The Feasibility Study assessed the status of the Leuser Ecosystem and considered the legal framework and resulting mandates, actors and stakeholders, lessons learnt from past and present projects and initiatives. The proposed project components supported a sustainable management and financing of the Leuser Ecosystem management and conservation.

Based on a sector study of the Leuser Ecosystem, one of Asia’s largest contiguous rainforests, the Feasibility Study prepared a project concept that aimed at:

• Reducing continued deforestation and encroachment;
• Rehabilitating degraded forest land;
• Improving socio-economic conditions of communities;
• Protecting biodiversity.

The project concept specifically addressed:

• The development of a concept for and implementation of large scale forest and carbon monitoring;
• The design and implementation of "REDD plus“ strategies within the national framework, as well as the conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of carbon stocks;
• Measures to strengthen the management of the protected areas, corridors and buffer zones, including the promotion of infrastructure by integrating development and ecological goals.