In May 2014, the Riau Ecosystem Restoration project (RER) announced that conservationists had embarked on the planting of 2 million new trees on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The first planting added 1,500 new trees to the island’s landscape as part of a 10-year-long initiative, which represents one key component in RER’s plans to support sustainable development.
The RER project, begun in 2013, aims to provide long-term environmental solutions by focusing on more than 20,000 hectares of tropical peat forest in Riau Province on Sumatra’s Kampar Peninsula. RER is an initiative of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), led by the global resources manufacturer RGE International and its founder and chairman, Sukanto Tanoto. RER aims to deliver sustainable solutions that will meet the economic, social, and environmental needs of the region and its people. To this end, it has established partnerships with organizations such as Fauna & Flora International (FFI), the world’s oldest international charity dedicated to conservation.
RER’s plan focuses on four key elements: strengthening local ecosystems and supporting sustainable management of the area’s ecosystem restoration concessions; safeguarding the welfare of the peat forest’s endangered species and their ecosystems; preventing an excess of greenhouse gas emissions; and fostering the wellbeing of the people in local communities, especially those who earn their livings from resources situated in the area of the concessions.
In November 2012, the Indonesian government awarded a grant of some 20,000 hectares of peat forestland to RER under a 60-year eco-restoration license, the first-ever such license given to a for-profit private company. The RER project thus represents the vital role the private sector plays in partnering with government programs to further the country’s conservation efforts. Before the land block grant to RER, the same area of land had been designated as a location for selective logging operations. Now, RER has taken on the responsibility of managing the ecological future of the forest. As the originator of the RER project, APRIL has committed itself to providing not only financial backing, but also ongoing technical and logistical assistance.