<![CDATA[Global deforestation continues to erode the climate system and biodiversity, and in Indonesia, one of the primary drivers over the past 25 years has been the conversion of forest areas into oil palm plantations. Addressing this requires innovative, politically grounded conservation strategies that can curb land conversion and maintain sustainable forest areas. This study analyzes the conservation strategy implemented through sustainable green tourism, driven by the Rokan Koto Ruang Village Government's own political leadership initiative. It develops a forest conservation strategy for its ecotourism sites. A mixed-methods design was used: a qualitative phenomenological approach addressed the first two research questions, while a quantitative approach employing the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to formulate the conservation strategy, supported by questionnaire data from 28 key informants. The results show that the Rokan Koto Ruang Village Government has developed ecotourism as a forest conservation strategy, but this strategy has not yet significantly curbed deforestation or forest conversion in the forest-margin sites where land tenure is contested. The proposed solution is a forest conservation strategy for the ecotourism site, with alternative strategies ranked by priority as follows: agroforestry, ecosystem rehabilitation, community empowerment and education, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and improvement of environmentally friendly infrastructure. Although agroforestry and ecosystem rehabilitation rank first and second, their implementation must be supported by community empowerment, education, and multi-stakeholder collaboration to be effective.]]>
