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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>North Sumatra environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/north-sumatra/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Tapanuli orangutans face mining, landslides, and fire threats — with no recovery plan</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2026 04:14:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19202130/Tapanuli-Orangutan-Pongo-tapanuliensis-by-Safira-Arda-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330177</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Gold Mining, Governance, Great Apes, Landslides, Mammals, Mining, Natural Resources, Orangutans, Primates, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly a year after what scientists describe as one of the most severe ecological shocks ever documented for the world’s rarest great ape species, there is still no coordinated recovery strategy for Tapanuli orangutans, even as mining resumes, future development plans remain active, and a strong El Niño introduces a new threat. That broader concern over the survival of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) has been sharpened by recent satellite imagery showing fresh ground disturbances inside the concession for Indonesia&#8217;s Martabe gold mine, which overlaps with the ape’s habitat. Disputed disturbances The disturbances appeared as swaths of treeless and disturbed earth between June 13 and June 23 on steep rainforest hills around the Ramba Joring pit in Batang Toru, North Sumatra province, according to Planet satellite imagery reviewed by Mongabay. The area is part of an ecosystem that supports the largest known population of the Tapanuli orangutan. Researchers estimate that 716 Tapanuli orangutans remain in Batang Toru, with the population split across three increasingly fragmented subpopulations, leaving the species with little demographic margin for additional losses. A high-resolution AirBus image of the ground disturbance in Martabe gold mine in June 2026. Image courtesy of Mighty Earth. Mighty Earth, a U.S.-based environmental organization, describes the features as landslides associated with mine development. Agincourt Resources, which operates the Martabe mine, disputes that characterization, saying the June disturbance resulted from material movement following blasting carried out within its planned operational area. The blasting, the company said, was planned with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/tapanuli-orangutans-face-mining-landslides-and-fire-threats-with-no-recovery-plan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Major orangutan study finds Sumatran population fell nearly 20% despite slower forest loss</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 08:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongJunaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/01134730/sabah_3983-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324552</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hydroelectric Power, Mammals, Mining, Orangutans, Peatlands, Poaching, Primates, Renewable Energy, Research, Tropical Deforestation, Wetlands, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species&#8217; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The number of Sumatran orangutans has declined by nearly 20% in the past decade and the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan remains perilously close to extinction despite years of conservation efforts, according to a new study. The study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, also suggests that habitat loss alone cannot explain the species&#8217; decline. While deforestation remains the primary driver, several orangutan populations in Indonesia’s island of Sumatra shrank by a far greater degree than the rate of forest loss might explain, pointing to additional threats such as killing, conflict with humans and habitat fragmentation. The findings come from the first comprehensive reassessment of both Sumatran (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis) orangutans since the landmark 2016 range-wide survey led by primatologist Serge Wich. The study also signals a notable shift in the Indonesian government&#8217;s public approach to orangutan conservation. Between 2018 and 2022, then environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar repeatedly said &#8220;ground-based evidence&#8221; showed orangutan populations were growing and dismissed projections of continued decline. Those claims were challenged at the time by prominent primatologists, who argued that peer-reviewed research consistently showed that the populations of all three orangutan species, Sumatran, Tapanuli and Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus), were declining and urged the ministry to release the data underpinning its assertions. The dispute escalated when the ministry temporarily barred several of the scientists from conducting research with Indonesia&#8217;s national parks and conservation agencies. The latest assessment of the animals presents a picture that’s markedly different from the previous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/major-orangutan-study-finds-sumatran-population-fell-nearly-20-despite-slower-forest-loss/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Small-scale farming, logging eclipse megaprojects as top threats to Tapanuli orangutan habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 11:24:36 +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/20/2024/03/12041811/Orangutan_Tapanuli_Anakan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323335</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Forest Loss, Forestry, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, Logging, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Protected Areas, Subsistence Agriculture, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia&#8217;s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape&#8217;s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia&#8217;s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape&#8217;s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: the cumulative impact of small-scale agriculture and logging. Recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, the study combines satellite imagery, causal inference, and years of ethnographic fieldwork — including interviews with local communities — to assess the drivers of forest loss in Batang Toru. Home to an estimated 716 Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis), Batang Toru lost 7,659 hectares (18,925 acres) of forest — about 5% of its forest cover — between 2000 and 2023, the researchers found. Forest loss accelerated markedly after 2012, increasing at a rate significantly higher than historical trends would have predicted. The shift coincided with the development of three major extractive projects in the landscape: the Martabe gold mine, the Batang Toru hydropower project, and the Sarulla geothermal project. Using a counterfactual analysis, the researchers estimated that Batang Toru lost an additional 3,472 hectares (8,579 acres) of forest after the projects began, compared with what would have been expected had they never happened. At the same time, however, the researchers found that small-scale agriculture and logging accounted for roughly 70% of direct forest loss in the landscape during the same period. The findings suggest that while large-scale development projects remain an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323335</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate-fueled landslides killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 06:52:07 +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/20/2025/10/15042253/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay1-1536x1024-1-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321265</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Fragmentation, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Landslides, Mammals, Orangutans, Primary Forests, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Climate change has become a direct threat to the survival of the world&#8217;s rarest great ape, according to scientists, after landslides triggered by an unusually intense storm killed an estimated 58 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem. The estimate comes from a new study published in Current Biology, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Climate change has become a direct threat to the survival of the world&#8217;s rarest great ape, according to scientists, after landslides triggered by an unusually intense storm killed an estimated 58 critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) in Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem. The estimate comes from a new study published in Current Biology, whose authors say the findings may represent one of the first examples of climate change immediately threatening the survival of an entire species. The researchers found that landslides triggered by extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Senyar in November 2025 likely killed about 7% of the estimated global population of Tapanuli orangutans, which number fewer than 800 individuals and are concentrated in the Batang Toru landscape in North Sumatra. After analyzing satellite imagery, the researchers identified more than 50,000 individual landslide scars and estimated that about 8,300 hectares (20,500 acres) of forest in the western block of Batang Toru were affected by the disaster. The western block is considered the species&#8217; most important stronghold, hosting more than 500 orangutans and one of the three known population clusters within the Batang Toru landscape. The researchers believe most orangutans caught in the landslides died rather than being displaced because of the violence and speed of the event. While the landslides were relatively shallow, they moved extremely rapidly and transformed into channelized debris flows. With little or no warning, orangutans and other wildlife likely had little chance of escaping and may have been buried, drowned or fatally injured by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/climate-fueled-landslides-killed-an-estimated-58-tapanuli-orangutans-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321265</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental group intervenes in lawsuit to help orangutans, tigers in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/environmental-group-intervenes-in-lawsuit-to-help-orangutans-tigers-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/environmental-group-intervenes-in-lawsuit-to-help-orangutans-tigers-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2026 13:08:49 +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/20/2024/03/12041811/Orangutan_Tapanuli_Anakan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320997</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forest Recovery, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Law, Law Enforcement, Orangutans, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s oldest and largest environmental group, Walhi, has formally intervened in an environmental lawsuit filed by the government against a major logging company, arguing the government’s case fails to account for the full extent of ecological damage allegedly caused by the company’s operations. Walhi filed the intervention on May 20, 2026, in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s oldest and largest environmental group, Walhi, has formally intervened in an environmental lawsuit filed by the government against a major logging company, arguing the government’s case fails to account for the full extent of ecological damage allegedly caused by the company’s operations. Walhi filed the intervention on May 20, 2026, in the Medan District Court, where the environment ministry is seeking 3.89 trillion rupiah ($214 million) in damages and environmental restoration measures against pulpwood plantation operator PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL). The environmental group is not arguing that the ministry’s damages claim is too small. Instead, it says the lawsuit overlooks key ecological impacts, such as critical orangutan and tiger habitats, that should also be addressed through court-ordered restoration. In January 2026, the environment ministry filed lawsuits against six companies over alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra province, which the government says contributed to the floods and landslides that struck the region in late November 2025 following cyclone-driven storms across Sumatra. The government also announced the revocation of the permits for TPL and 27 other companies in January 2026. TPL later disclosed to investors that it had received a forestry ministry decree dated Jan. 26 formally revoking its forest-use license, and that it had subsequently ceased forest-use activities within its concession. The floods and landslides struck three provinces on the island of Sumatra, including North Sumatra, and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people. In its lawsuit against TPL, the environment ministry identified 1,261.5 hectares&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/environmental-group-intervenes-in-lawsuit-to-help-orangutans-tigers-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-320997</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Survivors sue Indonesian government over response to catastrophic Sumatra floods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2026 09:28:56 +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/20/2025/12/15024510/AP25336127205797-Batang_Toru-Sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320475</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environmental Law, Flooding, Law, Law Enforcement, Rainforests, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of Indonesian citizens affected by the late-2025 Sumatra floods and landslides have filed a lawsuit with a court in Jakarta in an effort to hold the Indonesian government accountable for what they describe as an “ecological disaster.” The disasters claimed more than 1,200 lives and damaged more than 600,000 buildings across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A group of Indonesian citizens affected by the late-2025 Sumatra floods and landslides have filed a lawsuit with a court in Jakarta in an effort to hold the Indonesian government accountable for what they describe as an “ecological disaster.” The disasters claimed more than 1,200 lives and damaged more than 600,000 buildings across three provinces, resulting in more than 100 trillion rupiah ($5.6 billion) in estimated economic losses. The plaintiffs argue the damage from Cyclone Senyar was amplified by decades of policy failures, including deforestation, extractive concessions, degraded watersheds, weak zoning, poor environmental enforcement and the absence of an effective early-warning system. Through the lawsuit, the plaintiffs are effectively asking the court to determine whether the catastrophe transcended a natural calamity and could be categorized as a foreseeable failure of governance linked to environmental degradation and state inaction. The lawsuit combines elements of Indonesia’s citizen lawsuit mechanism with a challenge to alleged unlawful government administrative inaction under a 2014 law on public services. Alfi Syukri, a lawyer with the West Sumatra chapter of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who is representing the plaintiffs, noted that Indonesia’s meteorological agency, the BMKG, had repeatedly warned authorities about the potential for extreme weather linked to Cyclone Senyar before the disaster intensified. “So in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra [provinces], the head of BMKG Region 1 had already issued warnings eight days before [the Nov. 25 landfall], then repeated them four days before, and again two days before,” BMKG chief Teuku&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/survivors-sue-indonesian-government-over-response-to-catastrophic-sumatra-floods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320475</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Same dangerous project’: Fury after Indonesia revives disputed mine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2026 06:04:43 +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/20/2024/06/25160257/AKSI-WARGA-DAIRI-MENOLAK-TAMBANG-5-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319967</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Disasters, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Mining, Pollution, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new approval for a controversial zinc and lead mine in an earthquake-prone region of Sumatra Island, less than a year after a Supreme Court ruling forced it to rescind its earlier approval. Critics of the project have slammed the U-turn, pointing out that nothing has fundamentally changed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s environment ministry has issued a new approval for a controversial zinc and lead mine in an earthquake-prone region of Sumatra Island, less than a year after a Supreme Court ruling forced it to rescind its earlier approval. Critics of the project have slammed the U-turn, pointing out that nothing has fundamentally changed in that time. The new approval was issued for an environmental impact assessment that updates the previous assessment produced by PT Dairi Prima Mineral (DPM) for the mine in Dairi district, North Sumatra province. That earlier impact assessment, known as an Amdal in Indonesian, was faulted by nearby residents and experts for a plan to hold mining waste sludge behind a dam — a recipe for disaster, they contended, in a highly earth-quake prone region. The updated Amdal does away with the proposed permanent tailings dam, and instead proposes mixing the mining waste with cement and water and injecting it into mined-out voids underground, a process known as cemented paste backfill. But residents who successfully petitioned Indonesia’s highest court to void the earlier Amdal say the new one changes nothing in terms of minimizing the risk that the mine and its waste will pose to nearby communities. “I am disgusted,” said 65-year-old Rainim Purba from Pandiangan village in Dairi. “DPM is only hiding the same dangerous project in slightly different packaging.” She said the Supreme Court ruling from 2024 was meant to ensure the mine didn’t get environmental approval. “So is the [environment] ministry not&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/same-dangerous-project-fury-after-indonesia-revives-disputed-mine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319967</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 13:08:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Onrizal Onrizal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/11212405/Juv-of-Sumatran-orangutan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315549</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Orangutans, Pet Trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan, handed over by Thai authorities and repatriated for rehabilitation in North Sumatra. The images were moving — and they mattered. But a hard truth sits behind every heartwarming handover: if the pipeline stays open, the next baby will already be on the move. Just five weeks later, on Jan. 30, 2026, Indonesian officers in East Aceh stopped a truck carrying 53 packages filled with hundreds of protected wildlife specimens and parts, allegedly bound for Thailand. Seen together, these episodes read less like isolated crimes and more like a repeating pattern: seizure, repatriation, new shipment. Wildlife trafficking is an adaptive, transnational business. Repatriation is essential and humane, but it is not a strategy. Prevention is the strategy, and prevention starts by making trafficking unprofitable. Juvenile orangutans confiscated from a trafficker in Indonesia&#8217;s Aceh province in 2015. Photo by Junaidi Hanafiah for Mongabay. Transnational supply pipeline, not “petty crime” Orangutan trafficking and the broader trade in protected wildlife function like a supply chain: capture at the source → local collectors → transporters → cross-border smugglers → end-market buyers. In this chain, couriers are replaceable; organizers and financiers are not. Infant orangutans are especially lucrative because&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia faces scrutiny over permit revocations following deadly floods and landslides</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-faces-scrutiny-over-permit-revocations-following-deadly-floods-and-landslides/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-faces-scrutiny-over-permit-revocations-following-deadly-floods-and-landslides/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2026 03:55:53 +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/20/2025/12/18164313/Permukiman-hancur-akibat-banjir6-2048x1366-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314513</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government’s revocation of 28 forestry, plantation and mining permits after the deadly Sumatra floods is facing new scrutiny after researchers found that several of the concessions cited in the announcement had already expired, been revoked years earlier or are located outside the disaster-hit watersheds. The revocations, announced after Cyclone Senyar triggered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government’s revocation of 28 forestry, plantation and mining permits after the deadly Sumatra floods is facing new scrutiny after researchers found that several of the concessions cited in the announcement had already expired, been revoked years earlier or are located outside the disaster-hit watersheds. The revocations, announced after Cyclone Senyar triggered landslides and flash floods that killed about 1,200 people, mark a shift in enforcement. Instead of focusing on court-led environmental cases and restoration orders, officials say the land will be managed by state-owned enterprises under the sovereign wealth fund Danantara. Civil society groups say that risks turning a disaster response into a restructuring of control over forest and resource assets. Officials have said the 28 companies violated environmental and forestry regulations through their activities such as forest clearing and thus contributed to ecological damage linked to the disasters. However, an analysis by the NGO Auriga Nusantara found that some of the permits cited in the announcement had already been revoked years earlier, while others had expired before the floods occurred. The discrepancies add to growing confusion over how the policy is being implemented, which companies are actually linked to the November 2025 floods and landslides and what will happen to the former concession areas now slated for transfer to state-owned enterprises under Danantara. “We found that several companies’ concessions are not located in the disaster-affected areas — they are quite far from the disaster zones,” Auriga legal director Roni Saputra told Mongabay. A woman stands&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-faces-scrutiny-over-permit-revocations-following-deadly-floods-and-landslides/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesia-faces-scrutiny-over-permit-revocations-following-deadly-floods-and-landslides/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314513</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 17:12:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tonggo Simangunsong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26073116/Rainim-Purba-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agriculture, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Gender, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Mining, Politics, Pollution, Protests, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan. When rumor became reality, the company [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan. When rumor became reality, the company promised some residents jobs delivering logistics to workers in the hills, and others were promised to be employed in the mine. Little did Rainim know at the time that she was going to spend two decades of her life joining women farmers to challenge the mine and set a legal precedent in the country. Along with 11 villagers, women led a lawsuit that ultimately won in court. When the environment ministry followed through with the ruling by revoking the company’s environmental permit in May 2025, it marked a legal first: confirmation that an environmental permit of its kind, created through a controversial 2020 law, can in fact be challenged in court. Women were at the forefront of the legal challenge against PT DPM’s mine. Image courtesy of YDPK. According to community activists, when the mining company PT Dairi Prima Mineral (PT DPM) first came to speak to villagers, they were never properly informed of the potential threats the mine could pose. Notably, this consisted of the plan to build a tailings dam in an area with frequent earthquakes, landslide risks and unstable volcanic ash. “They just gave us a verbal notification, no outreach,” she said.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/the-long-struggle-of-women-farmers-to-halt-a-zinc-mine-in-north-sumatra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jan 2026 01:38:30 +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/20/2025/12/09070406/man-with-chicken-Batang-Toru-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313214</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Gold Mining, Great Apes, Hydroelectric Power, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Orangutans, Plantations, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the permits of 28 companies over environmental violations that authorities say exacerbated the deadly floods and landslides that struck the island of Sumatra in late 2025. The revocations follow an audit carried out by a government task force responsible for forest area enforcement after disasters triggered by Cyclone [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the permits of 28 companies over environmental violations that authorities say exacerbated the deadly floods and landslides that struck the island of Sumatra in late 2025. The revocations follow an audit carried out by a government task force responsible for forest area enforcement after disasters triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November 2025, which killed about 1,200 people across Indonesia’s main western island. The audit found that the 28 companies had violated various rules, including the 2009 law on environmental protection, and bore responsibility for environmental damage linked to the disasters. Authorities still haven’t disclose detailed findings or evidence for each case. The audit results were presented to President Prabowo Subianto during an online meeting on Jan. 19. “Based on that report, the president decided to revoke the permits of 28 companies that were proven to have committed violations,” State Secretariat Minister Prasetyo Hadi said at a press conference on Jan. 20, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia. The move signals a shift in how administrative enforcement is framed in Indonesia, with permit sanctions now explicitly justified by post-disaster accountability rather than routine compliance alone. The revoked permits include 22 forest utilization permits (PBPH) for operating in natural and plantation forests, covering a combined area of about 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) — roughly one-third the size of Belgium — as well as six mining, plantation and timber forest product utilization permits (PBPHHK). Among the affected permit holders is major pulpwood producer PT Toba&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-revokes-forest-and-mine-permits-over-role-in-deadly-sumatra-landslides/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313214</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods &#038; landslides</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jan 2026 06:21:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03233535/AP25336560227612-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313083</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gold Mining, Great Apes, Hydroelectric Power, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Mining, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In the wake of the deadly floods and landslides that struck Indonesia in late 2025, the nation’s environment ministry has sued six companies, seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages linked to the disasters. Following devastating floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November, which killed more than 1,100 people [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In the wake of the deadly floods and landslides that struck Indonesia in late 2025, the nation’s environment ministry has sued six companies, seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages linked to the disasters. Following devastating floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Senyar in November, which killed more than 1,100 people across Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra, the ministry launched an investigation into 70 companies operating in the region to examine possible links between corporate activities and the disasters. This week, the environment ministry’s law enforcement department announced the preliminary results of its investigation. Six companies, it said, were responsible for alleged damage to watersheds in North Sumatra province, involving the clearing of 2,516 hectares (6,217 acres) of rainforest, particularly in and around the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds. “The reason these companies are being sued is that, based on expert studies, alleged environmental damage was found around the Garoga watershed and the Batang Toru watershed,” said Dodi Kurniawan, the director of environmental dispute resolution at the ministry, during a press conference in Jakarta on Jan. 15. Sentinel-2 imagery (natural colors, 10-meter spatial resolution) over the rainforest of Batang Toru, home to the Tapanuli orangutan, taken before and after the extreme rainfall event that caused havoc in Sumatra in late November 2025. The before image was taken on Oct. 27, 2025; the after image on Dec. 3, 2025, showing patches of bare soil suddenly appearing. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap. The steep rainforest hills of Batang&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-sues-6-companies-over-alleged-links-to-deadly-floods-landslides/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A catastrophe that might offer a glimpse of hope for Indonesia (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-catastrophe-that-might-offer-a-glimpse-of-hope-for-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-catastrophe-that-might-offer-a-glimpse-of-hope-for-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jan 2026 13:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aida Greenbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/18164417/Gajah-bantu-banjir2-2048x1365-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312839</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Forests, Green, Hope and optimism, Logging, and Plantations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It was 27 December 2004. I was sitting at my computer in my office in Jakarta, Indonesia, my mind busy with plans for the New Year party I had organized with friends in the city, when my phone started ringing nonstop. First came a call from colleagues, frustrated that our North Sumatra office wasn’t picking [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It was 27 December 2004. I was sitting at my computer in my office in Jakarta, Indonesia, my mind busy with plans for the New Year party I had organized with friends in the city, when my phone started ringing nonstop. First came a call from colleagues, frustrated that our North Sumatra office wasn’t picking up. Then others told me to check the news online. What I had expected would be an exciting end-of-year celebration slowly revealed its darker reality. A megathrust earthquake had triggered a massive tsunami that devastated Aceh in Sumatra. Officials estimated that more than 200,000 people died. In November 2025, the nightmare returned. The 2025 wet season began earlier than usual in Indonesia. In September, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency warned that hydrometeorological hazards, including floods and landslides, could strike parts of the country, with November to December identified as the peak rainy season for Sumatra and Kalimantan. Most people did not take the warning seriously. Videos of urban flooding circulated on social media. But one eerie video caught my attention on 26 November 2025. The blurry footage showed dozens of people squatting on a forested hill in heavy rain, wrapped in makeshift raincoats. “Please help us. We are in the middle of the forest, surrounded by landslides,” the person recording shouted, just before the phone network died. A day earlier, on 25 November, more than 50 people had been trapped in a forested area of Tapanuli, North Sumatra, for two nights after floods and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-catastrophe-that-might-offer-a-glimpse-of-hope-for-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/a-catastrophe-that-might-offer-a-glimpse-of-hope-for-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312839</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia launches sweeping environmental audits after Sumatra flood disaster</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-launches-sweeping-environmental-audits-after-sumatra-flood-disaster/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-launches-sweeping-environmental-audits-after-sumatra-flood-disaster/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2026 10:50:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/18164313/Permukiman-hancur-akibat-banjir6-2048x1366-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312684</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Planetary Health, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has announced what it describes as a sweeping, science-based effort to reassess environmental governance, zoning and corporate accountability in the wake of floods and landslides that killed more than 1,100 people across the island of Sumatra. The disasters were triggered by extreme rainfall linked to Tropical Cyclone Senyar, but government [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has announced what it describes as a sweeping, science-based effort to reassess environmental governance, zoning and corporate accountability in the wake of floods and landslides that killed more than 1,100 people across the island of Sumatra. The disasters were triggered by extreme rainfall linked to Tropical Cyclone Senyar, but government officials, scientists and environmental researchers say the scale of the destruction can’t be attributed to the weather alone. They point instead to long-term land-use changes — including deforestation and large-scale forest conversion — that have weakened natural buffers in Sumatra’s upland watersheds, leaving landscapes unable to absorb intense rainfall. The government has acknowledged that human-driven changes to land cover have fundamentally altered Sumatra’s landscapes, reducing their capacity to prevent severe flooding and landslides when extreme weather hits. “These changes are caused both by anthropogenic factors — such as the conversion of forest cover into non-forest areas — and by heavy rainfall, combined with the geomorphological characteristics of our soils, which are unable to adapt to these pressures,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said. The acknowledgment marks a significant shift in tone. Rather than treating the disasters solely as natural events, the government is now explicitly linking loss of life and environmental damage to development decisions, land-use planning and corporate activity — and signaling that permits and licenses may no longer shield companies from accountability. On Dec. 23, 2025, Hanif announced a three-pronged intervention covering Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, the provinces most severely affected&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-launches-sweeping-environmental-audits-after-sumatra-flood-disaster/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-launches-sweeping-environmental-audits-after-sumatra-flood-disaster/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312684</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>After Cyclone Senyar, Indonesia probes whether development amplified scale of disaster</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/after-cyclone-senyar-indonesia-probes-whether-development-amplified-scale-of-disaster/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/after-cyclone-senyar-indonesia-probes-whether-development-amplified-scale-of-disaster/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jan 2026 10:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15024645/AP25342772562499-Batang_Toru-Sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312648</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Flooding, Gold Mining, Great Apes, Hydroelectric Power, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Orangutans, Plantations, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Best known as the home of the world’s rarest great ape, the mountainous Batang Toru forest landscape on the island of Sumatra has become a test case for whether Indonesia can enforce environmental law in a region where mining, energy and plantation projects overlap with fragile ecosystems. In late November 2025, a rare [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Best known as the home of the world’s rarest great ape, the mountainous Batang Toru forest landscape on the island of Sumatra has become a test case for whether Indonesia can enforce environmental law in a region where mining, energy and plantation projects overlap with fragile ecosystems. In late November 2025, a rare tropical cyclone, Senyar, swept across this part of northern Sumatra, bringing extreme rainfall that triggered flash floods and landslides in the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. The disaster killed at least 1,178 people and displaced around 1 million others, according to government figures, making it one of Indonesia’s deadliest natural disasters in recent history. While the storm provided the immediate trigger, climatologists and environmental researchers say the scale of the destruction can’t be attributed to extreme weather alone. They point also to decades of deforestation, land clearing and landscape alteration that have weakened natural buffers across Sumatra’s upland watersheds. “Extreme weather was only the initial trigger,” Erma Yulihastin, a climate researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said at a recent public discussion in Jakarta on disaster risk. “The destructive impact was shaped by weakened environmental buffers upstream.” The government appears to have acknowledged this, with Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq announcing on Dec. 23, 2025, an investigation into eight companies operating in the Batang Toru watershed, to assess whether their activities may have contributed to the floods and landslides. The ministry also ordered all eight companies to cease operations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/after-cyclone-senyar-indonesia-probes-whether-development-amplified-scale-of-disaster/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/after-cyclone-senyar-indonesia-probes-whether-development-amplified-scale-of-disaster/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312648</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapanuli-orangutan-devastated-by-cyclone-now-faces-habitat-loss-under-zoning-plans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapanuli-orangutan-devastated-by-cyclone-now-faces-habitat-loss-under-zoning-plans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2025 13:50:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Achmad Rizki MuazamHans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15042126/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay3-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311641</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Mammals, Orangutans, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Reeling from a cyclone that may have erased a chunk of its population, the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape population, now faces the prospect of losing more of its already constricted habitat. Just weeks before a rare tropical storm in the Malacca Strait unleashed torrential rains and mudslides that wiped out [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Reeling from a cyclone that may have erased a chunk of its population, the Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape population, now faces the prospect of losing more of its already constricted habitat. Just weeks before a rare tropical storm in the Malacca Strait unleashed torrential rains and mudslides that wiped out part of the Batang Toru forest in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, local authorities proposed a zoning overhaul that would make it easier to weaken environmental scrutiny for development projects in the region. At a meeting on Oct. 22 in Medan, the North Sumatra provincial capital, they called for scaling back the area zoned as “strategic” by nearly a third, from 240,985 to 163,402 hectares (595,487 to 403,775 acres). The “provincial strategic area” designation in the context of natural ecosystems means that zoning in the area must prioritize ecological functions, assess land-use decisions at the landscape scale, and subject applications for activities such as mining and plantations to extra scrutiny. Removing that designation weakens the legal basis for rejecting projects that pose environmental risks. Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC), who attended the Medan meeting, said the plan would devastate the western sector of Batang Toru that’s home to the highest density of Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis). “If Batang Toru is excluded, the landscape would lose legal recognition as a critical ecosystem,” he told Mongabay. “The western block — the largest block [of orangutan habitat] — would no longer be part of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapanuli-orangutan-devastated-by-cyclone-now-faces-habitat-loss-under-zoning-plans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tapanuli-orangutan-devastated-by-cyclone-now-faces-habitat-loss-under-zoning-plans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311641</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatra’s ‘natural’ disaster wasn’t natural: How deforestation turned a rare cyclone catastrophic</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatras-natural-disaster-wasnt-natural-how-deforestation-turned-a-rare-cyclone-catastrophic/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatras-natural-disaster-wasnt-natural-how-deforestation-turned-a-rare-cyclone-catastrophic/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 03:02:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/15024510/AP25336127205797-Batang_Toru-Sumatra-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311299</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Flooding, Forests, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s government has been at pains to stress that the recent catastrophe in Sumatra was triggered by a rare meteorological event. Cyclone Senyar formed in the Malacca Strait, an area where the national weather agency notes such storms are “an extremely rare phenomenon,” before unloading torrents of rain on Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s government has been at pains to stress that the recent catastrophe in Sumatra was triggered by a rare meteorological event. Cyclone Senyar formed in the Malacca Strait, an area where the national weather agency notes such storms are “an extremely rare phenomenon,” before unloading torrents of rain on Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. Meteorologists say the interaction of two cyclones may have produced record rainfall over parts of the island. Scientists are cautious about pinning any single storm on climate change. Yet few now argue that the tragedy was simply an act of nature. Men stand on logs swept away by flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Photo credit: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara Officials themselves have begun to say the quiet part out loud. Forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni told parliament that “poor forest management” had worsened the disaster, and promised to “review forest governance, consider a moratorium on new permits, and revoke the licenses of violators,” according to Reuters. The environment minister, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, has suspended permits for several companies in the Batang Toru watershed and warned that criminal proceedings are possible if violations are found. The broader pattern is well documented: Sumatra has lost an estimated 4.4 million hectares of forest since 2001. When the floodwaters receded, viral images showed how extensive clearing shapes disaster impacts on the ground: houses smashed by logs, riverbanks lined with cut timber, and whole slopes stripped to bare soil. Annual primary forest loss in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatras-natural-disaster-wasnt-natural-how-deforestation-turned-a-rare-cyclone-catastrophic/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatras-natural-disaster-wasnt-natural-how-deforestation-turned-a-rare-cyclone-catastrophic/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311299</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran flood disaster may have wiped out a key Tapanuli orangutan population, scientists fear</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatran-flood-disaster-may-have-wiped-out-key-tapanuli-orangutan-population/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatran-flood-disaster-may-have-wiped-out-key-tapanuli-orangutan-population/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2025 11:18:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15042136/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay1-1536x1024-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311209</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape, has been discovered dead in mud and log debris in a village in northern Sumatra — a grim sign of how severely recent floods and landslides may have devastated the species’ fragile habitat. A group of scientists has described the catastrophe as an “extinction-level disturbance” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A Tapanuli orangutan, the world’s rarest great ape, has been discovered dead in mud and log debris in a village in northern Sumatra — a grim sign of how severely recent floods and landslides may have devastated the species’ fragile habitat. A group of scientists has described the catastrophe as an “extinction-level disturbance” for the apes. Humanitarian workers found the body on Dec. 3, a week after cyclone-driven storms triggered destructive floods and landslides across Sumatra, according to Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder of the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC). The carcass reportedly had the flesh torn from its face and that its condition was consistent with having been swept away by the cascading debris. “It shows that the habitat has been impacted, and likely some individuals were swept away by landslides or floods. That is entirely possible,” Panut told Mongabay. He said the landslide struck the western side of the Batang Toru ecosystem, a biodiversity stronghold that hosts one of three known Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) populations, as well as other vanishingly rare species such as the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus). “With the size of the western block being around 50,000-60,000 hectares [about 124,000-148,000 acres], it is very plausible that parts of the habitat collapsed, dragging orangutans along with it,” Panut said. Flood survivors use logs to cross a river in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 2, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara. A spatial analysis by Erik Meijaard, managing director of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatran-flood-disaster-may-have-wiped-out-key-tapanuli-orangutan-population/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/sumatran-flood-disaster-may-have-wiped-out-key-tapanuli-orangutan-population/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311209</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Death toll rises in Sumatra flood catastrophe as gov’t moves to protect Batang Toru forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/death-toll-rises-in-sumatra-flood-catastrophe-as-govt-moves-to-protect-batang-toru-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/death-toll-rises-in-sumatra-flood-catastrophe-as-govt-moves-to-protect-batang-toru-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2025 07:13:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Achmad Rizki MuazamAyat S. KarokaroTaufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09070114/flash-flood-in-Batang-Toru-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310837</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Storms, Tropical Deforestation, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NORTH SUMATRA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s environment ministry on Dec. 6 suspended private sector activity in a crucial high conservation value rainforest as rescuers continued working through three Sumatran provinces following a highly unusual and catastrophic tropical cyclone. “We’ve identified at least three main sources exacerbating the flooding: industrial forestry plantations, massive hydropower development and gold [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NORTH SUMATRA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s environment ministry on Dec. 6 suspended private sector activity in a crucial high conservation value rainforest as rescuers continued working through three Sumatran provinces following a highly unusual and catastrophic tropical cyclone. “We’ve identified at least three main sources exacerbating the flooding: industrial forestry plantations, massive hydropower development and gold mining activities in the Batang Toru watershed,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said Dec. 6. “All of these have contributed significantly to the pressure on the environment.” Batang Toru is an old-growth Sumatran rainforest home to the Tapanauli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), the world’s most endangered species of ape. The minister said the operating permits for three companies would be suspended pending a review following an aerial survey of Batang Toru, one of the areas of Sumatra worst affected by a rare tropical cyclone. Glenn Hurowitz, the chief executive of Mighty Earth, a nonprofit that has campaigned for protection of the Batang Toru ecosystem, said Minister Hanif “deserves thanks from around the world for taking decisive action to protect the Batang Toru ecosystem and local communities… Suspending the operations of companies driving deforestation is a vital step to avoid a repeat of this catastrophe.” Hanif was joined over the weekend on a helicopter flyover by the environment ministry’s deputy director of the law enforcement division, which has powers to conduct criminal investigations. “We’ll assess the damage, assess the legal aspects, and we won’t rule out the possibility of criminal proceedings if violations are found that worsened&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/death-toll-rises-in-sumatra-flood-catastrophe-as-govt-moves-to-protect-batang-toru-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/death-toll-rises-in-sumatra-flood-catastrophe-as-govt-moves-to-protect-batang-toru-forest/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310837</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia retiree rewilds world’s largest volcano lake as church demands plantation closures</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-retiree-rewilds-worlds-largest-volcano-lake-as-church-demands-plantation-closures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-retiree-rewilds-worlds-largest-volcano-lake-as-church-demands-plantation-closures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2025 03:54:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sri Wahyuni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/24190725/Wilmar-Eliaser-Simandjorang-head-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307777</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Islands, Lakes, Landscape Restoration, Restoration, Rewilding, and Volcanoes]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAMOSIR, Indonesia — On retirement from public life, Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang found a quiet place on a hillside overlooking Lake Toba, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, to write about this landscape sacred to the region’s Batak people. “If we don&#8217;t pay attention to this, Lake Toba will be just a memory,” Wilmar told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAMOSIR, Indonesia — On retirement from public life, Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang found a quiet place on a hillside overlooking Lake Toba, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, to write about this landscape sacred to the region’s Batak people. “If we don&#8217;t pay attention to this, Lake Toba will be just a memory,” Wilmar told Mongabay Indonesia at his home near the lake, the site of a volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago that plunged the world into global winter and famine. More recently, North Sumatra province’s environment department has warned of a burgeoning pollution problem from the waste dumped into Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world. Many here in this subdued lakeside region today, which is home to Sumatra’s ethnic Batak people (and the center of seven districts in North Sumatra province), say a complex array of changes taking place around the Toba landscape are reaching a tipping point. “The forest is being cut down, both legally and illegally — biodiversity is being burned,” Wilmar said. “Rainwater is just running off; it carries ash, trash and pesticides into the lake.” A study of 60 water samples published in the journal Advances in Oceanography and Limnology in 2024 confirms worrying local testimony. The research, conducted in 2020-2021 by scientists from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Indonesia’s premier forestry university, indicated intensive ecological distress. Researchers revealed nitrogen levels greater than the safe threshold set by Indonesia’s environment ministry, threatening both fish and water quality. Civil society organizations, church groups and community&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-retiree-rewilds-worlds-largest-volcano-lake-as-church-demands-plantation-closures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307777</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New cluster of Tapanuli orangutans discovered in Sumatra peat swamp</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tapanuli-orangutan-sumatra-endangered-ape-conservation-forest-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tapanuli-orangutan-sumatra-endangered-ape-conservation-forest-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2025 02:05:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi Hanafiah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/15042253/Orangutan-tapanuli_Junaidi-Mongabay1-1536x1024-1-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307657</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Apes, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Infrastructure, Logging, Mammals, Orangutans, Primary Forests, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL TAPANULI, Indonesia — Since it was first described by scientists in 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan, one of the world’s rarest great apes, was believed to live only in the Batang Toru forest of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. But new findings reveal that the species (Pongo tapanuliensis) also inhabits a peat swamp forest some 32 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CENTRAL TAPANULI, Indonesia — Since it was first described by scientists in 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan, one of the world’s rarest great apes, was believed to live only in the Batang Toru forest of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. But new findings reveal that the species (Pongo tapanuliensis) also inhabits a peat swamp forest some 32 kilometers (20 miles) away, adding a new layer to the understanding of its range. On Sept. 26, 2025, a field team from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Foundation–Orangutan Information Centre (YOSL-OIC), accompanied by Mongabay Indonesia journalist Junaidi Hanafiah, documented a mother and infant orangutan in the secondary forest of Lumut Maju village in Central Tapanuli district. The observation followed hours of trekking through thick vegetation, and the sighting became the first confirmed record of Tapanuli orangutans in this area, which borders the Indian Ocean. The location first drew attention in 2022, when local residents reported orangutan sightings to YOSL-OIC’s Human-Orangutan Conflict Response Unit (HOCRU). Initial verification found no apes, but did reveal five nests. Later that year, HOCRU and the YOSL-OIC research team returned for further monitoring across the 1,234-hectare (3,049-acre) peat swamp. They found 17 nests, several newly constructed, indicating active use of the forest by orangutans. “We found new nests that we categorized as class one nests, which we can confirm to have orangutans,” Rio Ardi, the research manager at YOSL-OIC, told Mongabay. A previously unknown home of Tapanuli orangutans has been discovered in a peat swamp forest in North Sumatra. Image by Junaidi&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tapanuli-orangutan-sumatra-endangered-ape-conservation-forest-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/tapanuli-orangutan-sumatra-endangered-ape-conservation-forest-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307657</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hope and frustration as Indonesia pilots FSC’s logging remedy framework</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2025 10:34:20 +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/20/2020/03/04053319/Hutan-adat-Sihaporas-yang-hancur-dan-berubah-menjadi-pohon-eukaliptus-dalam-jumlah-banyak-yang-dikuasai-PT.-TPL-mengantongi-izin-konsesi-dari-pemerintah-Ayat-S-Karokaro-768x506.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302935</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Certification, Conflict, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Logging, Pulp And Paper, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Social Conflict, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging. At stake is the credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) first-of-its-kind “remedy framework,” an ambitious mechanism that allows logging companies stripped of certification to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is testing whether one of the world’s most powerful timber certifiers can deliver justice — or merely a reset — to forest communities harmed by industrial logging. At stake is the credibility of the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) first-of-its-kind “remedy framework,” an ambitious mechanism that allows logging companies stripped of certification to regain it — but only if they repair the environmental and social damage they’ve caused. But early implementation has exposed cracks — particularly in how past harms are assessed. The FSC is the world’s most recognizable ethical wood certifier, whose logo of a green checkmark and tree is widely used to assure consumers of sustainable sourcing and appears on forestry products — from furniture to paper — worldwide. Under the remedy framework that was adopted in 2023, forestry companies can obtain or regain sustainability certificates if they remedy past environmental and social harms. Two of Indonesia’s largest forestry firms have entered this process, making the country a global testing ground for what could become a new model of corporate accountability, opening the door to restoring millions of hectares of forests, and bringing restitution to thousands of affected communities. FSC director-general Subhra Bhattacharjee told Mongabay that the Indonesian context will highlight the framework’s limitations and the need to customize it to local conditions, “because what works in Indonesia won&#8217;t necessarily work in another country — but the processes will.” Area of natural forest near a river cleared by PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL). Toba Pulp Lestari&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/hope-and-frustration-as-indonesia-pilots-fscs-logging-remedy-framework/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302935</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A fragile win as Indonesia cancels high-risk mine permit after court ruling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/a-fragile-win-as-indonesia-cancels-high-risk-mine-permit-after-court-ruling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/a-fragile-win-as-indonesia-cancels-high-risk-mine-permit-after-court-ruling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2025 09:45:28 +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/20/2025/06/02093807/Court-14-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the environmental permit of a controversial zinc-and-lead mine being developed in a, earthquake-prone zone on the island of Sumatra, in what activists say sets an important legal precedent for community-led environmental challenges nationwide. The Ministry of Environment issued the revocation on May 21, following community protests and to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has revoked the environmental permit of a controversial zinc-and-lead mine being developed in a, earthquake-prone zone on the island of Sumatra, in what activists say sets an important legal precedent for community-led environmental challenges nationwide. The Ministry of Environment issued the revocation on May 21, following community protests and to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that ordered the rescinding of the permit, formally known as an environmental feasibility approval, or SKKLH. Villagers living within the project’s zone of influence have for years petitioned against the development of the mine. The central object of their criticism is the planned dam to hold mining waste, or tailings. According to David Williams, director of the University of Queensland’s Geotechnical Engineering Centre in Australia and a tailings dam expert, the site is among the most dangerous possible locations for a mine of this kind, with high rainfall, frequent earthquakes, unstable volcanic ash, and landslide risks. Data from the news portal Volcano Discovery show a very high level of seismic activity in Dairi district, where the mine site is located, with about 40 earthquakes on average per year. In the past 30 days alone, Dairi has experienced 19 quakes of magnitudes 2 to 3.5. “These site conditions represent worst-case scenarios in every respect,” Williams wrote, warning that a dam failure poses deadly risks to downstream communities, and would poison waterways and destroy farmland. Despite repeated warnings from experts, the environment ministry decided to approve the project’s environmental assessment in August 2022, issuing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/a-fragile-win-as-indonesia-cancels-high-risk-mine-permit-after-court-ruling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/a-fragile-win-as-indonesia-cancels-high-risk-mine-permit-after-court-ruling/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran tiger protection needs more patrols, tougher penalties, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2025 04:37:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/14062846/Foto1harimau_Anton-Wisuda-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Leuser Ecosystem, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, flagship species, In-situ Conservation, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Science, Species, Tigers, Tropical Conservation Science, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities managing one of the last protected areas on Earth that still hosts Sumatran tigers must do more to deter poaching and promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, a new study suggests. Poaching remains the top threat to the survival of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) population in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities managing one of the last protected areas on Earth that still hosts Sumatran tigers must do more to deter poaching and promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, a new study suggests. Poaching remains the top threat to the survival of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) population in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park, a habitat it shares with other critically endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) and orangutan (Pongo abelii). A recently published study in the Journal of Environmental Management looks at how effective management of integrated protected areas has been in this context, including assessing patrol strategies and wildlife trafficking interventions. “We want to know whether our approach is effective in reaching our conservation goals,” study lead author Adhi Nurul Hadi, a wildlife researcher at the University of Indonesia and a Ministry of Forestry official, told Mongabay in an email. Gunung Leuser National Park is part of the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh province in northern Sumatra. A rescued Sumatran tiger being released in Gunung Leuser National Park. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment. Adhi said conservation works tend to have a singular focus, such as protecting conservation areas through patrols, or reducing threats from the illegal wildlife trade. Integrated planning and evaluation of conservation efforts constitute a more recent approach, he said. This starts with addressing urgent tasks such as snare removal, and encompassing long-term approaches such as patrols and antitrafficking efforts, which require substantial time, resources and funding.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/sumatran-tiger-protection-needs-more-patrols-tougher-penalties-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian pangolin trafficking prosecution reveals police involvement — and impunity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesian-pangolin-trafficking-prosecution-reveals-police-involvement-and-impunity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesian-pangolin-trafficking-prosecution-reveals-police-involvement-and-impunity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 02:54:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ayat S. Karokaro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/13152750/Trenggiling_Sunda_Sunda_Pangolin_Manis_javanica-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299010</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pangolins, Poaching, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ASAHAN, Indonesia – On Nov. 11, 2024, Alfi Simatupang, a police officer in Asahan district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested along with two soldiers and a civilian for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of pangolin scales. Since that bust, the civilian, Amir Simatupang, has gone on trial; the soldiers, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ASAHAN, Indonesia – On Nov. 11, 2024, Alfi Simatupang, a police officer in Asahan district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested along with two soldiers and a civilian for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of pangolin scales. Since that bust, the civilian, Amir Simatupang, has gone on trial; the soldiers, Muhammad Yusuf Harahap and Rahmadani Syahputra, are undergoing a court-martial; while Alfi, the alleged mastermind of the trafficking plot, has not only avoided prosecution, but even been promoted. This glaring disparity in the way the case is being prosecuted has highlighted once again the apparent impunity enjoyed by law enforcement officers accused of wildlife crimes in Indonesia, observers say. “This is not the first case involving [law enforcement] officials,” Marison Guciano, co-founder of the nonprofit conservation NGO Flight Indonesia Foundation, said in response to the case. “There’s big money in the illegal wildlife business.” The case came to light last November when a joint team of police, military police and environment ministry enforcement officers received a tip about a potential trade in pangolin scales. They first arrested Yusuf, one of the soldiers, who was found driving a pickup truck loaded with boxes containing a combined 320 kilograms (705 pounds) of pangolin scales. The raid also netted the second soldier, Syahputra, along with Alfi and Amir, is alleged to be the middleman connecting the sellers to a buyer in Aceh province. A search of Yusuf’s home uncovered another 858 kg (1,892 lbs) of pangolin scales, for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesian-pangolin-trafficking-prosecution-reveals-police-involvement-and-impunity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesian-pangolin-trafficking-prosecution-reveals-police-involvement-and-impunity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299010</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal trafficking of siamang gibbons is a concerning and underreported crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/illegal-trafficking-of-siamang-gibbons-is-a-concerning-and-underreported-crisis-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/illegal-trafficking-of-siamang-gibbons-is-a-concerning-and-underreported-crisis-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Apr 2025 16:04:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sinan Serhadli]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/29082403/siamang-gibbon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India, Indonesia, Malaysia, North Sumatra, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Commentary, Conservation, Gibbons, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Siamangs are the largest of the 20 gibbon species, and belong to their own genus, Symphalangus. Distributed across Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and the southernmost part of Thailand, their unforgettable and emblematic call defines the soundscape of the hill forests in the region. Despite still having several population strongholds across their range, with their number likely [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Siamangs are the largest of the 20 gibbon species, and belong to their own genus, Symphalangus. Distributed across Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and the southernmost part of Thailand, their unforgettable and emblematic call defines the soundscape of the hill forests in the region. Despite still having several population strongholds across their range, with their number likely being around 100,000 across Sumatra, they are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Gibbons, also known as “small apes,” receive far less conservation attention than their “great ape” cousins, and so the trafficking of gibbons is still a big and increasing threat to their long-term survival. By contrast, orangutan trafficking has decreased over the last five years and is seen as a higher-profile crime compared to trafficking gibbons. Among all gibbon range countries, Indonesia is the hotspot for gibbon trafficking, which is reflected in the numerous wildlife rescue centers across the country that shelter gibbons. Of all gibbon species, the siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus) is the most trafficked, making it one of the most, if not the most trafficked ape species, globally. Recent news highlights this trend, with five Siamang infants being confiscated at Chennai International Airport in India. As Mongabay recently highlighted, India is becoming the main destination for smuggled gibbons, likely coming from Sumatra via Malaysia. On March 3, Indonesian authorities off the coast of North Sumatra busted a ship en route to Malaysia, and among human trafficking victims, 10 gibbons, of which seven were siamangs, were also being trafficked. Siamangs spend&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/illegal-trafficking-of-siamang-gibbons-is-a-concerning-and-underreported-crisis-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/illegal-trafficking-of-siamang-gibbons-is-a-concerning-and-underreported-crisis-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/global-outcry-as-petitioners-demand-no-mining-expansion-in-orangutan-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/global-outcry-as-petitioners-demand-no-mining-expansion-in-orangutan-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2025 15:27:39 +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/20/2024/03/11154114/Orangutan_Tapanuli-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296088</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Gold Mining, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mining, Orangutans, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition calling on U.K. multinational Jardine Matheson to cancel its plan to expand deeper into Indonesia’s Batang Toru Forest, the only known habitat of the world’s most threatened great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan. Jardines is the parent company of Indonesian conglomerate Astra International, which in turn is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition calling on U.K. multinational Jardine Matheson to cancel its plan to expand deeper into Indonesia’s Batang Toru Forest, the only known habitat of the world’s most threatened great ape, the Tapanuli orangutan. Jardines is the parent company of Indonesian conglomerate Astra International, which in turn is the parent of Agincourt Resources, the company operating the Martabe gold mine in northern Sumatra. From 2016 to 2020, Agincourt cleared 100 hectares (about 250 acres) of forest in its concession. And it’s set to clear even more under its expansion plan, which calls for a new site for its mining waste, or tailings, as the current tailings facility nears capacity and production is expected to ramp up. Location of the Martabe gold mine in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Under the plan, laid out in the company’s 2020 environmental impact assessment, 583 hectares (1,441 acres) will have to be cleared for the tailings site, service roads, a dam and a buffer zone, according to Riezcy Cecilia Dewi, a campaigner at Indonesian environmental NGO Satya Bumi. She said this is much larger than the total 98 hectares (242 acres) that Agincourt stated in January 2024 would be needed for the tailings facility and for slope stability and drainage. But regardless of how much deforestation the expansion plan entails, any clearing of the native forest will be devastating for the survival of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), Riezcy said. The critically endangered species has a total estimated population&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/global-outcry-as-petitioners-demand-no-mining-expansion-in-orangutan-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/global-outcry-as-petitioners-demand-no-mining-expansion-in-orangutan-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296088</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unchecked illegal trawling pushes Indonesia’s small-scale fishers to the brink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/unchecked-illegal-trawling-pushes-indonesias-small-scale-fishers-to-the-brink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/unchecked-illegal-trawling-pushes-indonesias-small-scale-fishers-to-the-brink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2025 05:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tonggo Simangunsong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/10130428/Zulkifli-Dalimunthe-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Law, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, Saltwater Fish, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TANJUNG LEIDONG, Indonesia — At around 5:30 a.m., after the tide starts to recede, Zulkifli Dalimunthe rushes to the shore a stone’s throw from his house, where he anchors his small wooden boat. Working by himself, the 40-year-old fisher usually takes his vessel about 1-3 nautical miles (2-5.5 kilometers) out to sea from Tanjung Leidong, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TANJUNG LEIDONG, Indonesia — At around 5:30 a.m., after the tide starts to recede, Zulkifli Dalimunthe rushes to the shore a stone’s throw from his house, where he anchors his small wooden boat. Working by himself, the 40-year-old fisher usually takes his vessel about 1-3 nautical miles (2-5.5 kilometers) out to sea from Tanjung Leidong, a coastal village in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, to cast his net for fish. “I have been a fisher for almost 20 years, and now it’s getting harder,” the father of five tells Mongabay. Lately, his catch has been shrinking as trawl vessels operate in his fishing grounds. “How can I catch a lot of fish if the trawlers have already caught fish in our area?” he says. Sometimes he goes farther out to sea, up to 5 nmi (9 km), but the trawlers also operate there. “We feel like we’re being colonized,” Zulkifli says. In Indonesia, trawling — an industrial fishing method in which large nets are dragged through the water — has been banned, permitted, rebanned and repermitted several times since 1980. Under the latest rules, issued in 2023, trawlers can operate beyond a 12-nmi (22-km) near-shore zone, which is reserved for traditional and small-scale fishers. Fishers like Zulkifli, however, say it’s an open secret that trawlers operate illegally within the exclusion zone. These include bottom trawlers, which are especially controversial for the way the huge nets, and the heavy gear that weighs them down, drag along the seafloor and ruin the habitat.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/unchecked-illegal-trawling-pushes-indonesias-small-scale-fishers-to-the-brink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Sumatra loses mangroves to oil palms, local fishers also suffer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-sumatra-loses-mangroves-to-oil-palms-local-fishers-also-suffer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-sumatra-loses-mangroves-to-oil-palms-local-fishers-also-suffer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2024 14:51:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ayat S. Karokaro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/25104241/Syafii-a-fisherman-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290592</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Fishing, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Governance, Mangroves, Oceans, Palm Oil, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LANGKAT, Indonesia — Syafi’i has spent three decades picking up the crabs scurrying along the coast here in Langkat district on Sumatra Island’s northeastern coast, a reliable trade that provided first for his children, then his grandchildren. The income from collecting the decapods enabled Syafi’i to comfortably pay school fees and build a home for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LANGKAT, Indonesia — Syafi’i has spent three decades picking up the crabs scurrying along the coast here in Langkat district on Sumatra Island’s northeastern coast, a reliable trade that provided first for his children, then his grandchildren. The income from collecting the decapods enabled Syafi’i to comfortably pay school fees and build a home for his family in the village of Kwala Langkat. Most of the village’s fishing community here along the Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, used to be considered relatively prosperous. Today, however, the villagers say shifts in the local environment, compounded by inflationary pressures, have diminished that staunch coastal economy. “We can’t rely on crabs anymore,” Syafi’i told Mongabay Indonesia. Around a decade ago, the mangrove forest in Kwala Langkat village deteriorated after an investor began work to a clear what he claimed was a 100-hectare (247-acre) concession for oil palm cultivation. Syafi’i is one of hundreds of people in Langkat who say their fisheries have collapsed due to mangrove destruction, and that this abrupt change in land use risks loading communities with further problems. “This mangrove forest must be protected,” he said. “If it isn’t protected, seawater will enter our settlements.” Syafi&#8217;i&#8217;s shellfish catch. He switched to looking for shellfish in the Malacca Strait when catching crabs became unreliable. Image by Ayat S. Karokaro/Mongabay Indonesia. Dependent claws The global coastal population has surged from 1.6 billion to 2.5 billion people in just three decades. More than three-quarters of that number live in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-sumatra-loses-mangroves-to-oil-palms-local-fishers-also-suffer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian mother imprisoned for protesting palm oil factory next to school</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/indonesian-mother-imprisoned-for-protesting-palm-oil-factory-next-to-school/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/indonesian-mother-imprisoned-for-protesting-palm-oil-factory-next-to-school/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2024 03:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sri Wahyuni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/04123816/Gustina-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289619</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Human Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Palm Oil, Plantations, Pollution, Protests, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gustina Salim Rambe appeared quietly distraught as a court on Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra sentenced her to more than five months in prison for speaking out against the environmental damage caused by a nearby palm oil mill. Gustina’s husband, Sahrul Siregar, said the mill operated by PT Pulo Padang Sawit Permai (PPSP) in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gustina Salim Rambe appeared quietly distraught as a court on Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra sentenced her to more than five months in prison for speaking out against the environmental damage caused by a nearby palm oil mill. Gustina’s husband, Sahrul Siregar, said the mill operated by PT Pulo Padang Sawit Permai (PPSP) in Pulo Padang village, Labuhan Batu district, had previously suspended work following direct local actions to block trucks carrying supplies. However, the plant later resumed operations, blanketing adjacent residential areas and two schools with air pollution. Gustina’s attorney, M. Yani Rambe, explained that his client was arrested by Labuhan Batu police on May 20 during a demonstration to oppose the factory reopening, and that she was subsequently charged for her part in obstructing vehicle access to the factory. Gustina’s arrest garnered widespread attention in Indonesia as a video of her behind bars consoling her young daughter spread across social and national media. The 3-year-old toddler reached out to her mother from the other side of the remand cell as Gustina fixed her daughter’s hair. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/04123116/Snapinsta.app_video_D4453B0D41F4D07EC75F788E78DF6C87_video_dashinit.mp4 The video of Gustina consoling her daughter from a jail cell spread across Indonesian social and national media. Video courtesy of rina.senjaa1 via Instagram. Local people said the some 400 children attending the Harisma Private Elementary Madrasah, known as MIS Harisma, had been inhaling smoke every day emitted by the chimney at the factory, which is right next door. “The factory wasn’t put up with any distance from residential areas,” Sahrul&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/indonesian-mother-imprisoned-for-protesting-palm-oil-factory-next-to-school/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/04123116/Snapinsta.app_video_D4453B0D41F4D07EC75F788E78DF6C87_video_dashinit.mp4" length="3389348" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289619</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Canopy bridges serve a lifeline for Sumatra’s tree-dwelling primates</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/sumatra-orangutan-forest-fragmentation-canopy-bridge-endangered-wildlife-roads-primates/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/sumatra-orangutan-forest-fragmentation-canopy-bridge-endangered-wildlife-roads-primates/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2024 00:56:25 +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/20/2024/10/30104027/Langurs-using-bridges-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289425</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forestry, Forests, Great Apes, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Orangutans, Rainforests, Research, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Corridors, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, conservation groups and authorities have built canopy bridges that stitch back together primate habitat, including for orangutans, that were fragmented by roads over the years. Road building has expanded throughout Pakpak Bharat district to connect communities living on the edges of the forest to schools, hospitals and other [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, conservation groups and authorities have built canopy bridges that stitch back together primate habitat, including for orangutans, that were fragmented by roads over the years. Road building has expanded throughout Pakpak Bharat district to connect communities living on the edges of the forest to schools, hospitals and other facilities. For the region’s wildlife, however, these roads have reduced connectivity between habitats, especially for tree-dwelling primates like the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii). Wildlife movements across habitats are essential to sustaining viable populations, according to ecological surveys by the Resilient Equatorial Forests Foundation (TaHuKah), an NGO based in Medan, the provincial capital, which started working in the area in 2022. &#8220;This [canopy bridges] project was born from a shared vision with the local authorities, recognizing that alongside essential development like road infrastructure, we must safeguard the movement of wildlife,” Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of TaHuKah, told Mongabay in an email. A team from the Resilient Equatorial Forests Foundation (TaHuKah) and Vertical Rescue Indonesia builds a canopy bridge for primate connectivity in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. Image courtesy of TaHuKah. The foundation approached local public works authorities, forest management units, and communities to build artificial canopy bridges to stitch back together the landscapes fragmented by new and upgraded roads. TaHuKah also partnered with the conservation group Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS), which helped identify the fragmented, smaller populations of the great apes and viable ways to reconnect them based on data from the last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/sumatra-orangutan-forest-fragmentation-canopy-bridge-endangered-wildlife-roads-primates/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289425</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Stop the stupidity’: Indonesia’s top court orders end to mine in quake zone</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/stop-the-stupidity-indonesias-top-court-orders-end-to-mine-in-quake-zone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/stop-the-stupidity-indonesias-top-court-orders-end-to-mine-in-quake-zone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Sep 2024 13:57:00 +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/20/2024/06/25160759/AKSI-WARGA-DAIRI-MENOLAK-TAMBANG-14-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286977</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Conflict, Earthquakes, Environment, Environmental Policy, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, and Mining]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A controversial zinc-and-lead mine being developed on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has hit a roadblock after the country’s Supreme Court ordered the revocation of its environmental permit. In its Aug. 12 ruling, the court upheld a lower court’s earlier decision that the environmental permit should never have been issued in the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A controversial zinc-and-lead mine being developed on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has hit a roadblock after the country’s Supreme Court ordered the revocation of its environmental permit. In its Aug. 12 ruling, the court upheld a lower court’s earlier decision that the environmental permit should never have been issued in the first place in light of experts’ warnings of potentially disastrous fallout due to the project’s location on an active tectonic fault. “Now the Supreme Court has made it clear: further development of this mine is unlawful,” Mangatur Lumbantoruan, a resident of the village of Sumbari in Dairi district, North Sumatra province, said in response to the ruling. “The mine is dangerous. Government and financiers should withdraw their support.” Residents of Sumbari and other villages sitting within the project’s zone of influence have for years petitioned against the development of the mine. The central object of their criticism is the planned dam to hold mining waste, or tailings. An independent analysis by experts identified extreme risks of the dam collapsing because it would sit in one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Data from news portal Volcano Discovery show there are about 41 earthquakes on average per year in or near Dairi. So far this year alone, Dairi has experienced 27 quakes of magnitudes above 2, and up to 4.7. As a result of previous volcanic eruptions, the region is caked in a thick deposit of unconsolidated volcanic ash. And it’s on this relatively&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/stop-the-stupidity-indonesias-top-court-orders-end-to-mine-in-quake-zone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286977</doi>				</item>
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