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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/leuser-ecosystem/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Leuser Ecosystem environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/leuser-ecosystem/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Illegal gold mining continues in Indonesia’s Aceh despite government crackdown pledge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-gold-mining-continues-in-indonesias-aceh-despite-government-crackdown-pledge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-gold-mining-continues-in-indonesias-aceh-despite-government-crackdown-pledge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 11:15:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/06094908/Nagan-Raya1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Global, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Great Apes, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAGAN RAYA, Indonesia – Two weeks after government and law enforcement leaders vowed to crack down on illegal gold mining in the semiautonomous Indonesian province of Aceh, local communities on the ground say excavators are still at work in the forest interior. “Excavators continue to access the verges of the rivers. Similarly, fuel and supplies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAGAN RAYA, Indonesia – Two weeks after government and law enforcement leaders vowed to crack down on illegal gold mining in the semiautonomous Indonesian province of Aceh, local communities on the ground say excavators are still at work in the forest interior. “Excavators continue to access the verges of the rivers. Similarly, fuel and supplies keep being sent to this mining site,” Amran, a community leader from Seunagan in Nagan Raya district, told Mongabay Indonesia. Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, is Indonesia’s westernmost region and home to crucial high-conservation-value tropical forests and peatlands, including the Leuser Ecosystem, a stronghold for Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos, sun bears, and tigers. Yet these habitats remain under pressure from lucrative extractive industries. In late July, top government, security, and law-enforcement officials in Aceh convened to order all illegal gold mining in the region to be halted by Aug. 17, Indonesia’s independence anniversary. However, sources on the ground around some of Aceh’s known illegal mining locations told Mongabay Indonesia that many of these operations continued working as normal as of late August. “Diesel is always out of stock at gas stations because it’s being used by the heavy equipment digging for gold by the riverbanks and on the mountainside,” said Razali, who lives in Fajar in South Aceh district. At a mining site in Pidie district, people reported still seeing the tarpaulin shelters used by miners. “If it&#8217;s just an announcement, it won&#8217;t have any effect,” Hamdani, a resident of Tangse in Pidie district,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-gold-mining-continues-in-indonesias-aceh-despite-government-crackdown-pledge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/illegal-gold-mining-continues-in-indonesias-aceh-despite-government-crackdown-pledge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328689</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global brands join drive for deforestation-free palm oil in Indonesia’s Aceh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2025 10:11:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/12174448/orangutan-with-light-flare-leuser-r-butler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304783</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, International Trade, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Some of the world’s biggest consumer brands are banding together to tackle deforestation in one of Earth’s richest biodiversity hotspots in Indonesia. The companies, including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, on Aug. 13 launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group, which brings together major palm oil buyers, producers and refineries to align with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Some of the world’s biggest consumer brands are banding together to tackle deforestation in one of Earth’s richest biodiversity hotspots in Indonesia. The companies, including Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, on Aug. 13 launched the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group, which brings together major palm oil buyers, producers and refineries to align with a newly established road map for sustainable palm oil in the province of Aceh, on the island of Sumatra. The working group, the first province-level initiative of its kind in Indonesia, is “a much-needed, long-overdue step towards halting the devastating effects of palm oil expansion in this vital region,” U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) forest policy director Gemma Tillack said in a statement. Stakeholders pose together during the launch of the Aceh Sustainable Palm Oil Working Group in Aceh in August 2025. Image courtesy of IDH. Forest loss pressures Despite its ecological importance, Aceh continues to face pressure from palm oil-driven deforestation. The province is home to Southeast Asia’s largest and most carbon-rich peatlands, as well as the Leuser Ecosystem — the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran elephants, tigers, orangutans and rhinoceroses coexist in the wild. The Leuser landscape is part of the UNESCO-listed Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra World Heritage Site and is also designated as a Biosphere Reserve. Deforestation in Aceh fell after a peak in 2009, but has been on the rise again since 2021. Between 2020 and 2024, the province lost 41,834 hectares (103,374 acres) of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/global-brands-join-drive-for-deforestation-free-palm-oil-in-indonesias-aceh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304783</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran tiger protection needs more patrols, tougher penalties, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2025 04:37:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/14062846/Foto1harimau_Anton-Wisuda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, flagship species, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Science, Species, Tigers, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities managing one of the last protected areas on Earth that still hosts Sumatran tigers must do more to deter poaching and promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, a new study suggests. Poaching remains the top threat to the survival of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) population in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities managing one of the last protected areas on Earth that still hosts Sumatran tigers must do more to deter poaching and promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, a new study suggests. Poaching remains the top threat to the survival of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) population in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, a habitat it shares with other critically endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) and orangutan (Pongo abelii). A recently published study in the Journal of Environmental Management looks at how effective management of integrated protected areas has been in this context, including assessing patrol strategies and wildlife trafficking interventions. “We want to know whether our approach is effective in reaching our conservation goals,” study lead author Adhi Nurul Hadi, a wildlife researcher at the University of Indonesia and a Ministry of Forestry official, told Mongabay in an email. Gunung Leuser National Park is part of the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province in northern Sumatra. A rescued Sumatran tiger being released in Gunung Leuser National Park. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment. Adhi said conservation works tend to have a singular focus, such as protecting conservation areas through patrols, or reducing threats from the illegal wildlife trade. Integrated planning and evaluation of conservation efforts constitute a more recent approach, he said. This starts with addressing urgent tasks such as snare removal, and encompassing long-term approaches such as patrols and antitrafficking efforts, which require substantial time, resources and funding.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s Farwiza Farhan among Ramon Magsaysay awardees for protecting Leuser Ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/indonesian-conservationist-farwiza-farhan-among-ramon-magsaysay-awardees-for-protecting-leuser-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/indonesian-conservationist-farwiza-farhan-among-ramon-magsaysay-awardees-for-protecting-leuser-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2024 15:29:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lusia ArumingtyasSapariah Saturi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/02091809/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-31-at-10.53.45-AM-1200x596-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286831</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Logging, Infrastructure, Logging, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian conservationist Farwiza Farhan says she couldn’t contain her tears when she learned that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had selected her as a recipient of its Emergent Leadership prize this year. “My heart is so full, very touched, and could not believe what I’ve just heard. Am I dreaming?” Farwiza told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian conservationist Farwiza Farhan says she couldn’t contain her tears when she learned that the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation had selected her as a recipient of its Emergent Leadership prize this year. “My heart is so full, very touched, and could not believe what I’ve just heard. Am I dreaming?” Farwiza told Mongabay Indonesia in an interview on Aug. 29. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation on Aug. 31 announced five recipients from five countries of its annual prize: Farwiza from Indonesia, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong from Vietnam, Miyazaki Hayao from Japan, Karma Phuntsho from Bhutan, and the Rural Doctors Movement (RDM) from Thailand. As a founder of the Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh Foundation (HAkA), Farwiza has devoted most of her work to the conservation and restoration of Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, a 2.6-million-hectare (6.4-million-acre) rainforest expanse in northern Sumatra where some of the world’s most critically endangered species have found their refuge. She dedicated her latest award, dubbed Asia’s Nobel Prize, to the people who have worked alongside her to protect and save Leuser from the imminent threats of monoculture expansion, road development and hydroelectric dam construction. “I’m only a small part of this massive movement,” Farwiza said. “This isn’t just my award, but it’s a recognition for everyone in the field, friends at the grassroots level, and the coalitions.” The Leuser Ecosystem is the only place on Earth that’s home to rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Farwiza, after rescuing a baby&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/indonesian-conservationist-farwiza-farhan-among-ramon-magsaysay-awardees-for-protecting-leuser-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/indonesian-conservationist-farwiza-farhan-among-ramon-magsaysay-awardees-for-protecting-leuser-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286831</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hold my ointment: Wild orangutan observed healing wound with medicinal plant</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2024 13:13:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/14090318/Picture_5_credits-Armas-Fitra-TNGL-KLHK-MPI-UNAS-YEL--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=282051</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Strange, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with a plant known to have healing properties. It was June 22, 2022, when the research team in the Suaq Balimbing area of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Self-medicating in animals has been reported before, but scientists noted something particularly special when they observed a wild orangutan in Sumatra treating a wound on its face with a plant known to have healing properties. It was June 22, 2022, when the research team in the Suaq Balimbing area of Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park first noticed that the male Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii), which they named Rakus, had a fresh wound under his right eye and inside his mouth while vocalizing a long call. Three days later, the team observed Rakus start to selectively chew on the stem and leaves of the Fibraurea tinctoria liana, and then repeatedly apply the subsequent sap precisely onto the facial wound for several minutes. The orangutan eventually covered the wound with the chewed leaves, and by June 30, the wound was already closed and showed no sign of infection, the researchers reported in their recently published study in the journal Scientific Reports. “This observation is the first time that a wild animal was observed actively treating his wound with a healing plant. So, that’s a very important finding,” study lead author Isabelle B. Laumer, a cognitive and evolutionary biologist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, told Mongabay in an email interview. The male Sumatran orangutan, named Rakus by researchers, with a fresh facial wound in June 2022. Image courtesy of Armas Fitra/Suaq Balimbing Research. Research has shown that some animals, especially primates and apes, engage in self-medicating behavior. However,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/wild-orangutan-medicinal-plant-sumatra-endangered-species-indonesia-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-282051</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/sumatra-wildlife-umbrella-species-tiger-rhino-clouded-leopard-conservation-leuser-biodiversity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/sumatra-wildlife-umbrella-species-tiger-rhino-clouded-leopard-conservation-leuser-biodiversity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2024 01:08:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/08210100/animals_00055-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281163</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Leuser Ecosystem]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, flagship species, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Science, Species, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In wildlife conservation management, the best species to focus on to maximize protection of a region’s biodiversity aren’t necessarily the most charismatic ones, a new study from Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem suggests. Conservation managers have long prioritized the management of what are known as umbrella species, on the basis that protecting these high-profile species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In wildlife conservation management, the best species to focus on to maximize protection of a region’s biodiversity aren’t necessarily the most charismatic ones, a new study from Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem suggests. Conservation managers have long prioritized the management of what are known as umbrella species, on the basis that protecting these high-profile species also protects the ecosystem in which they live. These species tend to be ones that roam wide and large areas, which for conservation management purposes makes them representative of other, lesser-known, species. As a result, these umbrella species usually get special attention from conservation managers, funders and authorities. However, researchers from Indonesia and the U.K. have found that focusing on the usual charismatic species, like tigers and rhinos, leads to neglect of the needs of other wildlife. In a new paper published in Biological Conservation, they note that these non-flagship species might actually be better representatives of the broader biodiversity of a particular ecosystem than those considered the umbrella species. “Our study proposes a new framework to identify the best umbrella species using camera trap data collected from the field and accounting for imperfect detection i.e. that species might be undetected during surveys but they are present,” study lead author Ardiantiono, a Ph.D. student at the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent, U.K., told Mongabay in an email interview. The Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra is the largest remaining intact swath of tropical rainforest in Sumatra. Image courtesy of Global Forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/sumatra-wildlife-umbrella-species-tiger-rhino-clouded-leopard-conservation-leuser-biodiversity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil deforestation persists in Indonesia’s Leuser amid new mills, plantations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/palm-oil-deforestation-persists-in-indonesias-leuser-amid-new-mills-plantations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/palm-oil-deforestation-persists-in-indonesias-leuser-amid-new-mills-plantations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2024 14:56:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/12174448/orangutan-with-light-flare-leuser-r-butler-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279835</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, carbon, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Great Apes, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[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 be supplying major consumer goods companies. Plantation-driven forest loss has for decades eaten away at the Leuser Ecosystem, home to critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, tigers, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[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 be supplying major consumer goods companies. Plantation-driven forest loss has for decades eaten away at the Leuser Ecosystem, home to critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants. The Leuser landscape spans 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres), much of it in the province of Aceh. But while past deforestation was carried out by a handful of large operators carving out chunks of the forest at a time, today it’s smaller operators administering “death by a thousand cuts” to feed a growing number of processing mills, according to monitoring by U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN). RAN’s latest investigation found at least 192 hectares (475 acres) of forests were cleared in one concession alone in Aceh Tamiang district, Aceh province, in 2023. The concession, reportedly owned by a retired public servant named Bukhary, is located within the borders of Gunung Leuser National Park, one of Southeast Asia’s last great swaths of intact rainforest. The national park is a formally protected area at the heart of the Leuser Ecosystem and is part of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra (TRHS), a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004 and placed on UNESCO’s danger list since 2011. According to RAN’s investigation, forest clearing inside the concession started in 2021, after Bukhary erected a sign claiming owner of 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres) of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/palm-oil-deforestation-persists-in-indonesias-leuser-amid-new-mills-plantations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/palm-oil-deforestation-persists-in-indonesias-leuser-amid-new-mills-plantations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279835</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Boost for Sumatran rhino IVF plan as eggs extracted from Bornean specimen</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/boost-for-sumatran-rhino-ivf-plan-as-eggs-extracted-from-bornean-specimen/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/boost-for-sumatran-rhino-ivf-plan-as-eggs-extracted-from-bornean-specimen/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2023 07:50:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/08051859/sDjq_IMG-20231031-WA0055-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275142</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Leuser Ecosystem, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists in Indonesia have announced the successful harvesting of egg cells from a female Sumatran rhino, a key step in an effort to breed the critically endangered species in captivity and boost its gene pool. In a statement on Oct. 31 (which appears to have since been removed), the Indonesian environment ministry said [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists in Indonesia have announced the successful harvesting of egg cells from a female Sumatran rhino, a key step in an effort to breed the critically endangered species in captivity and boost its gene pool. In a statement on Oct. 31 (which appears to have since been removed), the Indonesian environment ministry said a team of conservation experts extracted the ovarian follicles, which contain the egg, as well as other tissue samples from the rhino at the Kelian Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) in East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. The rhino, named Pahu, was captured from the wild and placed in the Kelian SRS in 2018. Pahu is a Bornean specimen of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and her capture was expected to add genetic diversity to the small captive-bred population held at Way Kambas SRS on the island of Sumatra. However, she was later determined to be too small and too old to undergo mating with any of the captive males at Way Kambas. Harvesting her eggs for possible use in in-vitro fertilization is thus seen as crucial in the captive-breeding program, which since 2012 has seen just three rhinos born in captivity at Way Kambas. “We make every effort to keep the survival of the Sumatran rhinos in Kalimantan [Indonesian Borneo], one of which is with assisted reproductive technology such as in-vitro fertilization with sperm from Sumatran rhinos in Way Kambas National Park, stem cells, and cloning,” Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the environment ministry’s director-general of natural&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/boost-for-sumatran-rhino-ivf-plan-as-eggs-extracted-from-bornean-specimen/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/boost-for-sumatran-rhino-ivf-plan-as-eggs-extracted-from-bornean-specimen/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275142</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Burn now, pay later: Fines trickle in from Indonesia’s crackdown on forest fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2023 09:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/23035408/36282267366_a8bbcb2f67_k1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275074</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Air Pollution, Animals, Apes, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Great Apes, Law, Law Enforcement, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforests, Restoration, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A palm oil company in Indonesia has finally started paying off a $23 million fine for burning an important Sumatran orangutan habitat more than a decade ago, highlighting the difficulty of holding environmental violators to account in the country. PT Kallista Alam (KA) was in 2013 found liable by a court in Aceh [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A palm oil company in Indonesia has finally started paying off a $23 million fine for burning an important Sumatran orangutan habitat more than a decade ago, highlighting the difficulty of holding environmental violators to account in the country. PT Kallista Alam (KA) was in 2013 found liable by a court in Aceh province, at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, for burning 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of peat forest in the Tripa swamp between 2009 and 2012. Tripa is an integral part of the Leuser Ecosystem, one of Indonesia’s last best rainforests, and in 1990 it held some 3,000 Sumatran orangutans. Today, there are no more than 200 of the great apes left in Tripa, as their habitat continues to be cleared to make way for oil palm plantations. The ruling against KA, with the fine set at a then-record 366 billion rupiah ($30 million at the time, but $23 million at the current exchange rate), was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2015. The case also marked the first in a series of aggressive lawsuits brought by the government against companies that had allowed burning inside their concessions. Even so, it was only in September this year — 10 years since the original verdict and 14 since the burning began — that KA started paying off the fine, comprised of 114 billion rupiah ($7.2 million) in damages and 252 billion rupiah ($15.9 million) for restoration of the burnt area. In a press release&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275074</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stem cells may make ‘impossible possible’ for near-extinct Sumatran rhino</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/stem-cells-may-make-impossible-possible-for-near-extinct-sumatran-rhino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/stem-cells-may-make-impossible-possible-for-near-extinct-sumatran-rhino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2022 05:02:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/29114855/kertam-mud-forward-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262606</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Europe, Germany, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Extinction, Forests, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A method to produce new living cells from a dead Sumatran rhinoceros is being developed by wildlife scientists in Germany in an effort to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered species. Researchers at the German Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine are developing the method to potentially produce viable spermatozoa for breeding purposes of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A method to produce new living cells from a dead Sumatran rhinoceros is being developed by wildlife scientists in Germany in an effort to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered species. Researchers at the German Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine are developing the method to potentially produce viable spermatozoa for breeding purposes of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), according to an official statement published Nov. 8. They have used the skin samples of the last male rhino in Malaysia, known as Kertam, who died in May 2019, to grow stem cells and mini-brains as reported in their recently published paper in the journal iScience. “Even though our work is attempting to make the seemingly impossible possible — to ensure the survival of animals that would otherwise probably disappear from our planet — it must remain an exception and not become the rule,” Vera Zywitza, a scientist at the Berlin-based biomedical research institution who is the lead author of the study, said in the statement. Kertam, a young male Sumatran rhinoceros from Borneo whose genome was sequenced for this study. Image by Scubazoo. The Sumatran rhino used to roam many forests in the Southeast Asian region, but poaching and habitat loss have brought the species to the brink of extinction. Official estimates suggest that fewer than 80 rhinos remained in the world, and they all currently live in Indonesia in the wild, and some in a sanctuary. Their population is also threatened especially by low breeding rates in nature,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/stem-cells-may-make-impossible-possible-for-near-extinct-sumatran-rhino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/stem-cells-may-make-impossible-possible-for-near-extinct-sumatran-rhino/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262606</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil producer mired in legal troubles still razing Sumatran forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/palm-oil-producer-mired-in-legal-troubles-still-razing-sumatran-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/palm-oil-producer-mired-in-legal-troubles-still-razing-sumatran-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2022 02:01:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/26014803/IMG_0794-1020x680-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A part of the only forest on Earth where rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants coexist is seeing a resumption of deforestation for an oil palm concession. Indonesian company PT Cemerlang Abadi (CA) restarted clearing forests and peatlands in September last year in its concession in the Leuser Ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A part of the only forest on Earth where rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants coexist is seeing a resumption of deforestation for an oil palm concession. Indonesian company PT Cemerlang Abadi (CA) restarted clearing forests and peatlands in September last year in its concession in the Leuser Ecosystem on the island of Sumatra, according to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The U.S.-based NGO analyzed satellite images to identify more than 10 hectares (24 acres) of secondary forests and 299 hectares (740 acres) of young regenerating forests (a subset of secondary forests) that had been cleared as of February 2022. CA’s concession consists of secondary forest, which is regenerated after primary or “virgin” forest has been logged. Despite having previously been degraded, these forests still play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, regulating the climate, and protecting water supplies for local communities, RAN said. A local activist who visited the concession in early 2021 told Mongabay that the concession consisted of native trees and shrubs. They said that because the concession is located in coastal area, it serves as a buffer zone for local communities against storm surges and is also a source of water. Satellite images showing forest clearance by PT. Cemerlang Abadi. February 2022. Image courtesy of Rainforest Action Network (RAN). RAN said the forests in the concession are categorized as high carbon stock (HCS) forests, and thus should be protected from deforestation. Emphasizing that the cleared areas were secondary forests serves “to highlight the fact that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/palm-oil-producer-mired-in-legal-troubles-still-razing-sumatran-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/palm-oil-producer-mired-in-legal-troubles-still-razing-sumatran-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia teams up with Germany on Sumatran rhino breeding efforts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indonesia-teams-up-with-germany-on-sumatran-rhino-breeding-efforts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indonesia-teams-up-with-germany-on-sumatran-rhino-breeding-efforts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2022 12:07:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/28092156/277513909_7633132203371473_1921821683307203424_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256789</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Europe, Germany, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian and German scientists are collaborating on assisted reproductive technologies for critically endangered species, with a primary focus on pulling the Sumatran rhino from the brink of extinction. Indonesia’s Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) signed the collaboration agreement in May. It calls for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian and German scientists are collaborating on assisted reproductive technologies for critically endangered species, with a primary focus on pulling the Sumatran rhino from the brink of extinction. Indonesia’s Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) signed the collaboration agreement in May. It calls for establishing a center for assisted reproductive technologies, or ART, and a bio bank, or store of genetic resources, at IPB, according to an official statement. It added the first joint conservation science project will be to save the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), a species that now can only be found in Indonesia and is down to as few as 30 individuals. “The Sumatran rhinos are now on the brink of extinction, so we have to act very fast,” Steven Seet, head of science communication at Leibniz-IZW, told Mongabay in an online interview on May 27. “What we can’t do is trial and error because the material is too precious, and as we’re working against time, we have to take the opportunity to save the species.” Representatives from the Indonesia’s Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) at the signing of an agreement on joint conservation science projects to save critically endangered species in Indonesia, starting with the Sumatran rhino. Image courtesy of Leibniz-IZW. The wild population of the rhinos is scattered across small, fragmented pockets of forest on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The species once&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indonesia-teams-up-with-germany-on-sumatran-rhino-breeding-efforts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indonesia-teams-up-with-germany-on-sumatran-rhino-breeding-efforts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256789</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More coffee, less gold: Sumatra farmers alarmed over revival of mine project</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/more-coffee-less-gold-sumatra-farmers-alarmed-over-revival-of-mine-project/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/more-coffee-less-gold-sumatra-farmers-alarmed-over-revival-of-mine-project/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2022 07:41:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/23071055/Kopi-Arabika-Gayo-Lues-768x512-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252991</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Use Change, Mining, Politics, and Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LINGE, Indonesia — Indonesian coffee farmers on the island of Sumatra have spoken out against a plan to mine for gold in an area that overlaps with one of the last known habitats of Sumatran tigers and orangutans. The Linge Abong project in Aceh province was conceived more than a decade ago, and was blocked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LINGE, Indonesia — Indonesian coffee farmers on the island of Sumatra have spoken out against a plan to mine for gold in an area that overlaps with one of the last known habitats of Sumatran tigers and orangutans. The Linge Abong project in Aceh province was conceived more than a decade ago, and was blocked by the provincial governor in 2019. But it appears to have been revived in late 2021, according to a stock exchange filing from the parent company of project developer PT Linge Mineral Resources (LMR). “We have held community discussions and we’re strongly against it,” Zai Nudin, the head of Linge village, one of several that would be directly affected by the gold mine, said at an online event on Jan. 10, 2022. “So many problems will appear from mining,” Zai added. The Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra is the only region on Earth where tigers, orangutans, rhinos and elephants can be found in one place. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. LMR obtained exploration approval for the site in 2009. The 36,420-hectare (90,000-acre) concession in Aceh Tengah district overlaps with the Leuser Ecosystem, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s the largest remaining swath of intact rainforest in Sumatra, and home to critically endangered Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinos and elephants. Some time over the next year, the company’s request for a production permit was rejected by the provincial government, according to the governor at the time. In 2019, LMR announced that it planned to undertake an environmental&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/more-coffee-less-gold-sumatra-farmers-alarmed-over-revival-of-mine-project/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/more-coffee-less-gold-sumatra-farmers-alarmed-over-revival-of-mine-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252991</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Groups welcome decline in deforestation in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/groups-welcome-decline-in-deforestation-in-indonesias-leuser-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/groups-welcome-decline-in-deforestation-in-indonesias-leuser-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jan 2022 09:17:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/01/03085820/thomas-leaf-monkey-glnp-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251411</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Deforestation inside Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, home to some of the rarest species on Earth, declined in 2021 to its lowest level in seven years, following a surge in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Leuser is known for being the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Deforestation inside Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem, home to some of the rarest species on Earth, declined in 2021 to its lowest level in seven years, following a surge in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Leuser is known for being the last place on Earth where critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans coexist. It spans the northern half of Sumatra, covering nearly 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) within the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. Satellite monitoring from local NGO Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh (HAkA) shows that 4,472 hectares (11,051 acres) of forests were lost in 2021 as of November, an area the size of 90,000 basketball courts. This is down significantly from the 7,331 hectares (18,115 acres) of deforestation detected in 2020, which was the highest figure since 2017. The 2021 figure is the lowest since 2015, when Leuser lost 13,690 hectares (33,830 acres) of its forests. Sumatran elephants. The forests of the Leuser Ecosystem are among the most valuable remaining habitats for this critically endangered species. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Rudi Putra, a conservationist at the NGO Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL), said this finding from the satellite analysis is in line with what he found from field observations. “We no longer found large-scale forest clearing within the Leuser Ecosystem,” he told Mongabay. “In the past, there were still many companies that were actively clearing forests. Nowadays, the deforestation is mostly small scale, less than 5 hectares [12 acres].” Rudi, who has&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/groups-welcome-decline-in-deforestation-in-indonesias-leuser-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/groups-welcome-decline-in-deforestation-in-indonesias-leuser-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251411</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Work starts on new sanctuary for captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/work-starts-on-new-sanctuary-for-captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/work-starts-on-new-sanctuary-for-captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2021 13:35:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/06040207/indonesia_160388_v2018-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249400</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation officials in Indonesia have broken ground on a new sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos, part of ongoing efforts to breed the critically endangered species in captivity and stave off its extinction. The groundbreaking for the facility took place on Nov. 11 inside the Leuser Ecosystem in East Aceh district, in Aceh province at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservation officials in Indonesia have broken ground on a new sanctuary for Sumatran rhinos, part of ongoing efforts to breed the critically endangered species in captivity and stave off its extinction. The groundbreaking for the facility took place on Nov. 11 inside the Leuser Ecosystem in East Aceh district, in Aceh province at the northern tip of Sumatra. The new facility, the third in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) network, is one of Indonesia’s top strategies to help prevent the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) from going extinct in the wild. It is geared in particular toward the subpopulation found in the Leuser Ecosystem. The first SRS is in Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and the second in eastern Indonesian Borneo. “The groundbreaking of the sanctuary is the beginning of a new momentum and our hope is that the construction process will go smoothly so it will be in line with our planned strategy of rescuing the rhinos,” Dedi Yansyah, program coordinator at the nonprofit Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL), told Mongabay in a phone interview on Nov. 12. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in the Leuser Ecosystem. Image courtesy of the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL). The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in the Leuser Ecosystem. Image courtesy of the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL). The SRS in Leuser will span about 130 hectares (320 acres) of an ecosystem that’s also the only place on Earth that’s home to rhinos, tigers, orangutans&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/work-starts-on-new-sanctuary-for-captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249400</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos: Where the program stands today</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos-where-the-program-stands-today/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos-where-the-program-stands-today/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2021 09:36:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/05155221/Sumatrain-rhino-2018-768x463.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246555</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, COVID-19, Endangered Species, Ex-situ Conservation, Mammals, Rhinos, Sumatran Rhino, and Videos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia is today home to the last holdout populations of Sumatran rhinos, a species that once ranged across much of southern Asia. Official figures, which paint a more optimistic picture than many independent experts, put the species&#8217; population at fewer than 80 individuals. The vast majority of these are in three habitats: up to 50 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia is today home to the last holdout populations of Sumatran rhinos, a species that once ranged across much of southern Asia. Official figures, which paint a more optimistic picture than many independent experts, put the species&#8217; population at fewer than 80 individuals. The vast majority of these are in three habitats: up to 50 in northern Sumatra&#8217;s Leuser Ecosystem, up to 20 in Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and up to 10 in Indonesian Borneo, known as Kalimantan. (A handful of rhinos might also persist in Sumatra&#8217;s Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park.) With numbers so low and populations so fragmented, a consensus has formed among experts and officials that efforts to breed Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in captivity must be intensified. An existing center, in Way Kambas, is home to seven rhinos, including two calves born there. In 2018, a rhino was captured in Indonesian Borneo and taken to a second center in the Kelian Protected Forest in East Kalimantan province. And plans are underway to open a third center in the Leuser area. Conservationists intend to capture six more rhinos across the three ecosystems, united into a single nationwide breeding program. However, COVID-19, which has battered Indonesia, has caused complications and delays. To get the latest updates, Mongabay spoke to conservationists and rhino experts active in each of the three primary Sumatran rhino habitats. These conversations revealed fears about the dire state of the species and its remaining populations, as well as optimism that experts and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/captive-breeding-of-sumatran-rhinos-where-the-program-stands-today/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246555</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Development of third Sumatran rhino sanctuary advances to save species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/development-of-third-sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-advances-to-save-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/development-of-third-sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-advances-to-save-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2021 05:22:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/18205752/indonesia_160369_v2018-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244109</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — The development of a highly anticipated captive-breeding facility for Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia’s Aceh province is advancing as part of conservation efforts to save the nearly extinct species. The planned facility, the third in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) network, is one of Indonesia’s top strategies to help prevent the global [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — The development of a highly anticipated captive-breeding facility for Sumatran rhinos in Indonesia’s Aceh province is advancing as part of conservation efforts to save the nearly extinct species. The planned facility, the third in the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) network, is one of Indonesia’s top strategies to help prevent the global population of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) from going extinct in the wild. The new facility in particular is geared toward the sub-population surviving in the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra. The first SRS is inside Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and the second in eastern Indonesian Borneo. “The consortium for developing the SRS in East Aceh district is still working on getting the permits,” Agus Irianto, head of the Aceh provincial conservation agency (BKSDA), said in May. For the past couple of years, officials and experts — from the environment ministry, local government, academia and NGOs — have been working on the permits, feasibility and environmental studies, and developing the designs, including the detailed engineering design (DED) for the facility. Sumatran rhino photographed on camera trap in Gunung Leuser National Park, inside the Leuser Ecosystem. Image courtesy of the Leuser International Foundation and Gunung Leuser National Park. Researchers surveyed three forests in Sumatra for signs of Sumatran rhinos: The Leuser Ecosystem, Way Kambas National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Image courtesy of Wulan Pusparini. The proposed rhino sanctuary in Leuser will cover 100 hectares (250 acres) of an ecosystem that’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/development-of-third-sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-advances-to-save-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/development-of-third-sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-advances-to-save-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244109</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Deforestation of orangutan habitat feeds global palm oil demand, report shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/deforestation-of-orangutan-habitat-feeds-global-palm-oil-demand-report-leuser-royal-golden-eagle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/deforestation-of-orangutan-habitat-feeds-global-palm-oil-demand-report-leuser-royal-golden-eagle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2021 14:17:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/14105730/sumatra_0598-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244120</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Leuser Ecosystem]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, International Trade, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major palm oil company supplying to global brands like Nestlé and PepsiCo continues to source the raw commodity from plantations responsible for deforesting prime orangutan habitat in Sumatra, according to a recent investigation. U.S.-based environmental advocacy group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has found Singapore-based conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) allegedly buying palm [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A major palm oil company supplying to global brands like Nestlé and PepsiCo continues to source the raw commodity from plantations responsible for deforesting prime orangutan habitat in Sumatra, according to a recent investigation. U.S.-based environmental advocacy group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has found Singapore-based conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) allegedly buying palm oil from a mill in Sumatra that sourced palm fruit from a plantation in the Leuser Ecosystem, one of Indonesia’s last large tracts of intact rainforest. RGE is owned by one of Indonesia’s wealthiest tycoons, Sukanto Tanoto. The plantation in question, PT Laot Bangko, allegedly cleared rainforests in Sumatra’s Aceh province, with satellite imagery showing clearing taking place in early 2021. A total of 7 hectares (17 acres) of forests were cleared since January, half in May alone, according to RAN. “There was no clearing from February to April but clearing resumed again in May which is worrying given the importance of the lowland rainforests inside and surrounding its concession,” Gemma Tillack, policy director with RAN, told Mongabay. Forest clearance documented inside PT. Laot Bangko’s palm oil concession. February 2019. Image courtesy of Rainforest Action Network. These rainforests are the last habitat for critically endangered Sumatran orangutans and elephants in the Leuser Ecosystem, RAN said. Deforestation within Laot Bangko’s concession has been well documented by RAN in recent years, with forest cover within the company’s area shrinking from 237 to 117 hectares (586 to 289 acres) between June 2016 and April 2021. Through a field&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/deforestation-of-orangutan-habitat-feeds-global-palm-oil-demand-report-leuser-royal-golden-eagle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244120</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Never too late to save Earth: Q&#038;A with Leuser forest guardian Rudi Putra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/never-too-late-to-save-earth-qa-with-leuser-forest-guardian-rudi-putra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/never-too-late-to-save-earth-qa-with-leuser-forest-guardian-rudi-putra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2021 15:44:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/17152424/Rudi-Putra1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243837</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos and Leuser Ecosystem]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rudi Putra is well-known in Indonesia’s conservation world. Born in 1977 in Aceh Tamiang district, in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Rudi has been working on preserving the forest and wildlife of the Leuser Ecosystem for 20 years. Known by its Indonesian acronym, KEL, Leuser straddles the northern half of Sumatra, covering [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rudi Putra is well-known in Indonesia’s conservation world. Born in 1977 in Aceh Tamiang district, in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, Rudi has been working on preserving the forest and wildlife of the Leuser Ecosystem for 20 years. Known by its Indonesian acronym, KEL, Leuser straddles the northern half of Sumatra, covering nearly 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles) within Aceh and the neighboring province of North Sumatra. Its ecological value can’t be overstated: scientists and conservationists consider it among the most important forests left in Southeast Asia. Here live an estimated 10,000 species of plants and 200 species of mammals, including the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, tiger, elephant and rhino. Indonesia granted the ecosystem an official protected status in 2007, but despite this designation, rates of illegal poaching and logging in the Leuser Ecosystem are estimated to be some of the worst in the country. Data show that the populations of the critically endangered animals in Leuser are declining rapidly, and more than 4,500 km2 (1,740 mi2) of its landscape has also been destroyed, mostly by oil palm cultivation and illegal logging, according to data from the NGO Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh (HAKA). Rudi started his work on conserving this ecosystem in 2000 at the Leuser Management Unit (UML), which was set up to manage an EU-funded effort to conserve the ecosystem. Rudi later moved on to the Aceh government&#8217;s Leuser Ecosystem Management Agency (BPKEL), before he and his colleagues founded the Leuser Conservation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/never-too-late-to-save-earth-qa-with-leuser-forest-guardian-rudi-putra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243837</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Video: Doomed or viable? Sumatran rhino captive breeding faces a dilemma</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/video-doomed-or-viable-sumatran-rhino-captive-breeding-faces-a-dilemma/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/video-doomed-or-viable-sumatran-rhino-captive-breeding-faces-a-dilemma/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Mar 2021 14:25:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/03/03093214/Rhino_2_Frame_8-copy-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=240134</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Extinction, Mammals, Rhinos, Sumatran Rhino, Videos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists trying to save the Sumatran rhino from extinction face a critical dilemma: In seeking to build a robust captive-breeding program, should the healthiest, most fertile rhinos be left in the wild or brought into captivity? It&#8217;s a question with no simple answers. The species, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, once roamed from the Himalayan foothills to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists trying to save the Sumatran rhino from extinction face a critical dilemma: In seeking to build a robust captive-breeding program, should the healthiest, most fertile rhinos be left in the wild or brought into captivity? It&#8217;s a question with no simple answers. The species, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, once roamed from the Himalayan foothills to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, but is today only known to survive in a few small pockets of forest in Indonesia. No more than 80 individuals are believed to be left on Earth. Decades of poaching and habitat loss brought the species to this point. But today, most experts believe that protecting the few remaining wild rhinos in situ is not enough to sustain the species. Because the remaining wild rhino populations are so small and so isolated from one another, the rate of births in the wild is likely no longer enough to offset even natural deaths. In 2018, a coalition called Sumatran Rhino Rescue, which includes the Indonesian government as well as local and international experts and conservation groups, announced the launch of a new and more intensive captive-breeding program. There are currently eight rhinos in conservation breeding facilities: seven at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park in southern Sumatra, and one at a facility in Indonesian Borneo. The coalition aims to boost numbers at the existing facilities, as well as establish additional centers in Indonesia, starting with one in the Leuser ecosystem at the northern tip of Sumatra. However,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/video-doomed-or-viable-sumatran-rhino-captive-breeding-faces-a-dilemma/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-240134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snare traps decline, but still pose a threat to Leuser’s Sumatran rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/sumatran-rhino-leuser-endangered-species-wildlife-poaching-snare-trap/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/sumatran-rhino-leuser-endangered-species-wildlife-poaching-snare-trap/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2020 09:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/02113215/indonesia_160539-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236829</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Habitat, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — For the rhinos of Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, snare traps set by poachers are a key factor that threatens to drive them closer to extinction. The Leuser Ecosystem is one of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Fewer than 80 of the animals are believed to remain [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — For the rhinos of Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, snare traps set by poachers are a key factor that threatens to drive them closer to extinction. The Leuser Ecosystem is one of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Fewer than 80 of the animals are believed to remain in the wild, isolated from one another in rapidly dwindling patches of rainforest in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, with a handful thought to remain in Indonesian Borneo. Leuser is home to one of the largest numbers of the species, split up across four habitats, which makes the area the most promising site for Sumatran rhino conservation. But wire snares set by illegal hunters to catch anything ranging from wild boars for bushmeat to trophy animals — including the native elephants and tigers — continue to pose an imminent threat to the rhinos. “Elephants that are huge can be severely injured or even killed [by the traps], so imagine what will happen to the rhinos that are much smaller,” Rudi Putra, a biologist and chairman of the Leuser Conservation Forum’s (FKL) board of trustees, said in a recent webinar. Snare traps can be lethal to Indonesia&#8217;s nearly extinct animals, like the Sumatran rhino. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. Recent studies have shown that snaring by hunters is a much more potent danger to the survival of Southeast Asia’s threatened wildlife compared to deforestation and forest degradation. Snares are typically made of steel or nylon wire and are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/sumatran-rhino-leuser-endangered-species-wildlife-poaching-snare-trap/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/sumatran-rhino-leuser-endangered-species-wildlife-poaching-snare-trap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236829</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned road projects threaten Sumatran rhino habitat, experts say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/planned-road-projects-threaten-sumatran-rhino-habitat-experts-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/planned-road-projects-threaten-sumatran-rhino-habitat-experts-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Oct 2020 01:03:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/26044520/badak-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235902</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos and Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Infrastructure, Logging, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rhinos, Roads, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Conservationists are calling for a Sumatran rhino habitat at the northern tip of the Indonesian island to be fully protected from planned road-construction projects. Officials in the province of Aceh have allocated 2.4 trillion rupiah ($164 million) for the development of 12 roads across the province through 2022. Governor Nova Iriansyah [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Conservationists are calling for a Sumatran rhino habitat at the northern tip of the Indonesian island to be fully protected from planned road-construction projects. Officials in the province of Aceh have allocated 2.4 trillion rupiah ($164 million) for the development of 12 roads across the province through 2022. Governor Nova Iriansyah says the roads will improve economic connectivity between the province’s eastern and southwestern coasts. They will include sections of the Ladia Galaska road that will serve as an overland route between two of the busiest international shipping routes in the region, namely the Indian Ocean and the Malacca Strait. But many of these planned road projects are expected to cut through the Leuser Ecosystem, a vast swath of tropical rainforest that remains the last place on Earth where critically endangered rhinos, tigers, orangutans and elephants co-exist in the wild. Conservationists say they are particularly concerned about the impacts that the road development will have on the population of the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) there. “Almost all the roads that cut through the Leuser Ecosystem are prone to landslides and flash floods,” said Muhammad Nur, director of the Aceh chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s biggest green NGO. He said data showed that road projects accounted for two-thirds of the total deforestation in Aceh province between 2013 and 2019, or more than 97,000 hectares (240,000 acres). “When forest is being destroyed, surely that will increase [the risk of] flooding and landslides&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/planned-road-projects-threaten-sumatran-rhino-habitat-experts-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/planned-road-projects-threaten-sumatran-rhino-habitat-experts-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235902</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Luckiest people’: Encountering a newborn Sumatran rhino in the wild</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/luckiest-people-encountering-a-newborn-sumatran-rhino-in-the-wild/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/luckiest-people-encountering-a-newborn-sumatran-rhino-in-the-wild/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Oct 2020 04:46:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/17171026/rainforest-Gunung-Leuser-ecosystem-R-Butler-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235785</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2018, five Indonesian forest rangers had an experience that would make them the envy of conservationists everywhere: they met a newborn Sumatran rhino in the wild. “They were on a regular patrol, and then they heard a piercing voice,” Rudi Putra, a biologist and chairman of the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) Board [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2018, five Indonesian forest rangers had an experience that would make them the envy of conservationists everywhere: they met a newborn Sumatran rhino in the wild. “They were on a regular patrol, and then they heard a piercing voice,” Rudi Putra, a biologist and chairman of the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) Board of Trustees, told Mongabay over the phone recently. “They didn’t immediately recognize whose voice it was until they saw the calf.” The Leuser Ecosystem in the northern part of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island is one of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). The species’ global population is fewer than 80 individuals. Apart from perhaps as many as a dozen in Indonesian Borneo, all live on Sumatra. They all survive in small and isolated populations, with some considered to be doomed as they are not viable enough to survive in the long term. Gunung Leuser National Park is part of the Leuser Ecosystem, in Aceh province in northern Sumatra. Rainforest in the Leuser Ecosystem. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. The rhino population in Leuser is split up across four habitats. The area is touted by experts as the most promising site for wild Sumatran rhinos as it holds one of the largest numbers of the species. But of the four populations, Rudi said, only one has recorded natural births every year. “In about a year, there’s two or three new calves in that place,” he said. The five rangers saw one that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/luckiest-people-encountering-a-newborn-sumatran-rhino-in-the-wild/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/luckiest-people-encountering-a-newborn-sumatran-rhino-in-the-wild/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Palm oil from Indonesian grower that burned forest is still being sold</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/kallista-alam-permata-hijau-nestle-mars-palm-oil-leuser-aceh-peat-fire/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/kallista-alam-permata-hijau-nestle-mars-palm-oil-leuser-aceh-peat-fire/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2020 06:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/17171544/sumatran-tiger-r-butler-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231595</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, International Trade, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil from a company that burned a pristine orangutan habitat in Sumatra has entered the global market due to an oversight, possibly ending up in products made by multinationals such as Nestlé and Mars, according to a new report. That was the finding from an investigation by the U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil from a company that burned a pristine orangutan habitat in Sumatra has entered the global market due to an oversight, possibly ending up in products made by multinationals such as Nestlé and Mars, according to a new report. That was the finding from an investigation by the U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) into the activities of Indonesian oil palm grower PT Kallista Alam (KA). In 2012, fires from the company’s concession razed 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of pristine lowland rainforest in the Tripa peat swamp, part of the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, a region considered one of the last wild bastions of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan. In 2015, a local court ruled KA liable for the fires; the Supreme Court upheld the ruling and ordered the company to pay a then-unprecedented 366 billion rupiah (about $26.5 million at the time) in fines and damages. KA has since been largely blackballed by palm oil buyers with commitments to not deforest, clear peatlands, or exploit communities and workers (known in the industry as “no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation,” or NDPE). But despite this, and the court ruling, KA continues to cultivate oil palms on its plantation near the fire-destroyed peatland, according to RAN’s investigation. “This plantation covers over 6,500 hectares [16,000 acres] and was obtained without the consent of local communities in Kuala Seumanyan and at the expense of Tripa’s peatlands and forests that recently provided the most dense habitat for Sumatran orangutans on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/kallista-alam-permata-hijau-nestle-mars-palm-oil-leuser-aceh-peat-fire/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/kallista-alam-permata-hijau-nestle-mars-palm-oil-leuser-aceh-peat-fire/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231595</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poaching in Indonesia’s biodiverse Leuser Ecosystem on the rise amid COVID-19</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/wildlife-poaching-indonesia-leuser-covid19-tiger-orangutan-rhino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/wildlife-poaching-indonesia-leuser-covid19-tiger-orangutan-rhino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2020 22:37:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/01/02224724/Sumatran-Rhinoceros-photographed-in-Gunung-Leuser-National-Park-inside-Leuser-Landscape-Leuser-International-Foundation-and-the-Gunung-Leuser-National-520x293.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230797</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, COVID-19, Environment, Forests, Hunting, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Wildlife poaching is on the rise in a key Sumatran habitat that’s home to some of the rarest species on Earth. But hunters in the Leuser Ecosystem appear to be targeting animals for food, rather than the area’s prized tigers, rhinos or orangutans, according to conservationists. “Our teams have found a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Wildlife poaching is on the rise in a key Sumatran habitat that’s home to some of the rarest species on Earth. But hunters in the Leuser Ecosystem appear to be targeting animals for food, rather than the area’s prized tigers, rhinos or orangutans, according to conservationists. “Our teams have found a lot of deer snares, and these aren’t set up by professional hunters,” said Dedi Yansyah, wildlife protection coordinator at the Leuser Conservation Forum, an NGO. “We think those snares were set up by people whose activities have been disrupted by the corona,” he added, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. Noviar Andayani, country director for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), agreed, saying in a webinar last month that her own organization’s patrol teams had reported an increase in poaching activities in general amid the pandemic. She attributed this to economic losses suffered by communities living in the area as a result of shutdowns imposed in response to the COVID-19 crisis. A forest ranger shows a wire snare found inside a national park in Sumatra. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Local authorities working with conservation groups manage 26 patrol teams to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia’s Aceh province. The protected area spans 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles), more than double the size of Jamaica, and is the last place on Earth where the Sumatran rhino, tiger, elephant and orangutan coexist. But rates of illegal poaching and logging there are estimated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/wildlife-poaching-indonesia-leuser-covid19-tiger-orangutan-rhino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/wildlife-poaching-indonesia-leuser-covid19-tiger-orangutan-rhino/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230797</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A new sanctuary for the Sumatran rhino is delayed amid COVID-19 measures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-leuser-ecosystem-indonesia-aceh-covid19/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-leuser-ecosystem-indonesia-aceh-covid19/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 May 2020 07:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/26044520/badak-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230669</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, COVID-19, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A much-anticipated plan to establish a new rhino-breeding sanctuary in northern Sumatra is one of many that has been put on hold in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed facility is a top priority for Indonesia’s conservation plan to rescue the world’s last remaining Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) through [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A much-anticipated plan to establish a new rhino-breeding sanctuary in northern Sumatra is one of many that has been put on hold in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed facility is a top priority for Indonesia’s conservation plan to rescue the world’s last remaining Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) through a network of captive-breeding facilities. One already exists in southern Sumatra, inside Way Kambas National Park, and authorities planned another for a forest area in the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province, in the island’s north, expected to be completed by 2021. For the past year, officials and experts — from the environment ministry, local government, academia and NGOs — have been working on the permits, feasibility and environmental studies, and developing the designs, including the detailed engineering design (DED). “If it wasn’t for the pandemic, the DED would’ve been done in March 2020,” said Dedi Yansyah, the wildlife protection coordinator at the Leuser Conservation Forum, one of the NGOs involved in the plan. Indonesia confirmed its first cases of COVID-19 in early March. Since then, the country has recorded the second-highest number of deaths from the disease in East Asia (behind only China­), even amid widespread measures to curb the spread of the virus, including stay-at-home orders and grounding of flights. Harapan, a captive male Sumatran rhino, with a keeper at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park. Image by Rahmadi Rahmad/Mongabay Indonesia. The planned rhino sanctuary in Leuser will cover 100 hectares&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-leuser-ecosystem-indonesia-aceh-covid19/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/sumatran-rhino-sanctuary-leuser-ecosystem-indonesia-aceh-covid19/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230669</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>PepsiCo renews sustainable palm oil policy to close supplier loophole</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/pepsico-palm-oil-sustainable-indonesia-indofood-deforestation-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/pepsico-palm-oil-sustainable-indonesia-indofood-deforestation-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2020 06:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/11011916/Puluhan-ribu-hektar-hutan-di-Sumut-sudah-dikuasi-korporasi-dan-merubahnya-jadi-kebun-sawit-Ayat-S-Karokaro-1200x800-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227690</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Food, Food Industry, Forest Destruction, Forests, Green, Human Rights, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental activists have welcomed food and beverage giant PepsiCo’s move to update its palm oil sustainability policy, following years of pressure over a supply chain tainted by deforestation, peatland conversion, and labor rights violations. PepsiCo’s new policy of “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation,” or NDPE, addresses a previous loophole by applying to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental activists have welcomed food and beverage giant PepsiCo’s move to update its palm oil sustainability policy, following years of pressure over a supply chain tainted by deforestation, peatland conversion, and labor rights violations. PepsiCo’s new policy of “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation,” or NDPE, addresses a previous loophole by applying to a wider network of suppliers and business partners. “It applies to all palm and palm kernel oil that we use globally and covers our entire supply chain, from direct suppliers to production sources at the group level, meaning NDPE should be applied across their entire operations and third-party supply chain and not limited solely to the palm oil sold to PepsiCo,” the company says. “We commend PepsiCo for adopting a comprehensive policy and leading actions that, if implemented, will drive change in its palm oil supply chain as well as the broader palm oil industry,” said Robin Averbeck, agribusiness campaign director with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the U.S.-based advocacy group that worked with PepsiCo to update the policy. The sun rises behind an oil palm plantation in Indonesia&#8217;s North Sumatra province. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Sustainability loophole PepsiCo, the world’s second-largest F&amp;B company and a major buyer of palm oil, first rolled out its sustainability policy in 2013. The company, owner of brands including Pepsi, Lays, Doritos and Quaker Oats, says it will now only buy palm oil from sustainable sources with no further development of high carbon stock (HCS) forests or high&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/pepsico-palm-oil-sustainable-indonesia-indofood-deforestation-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/pepsico-palm-oil-sustainable-indonesia-indofood-deforestation-sumatra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227690</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian court cancels dam project in last stronghold of tigers, rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/indonesian-court-cancels-dam-project-in-last-stronghold-of-tigers-rhinos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/indonesian-court-cancels-dam-project-in-last-stronghold-of-tigers-rhinos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2019 08:01:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/30025632/Sebagian-Desa-Lesten-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222053</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Animals, Conservation, Dams, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Hydroelectric Power, Infrastructure, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2019N - SEA, G-1801-55636]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A court in Indonesia has annulled a permit allowing the development of a $3 billion hydropower plant in a forest that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and orangutans. The court in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, issued the ruling Aug. 28, in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A court in Indonesia has annulled a permit allowing the development of a $3 billion hydropower plant in a forest that’s home to critically endangered tigers, rhinos and orangutans. The court in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra, issued the ruling Aug. 28, in a lawsuit filed in March by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the country’s biggest green NGO. The respondents in the suit are the Aceh provincial government, which issued the permit, and PT Kamirzu, the Indonesian subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Prosperity International Holding, the recipient of the permit. Lesten village in Gayo Lues district, part of the planned site of the Tampur dam. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay Indonesia. The ruling orders the developer and the provincial government to stop the project to build a 443-megawatt plant on 4,407 hectares (10,890 acres) straddling the three districts of Gayo Lues, Aceh Tamiang and East Aceh. The Aceh government violated prevailing regulations, the court found, by permitting the development of forest land greater than 5 hectares (12 acres). Earlier during the hearings, the judges visited the site of the planned Tampur hydropower plant. Walhi welcomed the court’s decision. “This means that, besides being objective in assessing and making the decision, the presiding judge has given a new legal lesson for the people of Indonesia,” said Muhammad Reza Maulana, the legal counsel for Walhi’s Aceh chapter. Residents of Aceh Tamiang and East Aceh who would have been affected by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/indonesian-court-cancels-dam-project-in-last-stronghold-of-tigers-rhinos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/indonesian-court-cancels-dam-project-in-last-stronghold-of-tigers-rhinos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222053</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran rhinos to get a new sanctuary in Leuser Ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/sumatran-rhinos-to-get-a-new-sanctuary-in-leuser-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/sumatran-rhinos-to-get-a-new-sanctuary-in-leuser-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2019 20:39:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/18205730/indonesia_160451_v2018-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219523</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Megafauna, Poaching, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government plans to build a third sanctuary for the captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos, a species on the brink of extinction. The proposed facility will be located within the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province, at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, according to Wiratno, the head of conservation at [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government plans to build a third sanctuary for the captive breeding of Sumatran rhinos, a species on the brink of extinction. The proposed facility will be located within the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province, at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, according to Wiratno, the head of conservation at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. “This is a top priority in our emergency action plan to rescue the Sumatran rhinos,” Wiratno told Mongabay on the sidelines of an event in Jakarta last week. “We are soon to discuss this plan with the government of Aceh to get their support.” Scouting for the site where the facility will be built has been completed, and officials are working on the design and permits, according to Rudi Putra, a director of the Leuser Conservation Forum, who is involved in the plan. “The plan is to complete [the facility] by 2021,” he said in an email to Mongabay. He added that an initial batch of at least five rhinos would be captured from the wild in Aceh and translocated to the sanctuary to kick off the program. Researchers recently surveyed three forests in Sumatra for signs of Sumatran rhinos: the Leuser Ecosystem or Landscape, Way Kambas National Park, and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Image courtesy of Wulan Pusparini/Wildlife Conservation Society. Indonesia currently has two captive-breeding centers that hold a total of eight Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis): one in Sumatra’s Way Kambas National Park, which holds seven rhinos,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/sumatran-rhinos-to-get-a-new-sanctuary-in-leuser-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/sumatran-rhinos-to-get-a-new-sanctuary-in-leuser-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219523</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare rhino’s death should light a fire under Indonesia (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/rare-rhinos-death-should-light-a-fire-under-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/rare-rhinos-death-should-light-a-fire-under-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2019 07:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/28190639/Bornean-rhino-Tam-by-Jeremy-Hance-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219020</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos and Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Leuser Ecosystem, Malaysia, North Sumatra, Sabah, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Extinction, Governance, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2016]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On May 27, Monday morning, I woke to the news that Tam, the last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia and the last known male Bornean rhino, had perished. As clichéd as it sounds, I felt like I’d been punched. It was not surprising news. Tam’s health had been in decline for months and reports had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On May 27, Monday morning, I woke to the news that Tam, the last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia and the last known male Bornean rhino, had perished. As clichéd as it sounds, I felt like I’d been punched. It was not surprising news. Tam’s health had been in decline for months and reports had gotten direr in the last week. He was old for a rhino, in his mid-30s, and was suffering from kidney and liver damage. It was, put simply, his time. But Tam was special — to the world and, selfishly, to me. I had the honor of meeting him in 2009. I was a young environmental journalist then, with just a year under my belt, writing for Mongabay. I was in Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo, for a colloquium on orangutans and palm oil, but I made a long detour (flying over oil palm plantations, sprawling towns and rainforest patches) to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve for a single reason: Kertam, or just Tam for short. Tam in his forest home in Sabah in 2009, one year after his capture. Photo by Jeremy Hance Just a year before my visit, Tam had stumbled into an oil palm plantation, one of many that had spread across Sabah in the 2000s. He would live for the next 11 years at the Bornean Rhino Alliance (BORA) facility at Tabin, receiving around-the-clock protection and a large pen of the rainforest habitat his species had evolved with over millions of years. My meeting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/rare-rhinos-death-should-light-a-fire-under-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219020</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two suspected poachers arrested for killing of Sumatran elephant</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/two-suspected-poachers-arrested-for-killing-of-sumatran-elephant/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/two-suspected-poachers-arrested-for-killing-of-sumatran-elephant/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jul 2018 11:07:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/11040923/Bunta1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208029</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, Poisoning, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have arrested two of four suspects alleged to have killed a rare Sumatran elephant and hacked off one of its tusks last month. Police in East Aceh district, at the northern end of the island of Sumatra, announced on July 3 that they had arrested two men and were on the hunt [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have arrested two of four suspects alleged to have killed a rare Sumatran elephant and hacked off one of its tusks last month. Police in East Aceh district, at the northern end of the island of Sumatra, announced on July 3 that they had arrested two men and were on the hunt for two others, all of whom remain unnamed. They also displayed evidence seized from the suspects, including a machete and two elephant tusks, one of which is believed to have been taken from Bunta, the animal found dead on June 9 inside the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province. Bunta, a 27-year-old male Sumatran elephant (Elphas maximus sumatranus), had since 2016 been regularly trained and employed by forest rangers in Aceh as part of a unit to ward off wild elephant herds encroaching on farms and villages. Conservation officials suspect he was poisoned. Investigators in Indonesia display one of two elephant tusks confiscated from the suspects, who are standing in the back wearing green shirts. Image by the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Adi Karya, the head of the National Police’s special crimes unit, said in a statement that authorities were committed to rooting out the trafficking network behind the killing of the elephant. “[We] hope that this arrest can be a lesson for others not to commit this [kind of] crime against wildlife,” he added. Under Indonesian conservation law, the killing, trading or distribution of protected species and their parts can incur jail sentences&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/two-suspected-poachers-arrested-for-killing-of-sumatran-elephant/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208029</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poachers blamed in second Sumatran elephant death this year</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/poachers-blamed-in-second-sumatran-elephant-death-this-year/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/poachers-blamed-in-second-sumatran-elephant-death-this-year/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2018 05:52:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/11040923/Bunta1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207346</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Ivory, Mammals, Poaching, Poisoning, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia have blamed poachers for the death of an elephant found with one of its tusks hacked off, in one of the world’s most biodiverse and threatened habitats. The 27-year-old male Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), named Bunta, had since 2016 been regularly trained and employed by forest rangers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia have blamed poachers for the death of an elephant found with one of its tusks hacked off, in one of the world’s most biodiverse and threatened habitats. The 27-year-old male Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), named Bunta, had since 2016 been regularly trained and employed by forest rangers in Aceh province as part of a unit to ward off wild elephants encroaching on farms and villages. His body was found June 9 by forest rangers inside the Leuser Ecosystem, one of Indonesia’s last large tracts of intact rainforest, which is home to four of the most iconic and critically endangered species on Earth: the Sumatran elephant, tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica), rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and orangutan (Pongo abelii). Citing damage to the elephant’s digestive tract, and traces from fruit found near the carcass, officials from the Aceh conservation agency, or BKSDA, say it was likely that Bunta was poisoned — a common tactic used by poachers and farmers in the region. “After the elephant died, one of its tusks was taken by slicing open its cheek,” Wahyu Kuncoro, of the East Aceh district police, told reporters a day after the body was found. Bunta, pictured here with a ranger, was one of several elephants trained to take part in patrols to shoo wild elephants away from farms and villages, as part of a forest protection program in eastern Aceh province. Image courtesy of Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay-Indonesia. Sapto Aji Prabowo, the head of the Aceh BKSDA,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/poachers-blamed-in-second-sumatran-elephant-death-this-year/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207346</doi>				</item>
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