Vegetation cover analysis and ecotourism business model for sustainable forest management in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia

Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) is part of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage program of Sumatra that was designated by UNESCO. GLNP is very vulnerable to vegetation land cover decrease due to illegal logging, encroachment, oil palm expansion, and inappropriate management of ecotourism. GLNP authority has the responsibility to handle forest threats by estimating vegetation cover and manage the ecotourism sector. This study aims to estimate vegetation cover and investigate strategy in developing ecotourism business model for sustainable forest management in GLNP. The methods used Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis in estimating vegetation cover, and Social Enterprise - Business Model Canvas (SE-BMC) in developing a strategic business ecotourism model. NDVI was classified into 5 classes from class 1 to 5 (non-vegetation or very low dense vegetation to very high dense vegetation) based on unsupervised classification (natural breaks in ArcGIS). The results showed the largest vegetation area in GLNP belongs to class 4 (445876 ha or 32.68%) and class 5 (355018 ha or 26.02%). This indicates that the majority of GLNP by area is still densely vegetated. Based on SE-BMC analysis, GLNP management needs to collaborate with the local community and other stakeholders. We recommend improving ecotourism management and enhancing community development.