Sumatra

The only place on Earth where Sumatran Orangutans, Sumatran Tigers, Sumatran Elephants, and Sumatran Rhinos still share the same forest. Re:wild and partners are working to keep it that way.

Safeguarding Sumatra

The Leuser Ecosystem is 6.5 million acres of rainforest in northern Sumatra and the last place on Earth where Sumatran Orangutans, Sumatran Tigers, Sumatran Elephants, and Sumatran Rhinos still live together in the wild.

Lowland forests, peat swamps, and mountain cloud forests make up one of the largest remaining intact rainforests in Indonesia, storing vast quantities of carbon and supplying drinking water and agricultural livelihoods to millions of people downstream.

The Leuser Ecosystem is also the ancestral land of the Gayo, Alas, Kluet, Aneuk Jamee, and Karo peoples. Protecting it is not only a conservation imperative. It is a matter of human rights, water security, and climate resilience for the entire region.

63% of Southeast Asia's GDP depends directly on healthy ecosystems. Sumatra's forests are part of that foundation.

Southeast Asia has more threatened species than any other region on Earth, and some of its most critical remaining habitat sits right here. Deforestation, palm oil expansion, illegal logging, and human-wildlife conflict are the principal pressures on Sumatra's forests. Countering them requires work that is hands-on, specific, and sustained across years. Photo © Luke Mackin

Protecting Sumatra, one patrol at a time

Re:wild works with Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL) to secure the Leuser Ecosystem through active patrol, habitat restoration, and human-wildlife conflict mitigation.

In 2024, 124 acres of degraded elephant habitat were restored. Around 16 miles of trenches and 10 miles of bio-barriers were installed to reduce conflict between elephants and farming communities, protecting both livelihoods and wildlife. FKL's patrol teams have also driven a steady decrease in illegal forest clearing through consistent monitoring and reporting of violations.

Re:wild is part of the only coordinated effort to save the Sumatran Rhino from extinction.

Fewer than 80 Sumatran Rhinos survive in tiny, fragmented populations across Sumatra and Borneo. Under the direction of Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Re:wild is a member of the Sumatran Rhino Survival Alliance, supporting the government's national conservation breeding program. The program brings isolated animals together, maximizes births, preserves genetic diversity through advanced reproductive science, and works toward the eventual return of a self-sustaining population to protected wild habitat. Every individual alive today matters to the outcome.

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