RER is managed by highly competent leaders who are dedicated to its cause and are tireless in furthering its agenda.
Head of Operations
Prior to coming to Indonesia in 2000, Brad worked for 15 years with the US Forest Service as a smokejumper to parachute to forest fires from Alaska to New Mexico and prescribed fire planner in Idaho.
From 2000-2002, Brad worked with the German Technical Development (GTZ) to develop a province-wide fire management system in East Kalimantan.
Brad first joined APRIL in 2003 as Firefighting Coordinator, establishing Fire Danger Rating and Initial-Attack fire suppression systems to protect APRIL’s fiber plantations. He developed aerial fire suppression capabilities with both helicopter and fixed-wing platforms as well as an aerial fertilizer program. Before leaving APRIL in 2012, Brad was active with corporate sustainability matters.
From 2012 – 2015, Brad worked as Technical Advisor for the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Bird’s, developing a Strategic Forest Management Plan and Business Plan for Indonesia’s first Ecosystem Restoration Concession, Harapan Rainforest (PT. REKI) in Jambi and South Sumatra provinces.
Brad rejoined APRIL in 2016 as Deputy Head of Conservation for Riau Ecosystem Restoration (RER).
He obtained his Bachelor of Science and Master’s in Forest Management from Clemson University, South Carolina.
RER receives guidance from an eminent Advisory Board which includes both Indonesian as well as international third-party experts.
Senior Conservation Director at Fauna & Flora International
Paul Hotham is a Senior Conservation Director at Fauna & Flora. He has oversight of Fauna & Flora’s Americas & Caribbean, Asia-Pacific and Eurasia regional and the Wildlife Trade programmes. Paul graduated from the University of Wales Aberystwyth with a BSc (Hons) in Countryside Management and an MSc in Protected Landscape Management.
Paul has significant experience in managing and leading conservation programmes and teams with over 30 years of biodiversity and landscape conservation experience. He has extensive experience in species and landscape conservation, especially in the Eurasia region, and has a particular passion for carnivore conservation and for the challenges of cultural landscape conservation, where the interface between nature and people is often the most complex. He has significant hands-on experience in and gains a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure from, supporting, enabling and mentoring local conservation organisations and their teams to build their institutional and individual capacities. He is also a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Professor of Tropical Forest Conservation University of British Columbia
Jeffrey Arthur Sayer is an expert in ecology and has worked throughout his career either as a researcher or program manager, mostly at the inter-face between research and practical natural resource management.
At present, he is Professor of Development Practice at James Cook University in Cairns.
He has worked for FAO and IUCN and was a Senior Environmental Adviser at the World Bank. He was the CEO of Center for International Forestry Research from 1993 to 2001 and has also worked as Senior Associate and Science Advisor for WWF International from 2001 until present. He held the chair of International Nature Conservation at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
He was founding Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia and is now Senior Fellow of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Jeffrey is a member of the Science and Partnership Council of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research and has authored papers in peer reviewed journals and a number of books on natural resources topics.
Chairman of APRIL Group
Bey Soo Khiang was appointed as Vice Chairman of the RGE group of companies in March 2011. A former aviation executive and distinguished defense leader, he oversees critical matters on business sustainability across the four key business groups within the RGE Group. He is also Vice-Chairman of APRIL, and actively guides APRIL’s operations in Indonesia on matters relating to fiber plantations.
He holds a Masters in Arts (Engineering) from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Indonesian Anthropologist
Kartini Sjahrir is an Indonesian anthropologist and was the first female chair of the Indonesia Anthropology Association. She has a Master’s degree and Ph.D from Boston University and her undergraduate degree of anthropology from University of Indonesia.
She has also served various posts as diplomat and senior government positions. From 2010 to 2014, she was the Indonesian Ambassador to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay before than appointed for a senior advisory position for climate change issues at the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment between 2015 – 2019. During her time as the Indonesian Ambassador, she was awarded the most prestigious award from the Government of Argentina Orden de Mayo el Merito en el Grande Cruz. She was also the Indonesian representative to the Advisory Council of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-AIPR) from 2018 to 2020. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the North Sumatra University (USU) serving for the period of 2020 – 2025.
RER is a close partnership between APRIL, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and BIDARA. Each partner has a specific role and responsibility that directly guides and addresses the complex challenges of landscape restoration.
As the project sponsor, ecosystem restoration concession licence-holder and land manager, APRIL provides financial commitment, leadership, operational resources and technical expertise.
BIDARA is working on building the self-reliance of two rural communities in the Kampar Peninsula (Pulau Muda and Segamai village) that are immediately adjacent to the RER area. Applying an Eco-village model, a BIDARA community officer works to build capacity of individual farmers and community groups to utilise ‘no-burn’ agriculture practices, organic farming techniques, and animal husbandry.
Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international NGO established in 1903. Its mission is to conserve threatened species and ecosystems by using sustainable solutions that combine science and human needs. As RER’s technical partner, FFI manages key elements of the project and is responsible for essential studies related to biodiversity, climate and communities in the Kampar Peninsula and Padang Island.
