Merangin District

Project background

The area's environment consists of lowland Sumatran rainforests without any intact forest. A tropical, humid climate dominates the region, which belongs to the biome known as Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests. The area is primarily made up of land. AHI Jambi lost 954 acres of tree cover between 2001 and 2021, so it now has 7.8% less than in 2000. AHI Jambi lost 24 ha of its tree cover to fires between 2001 and 2021, and 885 ha to all other loss-causing factors combined. The year with the most significant tree cover loss due to fires throughout this period was 2014, when 9ha, or 7.3% of the total tree cover, was lost.

Location & Total Area

The project consists of four village forests in Merangin District in Jambi Province, Indonesia. The project area is adjacent to Kerinci Seblat National park, one of the last habitats for the Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), which is suffering from severe forest deforestation and degradation. The project aims to maintain a minimum forest cover of 10,269 hectares and restore a degraded area of 215 hectares, to be managed through a social forestry scheme. Using a multi-stakeholder collaborative approach, it will address local drivers of deforestation and minimise threats to the ecological functions of the Kerinci Seblat National Park Landscape.

What is special about this project

The project area is a buffer zone of Kerinci Seblat National Park. The high rate of deforestation and forest degradation in the Kerinci Seblat landscape is an immense threat to the sustainability of the ecological functions of the National Park. Based on GFW data, Kerinci Seblat National Park's buffer zone has lost 55,7000 ha of tree cover, equivalent to a 23% decrease, since 2000. Should it be left unchecked, deforestation will continue to occur and reach the National Park area. Furthermore, the National Park is also one of the last remaining habitats for the endangered Sumatran Tiger species (Panthera tigris sumatrae). Additionally and alarmingly, human-tiger violence has been documented in the region.

How we add value to this project 

In concordance with AHI Jambi, the Rimba Collective will assist four village forests in Merangin District in Jambi Province and enable the following activities:

• Boost social forestry institutions and buffer zone management in conjunction with the Kerinci Seblat National Park authorities to improve forest governance
• Community-based forest conservation, such as forest patrol, participatory mapping, and monitoring, to combat unlawful resource exploitation by locals and migrants
• Rehabilitating a damaged region, including the development of multipurpose tree species and planting trees
• The conservation and enhancement of critically endangered and endangered species, including raising awareness to conserve the species and lessen conflict between animals and the local community
• Increasing the community's standard of living via sustainable commodities production