Will Harapan Rainforest become a nature reserve?
Managing forests doesn’t work the same way in Indonesia as it does in the UK. Only the Indonesian government can own forest land, so others simply lease the right to use it. The Indonesian government has given us the right to use this piece of land for 100 years. Of course, we hope that we can extend our lease beyond that period. We are not going to be managing a nature reserve in the British sense of the term. As a developing country, local people often depend directly on these areas of forest to meet their daily needs for food and other materials. It is simply not possible to ‘shut the door’ on them. Together with our BirdLife partner, Burung Indonesia, and local communities we will be looking into ways that local people can derive a sustainable livelihood from the forest and the lands around it, while protecting wildlife and bringing back even more.
