Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a protected area in Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located along the Bukit Barisan mountain range and covers an area of 3,568 square kilometers. The park includes parts of three regions: Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra. Together with Gunung Leuser and Kerinci Seblat national parks, it forms a World Heritage Site called the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.

A signboard with a welcome message to Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is located a few kilometers from the town of Liwa in West Lampung Regency, Indonesia. The secondary forest within the park is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Flora and fauna

The national park that stretches along the Bukit Barisan mountain range is, on average, 45 km wide and 350 km long. The northern part of the park is mountainous, with its highest point at Gunung Pulung (1,964 m). The southern section is a peninsula. The park includes montane forest, lowland tropical forest, coastal forest, and mangrove forest.

Plants in the park include Nipa palm, Casuarina equisetifolia, Anisoptera curtisii, and Gonystylus bancanus, as well as species of Sonneratia, Pandanus, Anthoshorea, Shorea, and Dipterocarpus. Large flowers in the park include Rafflesia arnoldii, Amorphophallus decus-silvae, Amorphophallus titanum, and the world's largest orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum.

The park is home to many endangered and threatened species, including:

• Sumatran elephant (about 500 animals, which is 25% of all remaining Sumatran elephants)
• Sumatran striped rabbit (recent sightings of this poorly known species have been in the park)
• Sumatran rhinoceros (about 17–24 live in the park; a similar number live in Gunung Leuser National Park, and about 30–35 live in Way Kambas National Park, totaling fewer than 100 animals)
• Sumatran tiger (about 40 adult tigers, which is 10% of all remaining Sumatran tigers).

Other animals in the park include the Malayan tapir, siamang, Sumatran surili, sun bear, and lesser mouse-deer. There are over 300 bird species in the park, such as the critically endangered Sumatran ground-cuckoo.

Conservation and threats

The area was first protected in 1935 by the Dutch East Indies government, which established the South Sumatra I Nature Reserve. It became a national park in 1982.

Starting in the 1970s, many people without legal permission began living on the land inside the park. Although some were forced to leave in the early 1980s, more people moved there after 1998. By 2006, it was estimated that about 127,000 people had taken over 55,000 hectares of land. Between 1972 and 2006, it is estimated that 63,000 hectares of original forest were lost. This loss represents 20% of the total forest area lost due to illegal farming. The World Wide Fund for Nature discovered that more than 450 kilometers of park land are being used to grow coffee. The organization is now working with international coffee companies to help them avoid purchasing coffee grown illegally on protected land.

In 2021, this situation remains unresolved.