The Rolex Awards honors Farwiza Farhan as she continues to protect and restore fragile Indonesian ecosystems..
The Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia is the last place on earth where elephants, tigers, orangutans, and rhinoceros still coexist in the wild. Farwiza Farhan, a forest conservationist from Aceh, Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, is working to protect Leuser, and using the 2026 Rolex Award to do so.
Farwiza Farhan is a National Geographic explorer, a 2021 Ted Fellow, and a Yayasan HAkA chairperson, and one of the newest Rolex Laureates. Farhan has won this year’s award for her project Defending a Forest in Sumatra.
Farhan has had a passion for the natural world since she was very young, spending most of her youth climbing trees and exploring outdoors. She studied marine biology in university, which led her to work for the government agency in charge of overseeing the Leuser Ecosystem. It was in that position that Farhan discovered that Indonesia was a place where illegal wildlife trading was unsanctioned, and where logging the rainforest was leading to the establishment of monoculture oil palm plantations. This became the impetus for her forest conservationist career in Leuser.
When her government job was dissolved by the governor at the time, she and her colleagues formed HAkA — Hutan, Alam dan Lingkungan Aceh, meaning “Forest, Nature, and Environment of Aceh.” HAkA’s aim was to bring together community members for the purpose of fighting for the conservation of Leuser. Not only does HAkA attempt to keep clean air, water, and earth, but they also fight for Leuser’s conservation in the courtrooms. Through Farhan’s training as a biologist, she’s learned the scientific knowledge required to keep ecosystems thriving. But, she has also said, “Conservation is more about people than about wildlife. Local communities stand on the frontline of conservation; they could play both roles — as the defender and guardians of forest and wildlife, as well as the perpetrator of environmental crimes.”
Farhan’s work in Leuser has already successfully mobilized and led campaigns against the deforestation, development, and destruction of the important Leuser Ecosystem. Now, The Rolex Award will help her continue to monitor this fragile ecosystem. Her work will also continue to enable women and grassroots communities to defend this ecosystem, for the forest and for the surrounding communities — proving that local voices belong in environmental decision-making.
Image courtesy of Haka.
