UNESCO Project Sheet Strengthening the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra through Eco-tourism

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1 UNESCO Project Sheet Strengthening the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra through Eco-tourism What is it? A UNESCO project funded by the Government of Spain, Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs. Lasting for more than three years and aiming to strengthen the values of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra () through Ecotourism. Why? To help develope a Master Plan to promote Ecotourism in the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra and lead to new sustainable livelihoods of local people. This will help reduce reliance of people on forest cutting for their subsistence. What is technical assistance? UNESCO Office Jakarta provided the main technical and administrative support to the implementation of the project. The Environmental Sciences Unit made available all its human resources for the implementation of the project. Besides human resources, UNESCO provided the use of its equipment, including computers, printers, GIS equipment during the course of the project. The project was also posted on the UNESCO Jakarta website, detailing the objectives and strategies of the project and providing regular updates on the progress of activities for its dissemination.. Beneficiary countries Indonesia The project has been implemented by UNESCO Office, Jakarta, in close cooperation with INDECON Foundation and a broad range of partners, including the Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park, and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park authorities, as well as involved local and international NGOs working in the such as FFI, USAID-IFACS, TFCA Sumatra, WCS and WWF, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and the local Boards of Tourism in Sumatra. How does it work? 1. Carry out participatory workshops and meetings with stakeholders to set a plan for ecotourism management in Stakeholders kick-off meeting Regional stakeholders meeting National (Final) meeting 2. Capacity building on tourism products and tour guiding in Training on Ecotourism products development in Kerinci Seblat NP Training on guiding services in Kerinci Seblat NP Developing code of conduct and code of ethics for tourism activities in Kerinci Seblat NP Training on health and safety procedures and first aid application in Kerinci Seblat NP Developing ecotourism forum as a media for communication and coordination between tour guides in Kerinci Seblat NP Duration 35 months, from May 2012 to march 2015

2 Expected results Main activities undertaken Through this project, in-depth analysis of the ecotourism market in and tailor-made recommendations for ecotourism market have been developed in. Furthermore the stakeholders have improved their understanding on ecotourism management and have identified their follow up plan to implement and develope sustainable tourism. Activities: A series of participatory workshops and meetings have been conducted: Stakeholder Kick-off Meeting conducted on 12 February 2014 in Jakarta, Regional Stakeholder Meeting organized on 22 May 2014 in Medan, and Final National Workshop conducted on 27 June 2014 in Jakarta. All of the meetings gathered stakeholders at regional and national level, such as National Park offices, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Education and Culture, NGOs and private sectors. The meetings elaborated development of tourism, potential tourism sites and current issues in each NP in. To increase knowledge and skills of the Kerinci Seblat NP stakeholders on ecotourism guiding, 4 trainings and 1 stakeholder meeting were conducted. These activities were conducted to follow up recommendation of ecotourism master plan and to accelerate the development of ecotourism in Kerinci Seblat NP. Publications: Bilingual Report on Ecotourism Development (Ecotourism Master Plan) for Bilingual Policy Brief on Ecotourism Master Plan for Booklet on Good Practices of Ecotourism Development in Gunung Leuser National Park Preliminary Site Plan for Pilot Location in Gunung Tujuh Lake, Kerinci Seblat NP Awareness materials: Poster, Sign Board, Ecotourism Map for Kerinci Seblat NP Reports on meetings and workshops Project progress reports submitted regularly Current status of the project The project finished on 31 March 2015 Link to culture and development During the project implementation, UNESCO Jakarta has coordinated with the National Park offices and the Ministry of Forestry as the main partners. Involvement of related ministries, such as Ministry of Tourism, was significant to connect the National Park to other tourism sites and national strategy in tourism sectors. During this activity, UNESCO involved local and international NGOs working in the such as FFI, USAID-

3 IFACS, TFCA Sumatra, WCS and WWF, since it was important to ensure sustainability of recommendations from ecotourism plan. The activities comprised focus group discussions, data compiling, documents and inputs from each of the stakeholders. After all, the activities were followed by a multi stakeholder workshop to discuss the findings with key stakeholders. With this approach, the project had extended access and heightened ability to achieve sustainable results. Previously, in the three National Parks of there was poor communication amongst stakeholders. This situation led to distrust between community and NP/local government. Activities during the project (meetings and FGD) have brought some of the stakeholders together and allowed them to speak of their interests, problems, and expectations. This occasion has delivered good impact not only to project implementation but also to ecotourism development sustainability. Contact person Photo(s) Furthermore, local stakeholders at Kerinci Seblat NP (including community, NP, local government, local tourism promotion board and local entrepreneur) agreed to use this project to establish a communication forum amongst them. The forum is called Kerinci Tourism Stakeholder Forum (Forum Komunikasi Wisata Kerinci). This forum is expected to serve as a media to share and discuss about tourism development in Kerinci Seblat NP Shahbaz Khan, Director and Representative UNESCO Jakarta s.khan@unesco.org

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