- A new study on Sumatran tiger conservation in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park underscores that poaching remains the top threat, despite extensive patrols and antitrafficking efforts over the past decade.
- Researchers found that while patrols removed hundreds of snares and law enforcement increasingly pursued criminal charges, poaching rates remained high and tiger populations continued to decline in some areas.
- Despite stricter conservation laws and improved prosecution rates, the financial rewards of poaching still outweigh the penalties, limiting the deterrent effect on poachers and traffickers.
- The study recommends increasing patrols in high-risk areas, improving community engagement in law enforcement, and providing alternative livelihoods to reduce the economic lure of poaching.
Authorities managing one of the last protected areas on Earth that still hosts Sumatran tigers must do more to deter poaching and promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, a new study suggests.
Poaching remains the top threat to the survival of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) population in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, a habitat it shares with other critically endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) and orangutan (Pongo abelii). A recently published study in the Journal of Environmental Management looks at how effective management of integrated protected areas has been in this context, including assessing patrol strategies and wildlife trafficking interventions.
“We want to know whether our approach is effective in reaching our conservation goals,” study lead author Adhi Nurul Hadi, a wildlife researcher at the University of Indonesia and a Ministry of Forestry official, told Mongabay in an email.
Adhi said conservation works tend to have a singular focus, such as protecting conservation areas through patrols, or reducing threats from the illegal wildlife trade. Integrated planning and evaluation of conservation efforts constitute a more recent approach, he said. This starts with addressing urgent tasks such as snare removal, and encompassing long-term approaches such as patrols and antitrafficking efforts, which require substantial time, resources and funding.
“More conservationists [have] started to think [about] and implement impact evaluation as part of the project, so this is a good trend,” Adhi wrote. “And if possible, it’s good if this is supported by the general public and conservationists.”
For their study, Adhi and colleagues focused on the Langkat-Bendahara region in the eastern Leuser Ecosystem, a crucial forest area spanning 7,172 square kilometers (2,769 square miles) and a key tiger habitat. Nearly half of this region, larger than the U.S. state of Delaware, lies within Gunung Leuser National Park. The researchers analyzed ranger patrol data from 2015-2019, wildlife poaching records from 2010-2019, and camera-trap surveys on tigers and their prey from 2010-2020.
Between 2015 and 2019, rangers conducted 457 patrols and removed 780 snares, while law enforcement officers handled 26 cases of tiger trafficking — initially pursuing only administrative sanctions, but shifting to criminal ones after regulatory changes in 2013. The camera-trap data, meanwhile, indicated a stable but dynamic tiger population, the study found. Still, the researchers wrote that despite these efforts, poaching remains a threat, and called for targeted, persuasive strategies alongside sustained funding and patrols in high-risk areas.
They also found that while patrol efforts were consistently high, covering about 30% of the Langkat-Bendahara region annually, poaching rates remained unchanged and tiger losses continued. The detection of snares also more than doubled from 2015 to 2019. The researchers suggested that possible unmeasured factors may be influencing outcomes, and that current deterrents, such as removing snares, might not be strong enough to dissuade poachers.
Prosecution rates improved over time due to a comprehensive government-led illegal wildlife trade strategy involving community reporting and social network mapping, leading to more cases reaching court with higher fines, especially after 2013. However, despite these gains and the 2024 revision of Indonesia’s conservation law to strengthen enforcement, penalties remain relatively low, raising questions about any deterrent effect, including for repeat offenders.
Adhi said the prosecution rate during the study period was “not at the level of severity which will cause a deterrent effect.”
“Traffickers still feel that there’s more benefit compared to the negative impact,” he added, noting that other approaches, such as behavioral changes and problem-oriented planning, need to be considered in addition to law enforcement.
Mongabay Indonesia reported in March the continued trafficking of Sumatran tiger parts in Aceh, with the arrest of five individuals (including a repeat offender) highlighting the failure of past penalties to deter wildlife crime. Despite the strengthened 2024 conservation law, experts warn that high profits and weak enforcement make tiger poaching and trading a lucrative option.
“Prosecutions and stakeholder collaborations are some efforts to reduce and mitigate poaching activities, but the main problem is how to turn over the poacher mindset and awareness which can change their activities and their thought, realizing wildlife needs to be sustained as part of ecosystems,” Adhi told Mongabay.
The researchers recommended increasing patrol frequency in high-risk and underpatrolled areas; improving law enforcement by encouraging communities to volunteer information; and offering alternative forms of livelihood to reduce the draw of poaching. Sustainable financing and cost-effective monitoring, including integrated data from patrols, surveys and camera traps, are necessary to support long-term conservation efforts, they added.
“We hope that with the above management measures, we will have stronger insight into the tiger population dynamics and can document the studied landscape as another tiger conservation success story,” they wrote in the study.
Basten Gokkon is a senior staff writer for Indonesia at Mongabay. Find him on 𝕏 @bgokkon.
See related reporting:
Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation
Citation:
Hadi, A. N., Mardhiah, U., Suryometaram, S. S., Hussein, S., Ginting, Y., Trihangga, A., … Andayani, N. (2025). Evaluating the efficacy of an integrated law enforcement approach to
safeguarding Sumatran tigers and their prey. Journal of Environmental Management, 378. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124759
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