Credit: WCS Indonesia/Cani Marcus
Singkil Wildlife Reserve in Aceh Province in Indonesia has the highest density of Sumatran orangutans, a critically endangered great ape species, only found in the northern part of Sumatra. They use twigs and branches to collect insects and worms inside tree trunks to adapt their lifestyle with the swampy habitat there. The Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve is a habitat for Critically Endangered and protected Sumatran orangutans, Sumatran tigers, and other species such as sun bears, agile gibbons, saltwater crocodiles, and some water birds.

New York, August 20, 2024 -- The Walmart Foundation has provided the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) a four-year grant that will significantly boost its work in Indonesia. The grant will support a landscape initiative in southern Aceh Province: a key region for forests and biodiversity and for smallholder farming communities. The grant will enable WCS to support the Government of Indonesia in protecting and restoring this valuable forest and peatland landscape and improving the livelihoods of rural communities living at the forest edge.

Aceh Province has 3.5 million hectares of forest, which play a key role for biodiversity and in mitigating climate change but are threatened by the expansion of agricultural and industrial activities. Meanwhile, communities bordering important forest areas often experience poverty and have limited options for sustainable livelihoods. These challenges play out in southern Aceh where the province’s last remaining intact peatland ecosystem—Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve—meets Gunung Leuser National Park, which makes up part of Southeast Asia’s largest intact rainforest. This area is also the only place where Sumatran elephant, orangutan, tiger, and rhino co-exist in the wild.  

“Specifically, the grant will enable WCS to strengthen support for the government and a multi-stakeholder collaboration to translate national and provincial plans and conservation targets to the local level, supporting livelihoods and ecosystem integrity at scale,” said Joe Walston, Executive Vice President for WCS Global. “We are grateful for the Walmart Foundation’s commitment to help advance an inclusive multi-stakeholder platform for the landscape, ensuring the most vulnerable are part of developing sound management plans for the region.”

Field-based ‘SMART’ patrols and conservation area management plans will enhance the protection of key areas, including the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve and other management units that serve as crucial habitat and wildlife corridors for endangered species. Capacity building with 500 smallholder oil palm farmers will improve on-farm productivity and, along with broader community engagement and support for Forest Farmer Groups, will help to foster improved and more sustainable livelihoods, and reduce encroachment pressures facing the forest.

Said Julie Gehrki, VP and Chief Operating Officer, Walmart Foundation: “The rainforests and peatland ecosystems of southern Aceh are critically important for wildlife, people, and palm oil production. These are critical contributors to our global ecosystem and supply chain and we look forward to seeing how this work helps advance a more sustainable and inclusive landscape approach in the region. We’ve made a commitment to help protect, restore, or more sustainable manage at least 50 million acres of land by 2030—and the conservation efforts catalyzed by this work can act as an important contributor.”

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WCS Indonesia
WCS has worked in Indonesia since initial field surveys in the 1960s and opened a formal country program in 1997 under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). To achieve their mission, WCS works in close coordination with MoEF and through associated partnerships with a variety of government, non-government, private sector, and academic bodies. The WCS Indonesia Program has spent 25 years forming well-coordinated, multi-stakeholder partnerships to collaboratively tackle these nature conservation challenges. To deliver their new country strategy, WCS is structured under five core thematic programs — Forests, Marine, Wildlife Trade and Policy, One Health, and Rights & Communities — that align to deliver the WCS 2030 strategy and WCS Southeast Asian Archipelago regional strategy. These programs are supported by cross-cutting Science & Technology, and Conservation Network and Partnership units.