The state government of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo has reaffirmed its plans to proceed with an opaque nature conservation agreement despite concerns raised by the United Nations. Representatives of Sabah’s…
It was a sunny day in Koh Lanta, an island known for tourism in Krabi Province, Thailand. Surrounding us were calming shades of blue and green, a white sandy beach…
The yellow-legged hornet is a predator: after it sets up a nest in a new neighborhood, its workers head out in search of smaller wasps, flies and bees to feed…
JAKARTA — Deforestation for oil palm plantations continues unabated at the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, likely driven by new processing mills that in turn may ultimately…
PHNOM PENH — A new report published by Human Rights Watch on Feb. 28 details a litany of alleged abuses in the Southern Cardamom REDD+ project, which covers a vast…
JAKARTA — The Norwegian state pension fund has cut ties with U.K. conglomerate Jardine Matheson (Jardines) due to concerns that the group’s gold mining activity in Indonesia could damage the…
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a decision this month to fully retain Tien Hai Nature Reserve, in a rare example of environmental protection winning over development in the…
JAKARTA — Activists and scientists have condemned a British conglomerate’s decision to resume gold exploration in Indonesia's Batang Toru forest, saying it threatens the world's most endangered great ape, the…
PACITAN, Indonesia — Parno looked weary at he stared out over his rice field, occasionally shaking his head as he considered prospects for the coming harvest. “How can I not…
GELAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Not long ago, Suparyanto discovered that his family home on a small island off the west coast of Borneo was to become a quartz mine. “I…
PURSAT, Cambodia — On the outskirts of the western Cambodian city of Pursat, some 180 kilometers, or 110 miles, north of Phnom Penh, tourists and travelers stream out of minivans…
PEKANBARU, Indonesia — Emergency workers and community firefighters battled isolated fires in Sumatra’s Riau province in late February as the onset of the region’s first dry season of 2024 sparked…
JAKARTA — Indonesia is developing a satellite constellation to beef up monitoring of its marine and fisheries resources with the maiden launch of a nanosatellite scheduled this July. That inaugural…
Conservationists have expressed alarm over the surprise discovery that a Singapore-based company has started construction of a wind farm inside the Philippines' Masungi Georeserve. The Masungi Karst Conservation Area (MKCA),…
SIDOARJO, Indonesia — On the eve of Indonesia’s presidential election on Feb. 14, a group of people from across the country gathered at an impromptu art exhibition by the side…
For 12 years, primatologist Nadine Ruppert and her colleagues have had one recurring task on their calendar: tagging along with a group of southern pig-tailed macaques in Segari, Peninsular Malaysia,…
HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Most days, Jamal Adam watches over the 10 aviaries in Ake Tajawe Lolobata National Park with veterinarians and support staff. But during the holidays this past December,…
Community land for most Indigenous Karen people in Myanmar is not subject to ownership — it is rather a source of their faith, a divine creator of which the Karen…
JEMBER, Indonesia — In good weather, Saturi’s coffee field here on a hillside on the east of Indonesia’s Java Island will produce around 2.5 metric tons of coffee beans over…
The morning song of gibbons, with its accelerating, bubbling crescendo, is arguably one of the most enthralling sounds of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. For many, it’s a sound…
JAKARTA — A massive nickel mining and processing project on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has cleared thousands of hectares of forest, forcefully displaced local people, and polluted the rivers…
Pro-democracy activists have urged the Australian government to crack down on domestic companies involved in Myanmar's mines, saying these firms are funding human rights abuses and environmental destruction carried out…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government’s efforts to tackle illegal fishing in its vast waters have had the unintended consequence of driving an increase in maritime piracy, according to a new…
Activists demand corporate and government accountability after a massive landslide struck a mining town in the southern Philippines on Feb. 6, claiming nearly 100 lives and affecting more than 7,000…
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan — As the Indonesian government embarks on a massive push to reforest the area around the country’s new capital city in Borneo, it is turning to the…
Shifting monsoonal climate patterns that affect the availability of water in the Mekong River Basin are raising questions among experts about the sustainability of hydropower as a long-term energy solution…
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia — Vegetation lurches over a concrete wall that runs alongside a quiet road in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear. Behind the wall, and the rusty…
JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities, academics and companies are working together to build a miniature tropical rainforest they hope will serve as a blueprint for the reforestation program in Indonesia’s new…
With their tooth-packed jaws, dinosaur-slit eyes, and stealthy ability to emerge without warning through the surface of muddy-brown waters, saltwater crocodiles are indisputably one of the world’s most revered top…
BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan — Planners building Indonesia’s new capital city in eastern Borneo say they’re far from their target of reforesting the site that the country’s president has projected will…