New GC Video: Saving the Leuser Ecosystem

Script

On the island of Sumatra, Indonesia is one of Asia’s last intact tropical rainforests: the last place on Earth where rhinos, orangutans, elephants and tigers still run wild.

At 6 million acres, the Leuser Ecosystem is three times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Rivers provide clean water to over 4 million people living in and around the ecosystem. It boasts some of the largest carbon-rich peatlands in the world. 

The primary threats to Leuser are illegal palm oil expansion, illegal logging and wildlife poaching. Today, less than 50 Sumatran rhino remain - the last viable population of this species on Earth.

In 1920, there were over 100,000 Sumatran tigers. Today, there are less than 400. Elephants are being shot and poisoned and critical orangutan habitats like Tripa Peat Swamp continue to be lost.

Leuser Ecosystem is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is now listed as an area at risk, due to ongoing destruction of its rainforest. 

Major fires every year in the dry season from illegal palm oil expansion have closed schools for weeks due to heavy pollution from Singapore to Jakarta, resulting in huge economic losses and public health issues.

Global Conservation has been funding the Leuser Ecosystem and wildlife protection for the past 12 years. Focusing our work on the Bengkung Trumon Megafauna Sanctuary, a one million acre intact tropical forest and peat swamp where tigers, rhinos, elephants and orangutans still live together in the wild: the last place on Earth.

Global Conservation provides critical funding, technologies, systems and training to protect large intact forests and critical wildlife habitats, while working closely with local communities to sustainably develop the Leuser Ecosystem and to enable permanent “No Cut, No Kill” protection.

Global Conservation focused on wildlife habitat protection, removal of illegal plantations and logging operations, SMART ranger patrols, anti-poaching, and lobbying to enforce Leuser Ecosystem’s existing protection as a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site.

Your support is needed to reverse the accelerating threats facing Leuser’s core forests and wildlife habitats. Leuser Ecosystem is the Last Bastion to defend our last intact topical forests and critically endangered species in Sumatra, which was once a lush jungle paradise.

Now almost entirely covered by thousands of miles of palm oil plantations, Leuser Ecosystem is the Last Place on Earth we must save for our future generations. Please support us to Save the Leuser Ecosystem.