District Partners

Why North Sumatra & Aceh?

20%

15%

of Indonesia’s coffee

13%

Important for commodity production.

Indonesia’s North Sumatra and Aceh Provinces are two important regions for food and agriculture production — including palm oil, cocoa, coffee and rubber — contributing significantly to local and global supply chains and driving local economic development. Together, these two provinces account for:

of Indonesia’s cocoa

Much of this commodity output, especially palm oil, is mixed or blended through major export terminals in the region, making North Sumatra and Aceh a priority for efforts to collective action to improve production performance across the entire region.

Important for livelihoods.

This agricultural production provides vital livelihoods for over one million smallholders across the two provinces. Sustainable production provides an opportunity to improve productivity and potentially farmer incomes; enable access to markets; and demonstrate legality.

Important for conservation.

North Sumatra and Aceh are covered by 6 million ha of forest areas, which provides smallholders and nearby communities with vital natural resources that:

 Buffer against the impacts of climate change, such as uncertain weather patterns that can lead to drought and crop failure

Provide habitat for key biodiversity – including elephants, rhinos, tigers, and orangutans

The forests of North Sumatra and Aceh represent an essential biodiversity corridor linking the Leuser Ecosystem of Aceh through to the Bukit Barisan forests of West Sumatra. Maintaining this connectivity is essential to the long-term health and productivity of the region.

35%

Provide fresh water, medicines and cultural values  

of Indonesia’s palm oil 

Reduce risks of flooding and landslides

11%

of Indonesia’s rubber

lower productivity among palm oil smallholders compared to corporate plantations

>1 Mil

smallholders with livelihoods supported through palm oil, coffee, cocoa, and rubber production

District Initiatives

Several districts across North Sumatra and Aceh have created roadmaps or plans for sustainable development and are collaborating with CSL members and their partners to implement these plans and progress towards joint goals. CSL supports these district initiatives by strengthening the enabling conditions for learning, replication, and scale, including:

  • Facilitating exchanges for shared learning opportunities

  • Raising the profile of important local issues through communications, outreach and engagement  

  • Creating access to a network of potential partners and donors

  • Identifying linkages and facilitating alignment across multiple scales of government

District Initiatives represent the collective set of landscape projects and activities that are led and supported by CSL members and other partners. These initiatives focus on the development and implementation of government-endorsed, district-level sustainable development plans. Activities are carried out directly with communities, district government, NGOs, business actors and other development partners and support the CSL vision for enhancing sustainable livelihoods. CSL’s members currently lead and support District Initiatives in Aceh Tamiang and Tapanuli Selatan and are contributing to the development of new landscape projects in other districts in North Sumatra and Aceh Provinces.

Tapanuli Selatan District Initiative

About the District

Over 60% of Tapanuli Selatan District is covered in forest areas, such as the Batang Toru Forest Ecosystem – a key source of fresh water and home to the endangered Tapanuli orangutan and Sumatran tiger. These forests are part of an important biodiversity corridor in North Sumatra, connecting forests of West Sumatra to the Leuser Ecosystem. Approximately 80% (358,811 ha) of Tapanuli Selatan is considered High Conservation Value or High Carbon Stock area. The district is also a key agricultural production area for commodities such as palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber and others, which together account for 85% of local income. Challenges around forest loss, floods, and landslides, along with a desire for sustainable commodities led local government to develop a District Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil, with support from UNDP and Konservasi Indonesia.

Key Activities

The Tapanuli Selatan District Initiative supports implementation of this Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil and other government plans focused on improving the sustainability of palm oil and other commodities in the district while also protecting priority areas through restoration, conservation, and improved management.

Goals/Targets:

Sustainable production:

  • 25% of smallholder farmers have increased palm oil production and 100% have achieved certification by 2028

  • By 2024, a sustainable production action plan for multiple commodities has been developed to improve livelihood of local farmers

  • Enhanced farmer institution capacity has increased smallholder competitiveness

Restoration and forest management:

  • 10,000 ha degraded areas restored (agroforestry, enrichment) by 2030

  • Restore 1,000 ha of peatland areas by 2025

  • 10,000 ha of forest areas are managed by communities through social forestry by 2025

  • Technical support provided to FMUs to improve management of 150,000 ha of forest areas and reduce deforestation 50% by 2030

More Information:

Interested in supporting this landscape or learning more? Please reach out to the following key contact: Isner Manalu, Field Program Manager, Konservasi Indonesia, imanalu@konservasi-id.org

CSL Members currently Leading or Supporting:

Aceh Tamiang District Initiative

About the District

Nearly 40% of Aceh Tamiang District is covered by the Leuser Ecosystem, a key biodiversity hotspot providing critical ecosystem services to people and wildlife. In addition to its rich natural resources, the district is an important production area for commodities such as palm oil, natural rubber, pulp and coffee. Over half of the district’s APL land (i.e., areas zoned as non-forest state and private lands) is covered in oil palm.

Key Activities

Recognizing the importance of the region for income as well as human and wildlife well-being, the Government of Aceh Tamiang, Forest Management Unit, IDH, and FKL, along with local stakeholders, agreed to a Production, Protection, and Inclusion (PPI) Compact focused on improving sustainable palm oil production, protecting forest and the Leuser Ecosystem, and improving livelihoods of smallholders. The district government with support from IDH and FKL established a Center of Excellence (Pusat Unggulan Perkebunan Lestari - PUPL), which serves as a local multistakeholder platform to support stakeholders implementing these goals. This district-level work is also guided by the provincial-level Green Growth Plan (GGP).

Goals/Targets of PPI Compact in Aceh Tamiang:

Protection:

  • Reduce deforestation rate by 50% in 2023 (based on 2018 baseline data)

  • Establish an integrated monitoring system at the jurisdiction level

  • Increase area of ecosystem recovery to 50% in 2023 (based on 2018 baseline data)

  • Enhance the protection of forest area and the Leuser Ecosystem

Production:

  • Increase sustainable palm oil production by 30% in 2023 (based on 2018 baseline data)

  • Provide incentive mechanisms and link to market

Inclusion:

  • Increase land legality by 30% in 2023 (based on 2018 baseline data)

  • Encourage good labor practices

  • Develop landscape governance by sharing multi-stakeholder roles

More Information:

Interested in supporting this landscape or learning more? – Please reach out to the following key contact: Riswan, Landscape Manager for North Sumatra and Aceh, IDH, riswan@idhtrade.org

CSL Members currently Leading or Supporting:

Additional District Initiatives
are Welcome and Needed!

CSL aims to increase and expand impact across the region and welcomes involvement of new district initiatives in the CSL network. Creating new district initiatives and supporting additional existing ones is fundamental to driving change across multiple districts and at the provincial level, providing the building blocks to scale impact and the extent of forest and production areas covered by sustainable development plans. Additional district initiatives can bring new partners, expertise, lessons, and solutions to the table, which help to strengthen the effectiveness of both new and existing initiatives.

New or additional district initiatives should have or be working towards the following:

Multistakeholder Platform - district multistakeholder platform that provides opportunities for equitable participation by diverse representatives from civil society and community-based organizations, private sector and is supported, led or endorsed by government.

Sustainable development Plan - should be working towards development and/or implementation of district sustainable development plans, sustainable commodity action plans or similar (i.e. Produce, Protect, Include Compact and the FOKSBI District Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil).

Monitoring & Reporting - Transparent system for reporting progress in implementation of the district roadmaps or sustainable action plans.

District initiatives should have an identified coordinating institution to serve as focal point for reporting and communication with the initiative. The SourceUp Initiative provides a valuable model and useful guidance for development of multistakeholder jurisdictional initiatives and can provide step-by-step guidance to organizations interested in developing new district level initiatives.

Join us!

CSL members are leading and supporting landscape projects and partners that provide important lessons, tools and models for production, livelihoods, and natural resource management.