservation issues, so that they can pass on this information to national and international visitors, as well as their local communities.
However, previous to this programme there was very little educational value to the Bukit Lawang (BL) experience, with tourist guides not holding much information themselves on the orangutans and their forest homes. Thus the OIC has initiated a series of training sessions that serve to disseminate and instill effective and ethical interpretive guiding to members of HPI, the local guide association, which administers operating licenses for both Bukit Lawang and the Tangkahan area (a nearby site which also borders the Gunung Leuser National Park, most well-known for hosting an ex-captive Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) population used in forest trekking and tourism, as well as Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) rangers, whom all visitors both foreign and domestic must have accompany them in order to enter the forest.
The training programme itself consists of four modules, covering various issues including:
- 1. Ecotourism;
- 2. Conservation Education Training;
- 3. Search and Rescue / First Aid;
- 4. Publication and Documentation.
This, along with subsequent improved enforcement of national park guidelines will help ensure the health and safety of the orangutans and other wildlife in the park (as well as the visitors themselves), whilst adding to local community knowledge through the capacity building nature of the training. Thereafter they will be better able to serve the tourism industry, resulting in visitors becoming more informed themselves on the orangutan conservation situation, as well as that of rainforests in general.
Without these crucial factors of maintaining responsible visitor/guide behaviour in the forest, as well as imparting education onto those visitors, the site loses any resemblance to an ecotourism destination and instead becomes a wildlife tourism centred operation. Such tourism is not sustainable for wildlife, the GLNP, nor the local community and their livelihoods; thus it is paramount that programmes such as this take place and the region brought up to standard with other great ape ecotourism sites.
For complete information about Gunung Leuser Ecotourism Development Programme: Progress Report 1, please download the report on PDF file.
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