Indonesia's forests, which have been severely diminished by logging and burning in recent decades, have received a boost as the Government of Indonesia doubled the size of the country's first forest for 'ecosystem restoration'.

Harapan is home to a host of rare species, including the Sumatran Tiger of which fewer than 300 remain in the wild.

Photo courtesy: BirdLifeInternational / Dave Watts

Indonesian Forest Minister Zulkifli Hasan has announced that he will expand the 52,000 hectare concession held by Burung Indonesia (BirdLife Partner), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) (BirdLife in the UK) and BirdLife International in central Sumatra to a total area of 98,000 hectares. The restoration area now equals two-thirds the size of greater London and is greater than the size of Singapore.

This welcome news comes as other applications for 'forest restoration' licences are flowing in to Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry – a sign that the BirdLife consortium's pioneering work has inspired others to follow. In 2009, the Ministry received as many applications for forest restoration licences as it did for logging concessions. Applications for forest restoration totalled a further two million hectares, and are now being assessed.

Harapan Rainforest is one of the last remaining areas of dry lowland Sumatran forest and is one of the most threatened rainforests in the world. It is home to a host of rare animal and plant species, including the Critically Endangered Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae, of which fewer than 300 remain in the wild. It supports an amazing 55 mammal species, including the globally threatened Asian elephant Elephas maximus sumatranus and Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus, as well as the world's rarest stork – Storm's stork Ciconia stormi – and a rich diversity of other wildlife.

An initial licence of 52,000 hectares was granted to the environmental consortium in 2008, allowing them to protect, nurture and restore the forest in a former logging concession. Burung Indonesia, the RSPB and BirdLife International can boast considerable achievements from the project's first phase:

• More than 170 'green jobs' have been created in forest conservation, almost all for the local community, and several for the indigenous Batin Sembilan community.
• A massive programme of planting more than five million trees has begun in the most degraded areas of the forest, to link up the fragments of rich forest into continguous wildlife habitat.
• Illegal logging has been significantly decreased and forest fires, which once released significant carbon dioxide emissions, have been all but stamped out. Not only is the forest an important carbon store, but the tree planting programme in Harapan Rainforest is capturing more carbon from the atmosphere.
• Asiatic wild dog or dhole Cuon alpinus about which little is currently known, has been photographed by camera trap in the forest. We have also captured images of Malayan tapir, great argus Argusianus argus, and Sumatran tiger, each identifiable by their unique stripes. Harapan Rainforest is a habitat of global importance for the Sumatran tiger.
• As part of extensive biodiversity surveys, the ‘tawny costa’ butterfly Acraea violae has been recorded for the first time on the island of Sumatra.
• Botanic experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK have identified a plant growing in the forest, Emblemantha urnulata B.C. Stone that is unique to the area and had only been recorded twice before.
• Village natural resource management agreements have been negotiated between the project and neighbouring communities, allowing for sustainable use of forest resources to support family livelihoods and the local economy.

Despite past logging activities, large areas of Harapan Rainforest retain a close canopy; important for arboreal mammals and birds.

Photo courtesy: BirdLifeInternational / Marco Lambertini

"The Ministry of Forestry had the foresight to create a new form of forest management in 2004 with the 'ecosystem restoration' licence. We're delighted that ecosystem restoration is now an integral part of forest management strategies in Indonesia. As a result, Burung Indonesia is already planning to expand our portfolio of ecosystem restoration concessions", said Agus B. Utomo, the Executive Director of Burung Indonesia.

'Sixty million hectares of Indonesia's forest land is categorised as production forest, but much of this forest, like Harapan Rainforest, has significant density of trees and an amazing richness of biodiversity. It makes sense for our economy and our natural environment to turn areas of great potential like Harapan Rainforest into thriving centres of forest restoration. When such forests are burned or converted to agriculture, it’s an invaluable loss to our heritage and the natural resource base that sustains us all.'

Dr Marco Lambertini, Chief Executive of BirdLife International, said: "Harapan Rainforest breaks new ground in Indonesia as the first forest for ecosystem restoration and as such, we hope it will act as a model for other, similar initiatives around the country as well as in other countries across the tropics."

Since work began in Harapan Rainforest in early 2007, at least four other applications for 'ecosystem restoration' licences have been submitted to the Government of Indonesia, these are at various stages of approval.

The extension of Harapan Rainforest is important to the area's ecology. Dr Dieter Hoffmann, the RSPB's Head of Global Programme, said: "By extending the area under conservation management, we significantly increase the populations of threatened species we are able to protect, such as Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants, agile gibbons, and the nine hornbill species we have on site. Larger areas are able to hold larger populations and these tend to be much more sustainable. We also anticipate being able to protect a far greater diversity of plant and animal life."

The Harapan Rainforest initiative is funded by a range of agencies including the German Government's Ministry of Environment international climate initiative, through KfW Entwicklungsbank, the Global Conservation Fund of Conservation International, the European Union, BirdLife Partners organisations in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Singapore and the Netherlands, various other foundations and agencies and thousands of individual donors.

BirdLife International has created the Forests of Hope programme to bring together and build on its successful forest conservation and management programmes throughout the tropics. BirdLife is working in tropical countries around the world, to identify and pilot innovative management, financing and governance systems for forest and biodiversity conservation and restoration, generating local and national economic benefits for sustainable development, and combating climate change.

Storm's stork Ciconia stormi : Harapan Rainforest's most threatened bird.

Photo courtesy: BirdLifeInternational / Dave Gandy

The aim of the programme is the prevention of deforestation and the restoration of natural forest at up to 20 sites covering at least five million hectares of tropical forest by 2015. The programme will also promote replication of the conservation, governance and financing models being developed, so that forest can be conserved and restored over very much larger areas.

The Forests of Hope programme links forest conservation on the ground to its policy and advocacy work at national and international levels, making impacts in three crucial areas.

• Conserving biodiversity
• Combating climate change
• Maintaining ecosystem services and sustainable livelihoods for local people.