Sumatra, Part 1: A land like no other

<p>"Sumatra is like a fossil relic of rare species...a giant, rhino horn-shaped island blanketed in the richest rainforest you can imagine...there's nothing like it," one of our guests declares.</p> <p>The 6th largest island in the world and the 2nd largest economy in Indonesia, Sumatra is <span style= "text-decoration: underline;">the only place in the world</span> where you can you find <span style= "text-decoration: underline;">tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans all living together</span> in an incredibly rich landscape of rainforests that, until recently, were largely untouched by human activities. </p> <p>But that's <a href= "https://www.eyesontheforest.or.id/backgrounders/sumatra">changing rapidly</a>, and this series from Mongabay Explores dives into what's special about Sumatra, its amazing biodiversity heritage, and what's at stake as forests fall for uses like oil palm plantations, mines, and hydropower dams. We'll also discuss positive trends for conservation and solutions that meet human and nonhuman needs.</p> <p>Host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with two guests: Rudi Putra, a biologist who <a href= "https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/rudi-putra/">won the Goldman Environmental Prize</a> for his inspiring conservation work in Sumatra and who now serves as chairman of the Leuser Conservation Forum, plus Greg McCann, a biologist and Assistant Professor at Taiwan's Chang Gung University, whose People Resources and Conservation Foundation team is exploring and documenting the incredible richness of Sumatra so that it can be better conserved. </p> <p>View all of Mongabay's news coverage from Sumatra <a href= "https://news.mongabay.com/list/sumatra/">here</a>, visit Rudi Putra's organization Leuser Conservation Forum's <a href= "http://leuserconservancy.or.id/">website</a> to learn more about their work, and Greg McCann's organization PRCF has multiple projects in Indonesia described <a href= "https://prcfoundation.org/prcf-indonesia/">here</a> (and details on the project in Dolok Simalalaksa/ Hadabuan