Replanting Rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia

Thanks to your generous support, hundreds of thousands of tree seedlings have now been planted on over 200 hectares of damaged orangutan habitat in Northern Sumatra. A group of local farmers have been managing the project, and are now proud guardians of the Leuser forests, the last stronghold for the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, along with countless other endangered and endemic species which share their rainforest home. There was a small setback when a herd of wild elephants passed through the replanting site on their migration route - but this just goes to show how important this area is for so many species, and planting was able to continue once the elephants had moved on. And the silver lining is that elephant dung makes an excellent natural fertiliser for the newly planted seedlings! Thanks to our education and outreach programme in the region, the communities living on the edge of these critical forests now have a deeper understanding of the ecological services that rainforests provide, and the ways that these benefit millions of people every day. This is the first step to fostering conservation action - and indeed the local people have sprung into action to save their forests.

Links:

• Watch a short film about our restoration work
• Find out about our other projects
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