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Deforestation is one of the largest issues in Indonesian forests. Between 2001 and 2017, South Tapanuli, one of regency in North Sumatera Province, Indonesia, experienced the largest forest loss in 2011. One of the best way to improve the quality of deforested landscape is ecological restoration. In order to get the comprehensive understanding for landscape restoration planning, identifying the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) should be considered. This study aimed to provide a foundation to support new decision-making tools for policymakers to plan the ecological restoration for South Tapanuli. Multi criteria approach combined with participatory planning of local stakeholders were applied for developing criteria. The criteria were selected based on biophysical characters derived from regulations and were converted into boolean map. Then, ESA model was obtained from overlaid of those boolean map which is identified the level of sensitivity area including level 1 (highest), 2, 3, and 4 (lowest). Sensitivity level 1 were dominated in Muara Batang Toru, Batang Toru, Angkola Selatan, and Angkola Sangkunur consisted of 5,340.78 ha (25,14%); 3,129.07 ha (14,73%); 2,911.29 ha (13,7%); and 2,708.51 ha (12,75%), respectively. More than 23% of oil palm in South Tapanuli were identified as being located in the forest zone. We proposed Muara Batang Toru, Angkola Selatan, Angkola Sangkunur, and Batang Toru as the top priority sub-districts for ecological restoration in South Tapanuli Regency. This study reccommends 50,848.85 ha should be managed immediately and full restoration will be proposed at 17,098.06 ha (33.87%).
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