Why we need your help

Sumatra lies north-west of Australia between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is one of the 17,508 islands that form the world's largest chain of islands - Indonesia.

Two years ago, the Indonesian Government agreed to let the RSPB and two of our partners - Burung Indonesia and BirdLife International - look after part of the Sumatran rainforest (called Harapan) and its wildlife. They signed a paper to say we could look after it for one hundred years.

How big?

Today, we are working hard with our partners in Indonesia to protect this area of rainforest. Eighty local people are working as wardens, and they patrol the forest to guard the wildlife and the trees that are left.

The area we are looking after covers 100,000 hectares. It is so big and untamed that it would take you about eight days non-stop to walk across it!

There’s still a chance

Many of the big trees have been cut down. Without the tallest trees to form a thick canopy, the delicate balance of the rainforest has been disturbed. The good news is there are still plenty of special plants and wild animals living here. And we can still take action to repair the damage.

We have found out which animals need the most help, and which trees we need to plant to replace the ones that were cut down. We plan to plant young trees, called saplings, in the forest. Local people in nearby villages will also help by growing the right trees. We can buy the trees from them when they are ready to plant in the forest.

Every year, the trees will grow one centimetre wider and two metres higher. In 50–60 years, they will be very tall and wide – the same size as the trees that were lost. With your help, we still have a chance to save the rainforest animals.