Haven in peril: Aceh activists lose class action over Indonesia's Leuser rainforest

Deforestation in the Leuser Ecosystem in August.

Jakarta: Activists warn the last place on Earth where elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses and orangutans coexist in the wild could be destroyed by mining and palm oil plantations after a Jakarta court ruled against their bid to protect a Sumatran rain forest.

A group of citizens from the Sumatran province of Aceh launched a class action against the Aceh government's land use plan, which they say legalises roads through the world-renowned Leuser Ecosystem and opens the area up for further development.

The Leuser Ecosystem covers more than 2.6 million hectares in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra and is considered one of the most valuable conservation areas in South-east Asia.

It gained international prominence when Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio visited in March this year and warned on Instagram that palm oil plantations were fragmenting the forest and cutting off key elephant migratory corridors.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Haven in peril: Aceh activists lose class action over Indonesia's Leuser rainforest.”