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Story Publication logo April 26, 2022

The Leuser Restoration Dilemma through Conservation Partnerships in Southeast Aceh (bahasa Indonesia)

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Image of a mountain in the foreground. There are trees nearby.
English

A former forest encroacher is now a forest recovery actor.

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This story excerpt was translated from bahasa Indonesia. To read the original story in full, visit Mongabay. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website here. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.



Leuser's condition in Southeast Aceh. Image by Yudha Pohan. Indonesia, 2022.

Some residents, former encroachers in the Leuser National Park area, are participating in the conservation partnership program. They were willing to cut down the oil palm plantations they had planted. Unfortunately, their lives after that become harder.  

Some of the other former encroachers are reluctant to cut down their palm oil trees that they have planted in the national park area as they wait to see what happens to the former encroachers who have joined the government program. When they saw that former encroachers who had joined the conservation partnership were experiencing difficulties, other villagers did not want to join the program.

Yashut, the initiator of the formation of a conservation forest farmer group (KTHK) in Darul Hasanah District, Southeast Aceh, said that since KTHK was formed in 2018 involving 760 residents in three villages, support for this program has been minimal and facing a dilemma.


Iskandar, a resident who wants to join conservation partnerships and has cut down oil palm plants that enter the Leuser area. Image by Yudha Pohan. Indonesia, 2022.

The TN Leuser area. Image by Yudha Pohan. Indonesia, 2022.

Badarun, chairman of KTHK in Rambung Teldak Village, Darul Hasanah District, Southeast Aceh. Image by Yudha Pohan. Indonesia, 2022.