King Coal: How Indonesia became the fossil fuel’s final frontier
In a little more than 20 years, Indonesia has gone from being a minor player in the global coal industry to playing a central role as a key consumer and…
Articles by Nithin Coca
Nithin Coca is a Asia-focused freelance journalist who covers climate, environment, and supply chains across the region. He has been awarded fellowships from the Solutions Journalism Network, The Pulitzer Center, and the International Center for Journalists, and his features have appeared in outlets in North America, Asia, and Europe. He splits his time between California, Indonesia, and Japan.
As world sours on coal, top producer Indonesia tries to sweeten it at home
With consumption, travel and commuting all suppressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the Global Carbon Project calculate carbon dioxide emissions fell a record 7% in 2020. One key…
Business risk and COVID-19 are pushing Asian financiers away from coal
The use of coal as an energy source is steadily declining in the U.S. and Europe, but coal mining and the construction of coal-fired power plants continues across South and…
Coconut farmers in Southeast Asia struggle as palm oil muscles in on them
GENERAL NAKAR, Philippines — Lucio Tena, 64, has been growing coconuts on his 20-hectare (49-acre) farm in General Nakar, on the east coast of the Philippine island of Luzon, for…
Special series
Forest trackers
- Cattle-driven clearing continues in Brazil’s Triunfo do Xingu protected area
- New palm oil frontier sparks scramble for land in the Brazilian Amazon
- Deforestation rises in Colombia’s Chiribiquete National Park as cattle invade
- ‘What other country would do this to its people?’ Cambodian land grab victims seek int’l justice
Oceans
- Sharks on a knife’s edge as Maldives mulls lifting 10-year fishing ban
- Sea turtles under threat as Indian government weighs development in Andaman Islands
- European tuna boats dump fishing debris in Seychelles waters ‘with impunity’
- Red flag: Predatory European ships help push Indian Ocean tuna to the brink
Amazon conservation
- Brazilian Cerrado savanna: Wildcat miners descend on Indigenous reserve
- As COP26 looms and tropical deforestation soars, REDD+ debate roars on
- ‘We are made invisible’: Brazil’s Indigenous on prejudice in the city
- Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
Land rights and extractives
- Total’s East African oil pipeline to go ahead despite stiff opposition
- Brazilian Cerrado savanna: Wildcat miners descend on Indigenous reserve
- Cambodia puts its arduous titling process for Indigenous land up for review
- Recognizing the true guardians of the forest: Q&A with David Kaimowitz
Endangered environmentalists
- Intimidation of Brazil’s enviro scientists, academics, officials on upswing
- Thailand’s Indigenous Peoples fight for ‘land of our heart’ (commentary)
- Brazilian woman threatened by Amazon loggers wins global human rights award
- Indonesian fishers opposed to dredging project hit by ‘criminalization’ bid
Indonesias forest guardians
- Why I stand for my tribe’s forest: It gives us food, culture, and life (commentary)
- 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
Conservation effectiveness
- A Malagasy community wins global recognition for saving its lake
- Scientists in Costa Rica are growing new corals to save reefs
- Technology innovations look to change the cacao landscape in Colombia
- In mangrove restoration, custom solutions beat one-size-fits-all approach
Southeast asian infrastructure
- Indonesian governor’s arrest in road project points to more tainted contracts
- Papua deforestation highlights eastward shift of Indonesia forest clearing
- Podcast: Omens and optimism for Sumatran orangutans
- Planned coal-trucking road threatens a forest haven for Sumatran frogs
