In addition to its campaign work on the Tripa case, the SOCP has also been active recently to try and block a new spatial plan being pushed by the Government of Aceh. This plan, if approved, would leave huge areas of Aceh’s forests open to exploitation by timber, mining and palm oil concessions. In fact, the most vulnerable areas are also the most important for biodiversity, for orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos. The new plan also includes several new major roads to be cut through the Leuser Ecosystem. All of these developments will not only be disastrous for biodiversity. They will also damage watersheds, leading to far more landslides and flash-floods that already kill dozens if not hundreds of Acehnese each year, and devastate agriculture and infrastructure, causing huge losses to local economies. Needless to say much of the foreseen destruction will take place in areas that are in fact already legally required to be protected under Indonesia’s own spatial planning laws, that preclude development of highlands, steep slopes and other critical areas, simply because it is so dangerous to open them up for development. This battle goes on, keeping SOCP and all of our partners busy.