Keep up with what is going on! Click here to subscribe to AlTo's news

Conservation GOING DEEP and DOING IT RIGHT for nature and people

Our Mission

The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (ALTo) is committed to helping all of nature, including people, thrive.

Our work is centered in Sulawesi, Indonesia–one of Earth’s most unique biological treasure-houses. At the invitation of local communities, AlTo forges partnerships to protect and restore imperiled species, tropical rainforests, and other natural ecosystems while supporting the dignity and self-sufficiency of local communities in a changing world.

AlTo

INDONESIA IS THE WORLD’S BIODIVERSITY EPICENTER,

with more species named and yet-to-be described in its terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments than just about any other country in the world. Sadly, Indonesia also has among the highest number of endangered species of any country in the world, most of them endangered by human activities.

The Alliance for Tompotika Conservation / Aliansi Konservasi Tompotika, called “AL-To” for short, is an international partnership dedicated to HELPING HEAL THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE AND THE REST OF NATURE, starting in one very special place: the Tompotika Peninsula on Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi.

SIDE BY SIDE WITH LOCAL PEOPLE,

AlTo works to conserve endangered species and natural areas. At the same time, our partnerships support the dignity, self-sufficiency, and sustainability of the human communities in the area.

OVERVIEW

Learn about who we are and what we do

AlTo’s News

Newsletter November 2024:

Ten More Years! AlTo-Taima village collaboration renewed until 2034
Monjagai: Let’s Guard! New Community Ranger team launched
Tompotika nickel mining? “Even though they offer money, I don’t want this mine.”
English Instruction for AlTo Staff
Follow-up: First illegal logging prosecution and conviction!
The Faces of AlTo: Maleo, the Pride of Tompotika

READ MORE

October 2024: The View from the Concession

To most people, they are just a series of odd rectangles on a map.

The blue-hatched rectangles on the map below represent recently-permitted concessions for nickel mines on the Tompotika peninsula, Sulawesi, Indonesia. For most of us in the Global Consumer Class, these rectangles are abstractions: nickel-rich places where we expect to “source” one of the globe’s current “critical minerals.” We tell ourselves that by increasing our consumption of nickel for use in electric vehicles we will get ourselves out of the alarming planetary pickle that we’ve…

READ MORE

September 2024: How We’re Connected: The Coconut Connection

by Cliff Rice, PhD

Did you know that Indonesia is the world’s leading producer of coconuts? Also, plenty of this production comes from Sulawesi, the island where AlTo works. In this update, we will explore the connections between growing coconuts in the tropics and the consumption of various coconut products elsewhere.

READ MORE

Newsletter July 2024:

Maleos at Kaumosongi: Numbers increased 7-fold, protected until 2044!
Conservation Awareness goes back to school
Tompotika: with three increasing sites, it’s now a stronghold for maleo recovery
New Czech Sea Turtle Collaboration
Art for Conservation: Celebrating Forests in the Pacific Northwest and Sulawesi
The Faces of AlTo – Etty Seno: “For the future of our children”

READ MORE

Newsletter April 2024:

The Preserve Grows: Land purchase expands protected area in Panganian
Monjagai Tompotika Rangers: A new corps of community rangers to protect Tompotika’s forests and wildlife
Community Benefits: Free Reading Glasses
Restoration: Trees for Tangkuladi’s Bats
The Faces of AlTo – Ardi Managkari: Farmer, Dammar Collector, Forest Protector

READ MORE

February 2024: The Neighing of Horses

When the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation (“Al-To”) was formed, we picked a venerable namesake. At 1600m tall (5200 ft), Mount Tompotika is the hub and centerpiece of the 2500 km2 (c. 1000 mi2) peninsula where AlTo works; geographically and culturally, the whole peninsula turns on Tompotika…

READ MORE