When disaster strikes, local partnerships matter

Cyclone Senyar struck Aceh in late 2025, bringing devastating floods and landslides to communities across northern Sumatra and causing extensive damage within and around the Leuser Ecosystem.

For Wildlife Asia, the disaster also demonstrated something fundamental about the way we work: the value of strong, long-term local partnerships.

Our conservation partners Forum Konservasi Leuser (FKL) and HAkA are deeply embedded in the landscapes and communities they work alongside. When disaster struck, those existing relationships, local knowledge and networks allowed help to reach affected communities quickly.

Working alongside HAkA and many other partners, FKL's relief efforts reached 238 villages, delivering more than 359,000 food supplies, 1.19 million litres of clean water and 41 solar energy systems to help restore essential services, including in isolated communities.

But the impacts extended beyond the immediate humanitarian emergency.

Conservation staff and ranger families lost homes. Infrastructure supporting protection and research across the Leuser landscape was damaged or destroyed. The renowned Ketambe Research Station, which has supported decades of research into the Leuser Ecosystem and its wildlife, was destroyed.

Recovery therefore means more than rebuilding what was lost.

FKL and its partners are helping communities recover while restoring conservation infrastructure and strengthening resilience against future disasters. Planning for the reconstruction of Ketambe is now well advanced, with a new elevated location selected to reduce vulnerability to future flooding.

The disaster also highlighted the inseparable relationship between healthy ecosystems and resilient communities. Forest protection, watershed health, wildlife conservation and human wellbeing cannot be addressed in isolation.

This is why Wildlife Asia invests in local organisations for the long term.

When strong conservation organisations are rooted in the landscapes they protect, they can respond not only to the challenges we anticipate, but also to the crises we cannot.