Protecting the Sumatran tiger in Bengkulu

Implementing Partner:

Lingkar Inisiatif Indonesia

Project name:

 Protecting the Sumatran tiger in Bengkulu area of Kerinci Seblat National Park

Location:

 Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra Indonesia

Goal:

To reduce the poaching threat to Sumatran tiger in the National Park and adjacent forests by building strong practical collaborations between local and national government, religious leaders, educators and forest-edge communities.

• Objective 1:  Strengthen awareness of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MIU) Fatwa No. 04 2014 on hunting and trade in tiger and other endangered species in key villages in Lebong and North Bengkulu District.
• Objective 2:  Protect and conserve wild Sumatran tigers in the far south of Kerinci Seblat National Park area through rapid response unit SMART forest patrols.
  • Managing community information networks.
  • Carrying out wildlife crime investigation.
  • Taking part in wildlife crime law enforcementwith partner organisations.
• Objective 3: Strengthen the protection of the Sumatran tiger and other endangered species in the project area by expanding a guardianship program for active hunters together with the government, preacher, and ex-hunters.

Background:  

The Kerinci Seblat National Park, the largest protected area in Sumatra, covering 13,791 km² across four provinces, including Bengkulu province to the south. Due to the large size of the national park, some areas do not receive regular focus by the understaffed national park’s rangers.  Unfortunately, although a protected species under Indonesian law for more than 40 years, the Sumatran tiger and its prey in Bengkulu continue to be threatened by poaching from villages on the edge of the park.  

Since 2013, this problem has been addressed by Lingkar Inisiatif Indonesia, working closely with the Indonesia Council of Islamic Scholars (MUI) to strengthen awareness of the Fatwa MUI No. 4/2014 which prohibits Muslims in Indonesia from hunting or trading in endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger.

The Bengkulu provincial and Lebong district chapters of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars (MUI) take an important role in this project and works with Lingkar Inisiatif and other partners to build community support for tiger conservation using Islamic perspectives in an area where the local community is overwhelmingly of the Muslim faith.

Lingkar Inisiatif and the Indonesian Islamic Scholars Council (MUI) have developed a guardianship programme to provide intensive assistance to hunters and recidivists of forest crimes through a religious values approach. The prohibition of hunting according to religious faith has according to Lingkar Inisiatif, been accepted by forest edge communities more widely than conventional approaches to state law.  So far there have been 20 ex-hunters participating in this program who have pledged openly to stop hunting activities and are currently actively assisting in securing the forest from illegal activities.

Through an MOU with the Kerinci Seblat National Park authority, Lingkar Inisiatif organises multi-stakeholder forest patrols using the SMART monitoring protocols. This enables the systematic collection of patrol data which can help drive effective forest protection and threat reduction.

This project also receives a grant from from Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund in association with WildCats.