home icon
search icon
menu icon
close
Prospective Students arrow_forward_ios Students arrow_forward_ios Lecturers & Staff arrow_forward_ios International Visitors arrow_forward_ios Media & Partners arrow_forward_ios Services arrow_forward_ios Accreditation & Achievements arrow_forward_ios Virtual Gallery arrow_forward_ios

> News > ECOREST: USU Students’ Action to Protect Batang Toru, Nature’s Harmony, and Indigenous Culture in the Modern Era

ECOREST: USU Students’ Action to Protect Batang Toru, Nature’s Harmony, and Indigenous Culture in the Modern Era

Published At

22 September 2025

Published By

Anonymous Writer

ECOREST: USU Students’ Action to Protect Batang Toru, Nature’s Harmony, and Indigenous Culture in the Modern Era
Thumbnail ECOREST: USU Students’ Action to Protect Batang Toru, Nature’s Harmony, and Indigenous Culture in the Modern Era
ECOREST is a USU student initiative to address conservation challenges in the Batang Toru Forest. Through four main pillars—Eco-Learn, Responsible Action, Sustainable Solution, and Transformation—the program connects indigenous communities, youth, and government to jointly protect the forest while preserving culture.

FORESTRY PR — Amid major conservation challenges, a group of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) students launched a breakthrough through the ECOREST program (Eco-Learn, Responsible Action, Sustainable Solution, and Transformation). This movement is designed to bridge indigenous communities and the government in protecting the Batang Toru Forest, one of the world’s key ecosystems and the habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan, the rarest primate on the planet.

 

The Batang Toru Forest, spanning more than 133 thousand hectares in North Sumatra, is not only a global carbon sink but also home to flora, fauna, and indigenous communities that have long coexisted with the forest. However, the clash between conservation needs and indigenous rights often creates management dilemmas.

 

 

Through ECOREST, USU students present four main pillars: Eco-Learn, Responsible Action, Sustainable Solution, and Transformation. This program targets both the younger generation and indigenous communities as the front line of change.

  • Eco-Learn: education for elementary school children in Sialogo and Tapian Nauli Saur Manggita Villages, combining modern science with local wisdom.

  • Responsible Action: encouraging real action, such as communal work to clean the environment and plant trees.

  • Sustainable Solution: designing sustainable forest management by combining traditional rotational farming systems with modern science.

  • Transformation: advocating for more inclusive policies that support indigenous communities while protecting forest sustainability.

 

“Often we forget that when talking about the future of the Batang Toru Forest and its orangutans, we must also talk about the future of its people... At ECOREST, we want to reverse that logic. By supporting young people there to value their traditions, we believe we can preserve everything together: the forest, the wildlife, and the culture,” said Natasya Martiana Priyani Sipayung, ECOREST Team Leader.

 

Initial evaluations show promising results. Children’s understanding significantly increased after joining the program, with a renewed spirit to protect the environment and practice collective action.

Not only in the field, the ECOREST team also actively voices conservation messages through social media. The Instagram account @ecorest.id has attracted youth attention with creative content about the environment.

 

Now, ECOREST is moving further by drafting policy recommendations for the government and developing conservation education modules that can be replicated in various regions of Indonesia. This initiative proves that environmental solutions do not always come from advanced technology but from youth concern, cross-community collaboration, and the courage to care for nature.

 

With ECOREST, the hope for a greener, more sustainable, and harmonious Batang Toru Forest is becoming more real.

News

Find Other News