The OCVI will involve village-wide workgroups and training sessions that work towards developing community-led projects to support sustainable alternative livelihoods. We will implement environmental education and awareness programmes in the target villages as well as throughout surrounding communities. We will train the community with skills needed to manage and implement these plans, with the ultimate goal being the creation of a model conservation village. The development of sustainable alternative livelihood schemes will better equip communities with the awareness, motivation, and skills needed for conservation action. When people are taught about the many intrinsic services provided by rainforest ecosystems, they are much more likely to support and campaign for their protection (Eltringham, 1994; van Beukering et al., 2003).

The programme will be led in conjunction with local stakeholders to provide information on sustainable development and the importance of forested natural areas, whilst simultaneously improving local livelihoods. Communities will play a major part in the inception and management of these projects, which will be planned with OIC guidance to become financially self-supporting. The programme will therefore support the conservation of the Gunung Leuser National Park, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as the Leuser Ecosystem and its rich biodiversity, including the Sumatran orangutan population in Langkat, located within the East Leuser habitat unit - said to support 1,052 of these critically endangered animals, nearly 16% of the remaining population (Wich et al., 2008).

This new, more focused approach was built on foundations learned and acquired through long term investments in previous, broad reaching efforts such as the Rufford supported Sumatran Orangutan Education and Awareness Programme (SOEAP), as well as through the success of our various replanting programmes throughout North Sumatra and Aceh since 2005, whereby over a quarter of a million tree seedlings have been planted in target areas together with local communities.

By concentrating efforts on a smaller number of target communities, higher standards of conservation action and commitment will be developed. Through repeat visits with the OranguVan mobile environmental education unit, strong relationships will be formed and higher levels of relevant infrastructure developed. As well as providing critical ecosystem services, the forests of the Leuser Ecosystem have a substantially higher economic value if either strictly conserved or selectively used, rather than allowing deforestation for oil palm, logging, or other developments (van Beukering et al. 2003). However unless the people are made aware of this the forest and its biodiversity could very easily be lost.