The mountainous and dissected topography of Sulawesi, Indonesia has prevented the development of large plantations (oil-palm, rubber, timber etc.) in many places. Hence, Sulawesi still holds a considerable number of forest patches and biodiversity hotspots, which are relatively undisturbed. Forests in the Gorontalo province of Sulawesi cover an area of about 826.000 ha, of which 55.76% is classified as production forest.

The Ecosystem Restoration Concession is defined by re-management and restoration efforts on former production forest, including biotic (flora and fauna) and abiotic (soil, hydrology, nutrition cycles and other natural process) components in order to re-establish a biological balance. Several strengths of this concept are: (i) management of concession is based on habitat restoration and rehabilitation; (ii) secure land tenure ownership, therefore concession management has a legitimate authority to fully manage the area; (iii) monitoring and safeguarding an area from illegal exploitation can be conducted more effectively; and, (iv) there is the potential for obtaining sustainable financing through a carbon credit (REDD) project.

This project aims at conserving and restoring endangered forests through the establishment of an Ecosystem Restoration Concession (ERC) and other appropriate land-use management strategies in selected pilot areas, i.e. the Popayato-Paguat Forest Block, for maintaining important carbon stocks, protecting exceptional biodiversity, and improving livelihoods of local communities.

The project area, comprises 84,798 ha of two ex-logging concessions ranging in elevations from near sea level up to 2,000 m. The proposed area mostly includes limited production forest. Given the landscape approach considered, in the Boalemo and Pohuwato districts, there are at least 16 villages bordering the proposed ERC to be included in the future program, with a total population of 11,000 (or estimated 3,200 households).