Farhan was conferred the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Award for leading HAkA’s efforts to protect Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem and empower local communities and women to safeguard their future. Despite being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, the Leuser Ecosystem has continued to be ravaged by deforestation, infrastructure, commercialization and weak law enforcement.

Instead of depending solely on the government, HAkA believed in the power of local people, especially women, to safeguard the ecosystem through a vigorous advocacy campaign, forest monitoring and community empowerment. HAka has even helped to achieve a court verdict that led to USD 26 million in fines against a palm oil company that burned forests in the Leuser Ecosystem, and stopped a hydroelectric dam that would have threatened the elephant’s habitat. The money was used by the local government to rehabilitate the damaged areas. In HAkA’s programs, women are given paralegal and citizen-journalism training. Women also lead ranger groups that patrol forest areas to monitor poaching and illegal logging.

(Photo: One Earth)