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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/maluku/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:09:40 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Maluku environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/maluku/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>On an Indonesian island, an ancient ritual evolves to protect an endangered cockatoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 14:10:23 +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/20/2026/08/18135704/KKI_Huaulu_10-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326518</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biocultural Diversity, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Over-hunting, Parrots, Poaching, Research, Science, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found. The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found. The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual marks young men’s transition to adulthood and traditionally involved wearing the distinctive crest feathers of the salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), a bird found nowhere else on Earth. The Huaulu, one of Seram’s oldest Indigenous communities, regard Seram’s forests as a living realm inhabited by powerful spirits, shaping their approach to conservation. “The use of cockatoo feathers is specifically embedded within this cultural system and is very different from hunting birds for commercial purposes,” study lead author Dwi Agustina, a researcher at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University and program coordinator at the Indonesia’s Cockatoo Conservation Association (KKI), told Mongabay in an email. An endangered salmon-crested cockatoo on Seram Island, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Balázs Tisza/Wildlife Messengers. The Cidaku ritual once had ties to head-taking, but after colonial authorities and Christian missionaries suppressed the practice in the early 20th century, the Huaulu adapted the ceremony around hunting wild animals. The salmon-crested cockatoo became one traditional target, with its crest feathers used in the ceremonial puheliam headdress: the white feathers as a symbol of sacred life, peace and community, and the peach-tinged feathers signifying great strength and courage. Over the decades, however, the species has become endangered, largely due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326518</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel expansion puts Indonesia’s biodiversity goals under pressure, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2026 09:20:00 +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/20/2025/03/05132334/nickel-processing-facilities-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326001</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, Southeast Asia, and Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[30x30 conservation target, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deep Sea Mining, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Electric Cars, Energy Transition, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, Marine Conservation, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, Protected Areas, Transportation, Tropical Deforestation, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology &#38; Evolution focuses on the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s nickel boom is colliding with its efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from forests and other land uses. A new study warns that meeting growing global nickel demand could increasingly put some of the world’s most important ecosystems at risk. A study published in Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution focuses on the trade-offs between meeting future nickel demand and protecting areas important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The researchers found that 44% to 49% of projected nickel demand between 2025 and 2050 could be met by mines located in the world’s top 10% of terrestrial areas for biodiversity and carbon conservation. “Nickel is in everything from steel in infrastructure to the pots and pans in our kitchens, and demand is surging for clean energy especially to make batteries for electric vehicles,” said lead author Jayden Hyman of the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment in a press release. “But the decisions being made now about where to source nickel could lock in impacts for decades in some of Earth’s most biodiverse and carbon-rich ecosystems.” The findings pose a particular challenge for Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer and the source of more than half of global supply. The researchers project that Indonesia could account for as much as 74% of global nickel production by 2040 as demand continues to grow. The country is also committed to expanding biodiversity conservation. Indonesia’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (IBSAP) 2025-2045 is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/nickel-expansion-puts-indonesias-biodiversity-goals-under-pressure-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326001</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Police in Indonesia’s Halmahera Island charge 11 farmers in latest nickel flashpoint</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/police-in-indonesias-halmahera-island-charge-11-farmers-in-latest-nickel-flashpoint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/police-in-indonesias-halmahera-island-charge-11-farmers-in-latest-nickel-flashpoint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2025 10:30:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rabul Sawal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/03101535/maluku-residents-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300073</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Clean Energy, Developing Countries, Development, Economics, Energy, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Industry, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, Renewable Energy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[EAST HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Police in Indonesia’s North Maluku province arrested 27 people and charged 11 of them with weapons offenses and commercial obstruction in late May following conflict with a nickel mining company controlled by Indonesia’s billionaire Barki family. The 11 residents of Maba Sangaji village, which is located in East Halmahera district, are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[EAST HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Police in Indonesia’s North Maluku province arrested 27 people and charged 11 of them with weapons offenses and commercial obstruction in late May following conflict with a nickel mining company controlled by Indonesia’s billionaire Barki family. The 11 residents of Maba Sangaji village, which is located in East Halmahera district, are alleged to have taken 18 sets of keys for heavy vehicles operated by nickel miner PT Position, a subsidiary of the Barki-controlled Harum Energy, on April 16-17. Police seized 10 machetes, five catapults, one spear, a bow, and several arrows. “Their actions showed gangsterism that disrupted the community and investment,” Bambang Surhayono, a spokesperson for North Maluku Police, said in a statement. Anto Yunus, a lawyer for the detained men, said they were victims of physical assault during the detention. “We have seen it and photographed it,” Anto said. Mongabay has not independently verified evidence of physical abuse. The seizure of blades, which the men use as farming tools, was not evidence of criminal intent, Anto said, calling on police to release the men and pursue remedial motions out of court under “restorative justice,” a form of mediation. “Demonstrate that the company’s financial losses were due to the citizens’ actions. If there were no losses, don’t make excuses,” he added. Guidelines published by Indonesia’s attorney general in 2020 say mediation can be applied in lieu of criminal proceedings if a settlement is adjudicated to be in the public interest and proportionate to the alleged offense.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/police-in-indonesias-halmahera-island-charge-11-farmers-in-latest-nickel-flashpoint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300073</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nickel miners dig up Indonesia’s Gebe Island despite Indigenous and legal opposition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/nickel-miners-dig-up-indonesias-gebe-island-despite-indigenous-and-legal-opposition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/nickel-miners-dig-up-indonesias-gebe-island-despite-indigenous-and-legal-opposition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2025 02:04:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaya Barends]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/10083010/WhatsApp-Image-2025-02-12-at-08.21.25-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295528</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Clean Energy, Developing Countries, Development, Economics, Energy, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Industry, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, Renewable Energy, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GEBE ISLAND, Indonesia — Abdul Manan Magtiblo watched the excavator dump a piece of Gebe Island into the back of a truck. Barely a thicket remained on the buzz-cut upland above Umera village as the vehicle drove off to the nearby port. “That’s the PT Bartra Putra Mulia [BPM] nickel mine,” Manan, the village chief, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GEBE ISLAND, Indonesia — Abdul Manan Magtiblo watched the excavator dump a piece of Gebe Island into the back of a truck. Barely a thicket remained on the buzz-cut upland above Umera village as the vehicle drove off to the nearby port. “That’s the PT Bartra Putra Mulia [BPM] nickel mine,” Manan, the village chief, told Mongabay Indonesia. Locals like Manan say life has become harder since 2020, when the company began operating here on Gebe, a remote island of fewer than 6,000 people in the Halmahera Sea, on Indonesia’s Pacific rim. When BPM first broke ground on its 1,850-hectare (4,570-acre) nickel mining concession here, the company’s executives told the elders in Umera they would have to relocate the Indigenous community’s shrines. Since then, residents say, water sources have run dry, community plantations have withered, and pollution from the mine has bled into the local fishing grounds. Manan and his neighbors in Umera are not alone in enduring change to the environment and way of life on Gebe. Mining companies are busy extracting the mineral wealth from seven nickel concessions beneath this 22,400-hectare (55,350-acre) island, which is around half the size of New Orleans. Research by Forest Watch Indonesia, a Jakarta-based environmental nonprofit, showed corporate land concessions occupy 876,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) on 242 small Indonesian islands. Of these concessions, 28% are for mining. Myriad criminal investigations have demonstrated extensive corruption in how licenses are awarded to industry. Last year, a court sentenced Abdul Gani Kasuba, the former governor&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/nickel-miners-dig-up-indonesias-gebe-island-despite-indigenous-and-legal-opposition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295528</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US security think tank warns of China’s grip over Indonesian nickel industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/us-security-think-tank-warns-of-chinas-grip-over-indonesian-nickel-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/us-security-think-tank-warns-of-chinas-grip-over-indonesian-nickel-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2025 02:31:16 +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/20/2025/02/05130450/Coal-fired-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294716</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Indonesia, Maluku, Southeast Asia, Sulawesi, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Coal, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Electric Cars, Environment, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Human Rights, International Trade, Just Transition, Mining, Pollution, Supply Chain, Trade, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than 75% of the nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, home to the biggest reserves of this critical mineral, is controlled by Chinese companies, many with affiliations to the Chinese government, according to a U.S.-government funded think tank. C4ADS, a Washington, D.C.-based security nonprofit funded largely by the U.S. Agency for International Development and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — More than 75% of the nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, home to the biggest reserves of this critical mineral, is controlled by Chinese companies, many with affiliations to the Chinese government, according to a U.S.-government funded think tank. C4ADS, a Washington, D.C.-based security nonprofit funded largely by the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of State, looked at 33 companies involved in nickel refining in Indonesia and traced their ownership structures. It found that most of these firms are ultimately controlled by a small number of Chinese companies, some of them connected to both Chinese defense contractors and government entities. Many of these firms operate through a complex network of Indonesian subsidiaries that are ultimately controlled by parent companies in China, often with ties to Chinese state-backed lenders. Together, Chinese entities controlled about three-quarters of smelting capacity as of 2023. “There has been prior reporting on Chinese influence within the sector, but we believe this is the first time the level of control has been quantified,” C4ADS told Mongabay. The report identified two Chinese companies — Tsingshan Holding Group and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co. Ltd. — as key players; combined, they accounted for more than 70% of Indonesia’s refining capacity. Both groups were among the earliest investors in Indonesia, at a time when the country had just started pushing for domestic processing of nickel ore. Tsingshan, the world’s biggest nickel producer, holds shares in at least five of the major nickel smelting companies in Indonesia, including&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/us-security-think-tank-warns-of-chinas-grip-over-indonesian-nickel-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294716</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New abuse allegations hit China ghost ships in Indonesia waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-abuse-allegations-hit-china-ghost-ships-in-indonesia-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-abuse-allegations-hit-china-ghost-ships-in-indonesia-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Oct 2024 10:27:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/25091501/Run-Zeng-03-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289185</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Slavery, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses on foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Indonesia&#8217;s remote eastern seas continue to claim lives, with Indonesian crew members bearing the brunt of exploitation amid weak law enforcement, a new report published on Oct. 3 shows. “What we ate and drank was unfit,” Sanusi, a crew member aboard the Russia-flagged Run Zeng 03 fishing boat, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses on foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Indonesia&#8217;s remote eastern seas continue to claim lives, with Indonesian crew members bearing the brunt of exploitation amid weak law enforcement, a new report published on Oct. 3 shows. “What we ate and drank was unfit,” Sanusi, a crew member aboard the Russia-flagged Run Zeng 03 fishing boat, told Indonesian publications Jaring and Tempo. Sanusi said he was given rotten chicken to eat and drank used water from an air-conditioning condenser. Crew members felt so desperate after working up to 18 hours a day and enduring a protracted dispute over withheld pay that they leapt in April from the boat into the Arafura Sea, some 8 kilometers (5 miles) from shore. Most of the crew were rescued by a passing purse seine fishing boat and admitted to the nearest health center for critical care. However, the headless body of one of the men, named Juanaaby, was recovered days later and buried by residents of Warabal village, Tual district. Awareness of criminality at sea has increased a decade after Associated Press journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for documenting systemic forced labor in Southeast Asia’s fishing fleets. That disclosure led to the release of more than 2,000 people, some of whom had been kept in cages. However, reporting in the past several years has revealed widespread abuses have persisted in the sector, perhaps most notoriously on vessels operated by Dalian Ocean Fishing, a China-based tuna firm that supplied sashimi-grade fish to Japan.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/new-abuse-allegations-hit-china-ghost-ships-in-indonesia-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289185</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Magnate’s visit to Indonesia’s untouched Aru Islands revives Indigenous concerns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/magnates-visit-to-indonesias-untouched-aru-islands-revives-indigenous-concerns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/magnates-visit-to-indonesias-untouched-aru-islands-revives-indigenous-concerns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2024 10:14:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ Belseran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/31073746/youth-activists-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285445</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Governance, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Islands, Plantations, Politics, and Protests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARU ISLANDS, Indonesia — When the ship with “J7Explorer” embossed across its hull approached the shoreline on May 13, some on the Aru Islands assumed the greenish hulk was an Indonesian warship from a nearby naval base. As the boat docked, it towered more than four times higher than the waiting SUVs parked below. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARU ISLANDS, Indonesia — When the ship with “J7Explorer” embossed across its hull approached the shoreline on May 13, some on the Aru Islands assumed the greenish hulk was an Indonesian warship from a nearby naval base. As the boat docked, it towered more than four times higher than the waiting SUVs parked below. A yellow go-faster stripe streaked from stern to bow. “Whose ship is this?” asked Theo Pekpekay, an Aru youth activist who watched the ship dock at Serwatu harbor. “This is definitely a warning that a new threat is coming,” he added. Anxieties remain in the Aru Islands district that much of this small eastern archipelago could soon be cleared of its rich rainforest and converted to a vast 60,000-hectare (150,000-acre) cattle ranch. The power behind that plan is a well-known tycoon from Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo Island. The boat’s owner, boy racer and coal magnate Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad, is a familiar name to many around the Aru archipelago. Most know the Kalimantan-born tycoon and founder of the Jhonlin Group of companies as Haji Isam. An aide held an umbrella over Isam as the oligarch quickened his stride through light rain toward a waiting helicopter, which was painted yellow and flecked with black tiger stripes. Haji Isam is a coal magnate with extended family ties to high levels of Indonesia’s government. His cousin is Indonesia’s agriculture minister and his uncle the governor of South Kalimantan province. Isam is a well-known business associate of Bambang Soesatyo,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/magnates-visit-to-indonesias-untouched-aru-islands-revives-indigenous-concerns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/magnates-visit-to-indonesias-untouched-aru-islands-revives-indigenous-concerns/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285445</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loopholes allow multilateral development banks to fund captive coal in Indonesia: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/loopholes-allow-multilateral-development-banks-to-fund-captive-coal-in-indonesia-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/loopholes-allow-multilateral-development-banks-to-fund-captive-coal-in-indonesia-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2024 12:22:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/16121230/Captive-coal-close-to-public-school-in-IMIP-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284407</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Coal, Electric Cars, Energy, Environment, Finance, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Publicly funded multilateral development banks (MDBs) like the World Bank might finance a wave of “captive” coal expansion in climate-vulnerable countries vulnerable to climate change, which will speed up global warming. A new report reveals that the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has indirectly financed at least one [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Publicly funded multilateral development banks (MDBs) like the World Bank might finance a wave of “captive” coal expansion in climate-vulnerable countries vulnerable to climate change, which will speed up global warming. A new report reveals that the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has indirectly financed at least one captive coal project on Indonesia’s Obi Island via its financial intermediary client, Hana Bank Indonesia. The IFC originally invested $5 million in 2007 to support Hana Bank Korea in establishing an Indonesian subsidiary. Then, in 2019, the IFC invested a further $15.36 million to increase its shareholding in Hana Bank Indonesia. In April 2022, Hana Bank Indonesia, together with other banks such as DBS Singapore and UOB Singapore, provided a total of $530 million in term loans to PT Halmahera Jaya Feronikel (HJF), a subsidiary of nickel producer Harita Nickel. This loan was used to pay off the company’s debts and to build the first phase of HJF’s nickel smelter on Obi Island, which will be powered by six captive coal units of 150 MW each. This means that the IFC indirectly financed the smelter and the captive coal units, according to the report, recently published by Recourse, Trend Asia and Inclusive Development International. Nickel, whose processing in Indonesia is often powered by captive coal, is a key element in the batteries that power EVs and energy storage systems. Captive coal also often powers other metals such as steel and aluminum, which are key resources&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/loopholes-allow-multilateral-development-banks-to-fund-captive-coal-in-indonesia-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/loopholes-allow-multilateral-development-banks-to-fund-captive-coal-in-indonesia-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>BASF, Eramet drop $2.6b Indonesian nickel project that threatens isolated tribe</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/basf-eramet-drop-2-6b-indonesian-nickel-project-that-threatens-isolated-tribe/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/basf-eramet-drop-2-6b-indonesian-nickel-project-that-threatens-isolated-tribe/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2024 14:14:04 +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/20/2024/07/01135726/Aktivitas-Pertambangan-Lumpuh-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283950</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Electric Cars, Energy, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Natural Resources, and Uncontacted Tribes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — German chemical giant BASF and French miner Eramet have pulled out of a multibillion-dollar “green energy” project in Indonesia because of its impact on one of the last Indigenous tribes on Earth living in voluntary isolation. In an announcement on June 24, both companies said they had scrapped plans to invest up to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — German chemical giant BASF and French miner Eramet have pulled out of a multibillion-dollar “green energy” project in Indonesia because of its impact on one of the last Indigenous tribes on Earth living in voluntary isolation. In an announcement on June 24, both companies said they had scrapped plans to invest up to $2.6 billion in the project on the island of Halmahera in Indonesia’s eastern province of North Maluku. The Sonic Bay project would have seen the construction of a refinery producing about 67,000 metric tons of nickel and 7,500 metric tons of cobalt a year. These metals, crucial ingredients in electric vehicle batteries, would have come from the nearby Weda Bay Nickel mine, the world’s largest nickel mine, in which Eramet holds a minority stake. In its announcement, BASF said it would “stop all ongoing evaluation and negotiation activities for the project in Weda Bay.” The decision came after a sustained campaign by activists voicing concerns that the Sonic Bay refinery, which is essentially an extension of the Weda Bay Nickel project, would increase the risk of Indigenous peoples in the area losing their lands. Weda Bay Nickel’s concession overlaps with rainforest that’s home to hundreds of members of the Forest Tobelo people, according to U.K.-based Indigenous rights NGO Survival International, which has lobbied both BASF and the German authorities to drop out of the project. Eramet&#8217;s Weda Bay Nickel mine on the territory of the uncontacted Forest Tobelo people in Halmahera, Indonesia. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/basf-eramet-drop-2-6b-indonesian-nickel-project-that-threatens-isolated-tribe/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/basf-eramet-drop-2-6b-indonesian-nickel-project-that-threatens-isolated-tribe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283950</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2024 22:31:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ BelseranEdison Waas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/03184510/Farid-Samalehu-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280596</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Disasters, Environment, Erosion, Governance, Industry, Islands, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Oceans, public lands, and Sea Levels]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Samadin Samalehu paced up and down the beach in Haya village this past January, gathering human remains into a plastic bag. A heavy rain had begun and the onshore breeze gathered strength as morning broke and Samadin collected femur bones, ribs and a skull. He darted into the shore break to pick up a bone before it was snatched by the tide here in Indonesia’s Maluku province. “There are probably around 20 graves that have been damaged,” Samadin, a caretaker at the Tutuni public cemetery, told Mongabay Indonesia. “Some are also missing.” Like many seaside communities in the world’s largest archipelagic country, Haya village faces an uncertain future owing to erosion of its coastline. In Haya, the combined forces of currents, tide, wind and impact from storm surges have pushed back the coastline here by about 20 meters (66 feet). A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 found that approximately 28,000 square kilometers (11,000 square miles) of land had been eroded by coastal abrasion globally, an area 10 times the size of Hong Kong. Further research in the same journal in 2020 projected that losses from extreme coastal flooding would soon accelerate, and that sea level rises would “radically redefine the coastline of the 21st century.” However, residents of Haya village worry that the gradual forces causing their coastline to crumble have been stimulated by new demand for sand. The South Seram highway has collapsed due to abrasion and sea waves. Image by Edison&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/maluku-bone-collector-unearths-troubling-consequence-of-coastal-abrasion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280596</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku farmer turns guardian of eastern Indonesia’s threatened parrots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/maluku-farmer-turns-guardian-of-eastern-indonesias-threatened-parrots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/maluku-farmer-turns-guardian-of-eastern-indonesias-threatened-parrots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2024 15:06:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mahmud Ichi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/23101341/Lorius_garrulus_-captive-8a_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279133</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Most days, Jamal Adam watches over the 10 aviaries in Ake Tajawe Lolobata National Park with veterinarians and support staff. But during the holidays this past December, the 60-year-old farmer was in charge of the ambitious conservation work. “We rely on instinct and a love of birds,” Jamal told Mongabay Indonesia, as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HALMAHERA, Indonesia — Most days, Jamal Adam watches over the 10 aviaries in Ake Tajawe Lolobata National Park with veterinarians and support staff. But during the holidays this past December, the 60-year-old farmer was in charge of the ambitious conservation work. “We rely on instinct and a love of birds,” Jamal told Mongabay Indonesia, as birdsong whistled in the background. “We’ve been nursing and looking after these birds for several years.” Five years ago, Jamal was earning a living as a local farmer and casual laborer here on the west of the Halmahera mainland, not far from a clutch of volcanic islands rising out of the Maluku Sea in eastern Indonesia. At first, he had only a cursory understanding about birds. But an instinctive love for wildlife prompted him to sign up as a voluntary forest ranger in his spare time. He then gave environmental talks in schools and worked as a guide in the national park. Jamal feeds two chattering lories at the rehabilitation center. Image courtesy of Jamal Adam. In 2019, when local authorities opened eastern Indonesia’s largest sanctuary for parrots and other birds near Jamal’s home, they recruited Jamal to join the project. Since then, Jamal has worked on a team of five to rehabilitate and release birds seized from the pet trade, affected by habitat loss, or injured by predators. The sanctuary has released more than 100 parrots since it opened five years ago. Parrots are among the world’s most at-risk order of birds, with almost&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/maluku-farmer-turns-guardian-of-eastern-indonesias-threatened-parrots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/maluku-farmer-turns-guardian-of-eastern-indonesias-threatened-parrots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279133</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian nickel project harms environment and human rights, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indonesian-nickel-project-harms-environment-and-human-rights-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indonesian-nickel-project-harms-environment-and-human-rights-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2024 14:28:52 +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/20/2024/02/26141014/nickelmainphoto-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279187</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coal, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Electric Cars, Energy, Environment, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Politics, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A massive nickel mining and processing project on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has cleared thousands of hectares of forest, forcefully displaced local people, and polluted the rivers and sea, devastating the lives of many Indigenous people in the process, a new report says. Climate Rights International (CRI), a U.S.-based nonprofit, interviewed 45 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A massive nickel mining and processing project on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has cleared thousands of hectares of forest, forcefully displaced local people, and polluted the rivers and sea, devastating the lives of many Indigenous people in the process, a new report says. Climate Rights International (CRI), a U.S.-based nonprofit, interviewed 45 people living near the mining and smelting operations at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) for the report. Some, like Maklon Lobe, an Indigenous Sawai farmer, complained of their rights being violated from the very beginning, during the land acquisition process. Others told CRI they weren’t informed about the purpose of land acquisition or given any details of the project by any of the mining or smelting companies now operating in the park. This violates legal requirements that companies acquire the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities prior to the approval of any project, according to CRI researcher Krista Shennum. “Locals say their lands have been grabbed. They’re unable to negotiate land price, and they’re intimidated by police to sell their lands,” she said at the launch of the report in Jakarta on January 17, 2024. Land acquisition was just one of the problem areas reported by locals in CRI’s report. They also complained of the deforestation of their traditional hunting grounds, the pollution of the rivers on which they depend for water, and the discharge of hot water directly into the sea, killing the fish they eat. Map of Indonesia.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indonesian-nickel-project-harms-environment-and-human-rights-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279187</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mangrove crab sustainability is vital for fishers in Indonesia&#8217;s Aru Islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/mangrove-crab-sustainability-is-vital-for-fishers-in-indonesias-aru-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/mangrove-crab-sustainability-is-vital-for-fishers-in-indonesias-aru-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2024 01:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ridzki R. Sigit]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/30093727/Kepiting-dari-Kepulauan-Aru-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278201</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Islands, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Rivers, Tropical Forests, and Tropics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL ARU, Indonesia — One afternoon last November, Natanel Ginobal, 67, drove his motorboat to check the mud crabs caught by the traps he had installed earlier the day. He had to move quickly before the tide started receding and made it much more difficult for him to harvest his catch of the day. Natanel [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL ARU, Indonesia — One afternoon last November, Natanel Ginobal, 67, drove his motorboat to check the mud crabs caught by the traps he had installed earlier the day. He had to move quickly before the tide started receding and made it much more difficult for him to harvest his catch of the day. Natanel had set 15 traps between the roots of mangrove plants (Rhizophora) in a narrow river inlet that required him to switch from the motorboat and use a smaller boat to maneuver through the mangrove gaps. This is a common practice among the many mud crab fishers, like Natanel, in Lorang village of Aru Islands district in Maluku province. The crab traps were placed between 30 and 50 centimeters (12 and 20 inches) below the water surface, specifically designed to lure the creature with a small fish and close shut once it took the bait. After checking the traps one by one, Natanel found seven of them containing crabs. “The karaka [crab] catch is good. I estimate the total price at over 1 million rupiah [$63],&#8221; he told Mongabay-Indonesia with a big smile across his face. A recent rapid survey in Lorang village by Indonesian researchers, however, has indicated signs of depletion in the abundance of mud crabs, sparking new concerns among local fishers who depend on the marine creature for their livelihoods. Natanel, a mud crab fisher from Indonesia&#8217;s Aru Islands, on his wooden boat, maneuvers through the thick riverine mangrove forest. Image by Ridzki&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/mangrove-crab-sustainability-is-vital-for-fishers-in-indonesias-aru-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278201</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku farmers sweat El Niño drought as Indonesia rice prices surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2024 07:19:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaya Barends]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25064658/Marmi-a-rice-farmer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rice, Tropical Forests, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” Tamami told Mongabay Indonesia in Savana Jaya village. “The reservoir is empty because of the long dry season.” In a normal year, rice farmers begin planting the third and final rice crop of the year in October and November. But the emergence of the El Niño climate pattern made 2023 the hottest year on record, and extended Indonesia’s main dry season beyond October. Sutiah, a farmer from Waitele village, said planting on her 4 hectares (10 acres) of rice fields had failed owing to the extreme weather and water scarcity. The write-off will cost her family tens of millions of rupiah, she said. “What’s going on with this weather?” she asked. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, documented extremely low levels of rainfall in much of eastern Indonesia during the second half of 2023, including on the island where Sutiah and Tamami grow rice. From August to October, monthly rainfall in the Maluku region was consistently recorded in the low range of 0-100 millimeters (0-4 inches). Yeli Sarvina, a climate researcher at Indonesia’s national research agency, BRIN, said drought had decimated rice harvests across Buru Island. A farmer in Waeapo, Buru, leveling the grain from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Indonesia’s Kei islanders, a marine protected area makes perfect sense</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-kei-sustainable-fishing-coastal-communities-marine-protected-area-mpa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-kei-sustainable-fishing-coastal-communities-marine-protected-area-mpa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2023 15:44:49 +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/20/2023/10/04091628/246068355_4591237607563579_5774436208073674209_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273852</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Communities on an island in eastern Indonesia increasingly support the idea of a marine protected area in an effort to reverse declining fish stocks in their waters. A new survey from Indonesia’s Kei Islands in Maluku province found that communities there approve of an MPA covering the southern part of their coast. They [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Communities on an island in eastern Indonesia increasingly support the idea of a marine protected area in an effort to reverse declining fish stocks in their waters. A new survey from Indonesia’s Kei Islands in Maluku province found that communities there approve of an MPA covering the southern part of their coast. They said it would decrease the impacts of destructive fishing and climate change that they’ve experienced in recent years, according to the study by a group of Indonesian researchers published Sept. 16 in the journal Marine Policy. “When I was between elementary and middle school, I could just fish right in front of my house as it’s facing the beach. Nowadays, no more fish are around very close, so you really have to go out far,” study lead author Wellem Anselmus Teniwut, a researcher at Tual State Fisheries Polytechnic, told Mongabay. The Kei Islands in Maluku province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Wellem Anselmus Teniwut et al. (2023). A map of the location of the proposed marine protected area in the Kei Islands. Image courtesy of Wellem Anselmus Teniwut et al. (2023). The Kei Islands are peppered across 1,438 square kilometers (555 square miles) of the western Pacific, and are blessed with some of the richest fishing grounds in Indonesia’s extensive waters. The tiny archipelago, part of the legendary Spice Islands that drew waves of European sailors and traders, is also at the center of the Pacific Coral Triangle, home to the highest density of marine biodiversity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-kei-sustainable-fishing-coastal-communities-marine-protected-area-mpa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-kei-sustainable-fishing-coastal-communities-marine-protected-area-mpa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273852</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia permit payoff raises alarm about palm oil industry corruption</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2023 04:08:47 +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/20/2023/01/10142952/20221130_122241-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272453</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Corruption, Environment, Environmental Law, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, and Transparency]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A million-dollar bribery case in Indonesia’s Riau province, the country’s palm oil heartland, has prompted calls for a wider investigation into corruption between business players and the local officials tasked with policing their operations. Prosecutors at a court in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital, are seeking an 11.5-year sentence for Muhammad Syahrir, the former [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A million-dollar bribery case in Indonesia’s Riau province, the country’s palm oil heartland, has prompted calls for a wider investigation into corruption between business players and the local officials tasked with policing their operations. Prosecutors at a court in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital, are seeking an 11.5-year sentence for Muhammad Syahrir, the former head of the Riau land agency, for allegedly taking bribes in exchange for renewing oil palm plantation permits. In the case at the center of the trial, they allege Syahrir solicited the equivalent of $228,000 in payments from PT Adimulia Agrolestari ahead of the company’s right-to-cultivate permit, known as an HGU, expiring in 2024. In all, Syahrir is alleged to have taken bribes, solicited and unsolicited, amounting to 20.9 billion rupiah ($1.36 million) from several palm oil companies during his tenures in Riau and before that at the North Maluku provincial land office. The case is almost certainly not an isolated incident, with bribery widely perceived as part of the cost of doing business in Indonesia, said Raynaldo Sembiring, executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL). “The corrupt practice [of bribes for permits] is only just starting to be revealed in Syahrir’s case,” he said. “This case involves [the land agencies in] Riau and North Maluku. And there’s a likelihood that it’s also happening in other regions.” He added, “So this is only the tip of the iceberg.” Hariadi Kartodihardjo, a lecturer in forestry policy at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB),&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272453</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian fishers not biting at new policy perceived as undermining them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-quota-based-fisheries-policy-fishing-artisanal-commercial-stocks-sustainable/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-quota-based-fisheries-policy-fishing-artisanal-commercial-stocks-sustainable/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Aug 2023 16:00:53 +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/20/2022/01/11075450/WhatsApp-Image-2021-12-30-at-6.16.59-PM-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272189</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Regulations, Research, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A quota-based fisheries management system that the Indonesian government introduced earlier this year has already run up against opposition for undermining the role of local authorities and fishing communities, a new study shows. The study, published in the journal Ocean &#38; Coastal Management, focuses on fisheries management area (FMA) 718, which covers much [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A quota-based fisheries management system that the Indonesian government introduced earlier this year has already run up against opposition for undermining the role of local authorities and fishing communities, a new study shows. The study, published in the journal Ocean &amp; Coastal Management, focuses on fisheries management area (FMA) 718, which covers much of the southeastern waters of the country, to review the challenges and potential of the new policy. The researchers, from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), conducted focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with local authorities, fishing communities and the private sector in Merauke and the Aru Islands. They found that these local stakeholders were pessimistic about the expected benefits from the new policy as their roles would be reduced. “The underlying perception is that QBFM policy, as it stands, is driven solely by the ambition to enhance national economic and political stability,” they wrote. “This approach observes the interests of the primary ecosystem health, neglects community-based management, and worsens the potential for local anglers to catch fish.” The lack of control and management by the local community would likely lead to the new policy only benefiting large-scale investors and commercial fishers, which are perceived to have relatively high negative impacts on the marine environment, the paper adds. Indonesia’s various fisheries management areas, or FMAs. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The quota-based fisheries management policy was introduced in March this year, aimed at maximizing state revenue from the fisheries&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-quota-based-fisheries-policy-fishing-artisanal-commercial-stocks-sustainable/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-quota-based-fisheries-policy-fishing-artisanal-commercial-stocks-sustainable/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272189</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On Indonesia’s Seram Island, a massive oil find lies beneath sacred land</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/on-indonesias-seram-island-a-massive-oil-find-lies-beneath-sacred-land/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/on-indonesias-seram-island-a-massive-oil-find-lies-beneath-sacred-land/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jul 2023 17:23:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ BelseranMartha Dianti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/25171806/Aktivitas-Lelaki-Suku-Bati-di-Hutan-4-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271378</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Culture, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Logging, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Zainudin Kelsaba traversed across the eastern Seram highland and stopped at an ancient outcrop grown over by trees and scrub. “The mountain is our home,” Zainudin told Mongabay Indonesia. “The trees and rocks are part of our life.” Uncertainty and fear have also become part of life for the Bati Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SERAM ISLAND, Indonesia — Zainudin Kelsaba traversed across the eastern Seram highland and stopped at an ancient outcrop grown over by trees and scrub. “The mountain is our home,” Zainudin told Mongabay Indonesia. “The trees and rocks are part of our life.” Uncertainty and fear have also become part of life for the Bati Indigenous people since prospectors began work in the remote landscape, hoping to unearth one of Indonesia’s largest untapped stores of hydrocarbons. Seram lies 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the Australian city of Darwin and is the largest island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku province. The island emerged out of the sea with the Manusela Formation, following a clash of multiple tectonic plates during the Miocene period more than 5 million years ago. The unique complexity of Seram’s geology, which extends far back to the Jurassic Period, likely contains a vast haul of oil and gas that has remained almost entirely untouched — until now. Last year, PT Balam Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australia’s Lion Energy, conducted seismic surveys that have spurred optimism that Seram’s hydrocarbons may be viable. This month, the company announced “highly promising” results from its belowground study. “Given the extremely large size of the prospects confirmed by the new seismic, we are confident we have a world-class prospect portfolio,” Lion executive chairman Tom Soulsby said on July 6 in an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Not everyone is buoyed by the news. Members of the Bati Indigenous community interviewed by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/on-indonesias-seram-island-a-massive-oil-find-lies-beneath-sacred-land/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/on-indonesias-seram-island-a-massive-oil-find-lies-beneath-sacred-land/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271378</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seaweed farmers in eastern Indonesia struggle in a changing climate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/seaweed-farmers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-in-a-changing-climate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/seaweed-farmers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-in-a-changing-climate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2023 12:02:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaya Barends]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/21092051/FOTO-3-8-scaled-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271227</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, Solutions, Sustainability, Waste, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WEST SERAM, Indonesia — It’s a sunny day off the coast of Piru village on the island district of West Seram, in Indonesia’s Maluku province. La Samiun and his wife are out on their wooden boat, along with a cargo of three sacks of seaweed seedlings. Over the course of the day, they’ll attach the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WEST SERAM, Indonesia — It’s a sunny day off the coast of Piru village on the island district of West Seram, in Indonesia’s Maluku province. La Samiun and his wife are out on their wooden boat, along with a cargo of three sacks of seaweed seedlings. Over the course of the day, they’ll attach the seaweed to a single nylon rope strung between two piles, then lower the line underwater where the seaweed will grow until it’s ready for harvest. La Samiun says he hopes it takes the usual 45 days or so until he can harvest the seaweed. But he’s well aware, like many other seaweed farmers in this region, that he may have to harvest it sooner, when it hasn’t grown quite as big as he’d like — and thus fetch a lower price than he’d hoped for — because of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. “The east monsoon wind was supposed to have started in April. In reality, it’s still the west monsoon wind,” La Samiun tells Mongabay Indonesia. He wonders aloud whether climate change is the cause for the shifting monsoon seasons. La Samiun and his wife preparing to plant seaweed seedlings at their aquafarm. Image by Jaya Barends/Mongabay Indonesia. For Indonesian seaweed farmers like La Samiun, both the east and west monsoon winds and their predictability play a huge role in the planting strategy and growth of Eucheuma cottonii seaweed, a commercially valuable species whose extract is used in the food and cosmetics industries as a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/seaweed-farmers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-in-a-changing-climate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/seaweed-farmers-in-eastern-indonesia-struggle-in-a-changing-climate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia’s Aru Islands, a popular eco-defender climbs the political ladder</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/in-indonesias-aru-islands-a-popular-eco-defender-climbs-the-political-ladder/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/in-indonesias-aru-islands-a-popular-eco-defender-climbs-the-political-ladder/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2023 20:54:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christ Belseran]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/21162704/Mika-Ganobal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Deforestation, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Governance, Illegal Logging, Islands, Marine Conservation, Plantations, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARU ISLANDS, Indonesia — More than 10 years have passed since a young official in Indonesia’s eastern Aru Islands saved his archipelago from becoming a monoculture plantation. Today, Mika Ganobal is drawing on his campaigning background as he governs part of the remote island chain he helped preserve a decade ago. “Right now Mika is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARU ISLANDS, Indonesia — More than 10 years have passed since a young official in Indonesia’s eastern Aru Islands saved his archipelago from becoming a monoculture plantation. Today, Mika Ganobal is drawing on his campaigning background as he governs part of the remote island chain he helped preserve a decade ago. “Right now Mika is the top person to be able to eliminate illegal logging,” said Alo Tabela, head of the Aru Islands’ trade and industry office. The Aru archipelago comprises almost 100 small islands in the east of Indonesia. The island chain, around the size of Puerto Rico, was part of the Australian landmass until separation occurred 8,000 years ago owing to rising sea levels. Today, the islands are home to around 100,000 people, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Australia’s Northern Territory. Mika was in his mid-30s in 2013 when prospectors from a shadowy company called the Menara Group (menara means “tower” in Indonesian) arrived with the intention of razing the Aru Islands for a massive sugarcane plantation. In the late 2000s, the district leader of the Aru Islands, a retired army colonel named Theddy Tengko, signed over most of its land area to be converted to a sugar plantation. Prior to Theddy authorizing the vast plantation, prosecutors had charged him with corruption, alleging embezzlement of almost $5 million from the islands’ annual budget. Theddy was convicted on those charges in 2012, although his legal team managed to keep him out of prison until he was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/in-indonesias-aru-islands-a-popular-eco-defender-climbs-the-political-ladder/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia to expand ‘smart fisheries’ program aimed at empowering communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/indonesia-smart-fisheries-village-traditional-small-artisanal-community-empowerment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/indonesia-smart-fisheries-village-traditional-small-artisanal-community-empowerment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2023 13:38:55 +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/20/2023/06/22120912/WhatsApp-Image-2023-06-17-at-04.44.53-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270119</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Maluku, Southeast Asia, Sulawesi, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Green, Illegal Fishing, Lakes, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Restoration, Saltwater Fish, Sustainability, Trade, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Small-scale and traditional fishers make the greatest contribution to Indonesia’s total fish production, driving the country’s rise as one of the world’s top fishing nations. In an effort to strengthen this base, the government is expanding a modernization program that should help fishers boost their productivity, achieve sustainability standards, and improve their overall [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Small-scale and traditional fishers make the greatest contribution to Indonesia’s total fish production, driving the country’s rise as one of the world’s top fishing nations. In an effort to strengthen this base, the government is expanding a modernization program that should help fishers boost their productivity, achieve sustainability standards, and improve their overall socioeconomic welfare. The so-called smart fisheries village (SFV) program was initially introduced in 22 fishing communities, according to the Indonesian fisheries ministry. Outside its main fishery focus, the expanded program will also integrate aspects of tourism, banking, telecommunications and agriculture to support the development of the participating communities. Indonesia harvested 84.4 million metric tons of seafood in 2018, making it one of the biggest marine capture producers in the world, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The fisheries sector employs about 12 million Indonesians, with most of the fleet today, about 650,000 vessels, operated by small-scale and traditional fishers. “The concept is not us giving help, but providing the leverage that these villages can use to develop and become intelligent or smart together to boost the village’s economy,” fisheries minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said in a statement. Officials and residents kick off the smart fisheries village program in a community in South Sumatra province. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. Most of the initial batch of smart fisheries villages are on the island of Java. Other areas are in South Sumatra and West Sumatra provinces, Sulawesi Island, and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/indonesia-smart-fisheries-village-traditional-small-artisanal-community-empowerment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/indonesia-smart-fisheries-village-traditional-small-artisanal-community-empowerment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270119</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More marine protected areas planned for Indonesia’s Maluku after 2022 spree</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/maluku-indonesia-marine-protected-areas-mpa-coral-fisheries-sustainability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/maluku-indonesia-marine-protected-areas-mpa-coral-fisheries-sustainability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2023 14:30:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurdin Tubaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/11163121/traditional-fishermen-Maluku-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264598</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia’s Maluku province say they will establish new marine protected areas this year, following from five created last year alone, as part of wider efforts to preserve natural resources while boosting the local economy. “In 2023, we are already targeting to designate a marine protected area in the [northern] waters [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia’s Maluku province say they will establish new marine protected areas this year, following from five created last year alone, as part of wider efforts to preserve natural resources while boosting the local economy. “In 2023, we are already targeting to designate a marine protected area in the [northern] waters around Buru district since the funding is already secured,” Erawan Asikin, head of the provincial fisheries department, told Mongabay Indonesia on Jan. 10. He added the Maluku government is also looking to designate the waters off southern Buru district as a conservation zone. Last year, Maluku designated a total of five MPAs around a group of islands in the eastern part of the province, namely Tanimbar, Damer, Babar, Romang, Mdona Hiera, Lakor, Moa, and Letti. The establishment of the new areas was supported by the conservation group WWF Indonesia. A map of Indonesia with the Maluku Islands in red. Image by TUBS via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Traditional fishermen in small boats catching fish in the waters around Maluku. Image by Melianus Usmany via Shutterstock. These new and upcoming MPAs in Maluku are part of Indonesia’s target to conserve 10% of its territorial resources by the end of this decade. The country currently has 284,000 square kilometers (110,000 square miles) of marine area under protection, roughly two-thirds of the way toward the goal. The Indonesian marine conservation network includes national parks, nature parks, wildlife reserves, and regional protected areas. Erawan said the planned MPA&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/maluku-indonesia-marine-protected-areas-mpa-coral-fisheries-sustainability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/maluku-indonesia-marine-protected-areas-mpa-coral-fisheries-sustainability/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264598</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia cancels fisheries infrastructure projects in Maluku region amid lack of funds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indonesia-cancels-fisheries-infrastructure-projects-in-maluku-region-amid-lack-of-funds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indonesia-cancels-fisheries-infrastructure-projects-in-maluku-region-amid-lack-of-funds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2022 16:56:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurdin Tubaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/11163121/traditional-fishermen-Maluku-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255726</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Development, Economics, Environment, Finance, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Funding, Governance, Infrastructure, Oceans, Politics, Ports, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April, Indonesia’s fisheries minister, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, announced there would be no funding from the 2022 national budget to develop the National Fish Bank in Maluku province, or a new port in Ambon, the provincial capital. The two national infrastructure projects had caused a buzz in the eastern Indonesian province when President Joko Widodo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April, Indonesia’s fisheries minister, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, announced there would be no funding from the 2022 national budget to develop the National Fish Bank in Maluku province, or a new port in Ambon, the provincial capital. The two national infrastructure projects had caused a buzz in the eastern Indonesian province when President Joko Widodo announced them during a visit there in March 2021. The National Fish Bank would have been an integrated fisheries center or port with international and domestic container terminals, a liquefied natural gas terminal and a power plant with a dedicated kilometer-long pier, as well as fish auction and processing buildings. This is the second time in 10 years ​​that the central government has promised and scuttled the National Fish Bank project. The first time the project was proposed was under the administration of Widodo’s predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. This time, the outcry from the province two time zones away from the nation’s capital was shrill. “It is unfair to say that there is no money,” Saadiah Uluputty, a member of parliament representing Maluku, said in a video she sent to Mongabay. “There cannot be an excuse. This [project] is related to the president’s promises during a trip to Maluku. To suddenly say that there is no money is a public lie.” Another MP from Maluku, Abdullah Tuasikal, said he was upset at Jakarta saying the National Fish Bank would be replaced by a quota and size-based catch fishery policy in the waters around Maluku. “How&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/indonesia-cancels-fisheries-infrastructure-projects-in-maluku-region-amid-lack-of-funds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255726</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Indonesia, a coastal town rejects ‘metropolitan’ model for mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-indonesia-a-coastal-town-rejects-metropolitan-model-for-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-indonesia-a-coastal-town-rejects-metropolitan-model-for-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2021 12:28:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mahmud Ichi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/11113250/Ternate-North-Maluku-Indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249347</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, North Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Cities, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Development, Ecotourism, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mangroves, Natural Resources, Politics, Sustainable Development, Tourism, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TERNATE, Indonesia — At the inauguration of the Guraping Mangrove Tourism Forest last month in Sofifi, a sleepy coastal town and capital of one of Indonesia’s remotest provinces, North Maluku Governor Abdul Gani Kasuba took a playful jab at the nation’s president. “Pak Jokowi was surprised that the province of North Maluku would dare to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TERNATE, Indonesia — At the inauguration of the Guraping Mangrove Tourism Forest last month in Sofifi, a sleepy coastal town and capital of one of Indonesia’s remotest provinces, North Maluku Governor Abdul Gani Kasuba took a playful jab at the nation’s president. “Pak Jokowi was surprised that the province of North Maluku would dare to move its capital to a village in the middle of the forest,” the governor said, referring to President Joko Widodo by his nickname. “Now, that forest is where you all stand, beneath the trees.&#8221; In 2010, North Maluku, a province of around 1 million people in eastern Indonesia, moved its capital from the tiny volcanic island of Ternate to Sofifi. While Sofifi’s population of 18,000 is only around a tenth the size of Ternate’s, it sits on the vastly larger island of Halmahera, giving it more room to grow. Some local officials have said they want Sofifi to become a “metropolitan city” — a vision the president scorned during a 2015 visit to the town. “Don’t allow this city to become metropolitan, it will only become like Jakarta,” Widodo said at a dialogue event, referring to the nation&#8217;s congested capital, earning cheers from the audience. Cities like Sofifi, he said, should be developed based on their “unique heritage,” not foreign models. But while Widodo’s separate, signature plan to move Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to a location on the island of Borneo is backed by tens of billions of dollars, planners in North Maluku have far&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-indonesia-a-coastal-town-rejects-metropolitan-model-for-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/in-indonesia-a-coastal-town-rejects-metropolitan-model-for-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249347</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stranded dugong in Indonesia reportedly cut up for traditional medicine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/stranded-dugong-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-for-traditional-medicine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/stranded-dugong-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-for-traditional-medicine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2021 14:17:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurdin Tubaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/20092306/dugong-alor2-cWWF-Indonesia-Tutus-Wijanarko-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246185</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dugong, Endangered Species, Environment, Fisheries, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Conservation officials in Indonesia have deplored the cutting up of a dugong that had died in a stranding incident this week, with its body parts reportedly destined for use in traditional medicine. Two dugongs (Dugong dugon) beached on the morning of Aug. 18 on Kelang Island, in the eastern province of Maluku. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Conservation officials in Indonesia have deplored the cutting up of a dugong that had died in a stranding incident this week, with its body parts reportedly destined for use in traditional medicine. Two dugongs (Dugong dugon) beached on the morning of Aug. 18 on Kelang Island, in the eastern province of Maluku. One of them managed to return to sea, but the other didn’t, despite the efforts of locals to push it back out into the water. The animal reportedly died with multiple wounds. “There were some wounds all over its body: a couple on its head and another on its leg,” Mohammad Aswan, a resident who witnessed the incident, told Mongabay Indonesia. “There wasn’t any official team deployed to identify the dugong, maybe because of the [COVID-19] pandemic.” The body of the stranded dugong in Indonesia’s Maluku province. Image by Mongabay Indonesia. According to reports gathered by Mongabay Indonesia, the locals cut up the dugong after it had died and distributed the parts among themselves for use in traditional medicine. The rest of the animal’s carcass was buried near the stranding site. The dugong is a protected species under Indonesian law, and possession of its body parts, even after a natural death, is a crime punishable by up to five years in jail and 100 million rupiah ($6,900) in fines.Indonesian marine conservation authorities have deplored cutting up the stranded dugong for consumption by locals as it may be contaminated by bacteria that can transmit to humans&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/stranded-dugong-in-indonesia-reportedly-cut-up-for-traditional-medicine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246185</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Camera trap cameo for Buru Island babirusa last seen 26 years ago</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/camera-trap-cameo-for-buru-island-babirusa-last-seen-26-years-ago/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/camera-trap-cameo-for-buru-island-babirusa-last-seen-26-years-ago/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2021 15:11:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christopel Paino]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/27150416/babirusa1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245259</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GORONTALO, Indonesia — Camera traps have confirmed the presence of babirusa on Indonesia’s Buru Island for the first time in 26 years, the country’s environment ministry announced earlier this month. The animal, whose name means “pig-deer” in Indonesian, is endemic to the archipelago country, meaning it is found in the wild nowhere else in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GORONTALO, Indonesia — Camera traps have confirmed the presence of babirusa on Indonesia’s Buru Island for the first time in 26 years, the country’s environment ministry announced earlier this month. The animal, whose name means “pig-deer” in Indonesian, is endemic to the archipelago country, meaning it is found in the wild nowhere else in the world. The study involved 10 camera traps, nine of which photographed babirusa in the Masbait Nature Reserve between April and June this year, the ministry said. The project was supported by a U.N. Development Programme international aid project designed to support the ministry’s conservation efforts, especially on the island of Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia. While babirusa (Babyrousa spp.) are usually associated with Sulawesi, one of Indonesia’s biggest islands, the animals also inhabit several islands in Maluku province farther east. The island of Buru in Indonesia. Image by Urmas/Wikimedia Commons. The new images are the first official confirmation of babirusa in Buru since 1995, though locals had reported encountering the tusked creature in the island’s upland forests, according to the ministry. According to local lore, a babirusa will appear to guide a person lost in the forest to safety. The Maluku provincial conservation agency, which operates under the environment ministry’s authority, made some effort to confirm the presence of babirusa in Buru from 2011 to 2013, but never succeeded. Then, in 2019, an agency team discovered the skull and bones of a babirusa, prompting interest in another attempt. A babirusa sleeps beside a creek in Indonesia.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/camera-trap-cameo-for-buru-island-babirusa-last-seen-26-years-ago/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245259</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Defining ‘development’ in the Aru Islands: Q&#038;A with anthropologist Chris Chancellor</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/defining-development-in-the-aru-islands-qa-with-anthropologist-chris-chancellor/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/defining-development-in-the-aru-islands-qa-with-anthropologist-chris-chancellor/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2020 00:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[The Gecko Project and Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/07001035/NG_2945-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228623</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Community Development, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forestry, Forests, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Plantations, Politics, Rainforests, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article was co-published with The Gecko Project. Images by Nanang Sujana. When the people of Aru discovered that most of the land in their islands was to be converted to a giant sugar plantation, it presented them with a dilemma familiar to rural people across Indonesia. On the one hand, they desired the investment, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article was co-published with The Gecko Project. Images by Nanang Sujana. When the people of Aru discovered that most of the land in their islands was to be converted to a giant sugar plantation, it presented them with a dilemma familiar to rural people across Indonesia. On the one hand, they desired the investment, infrastructure and jobs that such a project might bring. On the other, they feared losing the farmland and forests that provided them with food and clean water. In the end, based on what they had seen happen in other places targeted by agribusiness firms, they decided the trade-off would not be worth it. There was a certainty they would lose what they had, but a fear that the other side of the bargain would not be delivered. They would end up without their land, but also without the lucrative jobs, health care and education that the company, the Menara Group, had promised. The Aruese organized against the project, mounting one of the most successful grassroots campaigns in modern Indonesian history. Working with more experienced activists in Ambon, the provincial capital, the Aruese forced the central government in Jakarta to cancel the project, though today they are wary of new threats to their land. Located in eastern Indonesia, Aru was once part of a giant landmass that also encompassed Australia and New Guinea. Their decision to oppose the project did not negate a deep yearning for “development,” according to anthropologist Chris Chancellor, who traveled around the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/defining-development-in-the-aru-islands-qa-with-anthropologist-chris-chancellor/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228623</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plantation director in dispute with indigenous community is charged with illegal logging</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/plantation-director-in-dispute-with-indigenous-community-is-charged-with-illegal-logging/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/plantation-director-in-dispute-with-indigenous-community-is-charged-with-illegal-logging/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2020 03:14:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurdin Tubaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/01030616/gakum-WhatsApp-Image-2020-03-21-at-21.17.184.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228468</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law Enforcement, Logging, Plantations, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry has charged a director of a plantation firm on the eastern Indonesian island of Seram with illegal logging in a dispute with an indigenous community. The dispute made headlines in February when 26 members of the Sabuai indigenous group were arrested following a confrontation over the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry has charged a director of a plantation firm on the eastern Indonesian island of Seram with illegal logging in a dispute with an indigenous community. The dispute made headlines in February when 26 members of the Sabuai indigenous group were arrested following a confrontation over the logging activities of the company, CV Sumber Berkat Makmur (SBM). Two community members, Stefanus Ahwalam and Khaleb Yamarua, were subsequently charged by the police in East Seram district with vandalizing the firm’s property. The company director, Imanuel Darusman, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a 100 billion rupiah ($6.2 million) fine under a 2013 law against deforestation, according to Yosep Nong, the head of the environment ministry’s law enforcement bureau in the Maluku-Papua region. The bureau began looking at the case after it began to be reported widely in the local press, Yosep said. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the national ombudsman’s office also asked the bureau to look at the case. After that, investigators went undercover and sought licensing documents from the local government. The bureau has also interrogated the head of the company. Forestry ministry officials enter the field in Seram as part of their investigation in the case. Image courtesy of the ministry. “It started with the news of the arrest,” Yosep said. “Then we developed and traced it. After we arrived in Jakarta, Komnas HAM, the Ombudsman and the ministry asked us to explore&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/plantation-director-in-dispute-with-indigenous-community-is-charged-with-illegal-logging/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228468</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian police charge indigenous men in dispute over nutmeg plantation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/indonesian-police-charge-indigenous-men-in-dispute-over-nutmeg-plantation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/indonesian-police-charge-indigenous-men-in-dispute-over-nutmeg-plantation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2020 01:56:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurdin Tubaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/10074355/WhatsApp-Image-2020-02-19-at-22.35.34-768x450.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
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											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conservation, Controversial, Crime, Environment, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Plantations, Pulp And Paper, Religions, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Activists in Indonesia have called on police to drop criminal charges against two indigenous men who took part in a confrontation against a company accused of illegally logging their ancestral forest. Police in East Seram district, in the province of Maluku, have charged Stefanus Ahwalam and Khaleb Yamarua, of the Sabuai indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[AMBON, Indonesia — Activists in Indonesia have called on police to drop criminal charges against two indigenous men who took part in a confrontation against a company accused of illegally logging their ancestral forest. Police in East Seram district, in the province of Maluku, have charged Stefanus Ahwalam and Khaleb Yamarua, of the Sabuai indigenous community, with causing damage to the property of plantation company CV Sumber Berkat Makmur. They were among 26 indigenous people arrested by the police on Feb. 17 following a confrontation over the company’s logging activities in forested area deemed sacred by the community. The 24 others were released without charge on the complaint filed by the company, while Stefanus and Khaleb face a possible prosecution that could see them jailed for more than two and a half years. “This can’t be tolerated. This is an environmental crime that must be resolved,” Usman Bugis, director of the environmental group Nanaku Maluku, told local media. “After damaging our customary forest, [the company] is now persecuting our people.”. A map of the Maluku Islands province, in red, in eastern Indonesia. Image by TUBS via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). The case is the latest in a long list of disputes between forest communities and the companies laying claim to the land. As with most of those other cases, the authorities appear to have prioritized the company’s grievances over those of the community, according to the Sabuai. The community says it had previously consented to CV Sumber Berkat Makmur,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/indonesian-police-charge-indigenous-men-in-dispute-over-nutmeg-plantation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227760</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>10 takeaways from Indonesia&#8217;s grassroots #SaveAru success</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/10-takeaways-from-indonesias-grassroots-savearu-success/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/10-takeaways-from-indonesias-grassroots-savearu-success/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2019 11:26:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[The Gecko Project and Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/28110819/1_OW9oHWJJmo46RBNtPIQfDA-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223889</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Animals, Anonymous Companies, Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mangroves, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Traditional People, Transparency, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article was co-published with The Gecko Project.  This month Mongabay and The Gecko Project published “Saving Aru,” an article chronicling how the people of Indonesia’s Aru Islands thwarted a plan to turn much of their homeland into a vast sugarcane plantation. To halt the project, they had to overcome huge odds. In Indonesia, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article was co-published with The Gecko Project.  This month Mongabay and The Gecko Project published “Saving Aru,” an article chronicling how the people of Indonesia’s Aru Islands thwarted a plan to turn much of their homeland into a vast sugarcane plantation. To halt the project, they had to overcome huge odds. In Indonesia, a young democracy still recovering from three decades of military rule, companies usually succeed in their efforts to annex indigenous lands. The country has consequently become blanketed in concessions for plantations and mines that have provoked thousands of land conflicts. By the time the Aruese became aware of the sugarcane project, pushed through in secret by a politician who was later jailed for corruption, it was nearly too late to stop it. If it went ahead, it would replace Aru’s rainforests with a sea of sugarcane more than half the size of Puerto Rico, destroying the existing livelihoods and food supplies of tens of thousands of people. The Aru Islands lie between Australia and New Guinea, in Indonesia&#8217;s Maluku province. It would also send Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions, already among the world’s highest, skyrocketing. To save Aru, its people and their allies needed to force the government to cancel the project. Here are some of the keys to their success. 1. They built an ‘information chain’ to take stories from the interior of Aru to the world When the Aruese first learned of the project, they filled the streets of Dobo, Aru’s main town, in protest.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/10-takeaways-from-indonesias-grassroots-savearu-success/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223889</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Saving Aru: The epic battle to save the islands that inspired the theory of evolution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/saving-aru-the-epic-battle-to-save-the-islands-that-inspired-the-theory-of-evolution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/saving-aru-the-epic-battle-to-save-the-islands-that-inspired-the-theory-of-evolution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2019 09:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[The Gecko Project and Mongabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/08181844/MURUGIAH_Aru-Story__WEB_RGB_v9-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223185</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Animals, Anonymous Companies, Avoided Deforestation, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Community Development, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Development, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mangroves, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Traditional People, Transparency, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-18/0341, G-1801-55636, 2018-67916]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was co-published with The Gecko Project. Additional support was provided by Earthsight. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) I. The movement begins Late one rainy night in August 2013, a college student named Collin Leppuy arrived at the doorstep of Father Jacky Manuputty, a church minister in the coastal city of Ambon, Indonesia. He had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was co-published with The Gecko Project. Additional support was provided by Earthsight. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia.) I. The movement begins Late one rainy night in August 2013, a college student named Collin Leppuy arrived at the doorstep of Father Jacky Manuputty, a church minister in the coastal city of Ambon, Indonesia. He had come to ask for help; his homeland was under threat. Collin, then 23, had grown up in the Aru Islands, a heavily forested archipelago in the eastern margins of the world’s largest island nation. He was studying social welfare policy at a university in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province. Collin had recently organized rallies in the city against a corrupt politician who had governed Aru for nearly a decade. Convicted of siphoning off millions of dollars in state funds, the politician had absconded before law enforcers finally caught up with him. Collin had felt proud of the outcome, but this gave way to a renewed sense of urgency when he discovered what else the politician had done before his arrest. For decades, Aru had escaped the attention of the companies clearing Indonesia’s rainforests. But as the jungles of Java, Sumatra and Borneo dwindled, those in search of timber and agricultural land began to look east. Aru now lay in the sights of a company called the Menara Group. Collin had learned that before he was ousted from office, the politician had secretly approved a plan by Menara to plant sugarcane across nearly two-thirds of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/saving-aru-the-epic-battle-to-save-the-islands-that-inspired-the-theory-of-evolution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223185</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reef fish are faring fine in eastern Indonesia, study suggests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/reef-fish-are-faring-fine-in-eastern-indonesia-study-suggests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/reef-fish-are-faring-fine-in-eastern-indonesia-study-suggests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2019 06:01:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julia John]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/31055218/47613974642_1a0687562b_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220889</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Maluku, Pacific Ocean, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2018-67916]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The coral reefs of the lesser Sunda-Banda seascape in southeastern Indonesia host some of the planet’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, which remain relatively untouched even as overfishing ravages sea life to the country’s west and all over the world. New research suggests reef fish inhabiting understudied sections of the lesser Sunda-Banda are doing well overall [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The coral reefs of the lesser Sunda-Banda seascape in southeastern Indonesia host some of the planet’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, which remain relatively untouched even as overfishing ravages sea life to the country’s west and all over the world. New research suggests reef fish inhabiting understudied sections of the lesser Sunda-Banda are doing well overall in terms of species present and total numbers. “This study seems to be the first assessment ever of all species of consumable reef fishes for this area in the peer-reviewed scientific literature,” said Hawis Madduppa, head of the Marine Biodiversity and Biosystematics Lab at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), who was not affiliated with the study. “It’s not all bad news for Indonesian marine conservation. We still have hope for good, sustainable reef fisheries.” The paper, published in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, intends to inform reef management in the far-flung lesser Sunda-Banda seascape, which lies in the Coral Triangle, a vast region of the western Pacific that’s home to the highest diversity of corals and reef fishes anywhere on the planet. From 2014 to 2015, the researchers conducted three expeditions involving underwater surveys of reef fish communities in the Indonesian districts of East Flores, Alor and Southwest Maluku, where people catch a vast variety of fish to feed their families or sell at markets. The census covered 1,800 square kilometers (695 square miles) throughout 62 spots at a depth of 10 meters (33 feet). Divers collected and classified exploitable reef fish&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/reef-fish-are-faring-fine-in-eastern-indonesia-study-suggests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220889</doi>				</item>
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