Indonesia

Deforestation and agricultural conversion has resulted in the clearing of about 30 million acres (12 million hectares) of Sumatran forest in the past 22 years, critically endangering the Sumatran tiger.

On Sumatra, the Rainforest Alliance is working with coffee farmers who live around Lake Toba, which marks the spot of the largest volcanic eruption in two million years. Learn more. View Slideshow »

Indonesia Sustainable Coffee Farms

Indonesia’s Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park on Sumatra is one of the last refuges for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. But as illegal squatters continue to encroach into the park to grow coffee -- along with pepper and other crops – the tigers’ habitat is shrinking.

Despite government efforts to resettle them, some 15,600 families have built semi- permanent homes within the park and the incursion continues, endangering not only the Sumatran tiger but scores of other wildlife species.

Twenty percent of the 13 million people living in northern Sumatra live below the poverty line. By earning Rainforest Alliance certification, farmers can earn a premium for their sustainably cultivated coffee beans.

The Rainforest Alliance is helping to conserve this precious wildlife habitat by working with coffee farmers on the outskirts of the park, helping them to comply with certification standards. This way, we are giving park squatters an incentive to move outside of the park, where they can live legally and still earn a living.

The farmers are learning to make natural compost and to intersperse their coffee with ginger, elephant grass and fruit trees, which can help to slow erosion. They are also eliminating their use of herbicides such as paraquat, while reducing their agrochemical
use overall.