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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?location=south-sumatra&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/south-sumatra/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2026 22:47:08 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>South Sumatra environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/south-sumatra/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Burning, burying and banning: Indonesia’s cities struggle to manage their garbage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2025 00:23:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/22070704/bamban-heru-zgd-5yJIsb8-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302916</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bali, Indonesia, Java, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Plastic, Pollution, Recycling, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where the surf pummels Pandansari Beach — a pristine stretch lined with casuarina trees about an hour’s drive south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. But [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Haryanto surveys a sandy patch the size of roughly half a soccer field. Overlooked by a 40-meter (130-foot) lighthouse, the clearing is a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean, where the surf pummels Pandansari Beach — a pristine stretch lined with casuarina trees about an hour’s drive south of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. But here, directly under the 66-year-old’s feet: 1,800 cubic meters of garbage — nearly 200 dump truck loads — of household, industrial and even hospital waste, Haryanto says. According to Haryanto, a one-time manager with the state electricity monopoly PLN, the garbage appeared unannounced last December. Some 18 months prior to that, 10 times that amount landed on a second, bigger site about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away in a similar manner. “This is a tourist area. There was no warning. It just appeared,” Haryanto tells Mongabay. Haryanto now heads a local group called Forum Peduli Gadingsari, named after his village in the district of Bantul and intended to “watch out for government mismanagement,” as he puts it. “There was no environmental review. There were no permits. What if there was a tsunami? How do they manage the leachate? This is an environmental crime,” he says. For at least two decades, Indonesian governments have struggled to come to grips with their growing mountains of waste, with much of it dumped illegally. More than 35% of all of Indonesia’s garbage — some 11 million metric tons last year — was deemed unmanaged, finding its way into rivers,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/burning-burying-and-banning-indonesias-cities-struggle-to-manage-their-garbage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302916</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 04:37:22 +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/20/2025/03/25043038/GP0SU4UJG_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296392</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Human Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just months after filing it. “The company contacted me, urging me to drop the case. They even offered, ‘How much money do you want? Where does your husband want to work? We can arrange it. If your child is old enough, what kind of job would they like?’&#8221; she told Mongabay. Yeyen said she was given a week to consider the offer. When a company representative later visited her home for a final decision, she declined the offer, Yeyen said. “I told them that I was standing together with my friends in this lawsuit, and I didn’t want to betray them,” she said. “I made my decision to continue fighting for health, the economy, and the environment.” Another plaintiff, Ayu, said a local journalist contacted her, urging her to drop the case and threatening to share her personal information with the companies. Concerned about the escalating threats, the group visited the human rights commission, known as Komnas HAM, in Jakarta on Feb. 26, seeking protection. “There are risks in suing large companies, and we need security guarantees,” Arif, another of the plaintiffs, told Mongabay. “We don’t know what threats might come next. There have already been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296392</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran culinary heritage at risk as environment changes around Silk Road river</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sumatran-culinary-heritage-at-risk-as-environment-changes-around-silk-road-river/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sumatran-culinary-heritage-at-risk-as-environment-changes-around-silk-road-river/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2025 04:37:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21135614/The-Sumatran-belida-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296254</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, food security, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Use Change, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rivers, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia – The pempek restaurants in the Plaju neighborood were full to the gills in early March. Palembang chefs pulverized mudfish caught from the Musi River into subtle variations of the historic city’s specialty fish cake. “They’re sold all year, but there are more buyers during the fasting month,” Plaju resident Nining told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia – The pempek restaurants in the Plaju neighborood were full to the gills in early March. Palembang chefs pulverized mudfish caught from the Musi River into subtle variations of the historic city’s specialty fish cake. “They’re sold all year, but there are more buyers during the fasting month,” Plaju resident Nining told Mongabay Indonesia, referring to the mudfish, or snakehead murrel (Channa striata). With the fasting month of Ramadan underway, pempek traders like Nining, 37, grafted harder than usual, in the foreground of the oil refinery and riverport estate operated by state energy company Pertamina next door. The Sumatran city of Palembang was home to the Srivijaya Empire from the seventh to 11th centuries, and an important springboard for the reach of Buddhism into Indonesia by Chinese monks. The kingdom’s rulers maintained a vital maritime Silk Road staging post on the Musi River, which today runs through the city of a 1.8 million people before emptying out into the Java Sea. The people of Palembang and in rural South Sumatra have turned to the wetlands and rivers here as the source of food for centuries. In addition to Palembang’s pempek fishcake, culinary heritage in the capital of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province comprises a medley of celimpungan — a soup with tekwan fish balls — laksan, lenggang, and other fish-based dishes traditionally made with sago. Locally refined palm sugar has historically been used to make the base for pempek, while coconut milk is a key ingredient in the bases&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sumatran-culinary-heritage-at-risk-as-environment-changes-around-silk-road-river/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sumatran-culinary-heritage-at-risk-as-environment-changes-around-silk-road-river/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296254</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatra citizen lawsuit seeks accountability for haze-causing fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatra-citizen-lawsuit-seeks-accountability-for-haze-causing-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatra-citizen-lawsuit-seeks-accountability-for-haze-causing-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2024 11:56:01 +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/20/2024/09/09115238/GP0SU2675_Medium-res-1200px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, Plantations, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province have filed a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies for a toxic haze that they blame on repeated burning in their concessions. The three companies — PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH), PT Bumi Andalas Permai (BAP) and PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries (SBA Wood Industries) — are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province have filed a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies for a toxic haze that they blame on repeated burning in their concessions. The three companies — PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH), PT Bumi Andalas Permai (BAP) and PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries (SBA Wood Industries) — are suppliers to the largest pulp and paper producer in Indonesia, Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (APP). In total, all three concessions experienced 254,787 hectares (629,592 acres) of burning from 2015 to 2020 — an area nearly the size of Jakarta. That makes the companies major contributors to fire-caused haze in South Sumatra during the 2015, 2019 and 2023 dry seasons, the lawsuit contends. As such, it says, the companies are legally responsible for the damage local residents have had to endure from the haze, ranging from respiratory illness to mental health issues arising from being unable to attend classes and go to places of worship, among others. “Because of the haze, I felt stressed and worried about the health of my children and myself,” said Marda Ellius, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “Our family’s finances were disrupted because the smoke prevented us from tapping rubber or catching fish.” The fires in the three concessions also contributed to climate change because the region comprises carbon-rich peat landscapes, according to Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Belgis Habiba. “The drainage and destruction of peatlands in these areas, which subsequently leads to out-of-control forest fires and haze, severely exacerbates the climate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatra-citizen-lawsuit-seeks-accountability-for-haze-causing-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatra-citizen-lawsuit-seeks-accountability-for-haze-causing-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More alarms over Indonesia rhino poaching after latest trafficking bust</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatran-javan-rhino-horn-trafficking-indonesia-wildlife-poaching-endangered/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatran-javan-rhino-horn-trafficking-indonesia-wildlife-poaching-endangered/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2024 13:32:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Donny IqbalNopri Ismi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/24013125/Harapan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286901</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, In-situ Conservation, Javan Rhinos, Mammals, Megafauna, Mongabay investigation, Poaching, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Sumatran Rhino, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG/PANDEGLANG, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia are investigating possible links between a recent bust of rhino horns for sale and a killing spree of Javan rhinos still being uncovered in court. Police working with agents from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced on Aug. 27 the arrest of a 60-year-old man in Palembang, South [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG/PANDEGLANG, Indonesia — Authorities in Indonesia are investigating possible links between a recent bust of rhino horns for sale and a killing spree of Javan rhinos still being uncovered in court. Police working with agents from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced on Aug. 27 the arrest of a 60-year-old man in Palembang, South Sumatra province, for allegedly attempting to sell eight rhino horns, five tobacco pipes made of elephant ivory, and three pipes made from dugong tusks. The arrest took place on Aug. 23 during a string operation as the suspect, identified only by the initials Z.A., attempted to sell the products. Authorities said they identified four of the rhino horns as belonging to Indonesian species, and the other four from abroad, but didn’t specify which ones. Indonesia is home to two critically endangered rhino species, the Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), each with a total estimated population of less than 100. “This is a transnational crime,” Rasio Ridho Sani, the environment ministry’s director-general of law enforcement, told reporters. “We continue to strengthen the partnership with international law enforcement agencies, such as the Interpol and UNODC [United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime].” Conservation authorities and local police in Palembang, South Sumatra, announced the arrest of a 60-year-old suspect, in the orange vest, for alleged trafficking of eight rhino horns and elephant and dugong ivory. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Rasio said the arrest followed a long investigation by the ministry’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatran-javan-rhino-horn-trafficking-indonesia-wildlife-poaching-endangered/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/sumatran-javan-rhino-horn-trafficking-indonesia-wildlife-poaching-endangered/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286901</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran province brings hammer down on illegal oil wells after fatal blasts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-province-brings-hammer-down-on-illegal-oil-wells-after-fatal-blasts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-province-brings-hammer-down-on-illegal-oil-wells-after-fatal-blasts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2024 12:11:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/15071227/Sumur-minyak-meledak-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286140</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Logging, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A law enforcement crackdown against widespread opportunist oil extraction has shuttered at least 95 illegal wells following a spate of deaths in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, police said. “I appeal to the people still working in this illegal supply chain to consciously change their professions,” South Sumatra police chief Albertus Rachmad Wibowo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A law enforcement crackdown against widespread opportunist oil extraction has shuttered at least 95 illegal wells following a spate of deaths in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, police said. “I appeal to the people still working in this illegal supply chain to consciously change their professions,” South Sumatra police chief Albertus Rachmad Wibowo said in a statement. On June 27, a fire broke out at an oil well in Sungai Lilin, a subdistrict on Sumatra’s arterial highway between the cities of Jambi and Palembang. Police said deliberate damage to an oil pipe there to enable illegal extraction caused an oil leak, which culminated in a blast that killed four people. Less than a month later, another fire in the early hours of July 21 in Sungai Lilin killed a local resident. Police in South Sumatra have arrested and charged at least two people in connection with the June explosion. A string of other fires and explosions have occurred at illegal oil refineries and storage sites since the start of the year. Blasts are often reported at the estimated 10,000 illegal oil wells located in Musi Banyuasin, just one district of Indonesia’s Sumatra island. (Sumatra is home to more than 150 districts and cities; Musi Banyuasin encompasses Sungai Lilin.) Previous incidents included fires at illegal oil refineries and storage warehouses in the Musi Banyuasin subdistricts of Babat Toman, Keluang and Sanga Desa, leading to multiple arrests. In response to the string of accidents, the acting governor of South Sumatra,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-province-brings-hammer-down-on-illegal-oil-wells-after-fatal-blasts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286140</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran province hangs on for late rain as El Niño fires bring heat and sickness</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2023 16:46:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay Haze Beat]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/28163120/Sungai-Musi-diselimuti-kabut-asap-Selasa-sore.-Banyak-kapal-dan-perahu-yang-tidak-melakukan-aktifitas.-Terlihat-hanya-tongkang-batubara-yang-melaju.-Foto-mahesa-putra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273723</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New acute respiratory infections in Indonesia’s Palembang city, on the island of Sumatra, are on track to surpass the total number recorded there in 2022, as firefighters scramble to confront wildfires brought on by this year’s El Niño dry season. The health department in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, said health workers in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New acute respiratory infections in Indonesia’s Palembang city, on the island of Sumatra, are on track to surpass the total number recorded there in 2022, as firefighters scramble to confront wildfires brought on by this year’s El Niño dry season. The health department in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, said health workers in the city had diagnosed 9,948 new respiratory tract infections in September up to the third week of the month, higher than the number diagnosed for the entire month of June. “If you need to do activities outside the home, it is best to wear a mask,” Yudhi Setiawan, infectious diseases lead at the city’s health department, said as cases rose in early September. Palembang, the main population center in South Sumatra, is home to almost 2 million people. The city is located about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Singapore on Sumatra’s Musi River. Palembang is surrounded by oil palm and acacia plantations cultivated on extensive peatlands, where wildfires can burn most intractably, in the nearby districts of Ogan Komering Ulu and Ogan Komering Ilir. Yudhi linked the number of respiratory cases to the emergence of dry-season air pollution. Indonesia’s meteorology agency reported 942 hotspots across Sumatra on Sept. 23, with more than 60% located in just South Sumatra province. The number of infections recorded in Palembang in the year to mid-September was 81% of the total number recorded in the city during all of 2022. Infections from June to August were 30% higher than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273723</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>El Niño leads to more fires and toxic air pollution in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2023 17:40:44 +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/20/2023/09/15165647/WhatsApp-Image-2023-09-12-at-20.02.05-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273374</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Fires, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Parts of Indonesia are covered with toxic air pollutants from burning lands and forests as this year’s fire season is intensifying amid the El Niño weather phenomenon, which brings drier conditions. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry identified 3,788 hotspots from Jan. 1 to Sept. 5 this year, a fourfold increase from 979 hotspots during [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Parts of Indonesia are covered with toxic air pollutants from burning lands and forests as this year’s fire season is intensifying amid the El Niño weather phenomenon, which brings drier conditions. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry identified 3,788 hotspots from Jan. 1 to Sept. 5 this year, a fourfold increase from 979 hotspots during the same period last year. Most of the hotspots occurred in 10 provinces that are historically prone to fires — North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan and Papua. These provinces had 2,608 hotspots from January to September 2023, a nearly sixfold increase from 441 hotspots during the same period in 2022. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said September is a make-or-break time for Indonesia, as land and forest fires usually peak during the month. “I’m always anxious during Sept. 6 to 16,” she told a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta on Sept. 6. “From my experience in the past eight years, those dates are the peak [of the fire season].” The burning had emitted toxic smog, making it dangerous for people to breathe the air in major cities, such as Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra, which is home to large swaths of industrial plantations. According to data from the country’s meteorological agency, BMKG, air quality in Palembang had been worsening recently. Readings for PM2.5, a class of airborne pollutants so fine that they can be inhaled and cause respiratory disease, have been hovering&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273374</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cycling oil palm biomass waste back into the soil can boost soil health, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-cycling-oil-palm-biomass-waste-back-into-the-soil-can-boost-soil-health-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-cycling-oil-palm-biomass-waste-back-into-the-soil-can-boost-soil-health-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2023 01:39:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dyna Rochmyaningsih]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/19112513/oil-palm-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268783</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology and Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, South Sumatra, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Environment, Fertilizers, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Plantations, Pollution, Recycling, Sustainability, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new study recommends returning oil palm biomass to planting areas to maintain soil health — specifically, by replenishing the soil with silicon. The research was published in April by a team of scientists from Indonesia’s Tadulako University, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, and Germany’s University of Göttingen. Under a long-term research collaboration project named [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new study recommends returning oil palm biomass to planting areas to maintain soil health — specifically, by replenishing the soil with silicon. The research was published in April by a team of scientists from Indonesia’s Tadulako University, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, and Germany’s University of Göttingen. Under a long-term research collaboration project named EFForTS (Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Forests Transformation System), the study is part of scientists’ investigations into the impact of landscape change to biodiversity, ecosystems and humans. While previous studies have examined carbon loss from the establishment of oil palm estates, few have discussed the dynamics of soil minerals during the harvesting period — around 25 years for oil palm trees. “Few people are interested in this field,” study co-author Aiyen Tjoa, a soil biologist at Tadulako University, tells Mongabay. While various minerals determine soil health, silicon, which is popular for its use in high-technology devices, captured Aiyen’s attention. Silicon is the second-most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, but the amount available for plants to absorb is limited, and its cycling in natural ecosystems depends heavily on the role of organisms. Plants need silicon to strengthen their cell walls, which helps defend against pathogens. As for the oil palm, silicon is needed to resist the effects of drought, according to Aiyen. Newly planted oil palm plantation in Aceh, Indonesia. The new study recommends returning oil palm biomass to planting areas to maintain soil health — specifically, by replenishing the soil with silicon. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-cycling-oil-palm-biomass-waste-back-into-the-soil-can-boost-soil-health-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-cycling-oil-palm-biomass-waste-back-into-the-soil-can-boost-soil-health-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268783</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trapping holds back speed of bird recovery in a Sumatran forest, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/trapping-holds-back-speed-of-bird-recovery-in-a-sumatran-forest-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/trapping-holds-back-speed-of-bird-recovery-in-a-sumatran-forest-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2023 03:59:25 +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/20/2019/05/27024039/foto-udara-tutupan-hutan-lokasi-rencana-jalan-angkut-tambang-batu-bara-di-kawasan-hutan-harapan.-dok-hutan-harapan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268387</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests and Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Logging, Pet Trade, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Regulations, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  A decade of protection and natural regeneration of tropical forests has helped bird populations increase in the southern lowlands of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, but continued wild trapping by poachers is preventing a speedier recovery, a new study shows. Wild populations of birds at the Harapan flagship tropical forest restoration site increased over the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  A decade of protection and natural regeneration of tropical forests has helped bird populations increase in the southern lowlands of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, but continued wild trapping by poachers is preventing a speedier recovery, a new study shows. Wild populations of birds at the Harapan flagship tropical forest restoration site increased over the course of a decade due to protection and natural regeneration efforts, according to the paper published in a recent issue of the journal Biological Conservation. But the authors also calculated that the population recovery wasn’t achieving its full potential because of the persistence of trapping and hunting to supply Indonesia’s controversial bird trade. “Although previous research &#8230; addressed the impact of trade-driven bird trapping on wild bird populations, our study is the first to demonstrate the inhibitory effect of wildlife trade on forest reforestation,” study lead author H. S. Sathya Chandra Sagar, a Ph.D. student at the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, told Mongabay in an email. Logged degraded rainforest in the Harapan Forest in Jambi province, Indonesia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. The Harapan Forest, which straddles the provinces of Jambi and South Sumatra, in 2007 became the site of Indonesia’s first ecosystem restoration concession to recover biodiversity in the region after commercial selective logging ceased in 2005. The reforestation project, jointly managed by a consortium of conservation organizations with heavy financial investment and on-the-ground presence, has since shown signs of recovery through natural regeneration and active tree&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/trapping-holds-back-speed-of-bird-recovery-in-a-sumatran-forest-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/trapping-holds-back-speed-of-bird-recovery-in-a-sumatran-forest-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268387</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Loss of wetlands threatens South Sumatra’s rich fish-preserving tradition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/wetlands-sumatra-freshwater-fish-palm-oil-plantations-degradation-conversion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/wetlands-sumatra-freshwater-fish-palm-oil-plantations-degradation-conversion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Mar 2023 15:12:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fadhil NugrahaMahesa Putra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/15082702/Seorang-warga-di-Desa-Muara-Penimbung-Ulu-Kabupaten-Ogan-Ilir-Sumsel-mencari-ikan-menggunakan-jaring.-Foto-Fadhil-Nugraha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266480</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Peatlands, Restoration, Rivers, Swamps, Tropics, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Lithan, 68, grew up eating fish caught from the rivers and freshwater swamps near his village in Ogan Ilir district, near the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. Fish were so abundant, he recalls, that the villagers would smoke them, salt them, ferment them, even make fish crackers out of them. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Lithan, 68, grew up eating fish caught from the rivers and freshwater swamps near his village in Ogan Ilir district, near the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. Fish were so abundant, he recalls, that the villagers would smoke them, salt them, ferment them, even make fish crackers out of them. But the fish — predominantly baung and lais, catfish from the Hemibagrus and Kryptopterus genera, respectively — have become increasingly scarce as the water bodies in the region are degraded by the conversion of land for farming. “Nowadays, a lot of the people here make smoked fish from catfish that they raise in ponds,” says Lithan, identifying these farmed fish as patin (Pangasius spp.), lele (Clarias spp.) and even Nile tipalia (Oreochromis niloticus), an exotic species introduced here from Africa. “But the taste is different and there’s not much demand for it,” adds Lithan, who heads the farmers’ collective in the village of Muara Penimbung Ulu. “So this [fish-preserving] tradition could disappear as the freshwater fish are vanishing.”. Freshwater fish like these catfish are declining in population in South Sumatra as their wetland habitat is converted for oil palm plantations and highways. Image by Fadhil Nugraha/Mongabay Indonesia. It’s a similar story in the neighboring district of Ogan Komering Ilir. Here, in the village of Menang Raya, freshwater fishing was for a long time the main source of livelihood for residents, according to village head Ryan Syaputra. But the fish started to disappear just as oil&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/wetlands-sumatra-freshwater-fish-palm-oil-plantations-degradation-conversion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/wetlands-sumatra-freshwater-fish-palm-oil-plantations-degradation-conversion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266480</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran tiger arrives at Tacoma captive-breeding program</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/sumatran-tiger-arrives-at-tacoma-captive-breeding-program/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/sumatran-tiger-arrives-at-tacoma-captive-breeding-program/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2023 10:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/01/05235012/Sanjiv23-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=264374</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North America, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, United States, Washington, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Captive Breeding, Cats, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Tigers, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A known breeding Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) has made its way to Point Defiance Zoo &#38; Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington state, in hopes it will produce more cubs of this critically endangered big cat. The zoo is set to debut Sanjiv, an 11-year-old male tiger weighing in at 130 kilograms (286 pounds), to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A known breeding Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) has made its way to Point Defiance Zoo &amp; Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington state, in hopes it will produce more cubs of this critically endangered big cat. The zoo is set to debut Sanjiv, an 11-year-old male tiger weighing in at 130 kilograms (286 pounds), to the public on Jan. 6. Sanjiv has already fathered four cubs, and keepers and conservationists hope he will mate with the two female Sumatran tigers on site, Kali, 9 years old, and Indah, who is 8. Sanjiv was transferred in December from the Topeka Zoo &amp; Conservation Center, but keepers say he’s already adjusting well to his new home. “[Sanjiv] is a very social and expressive tiger who loves to interact with his keepers and our two female tigers,” assistant curator Erin Pritchard said in a press release. “He’s always chuffing and vocalizing, and he’s fascinated with the swinging gibbons and other species that share his Asian Forest Sanctuary home.” Captive breeding can prove difficult, however. Point Defiance Zoo &amp; Aquarium lost a female Sumatran tiger in 2021 after a male mortally wounded her during a breeding introduction. Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) are named after their home in Indonesia, a tropical, forested island larger than California. They are the smallest of living tigers, and the only tiger left that inhabits an island. As a top predator, the Sumatran tiger plays a key role in the island’s ecosystems. Although scientists are currently debating tiger taxonomy, Sumatran&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/sumatran-tiger-arrives-at-tacoma-captive-breeding-program/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/sumatran-tiger-arrives-at-tacoma-captive-breeding-program/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-264374</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Labor groups seek to build on Indonesian palm oil court win in new cases</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/labor-groups-seek-to-build-on-indonesian-palm-oil-court-win-in-new-cases/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/labor-groups-seek-to-build-on-indonesian-palm-oil-court-win-in-new-cases/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Oct 2022 02:06:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Grace Dungey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/03031535/riau_1728-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=261041</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Business, Environment, Environmental Law, Food Industry, Human Rights, Industry, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian palm oil workers and labor rights activists are looking to press their advantage following the success of four labor rights appeal cases heard in Indonesia’s Supreme Court last year. The appeals found PT London Sumatra (Lonsum) — a subsidiary of the palm oil giant Indofood, Indonesia’s largest food manufacturer — in breach of 10 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian palm oil workers and labor rights activists are looking to press their advantage following the success of four labor rights appeal cases heard in Indonesia’s Supreme Court last year. The appeals found PT London Sumatra (Lonsum) — a subsidiary of the palm oil giant Indofood, Indonesia’s largest food manufacturer — in breach of 10 casual employment contract terms, an outcome activists and union groups are asserting as a new precedent. Now, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), U.S.-based activist group, in partnership with Indonesian labor rights group OPPUK, independent palm oil union SERBUNDO and Sumatran legal aid organization LBH Palembang, are mounting a case for two new lawsuits against the company on behalf of 200 Lonsum workers in South Sumatra province over unlawful dismissals. Labor rights appeal to Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld In February 2020, LBH Palembang, OPPUK and SERBUNDO filed six lawsuits against Lonsum at the Medan Industrial Relations Court alleging the company breached Indonesian labor laws by failing to recognize 12 casual oil palm plantation employees’ contracts as permanent. The plaintiffs in the cases were all originally engaged on oral contracts with Lonsum, but the company appeared to shift the workers to written casual daily labor contracts between 2016 and 2017. The workers were later laid off between late 2018 and early 2019. The Medan Industrial Relations Court found that Lonsum had failed to formalize the casual daily labor contracts by registering them with the local labor department. Palm oil estate worker in Tenom district, Sabah, Malaysia. Image&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/labor-groups-seek-to-build-on-indonesian-palm-oil-court-win-in-new-cases/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/labor-groups-seek-to-build-on-indonesian-palm-oil-court-win-in-new-cases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-261041</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Java fishers struggle with seine net ban amid rising costs, falling profits</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/java-fishers-struggle-with-seine-net-ban-amid-rising-costs-falling-profits/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/java-fishers-struggle-with-seine-net-ban-amid-rising-costs-falling-profits/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Sep 2022 01:07:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asad Asnawi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/21084349/3-indonesia-fisheries-and-nets-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=260511</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Human Rights, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in a two-part series. Read the second installment here. PANTURA, Indonesia — More than 10,000 brightly painted trawlers regularly come and go from the rowdy fishing ports along this 1,000-kilometer-long northern coastline of Java, the world’s most populous island. Many of them are going nowhere fast. “Because I still use [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first article in a two-part series. Read the second installment here. PANTURA, Indonesia — More than 10,000 brightly painted trawlers regularly come and go from the rowdy fishing ports along this 1,000-kilometer-long northern coastline of Java, the world’s most populous island. Many of them are going nowhere fast. “Because I still use the cantrang it’s not possible for me to update my paperwork,” said Sutikno, the deputy head of the fishing association in the island’s eastern district of Lamongan, using the common Indonesian term for a seine net. Seine fishing involves the use of vast nets weighted down to the seabed to envelop larger volumes of schooling fish, such as tuna. The basic principle dates back millennia, but research shows the intensity of modern fisheries has made the modern method increasingly unsustainable. At issue is the seine nets’ inability to distinguish between the valuable catch and almost anything else: a kilometer-wide seine net dragged behind a 20-ton fishing boat snatches everything in its path. Globally around 90% of fish species are classified as either fully exploited or overfished — research shows many fish species, like popular bluefin and yellowfin tuna, are being caught faster than the rate at which they can replenish. In recent years a raft of coastal nations responded to dwindling fish stocks by enacting domestic curbs on the seine net, ranging from limits in near-shore waters to outright prohibition. Skippers in India and the Philippines, for example, are agitating against restrictions imposed by their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/java-fishers-struggle-with-seine-net-ban-amid-rising-costs-falling-profits/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/java-fishers-struggle-with-seine-net-ban-amid-rising-costs-falling-profits/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-260511</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As dry season starts in Indonesia, risk of fires — and haze — looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/as-dry-season-starts-in-indonesia-risk-of-fires-and-haze-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/as-dry-season-starts-in-indonesia-risk-of-fires-and-haze-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2022 14:59:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/26024454/indonesia-fire_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258032</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests and Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Riau, Singapore, South Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new analysis warns of the potential for forest fires in Indonesia that could spread smoke to neighboring countries as this year’s dry season sets in, following two years of haze-free skies across this part of Southeast Asia. In their “Haze Outlook 2022” report, researchers at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new analysis warns of the potential for forest fires in Indonesia that could spread smoke to neighboring countries as this year’s dry season sets in, following two years of haze-free skies across this part of Southeast Asia. In their “Haze Outlook 2022” report, researchers at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) said there’s a higher risk this year than last of the region experiencing some fires and transboundary haze. They looked at three factors — weather, policies and people — to determine that the risk comes primarily from the prospect of forest fires being set to clear land for plantations. Current record-high prices for palm oil and other forest commodities pose an incentivize for small farmers and big companies alike to expand their operations. In their report, the researchers cited an NGO warning of the potential for degraded peatlands in several provinces on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo being burned. “Fires in Riau, Jambi, and South Sumatra might reach Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia, while fires in West Kalimantan might affect air quality in East Malaysia,” the report said. “However, the NGO noted that this haze would be ‘short and limited’ compared to previous haze years.” This region of Southeast Asia has experienced several episodes of severe transboundary haze in the past, particularly in 1997/1998, 2015 and 2019, when smokes from fires in Sumatra blew across the Malacca Strait to Singapore and Malaysia, even going as far as southern Thailand, a distance of more than 600&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/as-dry-season-starts-in-indonesia-risk-of-fires-and-haze-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/as-dry-season-starts-in-indonesia-risk-of-fires-and-haze-looms/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258032</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study casts doubt on sustainability of regulated blood python snakeskin trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-casts-doubt-on-sustainability-of-regulated-blood-python-snakeskin-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-casts-doubt-on-sustainability-of-regulated-blood-python-snakeskin-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2022 14:47:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/02093229/23154642954_5770fcb01b_c-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256710</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangka Belitung, Indonesia, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Hunting, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Natural Resources, Pet Trade, Reptiles, Snakes, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — If you own a luxury fashion item made with snakeskin, there’s a good chance it came from a blood python in Indonesia, where the species isn’t considered threatened. But that’s likely not a real reflection of the snake’s status, with a new study showing there’s no evidence that the trade in the species [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — If you own a luxury fashion item made with snakeskin, there’s a good chance it came from a blood python in Indonesia, where the species isn’t considered threatened. But that’s likely not a real reflection of the snake’s status, with a new study showing there’s no evidence that the trade in the species is sustainable. A center for the trade in blood pythons (Python brongersmai) is the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, where industrial-scale slaughterhouses kill and skin tens of thousands of the snakes annually, much of it to meet international demand. The practice is regulated by law in Indonesia, and exports are governed by CITES, the convention on the international wildlife trade. But little about the whole industry appears to be sustainable, or even legal, the study suggests. “The blood python trade, and specifically their trade in North Sumatra, was interesting,” study author Vincent Nijman, a professor of anthropology at Oxford Brookes University in the U.K., told Mongabay in an email. “[T]here were several research groups that, over the years, had visited the same slaughterhouses, recorded what was there, measured the same things (number of snakes, length, sex, etc.), and yet came to radical different conclusions” — some finding that the trade was sustainable, others hinting at an overharvest, and others calling it unsustainable. “In addition to that there was good data on their international trade, on their harvest quotas and on their export, so it was just a matter of bringing it all together,” Nijman said.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-casts-doubt-on-sustainability-of-regulated-blood-python-snakeskin-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-casts-doubt-on-sustainability-of-regulated-blood-python-snakeskin-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256710</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘The promise was a lie’: How Indonesian villagers lost their cut of the palm oil boom</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2022 00:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[BBC NewsMongabayThe Gecko Project]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/19190951/1-Dari-kiri-ke-kanan-Ridah-35-Cilin-60-Siti-60-dan-Yenita-12-mencari-brondol-di-sekitar-perkebunan-sawit-milik-warga-di-Desa-Tebing-Tinggi.Edited-e1690384860363-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=256066</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil and Investigation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Jakarta, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conflict, Environment, Farming, Governance, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mongabay Data Studio, Mongabay investigation, Palm Oil, Plantations, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) and the Trace Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2023. When the Indigenous villagers of Tebing Tinggi agreed to give control of their ancestral land to a palm oil company in 1995, it promised to transform their fortunes. The Suku [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) and the Trace Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2023. When the Indigenous villagers of Tebing Tinggi agreed to give control of their ancestral land to a palm oil company in 1995, it promised to transform their fortunes. The Suku Anak Dalam were subsistence farmers, gathering fruit and hunting game in the rainforest. The deal could give them a cut of a lucrative industry that was expanding rapidly across the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia. The company, London Sumatra, would take control of the community’s land. In return, according to the Suku Anak Dalam, they were told they would get more than half of it back, planted with oil palms, a wonder crop whose oil was in rising demand across the globe. It would be a win-win, as the Suku Anak Dalam would sell the fruit they harvested to the company. “The promise was a lie,” Mat Yadi, a Suku Anak Dalam leader, told us recently. “Nothing was returned to us. They took everything.” Over a quarter century, London Sumatra’s oil palms grew tall and the bright-orange fruit flooded into its mill, producing millions of dollars’ worth of edible oil. But the Suku Anak Dalam never received the smallholdings they say they were promised. They lost not only the expected profits from the oil palm, but their land too. By 2022, many of the tribe were living in makeshift huts inside a plantation, scraping together&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/the-promise-was-a-lie-how-indonesian-villagers-lost-their-cut-of-the-palm-oil-boom/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-256066</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Land mafia’ makes its mark in a Sumatran village’s fight against oil palm firm</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/land-mafia-makes-its-mark-in-a-sumatran-villages-fight-against-oil-palm-firm/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/land-mafia-makes-its-mark-in-a-sumatran-villages-fight-against-oil-palm-firm/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2021 15:36:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/11025210/aceh_1143-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251215</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Human Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Palm Oil, Plantations, Social Conflict, and Transparency]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2020, residents of Suka Mukti village in southern Sumatra paid 10 million rupiah each, about $700, to a government agency to obtain titles to their land — a process that is officially supposed to be free. This year, the same agency declared the certificates illegal because, it says, the land falls inside [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2020, residents of Suka Mukti village in southern Sumatra paid 10 million rupiah each, about $700, to a government agency to obtain titles to their land — a process that is officially supposed to be free. This year, the same agency declared the certificates illegal because, it says, the land falls inside a concession held by a palm oil company. The fiasco has shone a light on the corruption and opacity that cloud the land-titling process in Indonesia, and the role of a “land mafia” in keeping it that way to serve the interests of big businesses. “According to the regulations, land certificates are free,” says Roni Septian, head of advocacy at the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), an NGO. “From that alone, we can see how corrupt the practices of the land agency are. That’s concrete evidence of how sophisticated the land mafia is.” He adds the Suka Mukti case is just the tip of the iceberg, with the land mafia operating throughout Indonesia. “Millions of farmers have had their lands robbed from them because the government manipulated data,” he says. Interior of an oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Land titles taken away — twice The village of Suka Mukti, in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district, South Sumatra province, was established by settlers from Java in 1981. They were part of the national government’s “transmigration” program, which aimed to entice people away from densely populated Java by offering them land in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/land-mafia-makes-its-mark-in-a-sumatran-villages-fight-against-oil-palm-firm/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/land-mafia-makes-its-mark-in-a-sumatran-villages-fight-against-oil-palm-firm/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For forest communities in Sumatra, loss of nature means loss of culture</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/for-forest-communities-in-sumatra-loss-of-nature-means-loss-of-culture/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/for-forest-communities-in-sumatra-loss-of-nature-means-loss-of-culture/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Nov 2021 11:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/09063435/conservation-through-dance-and-music-culture-indonesia-sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249155</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests and Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Culture, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Philosophy, Rainforests, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Silo Siswanto picks a rejung melody over a guitar fretboard under stage lights in the Teater Potlot in the city of Palembang, evoking the fragility of the remaining forests across Indonesia’s South Sumatra province. “Before, when I was little, you could still get to experience clear water in the peat marsh,” Silo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Silo Siswanto picks a rejung melody over a guitar fretboard under stage lights in the Teater Potlot in the city of Palembang, evoking the fragility of the remaining forests across Indonesia’s South Sumatra province. “Before, when I was little, you could still get to experience clear water in the peat marsh,” Silo said on the sidelines of the Panggung Kecil Festival, which was sponsored by Mongabay Indonesia and Sriwijaya Cultural Park and took place in September and October. Silo traces back his ancestry some 13 generations in the Rawang community in Tulung Selapan, a peatland community in South Sumatra’s Ogan Komering Ilir district, around 350 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. But since around the 1980s, the community found itself increasingly encroached on by fish farms and oil palm plantations. Silo Siswanto, right, performs at the Panggung Kecil Festival. Image courtesy of Yudi Semai. South Sumatra lost almost a quarter of its old-growth forest between 2002 and 2020, according to Global Forest Watch, a satellite monitoring service, as oil palm and paper industries drove wholesale changes to land use across swaths of peatlands across Sumatra. However, Silo’s home district, Ogan Komering Ilir, outpaced the provincial average, losing 36% of its humid forests during the same period. That transformation prompted complex social shifts and migration away from Tulung Selapan, he said. “You used to come across freshwater fish all the time: snakehead fish, catfish, mystus,” he said. “Those are just memories now.” Silo blames the collapse&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/for-forest-communities-in-sumatra-loss-of-nature-means-loss-of-culture/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/for-forest-communities-in-sumatra-loss-of-nature-means-loss-of-culture/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249155</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Build around the forest, not through it, study says of Sumatra trucking road</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/build-around-the-forest-not-through-it-study-says-of-sumatra-trucking-road/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/build-around-the-forest-not-through-it-study-says-of-sumatra-trucking-road/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Sep 2021 13:57:13 +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/20/2018/11/08215106/0326_v_jabmi_3.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247622</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian coal and Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coal, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Infrastructure, Mining, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study strengthens the case for redirecting a planned mining road around the largest surviving tract of lowland tropical rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, but the company behind the project appears to be staying the course. The study by researchers at James Cook University in Australia found that rerouting the road [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A new study strengthens the case for redirecting a planned mining road around the largest surviving tract of lowland tropical rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, but the company behind the project appears to be staying the course. The study by researchers at James Cook University in Australia found that rerouting the road along any of five alternative routes that skirt the Harapan forest could spare thousands of acres of forest from being cleared. These alternative routes traverse nearby lands that are largely deforested, making it more reasonable to build the road there rather than cutting a new path through the forest, said Jayden Engert, a James Cook University doctoral student and lead author of the study. “The area around the Harapan [forest] has already been extensively cleared and hence there is no need to build through the forest,” Engert said. All but one of the alternative routes runs a shorter distance than the route being considered by mining company PT Marga Bara Jaya (MBJ), and would thus result in potentially shorter travel times. The risk of deforestation from human encroachment is drastically reduced with these alternative routes, with up to 3,321 hectares (8,206 acres) less forest loss, the study says. “The key for alternative routes to have lower environmental impacts are relatively straightforward: avoid cutting through intact natural habitat and avoid creating barriers between intact natural habitat, as much as is possible,” he said. The Harapan forest, whose name in Indonesian means “hope,” spans 76,900 hectares (190,000&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/build-around-the-forest-not-through-it-study-says-of-sumatra-trucking-road/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/build-around-the-forest-not-through-it-study-says-of-sumatra-trucking-road/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247622</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Worked to death: How a Chinese tuna juggernaut crushed its Indonesian workers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Sep 2021 10:46:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise GiseburtBasten GokkonMakoto WatanabePhilip JacobsonSeulki LeeTaufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/13034303/IUU-Henchman_Mongabay-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=247027</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Finning the High Seas, Indonesian Fisheries, Investigation, and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Ocean, Central Java, China, East Asia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Pacific Ocean, Philippines, Samoa, Senegal, South Korea, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Forced labor, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Poaching, Politics, Sharks, Tuna, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Investigative Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) in 2022. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia &#124; 阅读中文版  &#124; 日本語で読む) When Sepri was growing up, life in his village began to deteriorate. In the 1990s, the village, Serdang Menang, in the south of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, was centered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story won an Excellence in Investigative Reporting award from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) in 2022. (Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia | 阅读中文版  | 日本語で読む) When Sepri was growing up, life in his village began to deteriorate. In the 1990s, the village, Serdang Menang, in the south of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, was centered around fertile rice fields and rivers full of fish. But after a palm oil company drained and denuded the swampy landscape, flooding and wildfires became commonplace, damaging local livelihoods. Sepri’s father, a tenant farmer, found new work as a janitor at a police station. But when Sepri reached adulthood, he, like millions of others in the world’s fourth-most populous country, saw migration as his only chance to make a living. With only a middle-school education, Sepri tried his hand in Jakarta, the nation’s capital, but his salary at an aging shopping mall was barely enough to meet his basic needs. He returned home disheartened after a few years. Back in the village, he spent much of his time at a loose end, watching soccer at his sister Rika’s house. She worried about her little brother. Many young men with too much time on their hands had fallen prey to methamphetamine use. Police in the village had recently shot dead one local dealer and were openly threatening to kill others. Rika, who ran a food stall with her husband, urged Sepri to take an easy job, stay out of trouble and start a family. But Sepri&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/worked-to-death-how-a-chinese-tuna-juggernaut-crushed-its-indonesian-workers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-247027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Local leaders in Indonesia make forest and peatland protection pledge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/local-leaders-in-indonesia-make-forest-and-peatland-protection-pledge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/local-leaders-in-indonesia-make-forest-and-peatland-protection-pledge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2021 14:20:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/18154103/kalbar_drone_191024_21_header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244854</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Borneo, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Indonesia, New Guinea, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, West Kalimantan, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Nine districts in Indonesia have pledged to protect 50% of forests, peatlands and other “important ecosystems” in their jurisdictions by 2030, local leaders announced last week. Spread across three islands and six provinces, the districts of Siak, Musi Banyuasin, Sintang, Sigi, Gorontalo, Bone Bolango, Aceh Tamiang, Sanggau and Kapuas Hulu are members [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — Nine districts in Indonesia have pledged to protect 50% of forests, peatlands and other “important ecosystems” in their jurisdictions by 2030, local leaders announced last week. Spread across three islands and six provinces, the districts of Siak, Musi Banyuasin, Sintang, Sigi, Gorontalo, Bone Bolango, Aceh Tamiang, Sanggau and Kapuas Hulu are members of the Sustainable Districts Association, formed in 2017. The pledge encompasses a total of 5.8 million hectares (14.3 million acres) of forest and 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) of peat — a total area the size of South Carolina. &#8220;We district leaders in Indonesia affirm our commitment to implementing sustainable development at the district level, in order to support the national priority agenda of the Republic of Indonesia toward sustainable development,&#8221; Dodi Reza Alex Noerdin, the elected leader of Musi Banyuasin and outgoing general chair of the Sustainable Districts Association, said at a July 7 meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs and various development and civil society organizations and private companies. After the 1998 fall of the dictator Suharto, broad powers over land-use planning and licensing were devolved from Jakarta to the nation’s districts, giving them considerable sway over the fate of the nation’s rainforests and peatlands, among the most extensive in the world. In recent years, however, some of those powers have been transferred back to the provincial and central government levels. Last week’s declaration, called the “Declaration of a Vision for Sustainable Districts 2030,” follows&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/local-leaders-in-indonesia-make-forest-and-peatland-protection-pledge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244854</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Planned coal-trucking road threatens a forest haven for Sumatran frogs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/coal-road-sumatra-harapan-forest-frog/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/coal-road-sumatra-harapan-forest-frog/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jan 2021 14:55:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elviza DianaHans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/27143817/Katak-kaki-berjumbai-Karixalus-Appendikulatus-Elviza-Diana-2048x1364-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239020</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests and Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Amphibians, Animals, Biodiversity, charcoal, Coal, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forest Destruction, Forests, Frogs, Global Environmental Crisis, Infrastructure, Logging, Mining, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAMBI, Indonesia — Armed with a flashlight, 43-year-old Musadat walks slowly through the thick and dense Harapan forest, one of the last remaining expanses of lowland tropical rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Musadat suddenly stops and carefully looks around. He then switches off his flashlight and walks quickly to a nearby Phoebe tree. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAMBI, Indonesia — Armed with a flashlight, 43-year-old Musadat walks slowly through the thick and dense Harapan forest, one of the last remaining expanses of lowland tropical rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Musadat suddenly stops and carefully looks around. He then switches off his flashlight and walks quickly to a nearby Phoebe tree. There, he finds a cinnamon frog (Nyctixalus pictus) and a frilled tree frog (Kurixalus appendiculatus). Deeper into the forest, he finds a puddle — a watering hole for frogs and other animals. By the end of the day, Musadat has come across a number of other frogs, none of them much bigger than a Lego brick. Frogs are a common sight in the 76,900-hectare (190,000-acre) Harapan forest, which is home to 55 frog species out of the 77 found in the whole of Sumatra. It also hosts more iconic species such as the critically endangered Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) and Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). But this treasure trove of biodiversity, 1,350 known species and counting, is under threat from a road project that the Indonesian government has approved to connect a coal mine to a power plant. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry signed off on the project, proposed by coal miner PT Marga Bara Jaya (MBJ), in October 2019. The approval gives MBJ control of 424 hectares (1,048 acres) of the Harapan forest. The company plans to build an 88-kilometer (55-mile) road, a third of which will run through the forest, to truck coal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/coal-road-sumatra-harapan-forest-frog/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239020</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Paper giant APP failing its own sustainability goals, report alleges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/asia-pulp-paper-app-sustainability-environmental-paper-network-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/asia-pulp-paper-app-sustainability-environmental-paper-network-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jan 2021 08:27:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/17142718/indonesia_20151051.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238556</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forestry, Forests, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Logging, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Social Conflict, Sustainability, Sustainable Forest Management, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Zero Deforestation Commitments]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Activists have called on financiers and clients of Asia Pulp &#38; Paper (APP), one of the world’s biggest paper producers, to stop doing business with the company, citing alleged violations of its own sustainability commitments. “APP is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Sergio Baffoni, coordinator of a campaign by the Environmental Paper [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Activists have called on financiers and clients of Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (APP), one of the world’s biggest paper producers, to stop doing business with the company, citing alleged violations of its own sustainability commitments. “APP is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Sergio Baffoni, coordinator of a campaign by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) to protect Indonesia’s rainforests. “For years they have pretended to be a green champion, but their commitment to forest conservation and social responsibility remains empty words. Conflicts, intimidation and violence continue to ravage communities living in the areas exploited by APP and its suppliers.” The EPN has published a new report linking APP to deforestation, forest and peat fires, and social conflicts in its areas of operation in Indonesia. It also alleges APP failed to fulfill its promises to rehabilitate degraded peatlands and conserve rainforest. Other criticisms leveled against APP include a failure to be truly transparent in its operations and the implementation of its sustainable policies, and a weakening of its criteria for assessing future suppliers.The report says these shortcomings are proof that due diligence by the buyers and banks doing business with APP have been ineffective, allowing the company to violate its own forest conservation and human rights pledges. As a result, conflicts and violence have continued unabated in the Indonesian regions where it produces and sources pulpwood for its paper production, EPN says. The group has written to international banks, urging them to stop financing APP until a trustworthy independent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/asia-pulp-paper-app-sustainability-environmental-paper-network-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/asia-pulp-paper-app-sustainability-environmental-paper-network-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238556</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Sumatran elephant conservation, involvement of local people is key (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/for-sumatran-elephants-involvement-of-local-people-is-key-to-survival-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/for-sumatran-elephants-involvement-of-local-people-is-key-to-survival-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jan 2021 19:56:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Roderick T.J. Buiskool]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/05191422/Banner-Image-Edited-Photo-Courtesy-Roderick-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Unless urgent and effective conservation action is taken, these magnificent animals are likely to go extinct within our lifetime.”- Dr. Carlos Drews, Director of WWF’s Global Species Program In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Sumatran elephant as critically endangered. According to WWF Indonesia, the population had fallen around 35% [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Unless urgent and effective conservation action is taken, these magnificent animals are likely to go extinct within our lifetime.”- Dr. Carlos Drews, Director of WWF’s Global Species Program In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Sumatran elephant as critically endangered. According to WWF Indonesia, the population had fallen around 35% in the past two decades from about 2,652 individuals to 1,724. The two main drivers pushing Sumatran elephants to the brink of extinction are, first, the loss of habitat due to conversion of forests into human settlements, agricultural areas, and plantations, often leading to conflict related deaths, and the fragmentation of elephant populations. Second, Sumatran elephants still remain targets of poaching for ivory. In order to address these threats and ensure their long-term conservation, what are the potential, urgent and effective actions that can be taken to ensure the conservation of the critically endangered species? Declining Sumatra primary forest extent from 1990 to 2000, 2005 and 2010. Source: Margono et al., (2012). A fundamental precondition is the provision of a viable and protected habitat which has sufficient resources to contain their populations, as Sumatran elephants mainly live in lowland forests and hills below an altitude of 300 meters. However, Sumatra has lost nearly 70% of its lowland forests, due to the terrain also being ideal for crop cultivation. The involvement of the local community in the conservation of Sumatran elephants is crucial. Despite the provision of protected areas, the reality is that as long as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/for-sumatran-elephants-involvement-of-local-people-is-key-to-survival-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report finds litany of labor abuses on RSPO-certified oil palm plantations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/labor-abuses-rspo-oil-palm-plantations-indonesia-sumatra-kalimantan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/labor-abuses-rspo-oil-palm-plantations-indonesia-sumatra-kalimantan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2020 05:40:03 +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/20/2016/01/02185941/riau_1716-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237964</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Business, Environment, Forced labor, Human Rights, Palm Oil, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A coalition of NGOs has documented rampant labor abuses in five oil palm plantations in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the commodity. The palm oil from these plantations is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and ends up in products made by food giant Nestlé. Among the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A coalition of NGOs has documented rampant labor abuses in five oil palm plantations in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the commodity. The palm oil from these plantations is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and ends up in products made by food giant Nestlé. Among the labor abuses documented by the group Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity (TPOLS) are exposure to hazardous chemicals, a reliance on temporary workers, below minimum-wage payments, lack of maternity and menstrual leave for female workers, and the suppression of independent unions. In the concession run by PT Agro Kati Lama, an Indonesian subsidiary of Belgian agribusiness group SIPEF, Endang, a 35-year-old worker, has been getting paid a monthly wage of 1.4 million rupiah ($100) for years. The minimum wage for Musi Rawas district on the island of Sumatra, where the plantation is located, is 3.2 million rupiah ($227). “The most I got was 1.6 million rupiah ($114),” she said. “But that’s very rare. Usually I get 1.4 million rupiah.” The coalition said this is a widespread problem in the plantation sector in Indonesia. One of the factors for this is the use of a remuneration system called piece-rate pay, in which workers are paid for their productivity rather than their time. “So they’re getting paid based on how many tons of oil palm fruit bunches they harvest, how many sacks of oil palm seeds they collect, how many hectares they spray with pesticides, and how many plantations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/labor-abuses-rspo-oil-palm-plantations-indonesia-sumatra-kalimantan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237964</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>11 workers killed in landslide at illegal coal mining site in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/11-workers-killed-in-landslide-at-illegal-coal-mining-site-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/11-workers-killed-in-landslide-at-illegal-coal-mining-site-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2020 17:44:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/03124902/sumsel-coal-2.-banner-jpg-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236496</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian coal]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coal, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Human-wildlife Conflict, Illegal Mining, Mining, Rainforests, and Tigers]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Eleven road construction workers were killed on Oct. 21 by a landslide at an illegal coal mining site in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province. The workers were found buried under soil from a hill above the road, although there were no rains or other weather conditions that might otherwise have triggered a landslide at the time [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Eleven road construction workers were killed on Oct. 21 by a landslide at an illegal coal mining site in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province. The workers were found buried under soil from a hill above the road, although there were no rains or other weather conditions that might otherwise have triggered a landslide at the time of the incident. The accident, which occurred in Penyandingan village, is the latest in a series of incidents involving illegal coal mining in the province. Eleven road construction workers died from a landslide at an illegal coal mining site in Tanjung Agung, Muara Enim district, South Sumatra. Image courtesy of the Tanjung Agung Precinct Police. High coal potential Indonesia has the world’s sixth-largest proven coal reserves, with about 3.5% of global proven coal reserves. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources reported that the country has 37 billion tons of coal reserves, enough to allow the country to maintain production for the next 62 years. Its total coal resources, including deposits that may not be economically feasible to mine, are estimated to stand at around 147 billion tons. As other countries transition toward renewable resources, Indonesia shows no sign of abandoning coal. In 2020, Indonesia’s coal production is targeted at 550 million tons, the majority (around 395 million tons) to be exported, with the rest for domestic use. And while the government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it also plans rapid growth in coal-fired power plants, with 39 new plants under construction and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/11-workers-killed-in-landslide-at-illegal-coal-mining-site-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236496</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran bridge project in elephant habitat may exacerbate degradation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/sumatran-bridge-project-in-elephant-habitat-may-exacerbate-degradation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/sumatran-bridge-project-in-elephant-habitat-may-exacerbate-degradation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2020 06:21:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/05055349/Tulus-45-salah-satu-gajah-angkatan-pertama-yang-dilatih-di-PLG-SM-Padang-Sugihan-Sebokor.-Foto-Nopri-Ismi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235531</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Infrastructure, Logging, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[OGAN KOMERING ILIR, Indonesia — Officials in Sumatra plan to build a billion-dollar bridge to the Bangka-Belitung archipelago off the island’s east coast, but conservationists warn it threatens a key habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant. The governments of the provinces of South Sumatra and Bangka-Belitung officially agreed on the Bahtera Sriwijaya bridge project [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[OGAN KOMERING ILIR, Indonesia — Officials in Sumatra plan to build a billion-dollar bridge to the Bangka-Belitung archipelago off the island’s east coast, but conservationists warn it threatens a key habitat of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant. The governments of the provinces of South Sumatra and Bangka-Belitung officially agreed on the Bahtera Sriwijaya bridge project on Sept. 17, hailing it as a key step in the economic development of the region. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, with the total cost of the project earmarked at 15 trillion rupiah ($1 billion). The 13.5-kilometer (8.4-mile) highway and bridge will link Ogan Komering Ilir district on the Sumatran mainland to South Bangka district. But the proposed site for the bridge’s starting point in Ogan Komering Ilir has raised concerns among conservationists, who point out that it sits in the Air Sugihan peat ecosystem. This area is home to at least 148 wild Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus), according to the South Sumatra provincial conservation agency. Yusuf Bahtimi, a researcher with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), who has studied the peatlands and elephants of the eastern coast of Sumatra for years, said there needs to be a science-based strategy to safeguard the ecosystem while still allowing for economic development. Short of that, he said, “[i]t’s very likely that we will lose the elephants in this landscape in the future.” A trained Sumatran elephant is used in a patrol in the Air Sugihan ecosystem. Image by Nopri Ismi/Mongabay Indonesia. As recently&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/sumatran-bridge-project-in-elephant-habitat-may-exacerbate-degradation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/sumatran-bridge-project-in-elephant-habitat-may-exacerbate-degradation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Paper giant APP’s Sumatran road project cuts through elephant habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/paper-giant-apps-sumatran-road-project-cuts-through-elephant-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/paper-giant-apps-sumatran-road-project-cuts-through-elephant-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Sep 2020 02:17:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/09/17065036/Screen-Shot-2020-08-22-at-12.51.31-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=234923</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Infrastructure, Logging, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Regulations, Roads, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[OGAN KOMERING ILIR, Indonesia — Over the past two decades, much of the forests in Ogan Komering Ilir district in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, have been cleared to make way for vast pulpwood plantations. The acacia and eucalyptus trees grown here are turned into pulp to make paper and related products, and an entire industry has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[OGAN KOMERING ILIR, Indonesia — Over the past two decades, much of the forests in Ogan Komering Ilir district in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, have been cleared to make way for vast pulpwood plantations. The acacia and eucalyptus trees grown here are turned into pulp to make paper and related products, and an entire industry has sprung up around these plantations: spanning from the mill that pulps the wood, to the port from where the pulp is sent to other parts of Indonesia and abroad. At the center of the industry here sits Asia Pulp &amp; Paper, or APP Sinar Mas, whose local subsidiary, PT OKI Pulp &amp; Paper Mills, aims to be the largest pulp and paper producer in Asia. It owns the mill and the port, and now plans to upgrade the road linking the two at a cost of 2.8 trillion rupiah ($190 million). The existing road already cuts through peat and mangrove forests, which constitute an important habitat for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus). The company has promised the upgrades will not require further clearing of these areas, but conservationists have called for the least destructive and invasive construction if the project stands to continue. A section of the road that will be upgraded by PT OKI Pulp &amp; Paper Mills. Image courtesy of PT OKI Pulp &amp; Paper Mills. A herd of Sumatran elephants inside a pulpwood plantation. Image courtesy of PT Bumi Andalas Permai. Road upgrade The pulp mill was built by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/paper-giant-apps-sumatran-road-project-cuts-through-elephant-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/paper-giant-apps-sumatran-road-project-cuts-through-elephant-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-234923</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia approves coal road project through forest that hosts tigers, elephants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/indonesia-approves-coal-road-project-through-forest-that-hosts-tigers-elephants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/indonesia-approves-coal-road-project-through-forest-that-hosts-tigers-elephants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2020 03:16:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elviza Diana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/07/13104814/sumatra_9255-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=232324</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coal, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forests, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Logging, Palm Oil, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Regulations, Roads, Social Conflict, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BATANGHARI, Indonesia — On a sunny day in March, six teenagers have their hands full planting seedlings in a patch of burned forest in Sumatra. “This was our first time planting trees right in a forest,” said Rifai, 14. The planting site is part of a 10-hectare (25-acre) swath of the Harapan forest that was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BATANGHARI, Indonesia — On a sunny day in March, six teenagers have their hands full planting seedlings in a patch of burned forest in Sumatra. “This was our first time planting trees right in a forest,” said Rifai, 14. The planting site is part of a 10-hectare (25-acre) swath of the Harapan forest that was razed by illegal loggers last September. Rifai added, “I’m very excited to be able to do something for nature.” He and his peers didn’t know it yet, on that bright morning four months ago, but their efforts had already been rendered effectively useless by then, thanks to the environment ministry’s approval for a road to be built — and forest cleared — to serve nearby coal mines. The ministry signed off on the project, proposed by coal miner PT Marga Bara Jaya (MBJ), in October last year, but it wasn’t until June this year, following an investigation by Mongabay’s Indonesia team, that the approval came to light. Neither MBJ nor the environment ministry responded to Mongabay’s requests for confirmation before this story was published. A river meanders through part of the Harapan forest in South Sumatra province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Hutan Harapan Initiative. The approval gives MBJ control of 424 hectares (1,048 acres) of the Harapan forest. The company plans to build an 88-kilometer (55-mile), a third of it through the forest, to truck coal from its mine in Musi Rawas district to power plants in Musi Banyuasin district, both in South Sumatra province.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/indonesia-approves-coal-road-project-through-forest-that-hosts-tigers-elephants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/indonesia-approves-coal-road-project-through-forest-that-hosts-tigers-elephants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-232324</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Land conflicts escalate with spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/land-conflicts-escalate-with-spread-of-covid-19-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/land-conflicts-escalate-with-spread-of-covid-19-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2020 05:37:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/22160015/seorang-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228791</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests, Indonesian Forests, and Indonesian Palm Oil]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, East Java, Indonesia, Java, Kalimantan, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crime, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Resource Conflict, Social Conflict, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two people have died in a series of land disputes between major companies and rural communities in Indonesia. Activists have denounced the escalation in the conflicts, saying businesses shouldn’t be taking advantage of the country’s focus on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to further their own — often illegal — interests. On March [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two people have died in a series of land disputes between major companies and rural communities in Indonesia. Activists have denounced the escalation in the conflicts, saying businesses shouldn’t be taking advantage of the country’s focus on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic to further their own — often illegal — interests. On March 21, security personnel from the palm oil firm PT Artha Prigel clashed with farmers in Lahat district, in South Sumatra province. Two farmers were killed in the fighting, the latest flare-up in a conflict that goes back nearly three decades. Locals accuse the company — a subsidiary of the Sawit Mas Group, which supplies oleochemicals to Procter &amp; Gamble — of stealing their land. In a form of reprisal, in September 2018 the locals took over nearly a tenth of the company’s 2,000-hectare (5,000-acre) plantation and began cultivating their own crops The clash last month broke out as security guards demanded that the locals leave the area they had taken over. Farmers Suryadi and Putra died of stab wounds. “This shows that the company has no humanity,” said Muhammad Hairul Sobri, the director of the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi). “During an emergency like this, instead of focusing on handling COVID-19, they’re using the situation to grab people’s lands.” Sandrayati Moniaga, a member of the National Commission in Human Rights, known as Komnas HAM, said the government should bar companies from operating during emergency situations like a pandemic. “In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/land-conflicts-escalate-with-spread-of-covid-19-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/land-conflicts-escalate-with-spread-of-covid-19-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228791</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Habitat loss drives deadly conflict in Indonesia&#8217;s tiger country</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/habitat-loss-drives-deadly-conflict-in-indonesias-tiger-country/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/habitat-loss-drives-deadly-conflict-in-indonesias-tiger-country/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2019 14:39:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/30031830/16216611092_dc75c40633_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225830</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asian infrastructure]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Development, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Fragmentation, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Infrastructure, Logging, Mammals, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Roads, Tigers, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A spate of recent tiger attacks on farmers in Indonesia&#8217;s South Sumatra province has renewed calls from experts to protect wildlife habitats from development projects that threaten to further fragment forests. November and December 2019, saw a string of deadly conflicts between farmers and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) in the forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PALEMBANG, Indonesia — A spate of recent tiger attacks on farmers in Indonesia&#8217;s South Sumatra province has renewed calls from experts to protect wildlife habitats from development projects that threaten to further fragment forests. November and December 2019, saw a string of deadly conflicts between farmers and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) in the forest landscape that connects two mountains: Mount Dempo and Mount Fatah. According to local media reports, at least five area residents have been killed by tigers. This recent uptick in human-tiger conflict has surprised many members of these forest communities, who say they have long had a harmonious relationship with the animals. According to conservationists, a key driver of the increase of human-tiger conflicts is the widespread fragmentation and degradation of the animals’ forest habitats due to development projects such as road infrastructure, housing, plantations and mining. The protected forest in the Mount Dempo landscape spans 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres), but has been degraded by human activities, particularly  artisanal gold mining. As a territorial predator, tigers require expansive forest environment to hunt and they hardly care about human-made zones, Hendra Gunawan, a conservation lecturer at Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB) who also serves as an expert researcher at Indonesia’s environment ministry, told Mongabay-Indonesia in a recent interview. A Sumatran tiger in Gunung Leuser National Park. Photo courtesy Matthew Luskin. Lack of natural prey in their habitats has also encouraged tigers to scavenge outside their territories, eventually encroaching onto farms and plantations in search of livestock, Hendra says.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/habitat-loss-drives-deadly-conflict-in-indonesias-tiger-country/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/habitat-loss-drives-deadly-conflict-in-indonesias-tiger-country/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225830</doi>				</item>
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