Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem is a vast 2.6 million hectare forest that has increasingly come under threat from illegal poaching, logging, and palm oil plantations. The area boasts an impressive range of wildlife, but between 2001 and 2014 lost more than 145,000 hectares of tree cover, putting immense pressure on the forest and its inhabitants. Farwiza co-founded Yayasan HAkA to advocate for the conservation, protection and restoration of this important landscape.
Farwiza attended the 2019 One Young World Summit in London on a scholarship with The NewNow, which proved to be an invaluable educational experience and source of inspiration for her. She previously worked for the provincial government’s taskforce for the Leuser region, but upon that agency’s dismantlement, she had her colleagues founded HAkA as a collective, democratic organisation advocating for the ecosystem. HAkA emphasises the importance of educating local communities living within and around the Leuser region on their rights under Indonesian law. The organisation also has an intersectional focus, supporting the establishment of the first-ever group of female rangers in the area.
Since then HAkA has succeeded in winning several legal battles against exploitative companies, has supported the creation of two anti-poaching patrol teams, advocated for and supported the implementation of two provincial wildlife protection laws, and prevented the destruction of over 6000 hectares of forest in partnership with other organisations.
Farwiza is also currently pursuing a PhD, with her research focusing on the political economy of natural resource management in Aceh, Indonesia and a particular focus on the Leuser Ecosystem.
[Information accurate as of interview, 11/01/2021]
“One Young World was probably one of the biggest youth summits I have ever attended in my life. There is a pathway for everyone to think of the way forward. I was encouraged by the youth who attended, how they took ownership of initiatives and took it back to their workplace.”
