National Project Manager - Tigers

 

Indonesia has a strong policy framework for managing, conserving and protecting its biodiversity and forest resources. The government is a signatory to the CBD, CITES, the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and National Heritage and the Ramsar Convention. Regional commitments have also been made with ten provincial governors in Sumatera through signing a joint declaration with the Ministry of Forestry at the 2008 IUCN World Conservation Congress to restore critical ecosystems and protect areas of high conservation value. Commitments have also been made for individual species, such as the signing of the St. Petersburg Declaration on tigers and participation in the Global Tiger Recovery Programme. To achieve these commitments, nearly 20% of Indonesian territory is under some form of protection, with 12% covered by core protected area zones, with both values substantially higher than global averages.

 

Transforming Effectiveness of Biodiversity Conservation in Priority Sumatran Landscapes or Sumatran Tiger project is a GEF funded project that is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) and supported by UNDP. It is designed to enhance effective management of a wide-ranging protected area network system for Sumatra that covers 4.52 million ha. This includes some of Asia’s largest protected areas, such as Kerinci Seblat National Park (1.39 million ha) and Gunung Leuser National Park (1.01 million ha), which have been shown to significantly lower deforestation rates against comparable areas outside of the network. Nevertheless, deforestation still occurs inside all Sumatran protected areas indicating that they are not entirely secure. From 1985 to 2009, Sumatra lost approximately half (12.8 million ha) of its entire forest estate and from 2000 to 2012 lost 1.5 million ha of primary wetland forest and 1.2 million ha of primary lowland forest. The deforestation was primarily caused by large-scale agricultural plantation expansion.

 

The project will focus on three levels: i) individual protected areas will receive training and support to strengthen institutional management (technical, administrative and financial) and to prioritize their core activities; ii) landscape sites will be targeted to increase coordination and cooperation between multiple government and civil society organizations to collectively tackle natural resource violations, especially illegal wildlife trade, outside of the project protected areas; and, iii) national support will be provided to effectively coordinate project implementation between multiple landscapes to provide island-wide coverage. The project is piloted in the national parks of Bukit Barisan Selatan (0.36 million ha), Kerinci Seblat (1.39 million ha), Gunung Leuser (1.10 million ha), Berbak (0.14 million ha) and Sembilang (0.20 million ha). Several of these national parks connect to other biodiversity-rich conservation areas; such as Batang Hari Protection Forest (0.33 million ha) adjoining Kerinci Seblat, and the Ulu Masen ecosystem (0.75 million ha) connecting to the wider Leuser ecosystem (1.25 million ha; which encircles Gunung Leuser National Park). The project also includes a sample of the forest concessions surrounding these national parks, primarily consisting of production forest. The proposed long-term solution for securing Sumatra’s forests, wildlife and ecosystem services lies in consolidating a network of effectively managed and adequately funded protected areas that are supported by complementary actions in the adjacent forests and communities to achieve sustainably managed landscapes.