December 11, 2025
Michael Sutton, the executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, visited 2014 Goldman Prize winner Rudi Putra in Indonesia this November. He shared observations from the trip in the post below.
In 2023, Tero Mustonen received the Goldman Environmental Prize for protecting a distinctive natural habitat in Finland: peatlands. These peat marshes and bogs—sometimes known as swamp forests—store gigatons of carbon, making them some of the world’s most vital carbon sinks. During the 2023 Prize tour, Tero described them as “sexy.”
But Finland is not the only country with important peatlands. Peatlands are found in many countries, both tropical and temperate, covering nearly 3% of the Earth’s land area. Specifically, Indonesia has the largest amount of peatlands among tropical nations, holding between 10-15 million hectares, according to the Global Peatland Database.
Recently, I visited one such area, the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve in northern Sumatra, with 2014 Goldman Prize winner Rudi Putra, who is working to protect it. Unlike the peatlands in Finland, the Singkil reserve hosts incredible biodiversity, including orangutans and saltwater crocodiles. The 102,500-hectare reserve forms the southernmost part of the 2.6-million-hectare Leuser Ecosystem, which Rudi has fought to protect for many years. Leuser includes large areas of lowland rainforest, montane cloud forest, rivers, swamps, and coastal zones, giving it very high ecological integrity and structural diversity. As the most intact remaining ecosystem in Sumatra, Leuser is home to four critically endangered species—orangutans, Sumatran rhinos, Sumatran tigers, and Asian forest elephants.
While peat swamps like the Singkil reserve might be considered impenetrable by some, Rudi states that they experience significant encroachment every year along their edges. Most of the illegal clearing, draining, and burning is driven by the expansion of agriculture, particularly oil palm plantations, as well as cacao and coffee farming. The Indonesian government simply lacks the capacity to patrol and safeguard such a vast area, which is where Rudi and his organization, the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL), step in. According to Rudi, wildlife poaching and illegal logging continue in Leuser, but they are less significant today than in the past. Encroachment and unlawful land clearing are his biggest concerns today.
Rudi and his team recruit rangers from local communities to patrol the reserve and nearby protected areas. When Rudi won the Goldman Prize in 2014, his team numbered fewer than 50 people. Today, he oversees an organization of more than 500 staff. They dedicate a significant amount of time to working with communities near protected areas. Rudi has also founded a company that raises capital to purchase land in buffer zones around protected landscapes to stop encroachment. He works closely with local authorities, sometimes offering to relocate entire farming communities to better farmland away from protected areas. Rudi is building an elaborate barrier fence to stop elephants from raiding farms on nearby agricultural lands. FKL recently established a program to restore areas of forest that have been illegally cleared. His organization also promotes the production of alternative forest products, like honey and fruit.
Rudi and I were joined on a tour of the Singkil reserve by representatives from three other organizations that support conservation efforts in the region: Jeff Morgan of Global Conservation (San Francisco), Georgie White of the Hempel Foundation (Copenhagen), and Chris Botsford of the ADM Capital Foundation (Hong Kong). While each funder has its own focus, they have all pledged to collaborate to ensure that Rudi and his team have the resources needed to continue their important work.
As we flew out of Singkil in late November, the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Senyar hit the region, causing record flooding and stranding members of Rudi’s team. That experience highlights the challenges of working in Leuser, which remains quite remote and lacks established transportation infrastructure.
Despite these challenges, Rudi remains hopeful about the future of the Leuser Ecosystem and its rare and endangered species. He playfully describes the Goldman Prize as a “trap,” condemning its winners to a lifetime of work in service of conservation and the environment. While that might be true, I can’t think of anyone better suited to protect one of the world’s last intact tropical rainforest ecosystems.
Header image: 2014 Goldman Prize winner Rudi Putra in the Singkil Wildlife Reserve (Photo: Michael Sutton)
About the author
Michael Sutton
Executive Director
Mike is a respected environmental conservation leader with extensive experience managing nonprofit organizations, influencing public policy, advocating for natural resources, and guiding successful philanthropic efforts. His distinguished career has ranged from work with the National Park Service to senior conservation roles at the World Wildlife Fund, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, the California Fish & Game Commission, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and National Audubon Society. Mike received his BS in Wildlife Biology at Utah State University; did graduate studies in Marine Biology at the University of Sydney, Australia; and, received a law degree with honors from George Washington University’s National Law Center. He joined the Prize in 2018.
