Farwiza Farhan

Board member

Farwiza is the founder and leader of Forest, Nature and Environment Aceh (HAkA), a homegrown Acehnese NGO, which is striving to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra. Working to strengthen the voice of local community in decision making, taking legal action and mobilizing local, national and global campaigns, Farwiza and her team are helping to pave the way for sustainable development for the people of Aceh and Indonesia. Her impact on community driven conservation was recognized with 2016 Whitley Award and 2021 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

The Leuser Ecosystem is the last place on earth where the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger, Orangutan, Elephant and Rhino still roam together in the wild. Motivated by her passion to protect these critically endangered species and their habitat, she helped launched a legal case against a palm oil concessions inside the Leuser Ecosystem. The campaign on the case lead to an unprecedented victory for the environment, as the company was fined a whopping US$ 26 million and was obliged to restore the Tripa Peatswamp in the Leuser Ecosystem.