Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP) first declared to be the wildlife reserve in 1935 by the Dutch East Indies government, and started to become a national park in 1982. BBSNP covers 355.511 ha area with mountainous landscape in the northern area and peninsula in the southern area. BBSNP covered by montane and lowland tropical forest in the central area and mangrove forest in coastal area. It is home for some iconic species such as Sumatran elephant, Sumatran rhino, Sumatran tiger and sun bear. BBSNP is also included in Tropical Rainforest Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with Kerinci Seblat National Park and Gunung Leuser National Park.
THREATS
BBSNP is facing some potential threat to the sustainability of forest and their iconic wild animal. In 2019-2020, the rate of forest cover change reaches -0.32% per year inside BBSNP. Through years squatter encroachment by locals for agricultural purposes like coffee plantation lead to the habitat loss and it implicates to the increasing number of human-animal conflict.
WHAT WE DO
WCS-IP, through Wildlife Response Unit (WRU), supported the Government mitigates conflict between human-tiger which frequently happen in villages around BBSNP. In collaboration with BBSNP, WRU initiates Tiger Proof Enclosure (TPE) to protect livestock. Currently, some villagers outside the village also inspired to build their own TPEs independently. It proves that TPE is considered effective to tackle bad impact of human-tiger conflict. The long-term goal is to build the independence of the community and stakeholders in tackling human wildlife conflicts, as well as growing public awareness and tolerance for the wildlife conservation that live around them. WCS also established Way Canguk Conservation Research and Training Center as a site of research activity to improve the understanding of dynamics vegetation and ecology in BBSNP.