Harapan Rainforest is a 98,555-hectare area of

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

in the province of

Jambi Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and spans to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is Jambi. The province has a land area of 50,160.05 km2, and a sea area of 3, ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

.John Vidal
"Critically endangered species in Sumatra on the road to extinction"
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 10 November 2013 The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

is campaigning to plant one million new trees to renew the forest because of its rich wildlife, which is vulnerable to the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

industry.

Flora and fauna

Despite having been selectively logged in the 1970s, the forest is still considered among the most biodiverse on the planet, containing about 20% of the remaining lowland forests of Sumatra. It provides habitat to over 300 species of bird, as well as the critically endangered

Sumatran tiger The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. Sequences from complete mitochon ...

and

Sumatran elephant The Sumatran elephant (''Elephas maximus sumatranus'') is one of four recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In 2011, IUCN upgraded the conservation status of the Sumatran elephant from endang ...

Conservation

The Harapan Rainforest is managed under a 95-year license by a group of NGOs comprising

Burung Indonesia Burung Indonesia ( Indonesian for: ''BirdLife Indonesia Association''), official name: Perhimpunan Pelestarian Burung Liar Indonesia or ''BirdLife Indonesia Association'', is the affiliate of BirdLife International in Indonesia. It was founded on Ju ...

Birdlife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

and the

.IUCN
"Saving the rainforest with a groundbreaking protected area management model", 20 March 2013
/ref>

Threats

A proposed 51 km long and 50-m-wide highway through the area that would enable 850 truckloads of coal a day to pass is considered by environmental groups as a major threat to the wildlife. The proposal would remove an estimated 154 hectares of rainforest, would ease access for illegal hunters and loggers and would fragment the habitat of the Sumatran tigers. Small holder conversion of the forest to oil palm is another major threat to the forest and the objectives of ecosystem restoration.

References

External links

Official Website

* ttp://aprildialog.com/2013/09/19/ecosystem-restoration-another-way-to-sustainably-manage-forests/ Ecosystem Restoration: Another Way To Sustainably Manage Forests Tropical rainforests of Indonesia Geography of Jambi Sumatra Nature conservation in Indonesia Tourist attractions in Jambi Protected areas of Sumatra {{Asia-protected-area-stub