They provide a large portion of the animal protein in local people’s diets and generate ample foreign exchange.

In Aceh, local farmers have reported an increasing frequency of drought and damaging floods due to degradation of the watercatchment area.

Large rubber and oil palm plantations in northern Sumatra play a major role in the national economy.

[7] Low-impact ecotourism can be one of the most important sustainable, nonconsumptive uses of Leuser, thereby giving local communities powerful incentives for conservation.

Many Tangkahan people nowadays work for tourism and avoid illegal logging, with education sometimes past the elementary school, but with training, they can serve the tourists well.

Nontimber forest products can provide local communities with cash as long as exploitation does not surpass a threshold level.

[7] In November 1995, the Langkat Regency government proposed a road to connect an old enclave, known as Sapo Padang, inside the park.

In pursuit of business opportunities, 34 families who had been living in the enclave formed a cooperative in March 1996 and subsequently submitted a proposal to develop an oil palm plantation in August 1997.

[11] The local cooperation unit formed a partnership with PT Amal Tani, which has strong relationship with the military command in the area.

In June 1998, the local office of the Forestry Service issued a decree stating that the Sapo Padang enclave was no longer legally a part of the national park, a controversial decision, which consequently led to further forest destruction during the road construction and invited newcomers to slash and burn forest area to create local plantations a way deeper to the park.

In July 1999, the National Administrative Court rejected the case, while the local NGOs won with 30 million rupiahs damage, but the legal process continues with appeals.

[11] The legal process did not stop the project that extensive logging and clearing, road-building, and oil palm plantation continue operating inside the national park.

Pressures on locals, in a 2011 report, from palm oil profits has led to illegal slashing and burning of 21,000 hectares per year.

In December 2010, 26 families comprising 84 people were moved from Gunung Leuser National Park area to Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra.