A decade of conservation success in Sumatra’s Thirty Hills forest concession

1. Supporting local solutions through community partnerships

ABT’s forest protection strategy is built on working with communities, including Indigenous groups, for locally informed solutions. For example, forest monitoring initiatives include recruiting local staff for joint forest patrols and business development programs that help safeguard forests while providing sustainable livelihoods. The formation of women-led farmer groups has improved food security and provided employment opportunities for forest protection, reforestation, and seedling development in the concession. These community partnerships are foundational to the concession’s management and key to its success.

2. Safeguarding Sumatra’s tigers

The Thirty Hills concession is a stronghold for Sumatran tigers and is now home to one of the highest densities of this critically endangered species in Sumatra. Along with the neighboring Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, this landscape potentially shelters around 10% of the world’s remaining Sumatran tiger population. Monitoring camera traps allows ABT to study tiger movement, such as where tigers are showing up in and around the concession, and if there are signs of cubs. This helps inform our understanding of the local population and any needs for adaptive management.

3. Protecting critical habitat for wildlife and people

In Thirty Hills, communities are leading the way for how best to protect their forest homes, integrating community well-being into wildlife protection and restoration efforts. This approach has helped maintain the landscape’s remaining biodiversity and keep wildlife habitats connected. In turn, this lowers the risks of threats like zoonotic diseases and human-wildlife conflict. And forests can continue delivering essential health benefits such as clean air and water, nutrition, and the mitigation of extreme heat.

4. Strengthening access to health services

Thirty Hills is remote, limiting access to medical facilities for local and Indigenous communities in and around the concession. As the nearest neighbor, ABT is committed to supporting and strengthening existing government health care programs by providing complementary services and facilitating more continuous care. Each year, more than 1,200 people benefit from free medical services through this initiative, including the delivery of medical aid, supplies, and medical treatment, reaching five villages.

5. Restoring deforested and degraded land

When ABT took control of the concession, areas were already heavily degraded. Since then, annual deforestation rates in the concession have declined by 90%, and over 13,000 acres of illegally cleared land are under restoration. This success has been driven by targeted reforestation efforts and successful natural regeneration, as well as community involvement, particularly from those who previously relied on unsustainable agriculture. Through a concession partnership scheme, individuals are now engaged in and receiving economic benefits from restoration efforts, which have included planting 96,000 seedlings over 1,878 acres. As wide swaths of degraded land still remain, however, collaboration with diverse partners—including neighboring companies, government bodies, partner nongovernmental organizations, and law enforcement agencies—is crucial to ensure the long-term sustainability of these restoration initiatives.

6. Building nature-friendly businesses

ABT works with local and Indigenous communities, including women’s groups, to build sustainable, nature-based enterprises by supporting the marketing of community-based products such as wild honey, vanilla, nontimber forest products, coffee, and environmentally friendly rubber. These small-scale ventures don’t just create new economic opportunities for communities living around the area; they also encourage environmentally responsible practices that help keep forests standing.

7. Investing in education

In Semerantihan Hamlet, home to the Talang Mamak people, and in four villages surrounding the concession, ABT has invested in school facilities, teacher support, uniforms, and daily school meals for over 50 students. Scholarships have also been provided for students to continue higher education outside the concession. This strengthened, sustained access to education services is helping to pave the way for a more prosperous future.

8. Establishing a new population of Sumatran orangutans

Through rehabilitation and reintroduction efforts led by the Frankfurt Zoological Society, a new, self-sustaining population of Sumatran orangutans has been established in central Sumatra. Most of these individuals have been rescued from the illegal pet trade and other deforested areas and are rehabilitated for release through structured “jungle school” programs. The orangutans are observed over a long period during the reintroduction process, and behavioral data is analyzed on a monthly basis. To date, 205 orangutans have been reintroduced, and 24 births have been recorded in the vicinity of the reintroduction site.

9. Protecting Sumatran elephants and their habitat

The Thirty Hills concession provides critical habitat for key wildlife species to roam, forage, breed, and raise their young, including one of the last viable populations of critically endangered Sumatran elephants. ABT’s monitoring efforts, including regular patrols within the concession, elephant collaring, camera traps, and the integration of the latest bioacoustics research, are helping protect these species and their habitats. This allows ABT to better predict elephant movements and behavior, informing priorities for wildlife corridors, restoration, and human-wildlife conflict management. The Frankfurt Zoological Society's longstanding elephant monitoring efforts across the wider area and engagement with surrounding partners help to drive lasting landscape-wide solutions.

10. Delivering conservation benefits to Thirty Hills

Conservation in Sumatra was once seen as an almost impossible feat due to rampant deforestation from unsustainable agriculture. However, the success of Thirty Hills is proving otherwise—thanks to a collaborative, community-driven approach to ecosystem restoration. These efforts have delivered tangible benefits to both wildlife and local communities, demonstrating the value of forest conservation.