A Glimpse of Hope for those worried about the rainforest, the planet and global warming.

The Last Remnant of the Rainforest in SE Asia is saved.  The Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia.

In SE Asia, most of the rainforest is gone. Cut down and burnt to swell atmospheric carbon and hasten global warming, to extract the immediate financial value of the majestic trees and to plant oil palms, rubber, rice. To create cattle ranches and new towns, roads and dams.

With the rainforest has gone the major animals, the rhino, the tiger, the elephant and the orang-utan. Also gone is clean water and clean air. The water locally, the air for the planet. And we are the planets custodians.

But it has not all gone.

For the last 25 years one man has been working in North Sumatera, Indonesia, busy making friends, building coalitions, lobbying, educating and training. He has already survived one assassination attempt. Now he has a team of people, with the wholehearted support of the governing party in Aceh province, which is responsible for the Leuser Ecosystem, the Last Rainforest in SE Asia, a vast swathe of lowland and mountain forest.

The reserve has grown from 8,000 square kilometres to the size of Belgium, 25,000 square kilometres, a million acres. And it is secure - with not just the trees and vegetation but the last viable populations of the major animals.

This is a map of the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia, showing the last bit of rainforest left in SE Asia. In darker green is the reserve of the Leuser Ecosystem, while the lighter green is an area of forest we intend to bring into the reserve.  The orange lines are major animal migration routes.

It is protected by an Indonesian organisation called BPKEL, Badan Pengelola Kawasan Ecosystem Leuser, and this website is here to tell you about them, what is happening right now, and to support the rangers of BPKEL in their fight to keep the forest and animals safe.

Sumatra is the long island to the left of Singapore and Malaysia, north west of Australia.  It is one of the world's top ten biggest islands.  You can see it on the little map in the corner, in yellow. 

One man's effort has stopped the swathe of destruction and preserved the jungle, and the animals, here in the Leuser Ecosystem.  As well as the big animals, we've also got Clouded Leopard, Gibbon, Siamang and all the SE Asian jungle wildlife, for many of which this is their last chance.

This is the last remnant of the major rainforest that once covered SE Asia, part of the essential lungs of the world.

For the last 20 years the illegal loggers have been kept at bay on a miniscule budget thanks to some dedicated Indonesians and a war of which you have probably never heard - it kept the loggers and poachers out.  Now the war is over and loggers are looking at the riches of the rainforest.  They've cut off the little funding there was and the team hasn't been paid since March.

Force For the Forest exists to raise money to support these brave people, everyone of whom receives death threats on a regular basis; to do our bit to Save the Rainforest.  It is run on a voluntary basis by people who have lived and worked in Indonesia and know exactly what the problems are and how to overcome them.  Just as the Leuser Ecosystem is run.

And the Leuser Ecosystem represents one of the most successful conservation projects on the planet.  There are very few larger reserves, and no larger tropical forest reserves.  It is expanding - only Kruger of the large reserves is also expanding.  It has successfully kept alive increasing breeding populations of ALL the forest animals of SE Asia while all the other reserves have either lost them all or are withering towards extinction.

Preserving Leuser is our best chance of making sure there will always be rainforest and jungle in this world, keeping a little bit of the world's lungs going.

If we have been this successful on a tiny budget, imagine what we can do when we are properly funded - and we can pass our methods on.

Rex Sumner

Please note that every photo on this website was taken in Leuser Ecosystem by Mike Griffiths or Tezar Pahlevi.