Nature Conservation Concessions to protect Tropical Rainforest in Indonesia

The Indonesian government allocates Environment Restoration Concessions (ERCs) to private organisations seeking to restore forest areas that have been used or degraded in the past for commercial logging. The project supports the establishment ERCs in order to protect threatened tropical rainforest in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (Sumatra) and Gorontalo (Sulawesi). This contributes to the conservation of biological diversity and forests as carbon sinks and as a living space for local people. The close cooperation with local communities is essential for the management of the ERC project areas to ensure sharing of benefits and avoid conflicts of interest. Parallel to this the project works together with other ERCs and the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forests on refining and adapting this instrument, largely untestetd until recently.