Wildlife Conservation International Limited

Our conservation strategy covers four key areas: 1. Legally protect forests. 2. Secure, restore and patrol habitat. 3. Rescue, rehabilitate and release orangutans/elephants/tigers. 4. Educate and empower local communities and indigenous people. Legally protect forests: We provided significant financial support to our project partner Forest Nature and Environment Aceh in their continual efforts to provide legal protection for local communities within the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra. Secure, restore and patrol habitat: We continued the significant process of applying for critically important rainforest habitat in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra and the Busang Ecosystem in Kalimantan as part of our holistic plan to save these key ecosystems. We funded numerous Wildlife Protection Units (WPUs) to patrol key habitat areas and safeguard Critically Endangered orangutans, elephants, and Sumatran tigers in Sumatra, Borneo and Laos. We also fund specific firefighting patrols to protect critical habitat. A total of 218 rangers are funded by us. We helped to restore deforested areas including the surroundings of the Gunung Leuser National Park, engaging members of local villages, including many women, in seedling cultivation, planting and maintenance. Rescue, rehabilitate and release orangutans/elephants/tigers: 52 orangutans were rescued, and our funds provided care for 68 orangutans in care centres. 41 orangutans were released/relocated to safe areas and 212 orangutans were monitored postrelease. Our funds support rescue teams to rescue and release orangutans from at risk situations and confiscate orangutans being held illegally as pets. Orangutans then require years of rehabilitation including Jungle School lessons, to obtain the skills to be able to successfully return to the wild. We fund a Wildlife Ambulance in Sumatra and other veterinarians that provide care to sick and injured wildlife including elephants and tigers injured from snares. Educate and empower local communities and indigenous people: We support dozens of community development projects including funding English and Computing lessons for school children in West Kalimantan. We support a Mobile Education Unit in Sumatra that delivers environmental classes to students and assists teachers with incorporating this into permanent lessons. We support many community development projects including teaching people how to grow food more sustainably and with organic fertilisers. We continued the Talang Mamak School Food Project in the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra to improve the health and education of local school children by providing nutritious meals at school to incentivise attendance and increased learning. Families are also supported further by this project as food produce is bought off many of the school families. We provided 16 Orangutan Caring Scholarships for Indonesian students undertaking studies in Biology, Forestry and Veterinary science.