The Community Education and Conservation Program (CECP) was created in late 2019 by the members of the newly formed Sustainable Green Sumatra Foundation (YSHL) based in Medan, North Sumatra. Comprised of motivated and experienced conservation educators, the CECP will deliver formal and informal education programs to schools and villages and work with local farmers in villages to reduce conflict with ape populations in adjacent forest habitats by enhancing agroforestry techniques that improve productivity on existing farm and community forestland including the creation of recycling/waste management/composting projects, soil quality enhancement, tree-planting, and developing appropriate permaculture methods.
In addition, CECP will examine biodiversity in the buffer zone and national park near the villages and create opportunities for research-driven conservation strategies in the region.
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, CECP will be developing and delivering COVID-19 curricula to educate villagers about the virus and disease, the risks of capturing, handling, and consuming wildlife, and the role the community plays to keep the viruses within the natural wildlife populations.
We encourage public support of this program by donating to either the CECP Giving Appeal or the Village Education Campaign to Reduce Human-Wildlife Conflict.
The newly formed YSHL (Yayasan Sumatra Hijau Lestari) team (2019)