About
Established in 2018, SINTAS was founded by well experienced conservation practitioners who have been dedicating their lifetime professional careers in addressing various major conservation issues. SINTAS Indonesia is a non-profit scientific and educational organization that based in Bogor, West Java and has been legitimated based on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Act number: AHU-0002727.AH.01.12 in 2018 SINTAS, means “survive” and stands for Save the Indonesia’s Nature and Threatened Species, has been established with the realization that the success of conserving the Indonesia natural resources in the long-run can only be achieved through a well-rounded leadership of the Indonesian practitioners. As of today, SINTAS focuses its conservation investment on either or both neglected species and/or habitats. This includes the Sumatran tigers in heavily degraded landscapes, the underfunded Critically Endangered Javan leopard, and the Sumatran wildcats in marginal habitats.
What We Do
SINTAS works mostly in human-dominated, multiple use landscapes, and protected habitats in Aceh, West Sumatra, Central Sumatra, and East Java, where ASAP Species occurring. We have been carrying out a large-scale biodiversity survey involving nearly 400 camera trap stations in across our study sites. Next year, we will start an awareness program on ASAP species we detected using our camera trap devices through our social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube channel.
Currently we work on:
SUMATRAN TIGER CONSERVATION IN HUMAN-DOMINATED LANDSCAPES
In 2017, with support from San Diego Zoo Global, SINTAS Indonesia, West Sumatra Conservation Agency (BKSDA), and University of Andalas, were the first to establish a long-term research and conservation program to study the ecology of Sumatran tiger in a heavily human-dominated landscapes in West Sumatra. We employ young field biologists to implement a variety of techniques and technologies to better understand how tigers use these human-dominated and often heavily degraded landscapes, including sign surveys to tell us which areas tigers occupy, camera traps to allow us to get tiger densities, GPS collars application to learn how the tiger move through degraded landscape, and novel genetic methods to more to look connectivity among protected areas. The long-term program’s strategies are to implement high-end conservation technologies to improve the conservation of Sumatran tigers and key wildlife species in heavily degraded marginal tiger habitats, to promote the capacity of young conservationists and national capacity in implementing sound science conservation management, to provide practical recommendations and solutions to holistically improve the management of Sumatran tigers and key wildlife species in both prime and marginal habitats.
SUMATRA WILD CATS CONSERVATION IN HUMAN-DOMINATED LANDSCAPES
Sumatra has a network of protected areas of critical importance to the wild felids extant on the island. Yet, wild cat presence is not confined to these protected areas and many populations exist outside of their borders. Sumatra has seen some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, converting much of the degraded forests along protected area borders into oil palm plantations and linear infrastructure development. Over the past decades the rapid growth of the palm oil market globally has accelerated this economic activity in Indonesia and has had a detrimental impact on its biodiversity. Despite a logging moratorium running for 13 years in Aceh, illegal logging and oil palm encroachment persists and will be hard to prevent given the global market demand for palm oil and subsistence. The increasingly shrinking and isolated wild habitats make species coexistence and survival very challenging, which can lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts.
This project aims to determine baseline population parameters of Sumatra’s wild cats in human-dominated landscapes and identify and mitigate critical threats to their survival. Information gathered from the project will be used to inform and develop effective conservation management plans for endangered wild cat species in human-dominated landscapes.
REDUCING RETALIATORY KILLING OF TIGERS
Conflict between human and Sumatran tigers in West Sumatra is among the highest in Sumatra, which usually culminates in negative perceptions of tigers and poaching of the species. Most villagers in our project sites are Minang, the West Sumatra’s native tribe. Traditionally the Minang respect tigers as they believe tigers have feelings and help guard the villages from bad matters. They are mostly subsistence farmers largely dependent on the harvests of their main cash crops and livestock.
PBNF fund Our main goal is, therefore, to reduce numbers of tigers killed. With science-based and socially conscious solutions, we expect to develop a standardized and site-specific operating procedure for communities experiencing human-tiger conflict. This will prevent poaching while changing local perceptions of tigers.
Our objective is, therefore, to work with provincial governments, universities, and West Sumatran tribes to protect the tiger population in the region by reducing retaliatory killing of tigers in target landscapes, reducing livestock depredations in human-tiger conflict hotspots, formulating best practices in tiger management in human-dominated landscapes.
PRIVATE SECTORS: HOME TO SUMATRAN TIGER OUTSIDE CONSERVATION AREA
Forest conversions to large scale plantations has forced the Sumatran tiger to live in many forestry concessions. In these human-modified land uses, interactions between human and tigers are often inevitably. To formulate an effective conservation management and intervention, robust assessment on the conservation status of Sumatran tiger and principal preys is critical to provide baseline data against which conservation interventions will be evaluated.
SINTAS Indonesia has collaborated with major private sectors, namely APRIL and APP, to evaluate the conservation status of Sumatran tiger and principal preys in their forestry concessions. As part of the ongoing Sumatra-Wide Tiger Survey, involving more than 35 institutions, the main objectives of the assessment are to promote active involvement of the companies to become part of a larger multi-party partnership in Sumatran tiger conservation, to provide baseline dataset on key terrestrial biodiversity in forestry concessions, to allow the companies to evaluate their conservation performance in scientifically robust manners, to formulate a set of practical recommendations to the companies to effectively manage and conserve tiger populations in their concession.
STRENGTHENING PROTECTION OF JAVAN LEOPARDS IN A PRIORITY LANDSCAPE OF MERU BETIRI, EAST JAVA, INDONESIA
The Javan leopard Panthera pardus melas is one of the most threatened subspecies of leopard. endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, Javan leopards are protected under the Government Regulation No. 7/1999, listed on CITES Appendix I, categorized as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, and among the 25 national priority species targeted for a 10% population increase by 2019. From the nine recognized subspecies, the Javan leopard is among the three most Critically Endangered, along with the Amur leopard and Arabian leopard. Despite this, efforts to reverse the situations are still far from even minimum.
The most recent study confirmed the Javan leopards occupying 22 of 29 suitable landscapes, or only 9% of the Java land, all are heavily isolated one another and mostly extremely too small. Only three of the landscapes are sufficient to support more 50 mature individuals, namely Halimun Salak, Ujung Kulon, and Meru Betiri. However, none of these populations will be sustaining without effective interventions.
The project takes place in Meru Betiri National Park, one of four core areas of the UNESCO’s Belambangan Biosphere Reserve. The project’s long-term goal is to increase the Javan leopard population in MBNP by 50% compared to the baseline data within 10 years. Our strategies are to establish an adaptive wildlife and forest protection program through the implementation of the SMART patrol system, to establish a robust monitoring system through the implementation of biennial camera trapping surveys, to mainstream the intrinsic values of Javan leopard conservation in MBNP into policies of the provincial government.
Where We Work
Aceh, West Sumatra, Central Sumatra, Eastern Java
Photo Credits
SINTAS Indonesia Foundation