Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park

WCS in Sumatra, Indonesia
Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP), the third largest national park on Sumatra, contains more lowland forest than any other protected area on the island.  WCS's Indonesia Program conducted the first systematic surveys of BBSNP in 1994 and subsequent work has documented significant populations of globally important wildlife.

The Human Aspect
The Park acts as the main watershed for southwestern Sumatra, providing water and ecological services to those whose daily lives depend on these for the cultivation of coffee, pepper, and other agricultural products.  An estimated 450,000 people live within 10 km of the Park boundary.  Forest conversion to agriculture increases the interface between humans and wildlife and increases the opportunity for conflicts.  As a result, there is a high level of human-wildlife conflict, including poaching of elephants, tigers, and rhinoceros, and crop depredation by wildlife.

Threats
Across Sumatra, the main threats to wildlife are forest loss and hunting.  Sumatra has lost more than 6.5 million hectares of forest in the past 12 years; within BBSNP, more than 20% of the forests have been cleared for illegal agricultural conversion.  With increased clearing of forests, providing increased access to wildlife populations, hunting has accelerated.

WCS Activities
Over the next five years, WCS and our partners will build a lasting foundation for the conservation of Bukit Barisan's lowland rainforest ecosystem. With seven years of investment in conservation research, community outreach, and training, WCS is poised to take conservation to a new level not only in BBSNP, but also regionally across southern Sumatra.  Already, WCS works closely with local and international partners.  It has spearheaded the formation of a coalition of government and non-government groups called the Conservation Action Network Program, Indonesia (CANOPI).  CANOPI aims to:

•Modify the management structure at BBSNP to allow for a more inclusive management system.
•Build a wide network for local and international conservation groups.
•Make BBSNP management and planning an integral part of regional planning.
•Build in sustainable financial mechanisms for future conservation at BBSNP.

Important Next Steps
Beyond initial groundwork listed above, WCS and CANOPI will undertake the following:
•Build a broad network for local and international conservation groups to exchange information and coordinate field activities.
•Carry out intensive performance-based training in conservation for local NGO's and government staff.
•Conduct targeted research on key wildlife species, rare and little known species, and human impacts on forest and wildlife populations.
•Build a centralized biological and GIS database for use by all stakeholders in improving park management and assisting in regional planning.
•Improve management structure and develop alternative financial mechanisms to support park management.