PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY PROTECTINGLEUSERthe ECOSYSTEM A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY CONTENTS 3 Introduction 6 A Landscape of Opportunity 8 Forests Fall Despite Moratorium 12 Conflict Palm Oil Expansion In The Tripa Peatland 14 Biodiversity Hotspot Singkil-Bengkung Under Threat 20 Ancient Northeast Lowland Rainforests Under Threat ABOUT RAN 26 Supply Chain Links To The Leuser Ecosystem 28 Progress By The Big Three Buyers Rainforest Action Network campaigns for the forests, their inhabitants and the natural systems that sustain life by transforming the global 32 Aceh’s Disastrous Spatial Plan marketplace through education, grassroots organizing and non-violent 33 Threats By Other Industries direct action. 34 Key Actions Needed by Influencers and Dealmakers COVER: Forest cover, Singkil-Bengkung region of the Leuser Ecosystem. PHOTO: PAUL HILTON 36 A Global Call To Action ABOVE: Waterfall in the Leuser Ecosystem. 38 References PHOTO: PAUL HILTON 2 PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM | RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK INTRODUCTION We have an opportunity to protect the Leuser Ecosystem. Sumatran orangutan at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme quarantine center. PHOTO: PAUL HILTON Known globally for its biological diversity, and prized locally as Globally we all depend on the Leuser Ecosystem. Its nearly half the core source of life-sustaining clean water, Indonesia’s Leuser a million acres of carbon-rich peatlands and vast areas of Ecosystem is a world-class ecological hotspot which must be rainforests absorb and safely store massive amounts of carbon. protected from destructive activities. The destruction of these forests, the draining and conversion of its peatlands and the setting of fires to clear these areas are drivers Spanning roughly 6.5 million acres (2.6 million hectares) across of climate change. In the face of worsening global warming, it is intact tropical forests and teeming peat swamps in the provinces imperative to keep in place the massive volumes of carbon stored of Aceh and North Sumatra on the island of Sumatra, the inside the trees and soils of the world’s remaining rainforests and Leuser Ecosystem is both a global conservation priority and a the Leuser Ecosystem is no exception. key resource for the communities that live in and around it. This vitally important protected area provides a clean water supply The Leuser Ecosystem is home to some of Southeast Asia’s most on which nearly 5 million people and their livelihoods depend. iconic species and is the last wild habitat area where critically Communities and local agriculture downstream from the Leuser, endangered Sumatran orangutans, elephants, rhinos and tigers namely the coastal communities which comprise roughly 70-75% coexist. These species will be driven closer to extinction in the of Aceh’s population, are dependent on the water supplied by the wild if we do not keep the forests and peatlands of the Leuser ecosystem. For communities that live in or around it, the Leuser’s Ecosystem intact. standing forests help mitigate annual flooding and landslides. Continued destruction would jeopardize the Leuser Ecosystem’s Although the Leuser was aforded legal protection under critical watersheds, resulting in increased deadly environmental Indonesian national law as a National Strategic Area for its disasters and threatening the long-term welfare of Aceh’s people. Environmental Protection Function (under Law No. 26/2007 juncto RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK | PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM 3 Law No. 26/2008), destructive industries continue to expand protecting and restoring the Leuser Ecosystem. This would make into vital areas of the Leuser, threatening its ecological integrity. a major contribution toward securing these carbon stores, and In particular, lowland rainforests inside the Leuser Ecosystem ensuring the survival of endangered species, water supplies, and continue to be bulldozed for Conflict Palm Oil plantations. The livelihoods for local communities. leveling of its forests for more industrial plantations must be stopped. This report is the third in a series of reports that expose the threats to the Leuser Ecosystem and the opportunities to protect it. Earlier The good news is that opportunities are emerging to keep the reports, titled The Last Place on Earth—Exposing the Threats to rainforests of the Leuser Ecosystem standing. There are positive the Leuser Ecosystem: A Global Biodiversity Hotspot Deserving signals coming from the government of Indonesia, including the Protection and The Last Place On Earth: Tracking Progress and recent announcement made by the President of Indonesia to New Opportunities To Protect The Leuser Ecosystem, have raised implement a moratorium on new palm oil and mining permits both the international profile of this region and the demand for its and the country’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas protection. Classified by leading scientists as one of the “world’s emissions, in part by protecting intact areas of forests and most irreplaceable protected areas,” this report profiles the peatlands. These policy initiatives must be paired with meaningful critical locations within the Leuser Ecosystem that remain under action by the world’s biggest brands, in particular the largest immediate threat, exposes the actors that continue to destroy snack food companies, to reform the operations of their suppliers, them despite the Indonesian Government moratorium, and shines the corporate-owned refineries driving and profiting from the a light on the shared responsibility—and opportunity—each of us production of palm oil in the region. If key influencers and decision have to help protect this unique region. makers act together on these eforts, we can be successful in Rhinoceros hornbills in the Kluet peatland, Leuser Ecosystem. PHOTO: PAUL HILTON 4 PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM | RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM LEGEND Leuser Ecosystem District Boundary \ \ \ Peatland Area Remaining lowland rainforest Remaining rainforest > 1,000m RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK | PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM 5 A LANDSCAPE OF OPPORTUNITY It is clear that now is the time for action. For the climate and our collective future, we must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Forest cover in the Singkil-Bengkung region. August 2016. PHOTO: PAUL HILTON The Leuser Ecosystem is a landscape of opportunity. It is one Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia, declared a country-wide of the largest expanses of intact tropical rainforest remaining moratorium on the issuance of new palm oil and mining permits in Southeast Asia, with a rich abundance of species not found in April 2016, which has the potential to limit palm oil expansion elsewhere in the world. There is a strong, devoted movement of in Leuser and other important areas of rainforest and peatlands Acehnese people that has been calling for the protection of the across Indonesia. Shortly after the president’s announcement of Leuser Ecosystem since the 1920s. Original eforts to secure the the moratorium, Siti Nurbaya, Indonesia’s Minister of Environment highest level of legal protection for this incredible landscape and Forestry, together with Acehnese leaders, also declared their were thwarted in 2004, when the boundaries of the Gunung support for the enforcement of the moratorium in the Leuser Leuser National Park and the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Ecosystem and for the government to conduct a review of all Sumatra were established and excluded the Leuser Ecosystem’s permits. In June 2016, the Governor of Aceh, Zaini Abdullah, most valuable lowland rainforests and its forested peatlands. issued a circular letter to all palm oil companies instructing The weaker level of legal protection aforded to these areas has them to cease all forest clearance activities, including in areas resulted in the allocation of licenses for and expansion of Conflict with existing permits. This was supported by the Vice Governor Palm Oil plantations within the Leuser Ecosystem. There is on- of Aceh and a number of district regents (Bupati) and leaders. going clearance of forests, new roads being built for palm oil These civic leaders have worked with several palm oil growers to plantations through the last elephant migratory corridors in the prevent the loss of lowland rainforests in the Leuser, and to remove northeastern lowland rainforests, and deep drainage canals being illegal Conflict Palm Oil plantations which are already in place, dug through the peatlands along Aceh’s west coast, all of which reducing the human-wildlife conflict which inevitably results from could seal the fate of this irreplaceable forest ecosystem if we expansion into critical lowland rainforests. The moratorium is don’t act quickly. being actively monitored by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment 6 PROTECTING THE LEUSER ECOSYSTEM | RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK and Forestry and was most recently re-enforced with the issuance buyers, refiners and traders of palm oil; the global brands that of a Gubernatorial instruction on a moratorium for new palm oil purchase huge quantities of palm oil to use in the manufacturing permits across Aceh on November 3, 2016. of their products; and the transnational banks that fund the palm oil industry alike—to demand an end to the destruction The progress that has been achieved is cause for hope, and this of Indonesia’s forests and peatlands and instead, to invest in increase in political support for the protection of Indonesia’s real, long-term solutions that protect the Leuser Ecosystem and rainforests presents tremendous new opportunities for the Leuser improve community livelihoods. Ecosystem. Earlier eforts to enforce similar moratoriums have failed in part due to pressure from Conflict Palm Oil interests It is clear that now is the time for action. For the climate and our who, to this day, continue to destroy vital areas of the Leuser collective future, we must not let this opportunity slip through our Ecosystem. The key to the current moratorium’s success is fingers. If all actors that value the Leuser Ecosystem work together, action by all supply chain actors—including the growers; the we can secure its protection.