2014-15: The Beginning of the Actions

The RER concession area expanded with three additional ecosystem restoration licenses (Sinar Mutiara Nusantara, The Best One Unitimber, Global Alam Nusantara) on Kampar Peninsula totaling 150,000 ha, thus completing the core protection zone on the Kampar Peninsula and Padang Island peat domes that are isolated from forest threats by the actively-managed production fiber plantation-ring.

The RER activities began with protecting the forest from new degradation and conducting baseline assessments that follow the High Conservation Value approach and Community, Climate and Biodiversity Standard that create net positive benefits for climate change mitigation for local communities and for biodiversity.

RER’s partners Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and BIDARA also initiated work on-the-ground. FFI deployed 225 camera traps on the Kampar Peninsula to inventory the fauna present in the peat landscape; measured peat depth and above-ground biomass and documented the ethnicity and well-being of surrounding communities.
The restoration activities began by trialing several dam construction techniques to close old drainage canals and planted native tree seedlings on 8.9 ha of highly degraded sites on the Kampar Peninsula.

At the UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris, Anderson Tanoto, Managing Director of RGE, announced that APRIL Group would invest US$100 million in conservation and restoration, which includes RER, over the next 10 years.