Since 2004, the lands and resin forests of the Toba Batak community of Ompu Ronggur have been cleared and replaced by eucalyptus plantations of pulp company PT Toba Pulp Lestari. This State-authorised land-grab and destruction of the community’s forests violates a range of international human rights instruments ratified by the Government of Indonesia, including ILO Convention 111.
Film by Nanang Sujana for Forest Peoples Programme
The Harangan Tapanuli or Batang Toru Ecosystem is the last habitat for the newly described, critically endangered Tapanuli Orangutan, the rarest great ape in the world. The Tapanuli Orangutan with the scientific name ‘Pongo tapanuliensis’ population is estimate less than 800 individuals remain in the wild and only lives in the the rugged terrain of the Batang Toru Ecosystem in the three Tapanuli districts of North Sumatra.
