Protecting Rainforests for Wild Orangutans

One of our partner organisations, Nature for Change, helps create income streams for farmers by enabling them to plant fruit trees with high-value crops so that they don't need to take timber from the forest to earn money. In addition to this, they are also encouraging goat and duck farming. Darma, Nature for Change's founder, has donated the land behind his house so that members of the local community can keep their goats and ducks there and eventually benefit from the income they get from selling milk and eggs.

But what does this have to do with conserving intact forests?

When farmers have just one or two food crops or agricultural products, their income is at higher risk. Producing a wider range of crops or products – known as agricultural diversification – provides farmers with a more stable income and better living standards, and enables sustainable use of natural resources.

In the context of conserving intact forest for orangutans and other species, providing farmers around the Leuser buffer zone with a diverse range of income streams means they are less likely to need to fall back on logging or on expanding their fields into the forest.

Thank you for continuing to support this vital work.

People around the world recently celebrated World Wildlife Day. This year's theme was "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet", chosen by the UN as a chance to highlight the vital role of forests and forest species in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world - especially indigenous people or those who live locally to forests.

For the SOS team, it's an especially significant theme as it also encourages the celebration of conservation models which consider humans and their wellbeing alongside the protection of forests and forest wildlife. 

Led by our Conservation Director, Koen, we are currently working on our conservation strategy for 2021 onwards, and while we have always championed projects which involve communities, the links between forests and people will be even more central to our new plans. Forest loss continues in some parts of Sumatra and is driven by factors including food insecurity, so we know that analysing this and working to improve it is vital if we are to keep conserving intact rainforests and making sure they have a long-term future. 

I look forward to sharing more detail about our strategy and the projects it feeds into throughout 2021. Thank you for all the support you give us. You are keeping rainforests safe.