Indonesia’s plantation lobby challenges environmental law
JAKARTA -- Palm oil and paper lobby groups have asked Indonesia’s highest court to strike down rules holding plantation firms strictly liable for fires that occur on their land. The…
Articles by Basten Gokkon
A Jakarta-based writer with interest in wildlife conservation, renewable energy efforts, and indigenous peoples empowerment.
New genus created for arboreal toads in Indonesia
A group of researchers in Indonesia has created a new genus of arboreal toad to fit what they say are two new species, according to a recent article in the…
Damage to Raja Ampat 12 times higher than previously thought
JAKARTA — The extent of coral reef damage from the grounding of a Bahamian-flagged cruise ship at Raja Ampat earlier this month is about 3.5 times as big as an…
Alarms raised as timber firm said to pierce one of Indonesia’s last orangutan strongholds
A timber plantation company is illegally clearing one of Indonesia’s last coastal peat swamp forests, a carbon reservoir and biodiversity hotspot home to hundreds of endangered orangutans, say observers who…
Cruise ship wrecks one of Indonesia’s best coral reefs at Raja Ampat
JAKARTA — One of the main coral reefs at Raja Ampat, an Indonesian island chain home to perhaps the world's richest marine biodiversity, was severely damaged last week when a…
Indonesia’s forestry ministry takes Greenpeace to court over freedom of information request
JAKARTA — The Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry is going to court over a successful freedom of information request by Greenpeace, setting the stage for a protracted legal battle…
Could a rare rhino’s tragic death in Borneo have been prevented?
The death of an endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Indonesian Borneo earlier this week sent the wildlife conservation community into deep mourning and raised questions about whether the animal…
First-of-its-kind mapping platform could help protect land held by Indigenous communities
By mapping such community lands, LandMark aims to “make clear that these lands are not vacant, idle or available to outsiders,” according to a statement by the World Resources Institute…
Remote-controlled model planes offer bird’s-eye approach to conservation
Koh and Wich testing their drone in Switzerland. The conservation drone has been equipped with various cameras including the GoPro HD Hero video camera, the Canon IXUS 220 HS, and…
Special series
Endangered environmentalists
- Deaths, arrests and protests as Philippines re-emerges from lockdown
- In Brazil, COVID-19 outbreak paves way for invasion of indigenous lands
- On anniversary of nun’s murder Amazon land rights activists at high risk
Indonesias forest guardians
- Reforesting a village in Indonesia, one batch of gourmet beans at a time
- Restoring Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, one small farm at a time
- Indigenous Iban community defends rainforests, but awaits lands rights recognition
Amazon infrastructure
- Coronavirus puts Brazil’s quilombos at risk; will assistance come?
- Amazon road projects could lead to Belize-size loss of forest, study shows
- Bolsonaro revives a plan to carve a road through one of Brazil’s last untouched areas
Asian rhinos
- A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures
- U.S. fund that supports Sumatran rhino research faces deep cuts under Trump
- Reproductive woes spell need for more viable females in Sumatran rhino program
