Staff & students featured in local Indonesian news regarding human elephant conflict in Aceh, No

In June, our LEAP team led by Dr Amanda Korstjens, 10 UG and 1 PGT student and together with MRes student Emma Hankinson and PhD student Chris Marsh took part in a field trip to Indonesia to investigate human wildlife conflict and ecotourism in Indonesia.

One of our activities involved a visit to Langsa. In Langsa, in the Aceh province of northern Sumatra, the group met up with Rudi Putra of HAkA and FKL (Forest, Nature, Enviroment of Aceh & Leuser Conservation Forum) and winner of the 2014  Goldman Environmental Prize (http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/rudi-putra/) to discuss the problems faced in preserving the Leuser ecosystem and wildlife in Indonesia.

The group of staff and students first visited the CRU Conservation response unit in Serbajadi Aceh Timur where they met with Tezar Pahlevie, the regional manager of HAkA and FKL, Dedek Makam, the CRU coordinator of the region, and Ilham Fonna, Wildlife Protection Team supervisor for FKL to learn about the problems the wild elephants are facing, including human wildlife conflict, poaching and deforestation. The group were able to meet the captive elephants that are used in protecting and patrolling against poaching and other illegal activities in the area and to chase away marauding wild elephants from plantations.

Staff and students then visited a local palm-oil plantation with Tezar Pahlevie to investigate the undergoing human elephant conflict and regular destruction of palm oil plantations in the area. Whilst travelling to the plantation, local journalists, Said Moulana SH from TVRI and Luth Pi from Net TV joined the university group and began filming the events of the day for local Indonesian news, the video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WoaPLDs43g. News articles were also published regarding the events of the day. (http://pelita8.com/mahasiswa-inggris-kunjungi-kawasan-yang-di-rusak-gajahliar-di-aceh-timur) (more can be found below).

Once at the plantation, the group explored the impacts that wild elephants are having on surrounding local businesses and communities, including an interview with the plantation manager, Usman Hanapiah and visits to the areas most badly affected by the wild elephants. The interviews explored the impacts, attempted resolves and the potential future solutions regarding the human elephant conflict, and the overall future of the plantation and the wild elephants in the area.