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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Indonesia environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/indonesia/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Deadly wildfires leave Borneo wildlife scrambling for fresh water</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-wildfires-leave-borneo-wildlife-scrambling-for-fresh-water/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-wildfires-leave-borneo-wildlife-scrambling-for-fresh-water/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2026 06:50:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/09063906/092005381-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=332036</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Disasters, El Nino, Endangered Species, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildfires in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, are leaving wildlife without fresh water as ponds turn brackish and forest pools dry up, driving animals into villages and toward the coast. Residents and conservation groups are responding by providing water, rescuing affected animals and treating them as smoke and fires continue to affect their habitat. Preliminary findings by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildfires in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, are leaving wildlife without fresh water as ponds turn brackish and forest pools dry up, driving animals into villages and toward the coast. Residents and conservation groups are responding by providing water, rescuing affected animals and treating them as smoke and fires continue to affect their habitat. Preliminary findings by NGO Yayasan Planet Indonesia recorded at least 16 dead animals, including silvered langurs (Trachypithecus cristatus), long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus, an endangered primate found only on Borneo), from early August through late September amid an intense fire season in coastal Kubu Raya, a district in West Kalimantan. That compares to 13 dead non-fish animals recorded during nearly six years of SMART patrols — a system for monitoring wildlife and threats in the forest — in the area, from September 2020 through June 2026, with most deaths attributed to natural causes or left unexplained. As freshwater pools dried up and village ponds turned brackish, Planet Indonesia found dehydrated wildlife moving closer to homes and the coast in search of water. “We have never had findings like this before,” said Adam Miller, co-founder of Planet Indonesia, in a statement sent to Mongabay. The NGO has worked alongside the village institutions in Kubu Raya since 2017. “When the mangroves lose their fresh water, the animals die,” Miller said. A long-tailed macaque found dead on Sept. 14 by SMART patrol team. Image courtesy of Yayasan Planet Indonesia. On Sept. 20, a patrol found a silvered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-wildfires-leave-borneo-wildlife-scrambling-for-fresh-water/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/deadly-wildfires-leave-borneo-wildlife-scrambling-for-fresh-water/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-332036</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Indonesians facing El Nino’s fires have lessons to teach us (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2026 14:17:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Akane Nishimura]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/22123507/borneo-Dayak-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331681</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Disasters, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October 2006, I was supposed to be starting my dissertation research on tropical reforestation in Indonesia. Instead, I found myself in the forests of Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan helping locals to fight fires with brooms, backpack pumps, and hoses connected to hand-dug water wells. It was an ‘all hands-on deck’ moment for the local NGO I was working with then — Friends of Nature, People and Forests (FNPF) — including Basuki Santoso, FNPF’s Kalimantan program manager, alongside Adut and Isam, who were teenagers at the time. On our first night of firefighting, we slept in the forest on a raised platform that would later become part of a field station. I was awoken in the middle of the night by a sun bear rifling through our makeshift kitchen about 20 feet away. I sat frozen, watching this wild animal who was fleeing the fires while everyone else slept soundly. It was a surreal and humbling moment. Twenty years ago, these severe forest and peatland fires were due to a dangerous combination of El Niño-induced drought, slash-and-burn agriculture and other land clearing, and the grass-fire cycle. Much of Southeast Asia was left choking on the haze, and that was a weak El Niño year. Firefighting in Indonesia often requires resourcefulness as well as resilience and fortitude. Image courtesy of Basuki Santoso. History keeps repeating itself, and it’s hard to watch. Experts say we are now facing a Super El Niño. For the past three months, millions of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/the-indonesians-facing-el-ninos-fires-have-lessons-to-teach-us-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331681</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘There could be local extinction’: The fight to protect Indonesia’s orangutans as El Niño fuels fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Oct 2026 11:08:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/09065841/Orangutan-Sampurna1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331642</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Restoration, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires burning within rainforests that contain more than half of the world’s critically endangered Bornean orangutan population have prompted scientists and experts to call for urgent action in response to the escalating fires across Indonesia. The warning comes as Indonesia faces a severe fire season fueled by strong El Niño conditions, with conservationists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires burning within rainforests that contain more than half of the world’s critically endangered Bornean orangutan population have prompted scientists and experts to call for urgent action in response to the escalating fires across Indonesia. The warning comes as Indonesia faces a severe fire season fueled by strong El Niño conditions, with conservationists scrambling to rescue wildlife trapped in burning landscapes. Fires are burning in rainforests that contain 13 of the 20 largest remaining populations of Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Shaded and outlined areas show current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range in Kalimantan. Image courtesy of the Orangutan Conservation Initiative. Red circles show individual satellite detections overlapping current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range. As of Sept. 22, the Ministry of Forestry reported that 100 wildlife, including 53 Bornean orangutans, had been rescued. Rescuers have found some orangutans suffering severe physical injuries after escaping the fires. In Central Kalimantan, an approximately 4-year-old orangutan named Novita was found trapped in a burning area near Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan province with serious burns on all four hands and feet, according to local news Betahita. She was later taken to a rehabilitation center for treatment. In locations where orangutans are surrounded by fire and have nowhere to go, they can “literally burn alive,” said Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) CEO Anton Nurcahyo. The risk may be particularly high for females with young, Anton told Mongabay. Their tendency to remain in established home ranges can be a disadvantage during fires, while females&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/there-could-be-local-extinction-the-fight-to-protect-indonesias-orangutans-as-el-nino-fuels-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331642</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As fires spread, Indonesia’s rubber growers draw on traditional ways to fight back</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-fires-spread-indonesias-rubber-growers-draw-on-traditional-ways-to-fight-back/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-fires-spread-indonesias-rubber-growers-draw-on-traditional-ways-to-fight-back/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2026 11:13:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Taufik Wijaya]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/10/02110440/Seorang-warga-tengah-memadamkan-api-di-Talang-Turunan-Gajah-dengan-menggunakan-peralatan-sederhana.-Foto-Muha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331495</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Culture, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Industrial Agriculture, Plantations, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PENUKAL ABAB LEMATANG ILIR, Indonesia — Sumanti raced her motorcycle past the rubber trees as flames spread through the dry brush. No one had picked up the phone as the wildfire continued to grow out of control on Sept. 5. “The fire is already approaching our land,” Sumanti, 30, cried out as she drove past [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PENUKAL ABAB LEMATANG ILIR, Indonesia — Sumanti raced her motorcycle past the rubber trees as flames spread through the dry brush. No one had picked up the phone as the wildfire continued to grow out of control on Sept. 5. “The fire is already approaching our land,” Sumanti, 30, cried out as she drove past a bystander, her voice cracking as she pressed on to find her family. Within half an hour, Sumanti’s relatives had encircled the fire with 35-liter (9-gallon) canisters of water and a sprayer, the kind the family ordinarily used to disperse fertilizer over the soil. The family of four worked together, scrambling back and forth for hours to haul water from the partially dried-out swamp among the rubber trees. For two hours, they battled to hold back the flames, but the fire kept cracking through the bamboo and brush. A paye in Tanjung Era, PALI Regency, has dried up. A paye is a source of clean water located amidst forests and plantations. Image by Muhammad Akbar/Mongabay Indonesia. Economic damage Sumanti belongs to one of six families who depend on rubber trees and latex production in Talang Turunan Gajah, a hamlet in the village of Tempirai here in South Sumatra province. As in much of Sumatra and Borneo, the six families here find themselves on the frontline of a wildfire crisis intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon, as fires spread across the region. Smoke from Indonesia’s wildfires has crossed borders into Malaysia and Singapore, leading to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-fires-spread-indonesias-rubber-growers-draw-on-traditional-ways-to-fight-back/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/as-fires-spread-indonesias-rubber-growers-draw-on-traditional-ways-to-fight-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331495</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s new peatland agency faces questions over what it will do differently</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesias-new-peatland-agency-faces-questions-over-what-it-will-do-differently/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesias-new-peatland-agency-faces-questions-over-what-it-will-do-differently/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2026 04:19:12 +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/20/2026/08/25175923/AP26223596463482-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=331364</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation Solutions, Disasters, Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Marine, Peatlands, Restoration, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2016, following the most devastating land and forest fires in its recorded history the previous year, the Indonesian government set up an agency to restore peatlands, among the worst-hit biomes during the disaster. A decade later, following the most devastating land and forest fires since the 2015 season, the current government has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2016, following the most devastating land and forest fires in its recorded history the previous year, the Indonesian government set up an agency to restore peatlands, among the worst-hit biomes during the disaster. A decade later, following the most devastating land and forest fires since the 2015 season, the current government has once again set up an agency to restore peatlands — prompting questions over what impact, if any, this new body will have. The National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency, or BPGMN, was announced by Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni following a meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 24 between President Prabowo Subianto and a group of 22 experts. Like the earlier Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) established by Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko Widodo, which was shuttered in December 2024, the new agency will report directly to the president and be staffed by scientists and professionals, according to Raja Juli. For some observers, that begs the question of why Prabowo didn’t renew the BRGM’s mandate and instead let it expire, and what the BPGMN will do differently. “The BPGMN must not stop at changing the institution’s name,” said Uli Arta Siagian, national campaign coordinator for Walhi, Indonesia’s biggest environmental advocacy group. “The experience of the BRGM, which was disbanded at the end of 2024 after operating for nearly a decade, shows that changing the institutional structure does not automatically guarantee better governance. “The BPGMN must have a mandate, authority, success indicators, and working&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesias-new-peatland-agency-faces-questions-over-what-it-will-do-differently/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/10/indonesias-new-peatland-agency-faces-questions-over-what-it-will-do-differently/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-331364</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As fires spread in Indonesia, Bornean orangutans run out of forest to flee</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2026 05:21:56 +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/20/2026/09/09065744/Orangutan-kalimantan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330531</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Climate, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, El Nino, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Products, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Mammals, National Parks, Orangutans, Parks, Primates, Protected Areas, Pulp And Paper, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As fires continue to engulf large swaths of forest in Indonesian Borneo, orangutans have increasingly fewer places to flee, with fires either surrounding them or eliminating the forest on which they depend. Fires are spreading across a connected but heavily fragmented forest landscape and the habitat of critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As fires continue to engulf large swaths of forest in Indonesian Borneo, orangutans have increasingly fewer places to flee, with fires either surrounding them or eliminating the forest on which they depend. Fires are spreading across a connected but heavily fragmented forest landscape and the habitat of critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in West Kalimantan, including Gunung Palung National Park and the Mendawak Biodiversity Corridor. Gunung Palung National Park is one of the most important remaining strongholds for the Central Bornean orangutan, supporting a population historically estimated at around 2,500 animals and hosting one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild orangutans. Its importance derives from both its population size and its unusually diverse forest habitats, which support long-term ecological research and a range of other species. The adjacent Mendawak Biodiversity Corridor has a complementary role. Although it is not yet a continuous or fully secured corridor, it encompasses additional orangutan habitat outside the national park and provides a framework for maintaining, restoring and reconnecting forest patches across a fragmented landscape. Despite their ecological importance, both areas have been burning during this year’s dry season, as an exceptionally strong El Niño has contributed to hot and dry conditions across Indonesia. A Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Photo by Rhett A. Butler National park on fire Spatial analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap shows that hotspots started appearing in Gunung Palung National Park on Aug. 27. TheTreeMap has also identified hotspots that appear to overlap with the park’s core zone,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-fires-spread-in-indonesia-bornean-orangutans-run-out-of-forest-to-flee/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330531</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescuers race against time as fires ravage orangutan habitat inside Indonesian oil palm concession</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 06:18:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/11091303/GP0STU10T_Medium_res-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=330015</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Business, Climate, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Critically Endangered Species, Crops, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Great Apes, Mammals, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Primates, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Conservationists are racing to rescue orangutans from a fire-ravaged peat-swamp forest inside an RSPO-certified oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, with smoke still rising and the ground remaining dangerously hot. The 657-hectare (1,623-acre) forest, designated as a High Conservation Value (HCV) area inside PT Kayung Agro Lestari (KAL), is home to around 60 Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), one of three orangutan species in the world and the only one found on the island of Borneo, according to conservationists. The forest was also used in October 2015 to release four orangutans rescued by the Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations. Nearly 11 years after four orangutans were released there, the peat-swamp forest that provided their habitat has itself been almost completely affected by fire, according to satellite analysis by technology consultancy TheTreeMap. This animation shows the progression of fire within and around the PT Kayung Agro Lestari concession in Ketapang (yellow lines), West Kalimantan, between 8 August and 12 September 2026. The sequence shows how fires progressively burned the HCV forests (turning from dark green to dark red) over the course of several weeks. Image courtesy of TheTreeMap/Nusantara Atlas. The analysis indicates that one of the major fires began on Aug. 8 along a canal at the edge of the oil palm plantation in Ketapang district, before spreading westward into the HCV forest. Conservationists are working to rescue orangutans still believed to be in the area. Some animals&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-race-against-time-as-fires-ravage-orangutan-habitat-inside-indonesian-oil-palm-concession/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-330015</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Southeast Asia, residents grapple with life under Indonesia’s wildfire haze</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-southeast-asia-residents-grapple-with-life-under-indonesias-wildfire-haze/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-southeast-asia-residents-grapple-with-life-under-indonesias-wildfire-haze/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2026 04:05:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Choo Ching YeeIrfan MaulanaKrismes Santo HalohoOliver Samson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/17023732/Asap-Pontianak-Tursih-1-1200x800-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329910</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Central Kalimantan, Global, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia, Philippines, Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate, Climate Change, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUALA LUMPUR — Video editor Mohamad Haazim has lost count of how many times he refreshes Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index (API) website every day to check air quality in the city where he lives. It’s been hovering between “unhealthy” and “hazardous” in recent weeks. Haazim, who asked to be identified only by his given names for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[KUALA LUMPUR — Video editor Mohamad Haazim has lost count of how many times he refreshes Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index (API) website every day to check air quality in the city where he lives. It’s been hovering between “unhealthy” and “hazardous” in recent weeks. Haazim, who asked to be identified only by his given names for privacy reasons, lives in Kuching, the capital of Malaysia’s Sarawak state. It is known as one of the cities with the cleanest air quality in the country, but since last month, Kuching has earned a dubious distinction of being the world’s “most polluted major city,” according to IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality technology company. The culprit? Smog from Indonesia’s wildfires. “It has deeply disrupted my daily routine,” Haazim said of the haze. “Outdoor routines are completely on hold; morning and evening walks are out of the question.” An avid marathon runner, Haazim no longer runs five times a week outdoors. “I am now down to just two indoor runs,” he told Mongabay last week. At home and at work, he said he ensures windows are shut tight, with air purifiers running at full blast. Kuching riverside in the city center is shrouded in thick haze in Kuching, Sarawak state, Malaysia, on Sept. 4, 2026. Image by AP Photo/Xpin Voon. He can’t forget his long drive home from Lawas, a Sarawak town located between Sabah and Brunei, on Aug. 31. “The haze became much thicker as we went back to Kuching,” he said. “As we arrived&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/in-southeast-asia-residents-grapple-with-life-under-indonesias-wildfire-haze/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329910</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildfires on doorstep of Indonesia’s new capital as environmental and health crisis flares</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 11:50:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Niken D. Sitoningrum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/15113817/834BDB3B-70D3-4E4D-BE7A-21166F05BFE3-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329765</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Climate, Climate Change, Development, Disasters, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PENAJAM PASER, Indonesia — Indonesia’s escalating wildfire crisis has reached the outskirts of Nusantara, the new capital city under construction as the world’s fourth-most-populous country seeks to transplant its political heartland from a flood plain in Java to the island of Borneo. Fires in mid-September burned 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[PENAJAM PASER, Indonesia — Indonesia’s escalating wildfire crisis has reached the outskirts of Nusantara, the new capital city under construction as the world’s fourth-most-populous country seeks to transplant its political heartland from a flood plain in Java to the island of Borneo. Fires in mid-September burned 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) from the perimeter of government buildings. The fires were reported at Wonotirto, near the main toll road, and at Bukit Tengkorak in the Bukit Soeharto protected forest. These wildfires were in the outer zone designated for Nusantara, authorities in the new capital said, but had stopped short of the construction site of the government complex. “Hopefully, it won&#8217;t reoccur,” Danis H. Sumadilaga, Nusantara authority spokesperson, said in a Sept. 9 statement. “We will have to conduct monitoring and patrols to ensure this fire doesn&#8217;t happen again.” On Sept. 14, forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni traveled to inspect the fires, along with the head of Indonesia’s disaster management agency and the lead of Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN), the agency overseeing the new city, one of the world’s largest construction sites. Helicopters carrying giant buckets of water buzzed overhead as the officials surveyed the fragile landscape skirting the city. “It’s there again — where’s Manggala Agni?” the minister said, referring to the state fire brigade after spotting a suspected fire burning in the hills. “They need to get there, along with colleagues — there’s smoke again. “Please coordinate with the firefighters, army, police,” Raja Juli Antoni said on Sept. 14.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/wildfires-on-doorstep-of-indonesias-new-capital-as-environmental-and-health-crisis-flares/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329765</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Children’s health at risk in south Borneo as El Niño intensifies Indonesia wildfires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/childrens-health-at-risk-in-south-borneo-as-el-nino-intensifies-indonesia-wildfires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/childrens-health-at-risk-in-south-borneo-as-el-nino-intensifies-indonesia-wildfires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 13:22:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Riyad Dafhi Rizki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/10131034/Raina-dan-Raihan-2-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, South Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Heatwave, Pollution, and Public Health]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — Siti Sarah slept in fits and starts through August as the fires broke out around her village and surrounding peatlands. One fire on Aug. 18 at first seemed a safe distance away, but in a heartbeat the flames were within 100 meters (330 feet) of her home in Pengayuan, a village in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — Siti Sarah slept in fits and starts through August as the fires broke out around her village and surrounding peatlands. One fire on Aug. 18 at first seemed a safe distance away, but in a heartbeat the flames were within 100 meters (330 feet) of her home in Pengayuan, a village in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan province. “The fire seemed to leap up,” Siti told Mongabay Indonesia. “All of a sudden it was right there — it grew so fast.” Cries for help echoed around the village as Siti joined the community’s firefighting press. “I also helped put out a fire,” she said. “By whacking it with a piece of wood.” Two days later, firefighters scrambled to extinguish yet another blaze in the village grounds, dousing the flames before they could reach any homes. Across Indonesia, community and government firefighters have been battling fires like this since the main dry season began in July, many of them burning across carbon-rich peatlands in the low-lying deltas and plains of Borneo and Sumatra. In recent decades, Borneo’s peatlands have been drained for oil palm plantations to meet rising global consumer demand for palm oil. Fire is often used as a cheap way to clear land, but the flames can quickly run out of control across drained peatlands, which become a tinderbox when desiccated by El Niño-fueled drought. Commuters on the road try to shield their noses from the thick haze as they drive. Image by Riyad Dafhi Rizki/Mongabay Indonesia. In&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/childrens-health-at-risk-in-south-borneo-as-el-nino-intensifies-indonesia-wildfires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescuers scramble to save orangutans as El Niño-boosted fires spread across Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread-across-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread-across-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 07:03:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/09065221/orangutan-named-Sampurna-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329232</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, El Nino, Endangered Species, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Great Apes, Impact Of Climate Change, Orangutans, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, NGO and government conservationists are at work in forests here trying to save an increasing number of orangutans from burning landscapes. “Seven individuals were rescued through August,” said Heribertus Suciadi, spokesperson for Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANJARMASIN, Indonesia — As a strengthening El Niño fuels wildfires across much of Indonesia, NGO and government conservationists are at work in forests here trying to save an increasing number of orangutans from burning landscapes. “Seven individuals were rescued through August,” said Heribertus Suciadi, spokesperson for Yayasan International Animal Rescue Indonesia (YIARI), a Borneo-based NGO working to establish and maintain sustainable orangutan populations. The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is one of three orangutan species in the world, and the only one found on the island of Borneo. All three species of orangutan are critically endangered and native to Indonesia. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) and Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) are both found on the island of Sumatra. The most recent assessment by the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, estimated just over 100,000 Bornean orangutans remained in the wild. But that survey was conducted in 2016, and conservationists estimated a projected decline in the Bornean species population of around 86% between 1950 and 2025. Researchers attribute this population collapse over three generations to habitat loss and direct killing. Orangutans also reproduce exceptionally slowly, with Bornean females typically giving birth to a single offspring about every seven to eight years, making populations particularly slow to recover from losses. In addition, major wildfire crises accelerate the decline. “Recurrent forest fires, especially in peat forests, cause additional sharp declines about once every decade,” the IUCN noted. Indonesian meteorologists expect an intense fire season through October as climate forecasts point to a strengthening El&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/rescuers-scramble-to-save-orangutans-as-el-nino-boosted-fires-spread-across-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329232</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s wildfire season surges as haze spreads into Malaysia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2026 14:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/13132905/image0-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326174</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, Sarawak, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Disasters, El Nino, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forest Destruction, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Mammals, Monkeys, Orangutans, Pollution, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Threats To Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Haze from fires in Indonesian Borneo has drifted across the border into the Malaysian portion of the island, pushing air pollution there to “very unhealthy levels” and causing school closures. On Aug. 12, Sarawak’s Tebedu district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, recorded an air pollution index (API) exceeding 200, considered “very unhealthy,” prompting the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Haze from fires in Indonesian Borneo has drifted across the border into the Malaysian portion of the island, pushing air pollution there to “very unhealthy levels” and causing school closures. On Aug. 12, Sarawak’s Tebedu district, near the Indonesia-Malaysia border, recorded an air pollution index (API) exceeding 200, considered “very unhealthy,” prompting the government to close six schools and shift classes online. IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality technology company, ranked Kuching, the capital of Malaysia’s Sarawak state, as the most polluted major city in the world on Aug. 11. Air quality map of Southeast Asia on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of IQAir. According to Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS), 11 areas in Sarawak recorded unhealthy API readings on Aug. 11, up from eight on Aug. 9. The worsening air quality in Sarawak comes as fires intensify in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, which neighbors the Malaysian state. The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), which monitors and assesses wildfires and transboundary haze in the Southeast Asia region, observed smoke drifting from West Kalimantan into western Sarawak across several days in July. A map from the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showing haze coverage and wind direction in the southern ASEAN region on Aug. 11, 2026. Image courtesy of ASMC. As haze blanketed parts of West Kalimantan, authorities in the provincial capital, Pontianak, have suspended schools indefinitely and shifted classes online. Fires also affected parts of Sumatra. Haze from the western Indonesian island has historically drifted north to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indonesias-wildfire-season-surges-as-haze-spreads-into-malaysia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326174</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flames reach edge of orangutan rehabilitation center, with fire season set to intensify</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/flames-reach-edge-of-orangutan-rehabilitation-center-with-fire-season-set-to-intensify/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/flames-reach-edge-of-orangutan-rehabilitation-center-with-fire-season-set-to-intensify/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Aug 2026 10:41:25 +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/20/2026/08/07103831/Kebakaran-Rangkong-22-July_20260722_-MUFID_0434-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325527</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Rehabilitation, Wildlife, and Wildlife Rehabilitation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A wildfire that reached the edge of an orangutan rehabilitation center in western Borneo is highlighting how Indonesia&#8217;s intensifying fire season threatens not just forests and wildlife, but also the conservation work taking place within them. The fire stopped just short of the facility run by the nonprofit organization YIARI, where more than [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — A wildfire that reached the edge of an orangutan rehabilitation center in western Borneo is highlighting how Indonesia&#8217;s intensifying fire season threatens not just forests and wildlife, but also the conservation work taking place within them. The fire stopped just short of the facility run by the nonprofit organization YIARI, where more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) are undergoing rehabilitation after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss. The fire broke out on July 22 about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Thick smoke blanketed the area as nearly 100 personnel from government agencies, the military, police and YIARI fought for hours to stop the flames before they reached the facility. &#8220;The fire reached the boundary of the rehabilitation center&#8217;s land,&#8221; YIARI CEO Karmele Llano Sánchez told Mongabay. Aerial view of the fire that broke out on July 22, 2026, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from YIARI&#8217;s orangutan rehabilitation center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Image courtesy of YIARI. She said the incident highlighted the importance of being prepared for fires. “If we had not responded quickly, part of our rehabilitation center might already have been destroyed by the fire,” Llano Sánchez said. Satellite imagery of the fire that broke out on July 22, 2026, about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from YIARI&#8217;s orangutan rehabilitation center in Sungai Awan Kiri village, Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province. Red&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/flames-reach-edge-of-orangutan-rehabilitation-center-with-fire-season-set-to-intensify/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325527</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia shows elevated fire hotspot activity in 2026 as super El Niño threat looms</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 15:06:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas JongIrfan Maulana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/05111951/fire-used-for-land-clearing-Sumatra-Indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324772</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Disasters, Ecosystems, Extreme Weather, Fires, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded more fire hotspot activity by late July 2026 than at the same point in any previous year, including during the devastating fire seasons of 2019 and 2023, according to new data. Data from FireWatch, a new satellite monitoring platform developed by the forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, offers the clearest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia has recorded more fire hotspot activity by late July 2026 than at the same point in any previous year, including during the devastating fire seasons of 2019 and 2023, according to new data. Data from FireWatch, a new satellite monitoring platform developed by the forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas, offers the clearest picture yet of where the country is burning, say scientists. It has raised fresh concerns as Indonesia heads into the months of the year when wildfires historically intensify. As of July 27, FireWatch detected more than 96,000 fire hotspots across Indonesia — more than at the same point in any previous year monitored by the platform. By comparison, about 88,000 hotspots had been detected by late July 2019 and roughly 58,000 during the same period in 2023. Hotspot comparison between 2026, 2023 and 2019. Image courtesy of FireWatch. Those two years produced Indonesia&#8217;s most destructive fire seasons in the past 10 years, burning more than 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) and 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres), respectively, according to data from FireWatch. FireWatch estimates that approximately 103,000 hectares (255,000 acres) burned nationwide during the first half of 2026. Burned area comparison between 2026, 2023 and 2019. Image courtesy of FireWatch. While that remains far below the area burned in 2019, Indonesia has yet to enter the period when fire activity historically accelerates. Burning typically increases in August before peaking in September and October. The unusually high hotspot activity in 2026 comes as forecasters&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesia-shows-elevated-fire-hotspot-activity-in-2026-as-super-el-nino-threat-looms/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324772</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A possible strong El Niño fuels fears for fires across Indonesian tropical peatlands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2026 07:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/02073825/peat-fire-in-borneo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322321</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Peatlands, Temperatures, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA, Indonesia — An emerging El Niño risks fueling devastating wildfires on peatland areas in Borneo earmarked by Indonesia&#8217;s government about six years ago for a flagship food estate program, environmentalists have warned. The warning comes as Indonesia braces for heightened fire risk during the current dry season. “What we are most concerned about is the rice paddy cultivation activity that is being carried out on peatlands,” said Janang Palanungkai, who runs the Central Kalimantan office of Indonesia’s largest environmental group, Walhi. Central Kalimantan is one of five Indonesian provinces on Borneo, a forested island twice the size of Germany shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have both determined that a strong El Niño is likely this year. An El Niño is declared when equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures remain more than 0.5° Celsius above average for several months. This warmer surface water sets off a global chain of climatic reactions, including hotter and drier conditions over Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest tropical peatlands. “There is a 50% to 60% chance of a moderate El Niño starting mid-year, and the 2026 dry season is predicted to be drier than usual,&#8221; the BMKG’s Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan said in mid-June. Traditional fishermen are active in the peatland areas of Central Kalimantan. Image by Rendy Tisna/ Mongabay Indonesia. Satellite imagery from NASA&#8217;s FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) shows the distribution of hotspots in the West Kalimantan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/a-possible-strong-el-nino-fuels-fears-for-fires-across-indonesian-tropical-peatlands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322321</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists fear fires could erase years of orangutan habitat recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 10:34:30 +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/20/2017/01/02083516/sabah_3982-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318990</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Great Apes, Landscape Restoration, Mammals, Orangutans, Peatlands, Rainforests, Reforestation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Fires have burned part of a decade-long orangutan habitat restoration site in Indonesian Borneo, raising fears among conservationists that another severe fire season could wipe out years of recovery efforts before the dry season has even fully begun. A decade ago, Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI), the Indonesian affiliate of International Animal Rescue, began restoring degraded orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan province, after villagers repeatedly reported orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) entering farms and eating crops. The incursions were driven by habitat loss. Large parts of the surrounding forest had already been degraded, including during Indonesia’s catastrophic 2015 fire season, when more than 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) of land in and around the village were burned. Since then, YIARI, together with the government and local communities, have worked to restore the damaged landscape by planting trees that provide food for orangutans, with the hope that if enough food is available in the forest, the critically endangered apes will stop venturing into farmland. As of early 2026, the group had restored around 300 hectares (740 acres) with 150,000 trees, including fruit-bearing species favored by orangutans. Local community members planting trees at the restoration site of orangutan habitat in Pematang Gadung village in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan. Image courtesy of YIARI. The work is especially important because the remaining orangutan habitat in the area has become increasingly fragmented. Illegal gold mining operations now surround much of the forest, leaving wildlife confined to shrinking patches of habitat. “Once&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/conservationists-fear-fires-could-erase-years-of-orangutan-habitat-recovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318990</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest loss falls in 2025, but world still off track on deforestation goals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 04:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/02182850/brunei_251115221947_0687z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318333</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Fires, Forest Destruction, Forests, Mining, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, dropping 36% from the record highs of the previous year, according to new data from a long-running satellite monitoring project. Non-fire forest loss also declined by 23%, reaching its lowest level in a decade, according to the data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Tropical primary forest loss fell sharply in 2025, dropping 36% from the record highs of the previous year, according to new data from a long-running satellite monitoring project. Non-fire forest loss also declined by 23%, reaching its lowest level in a decade, according to the data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory and visualized on the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch platform. The drop suggests that policy and enforcement can make be effective in protecting tropical primary forests, which are critical for biodiversity, water provision, carbon storage, food and medicine, cultural identity and more. But researchers say the headline figures mask a more complex reality and may say more about fewer fires than real progress, as forests across the tropics continue to move in the same direction: toward less forest and, in many places, faster rates of loss. “A drop of this scale in a single year is encouraging — it shows what decisive government action can achieve,” said Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of Global Forest Watch. Even so, total loss remains high. The tropics lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of primary forest in 2025 — an area larger than Switzerland, and still 46% higher than a decade ago. That’s the equivalent of about 11 football fields’ worth of forests being razed every minute. At current rates, the world remains far off track from the 2030 goal of halting and reversing forest loss, a pledge made by more than&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/tropical-forest-loss-falls-in-2025-but-world-still-off-track-on-deforestation-goals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318333</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 04:12:41 +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/20/2023/10/05111107/student-in-haze-kalimantan-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317563</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, El Nino, Fires, Forests, Health, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia is entering the 2026 fire season with early signs of escalation, as burned area surges even before the dry season peak and forecasts raise the possibility of a so-called “Godzilla” El Niño later this year. Burned area reached 32,637 hectares (80,650 acres) by February — about three times the size of Paris, 20 times higher than the same period last year — even before the dry season has fully set in. Scientists say this early surge could signal the start of a more intense fire season, especially as climate forecasts point to the possible return of El Niño. Some global forecasts suggest the event could become one of the strongest in at least a decade, raising the risk of prolonged drought and widespread fires, although significant uncertainty remains over how intense it will ultimately be. A strong El Niño would also likely reshape global weather patterns and could push global temperatures to record levels in 2027, due to the lagged warming effect the phenomenon has on the climate system. El Niño refers to a warming of sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather patterns worldwide. In Indonesia, it is typically associated with drier conditions and heightened fire risk. Indonesian agencies have at times referred to the potential event as a Godzilla El Niño, a nonscientific term used to describe an unusually strong episode that could significantly intensify drought and fire risk. Indonesia’s meteorological agency, BMKG, says there is a 50-80% chance of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/indonesia-braces-for-possible-godzilla-el-nino-as-fire-season-escalates-early/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317563</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thousands of peat fires flare across Indonesia despite rainy season</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2026 06:40:47 +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/20/2023/12/28140328/firefighter-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314232</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Kalimantan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Health, Peatlands, Planetary Health, Plantations, Pollution, Public Health, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Satellite imagery recorded more than 5,000 fire hotspots on peatlands across Indonesia in January, despite the fact that much of the country remains firmly in the grip of the rainy season. Independent watchdog Pantau Gambut identified 5,490 hotspots within peatlands, perennially waterlogged ecosystems that store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Official monitoring also [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Satellite imagery recorded more than 5,000 fire hotspots on peatlands across Indonesia in January, despite the fact that much of the country remains firmly in the grip of the rainy season. Independent watchdog Pantau Gambut identified 5,490 hotspots within peatlands, perennially waterlogged ecosystems that store massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Official monitoring also recorded an increase in fire hotspots, though using a different reporting method. Based on NASA Terra/Aqua satellite data, the Ministry of Forestry reported 110 hotspots nationwide in January 2026, up from 29 in January 2025 and 18 in December 2025. The two figures aren’t directly comparable, as they rely on different spatial filters and detection criteria. Pantau Gambut said the rise it recorded is concerning because it’s occurring during the wet season, which has been so intense this time around that it led to massive flooding in Sumatra in late 2025. The spike suggests fire risk in peat landscapes is no longer confined to the traditional dry season, but increasingly driven by degraded hydrology and land-use pressures, said Pantau Gambut campaigner Putra Saptian. Peat soil, which can be several meters deep, is made up of dead vegetation that, thanks to the waterlogged conditions, is only partially decomposed. In peat-rich areas across Sumatra and Borneo, logging and plantation companies have typically dug canals to drain the peat soil in preparation for cultivation, leaving behind vast swaths of highly flammable organic matter. Pantau Gambut recorded 1,824 hotspots inside the concessions of such companies in January, or a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/thousands-of-peat-fires-flare-across-indonesia-despite-rainy-season/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314232</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Dec 2025 20:11:46 +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/20/2025/12/26174503/14-brunei_251114145042_0254z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312083</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, Brazil, Central Africa, Colombia, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Peru, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity credits, Carbon Credits, Carbon Market, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Regulations, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Year-end review]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The story of the world’s tropical forests in 2025 was not one of dramatic reversal, but one shaped by accumulated pressure. In several regions, deforestation slowed. In others, loss continued in less visible forms, shaped by fire, degradation, and political choices not limited to large-scale clearing alone. Governments continued to speak the language of protection, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The story of the world’s tropical forests in 2025 was not one of dramatic reversal, but one shaped by accumulated pressure. In several regions, deforestation slowed. In others, loss continued in less visible forms, shaped by fire, degradation, and political choices not limited to large-scale clearing alone. Governments continued to speak the language of protection, even as infrastructure, extraction, and energy projects advanced into forest landscapes. Progress was real, though uneven, and the distance between policy commitments and conditions on the ground remained substantial. What distinguished the year was the growing influence of indirect forces, rather than a single driver of loss. Heat, drought, and past damage increasingly shaped forest outcomes, even where new clearing slowed. Commodity markets rewarded persistence more than short-lived price spikes. Finance shifted away from individual projects toward broader fiscal tools. Enforcement mattered, alongside institutional credibility and the ability to operate consistently over time. At the global level, climate diplomacy continued, with limited appetite for binding decisions. COP30 avoided collapse and deferred the hardest choices. Forests remained prominent in rhetoric while enforceable outcomes remained limited. Market-based tools—carbon credits, trade regulation, and conservation finance—advanced unevenly, shaped as much by political confidence and capacity as by technical design. Taken together, 2025 underscored that tropical forests are now shaped more by interacting systems rather than single policies. Finance, science, enforcement, conflict, and climate stress increasingly operate together, often reinforcing one another. This review traces where those systems functioned, where they faltered, and what that means for the forests caught&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/the-year-in-rainforests-2025-deforestation-fell-the-risks-did-not/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312083</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 15:23:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/10123021/1--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311039</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Europe, Global, India, Indonesia, Jakarta, Myanmar, North America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Bioenergy, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Fires, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Methane, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Public Health, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the world desperately searches for a way out of its global climate change and plastic pollution crises, nations are increasingly turning to burning municipal waste to make fuel as a solution to both problems. One approach, dubbed refuse-derived fuel (RDF), processes, packages and burns conglomerated combustible organic waste with large amounts of potentially hazardous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the world desperately searches for a way out of its global climate change and plastic pollution crises, nations are increasingly turning to burning municipal waste to make fuel as a solution to both problems. One approach, dubbed refuse-derived fuel (RDF), processes, packages and burns conglomerated combustible organic waste with large amounts of potentially hazardous plastics in order to make fuel to produce heat or electricity. RDF is an escalating global trend causing concern among environmental experts due to its potential climate, pollution and human health impacts. RDF is typically made up of around 50% plastic waste, which is combined with other combustible materials like wood, cardboard and textiles. The mixed waste is processed via drying and shredding, with the resulting materials then burned in so-called waste-to-energy incinerators, cement kilns, or other industrial facilities such as paper mills. Proponents argue that burning waste is an effective way to simultaneously reduce landfilling and plastic pollution, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, as it’s a substitute for fossil fuels. Advocates have even marketed RDF as a circular economy solution. Critics aren’t convinced. They say that incinerating RDFs, with their high plastic content, is akin to swapping out one dirty fuel source for another, resulting in the release of significant greenhouse gases, along with harmful particulate and chemical pollutants, including dioxins, a potential byproduct of burning plastics. “Our concerns about [RDF] relate to the fact that plastic consists of polymers that are mixed with many, many different chemicals,” says Lee Bell, technical and policy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/boom-in-burning-waste-for-fuel-puts-human-health-and-environment-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311039</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia court clears wildfire scientists in case brought by palm oil company</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-court-clears-wildfire-scientists-in-case-brought-by-palm-oil-company/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-court-clears-wildfire-scientists-in-case-brought-by-palm-oil-company/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Oct 2025 07:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/17071230/wildfire-scientists-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307872</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Science, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A lower court in the Jakarta suburb of Bogor ruled in October in favor of environmental scientists Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, dismissing a lawsuit brought by Borneo plantation firm PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri over a wildfire more than seven years ago. “Hopefully this will set a good precedent to protect environmental defenders and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A lower court in the Jakarta suburb of Bogor ruled in October in favor of environmental scientists Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, dismissing a lawsuit brought by Borneo plantation firm PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri over a wildfire more than seven years ago. “Hopefully this will set a good precedent to protect environmental defenders and activists and enable the effort to rescue the deteriorating environment without the threat of pressure and lawsuits,” Bambang told Mongabay Indonesia in response to the ruling. Bambang and Basuki are professors at Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Indonesia’s premier forestry university. The government has frequently called on both academics to provide testimony as expert witnesses in wildfires cases brought by the forestry ministry against plantation companies. In 2018, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry brought a case against PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri, which was heard in the Kapuas district court in Central Kalimantan province. The government alleged the company was culpable for a fire covering 833 hectares (2,058 acres) using the principle of “strict liability,” which holds companies ultimately responsible for any damage. In court, the government relied on peatland samples measured by Bambang, who is head of the wildfires laboratory at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, from several sites on the PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri concession taken during November 2018. The court judgment noted testimony that the area burned was approximately 833 hectares (2,058 acres), which was both Bambang’s conclusion and “in accordance with the results of measurements by the Central Kalimantan Provincial Plantation Service.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-court-clears-wildfire-scientists-in-case-brought-by-palm-oil-company/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-court-clears-wildfire-scientists-in-case-brought-by-palm-oil-company/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307872</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia flooding traced to corporate canals that drain peatlands: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Sep 2025 03:43:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/07112432/Kota_Barabai_saat_banjir_Kalsel_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305811</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Flooding, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Flooding disasters in Indonesia are increasingly traced not to natural causes, but to corporate destruction of peatlands, NGO Pantau Gambut warns in its newest report. The report reveals how the construction of industrial-scale canals, not just haze, poses a growing threat. Pantau Gambut says its new report builds on earlier findings that peat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Flooding disasters in Indonesia are increasingly traced not to natural causes, but to corporate destruction of peatlands, NGO Pantau Gambut warns in its newest report. The report reveals how the construction of industrial-scale canals, not just haze, poses a growing threat. Pantau Gambut says its new report builds on earlier findings that peat degradation drives floods. That previous analysis warned that nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands, about 6 million hectares (15 million acres), were classified as highly vulnerable to flooding due to unchecked land degradation. The new report goes beyond diagnosis of flood risk to trace responsibility directly to corporate concessions and weak laws. The report found that 281,253 kilometers (175,000 miles) of canals have cut through peatland ecosystems across Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Map of peat canals in Kalimantan. Image courtesy of Pantau Gambut. The total canal length — equivalent to roughly 65 trips between Los Angeles to New York — is mostly found within oil palm concessions and industrial plantation forests, covering areas of nearly 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) and 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres), respectively. Draining peat via canals compromises its sponge-like function, causing subsidence and irreversible drying, according to Kitso Kusin, a peat researcher at the University of Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan province. Once peatland loses its permanent ability to retain water, there will be uncontrolled runoff that damages the surrounding environment. Therefore, floods in degraded peatlands aren’t “natural” but a sign of hydrological collapse caused by drainage canals, deforestation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-flooding-traced-to-corporate-canals-that-drain-peatlands-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305811</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Indonesian companies dodge fines for forest &#038; peatland fires</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/how-indonesian-companies-dodge-fines-for-forest-peatland-fires/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/how-indonesian-companies-dodge-fines-for-forest-peatland-fires/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2025 12:16:50 +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/20/2025/08/19155325/f77a088b-14c2-4493-bed4-a40f43f954ed-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304524</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jambi, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Plantations, Pollution, Pulp And Paper, Rainforests, Timber, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s courts have ordered plantation companies to pay more than 21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion), an amount 28 times the environment ministry’s entire annual budget, for forest and peatland fires — yet almost none of that has been collected. This leaves burned land unrestored, smoke returning each dry season and climate goals slipping [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s courts have ordered plantation companies to pay more than 21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion), an amount 28 times the environment ministry’s entire annual budget, for forest and peatland fires — yet almost none of that has been collected. This leaves burned land unrestored, smoke returning each dry season and climate goals slipping further out of reach. The challenges stem from legal loopholes, noncooperation, strategic bankruptcies and weak inter-agency coordination. But not all companies dodge responsibility — some are settling their debts, albeit painfully late. After a decade of legal stalemate, palm oil company PT Kallista Alam has begun paying its 366 billion rupiah ($22.6 million) fine for burning peat forest in the Tripa swamp, an important Sumatran orangutan habitat, between 2009 and 2012. Another company, pulpwood producer PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, a supplier to paper giant Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (APP), has also paid in full its fines of 78.5 billion rupiah ($4.8 million) for fires in its concession. These exceptions underscore the norm: Most fines remain unpaid, fueling a cycle of impunity where fires continue to flare up in concessions already found guilty by court. Four recent cases illustrate the different ways companies evade payment, and how weak enforcement perpetuates the cycle. Smoke rising from a forest fire in Riau. Image by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay. PT Merbau Pelalawan Lestari One of the starkest cases involves industrial forestry firm PT Merbau Pelalawan Lestari (MPL). In 2016, the Supreme Court fined PT MPL 16.2 trillion ($1&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/how-indonesian-companies-dodge-fines-for-forest-peatland-fires/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/how-indonesian-companies-dodge-fines-for-forest-peatland-fires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304524</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NASA satellites show surge in Indonesia hotspots as 2025 fires send smoke to Malaysia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 13:08:47 +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/20/2023/07/24234827/indonesia_20150815-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304212</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Riau, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, data, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Remote Sensing, Satellite Imagery, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s 2025 fire season is spiraling into one of the worst in recent memory, with a sharp spike in hotspots and toxic haze already choking parts of Malaysia. Forest and peat fires, mostly caused by deliberate land clearing for agriculture, are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries. July [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s 2025 fire season is spiraling into one of the worst in recent memory, with a sharp spike in hotspots and toxic haze already choking parts of Malaysia. Forest and peat fires, mostly caused by deliberate land clearing for agriculture, are an annual problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighboring countries. July 2025 has seen a dramatic escalation in fire activity across Indonesia with official data from NASA satellites showing a surge in fire hotspots compared with previous months. NASA’s VIIRS (S-NPP) satellite detected 794 hotspots in July — up nearly tenfold from June and more than thirtyfold from May. The hotspots in July also represent a more than tenfold increase from the same period last year (68 in July 2024) and are significantly higher than the 532 hotspots recorded in July 2023. Graph showing hotspots in Indonesia from 2023 to 2025 based on NASA’s VIIRS (S-NPP) satellite. Image courtesy of Indonesia&#8217;s Ministry of Environment. Data from NASA’s Terra and Aqua MODIS satellites paint a similar picture, showing 879 hotspots in July, a more than tenfold increase from May, and are higher than the same period last year (463 in July 2024 and 776 in July 2023). While VIIRS has finer resolution and detects smaller fires, MODIS captures a wider range of fire activity multiple times per day. These are all high-confidence hotspots, meaning satellite algorithms consider them very likely to be actual vegetation fires, not false alarms. The sharp spike in fire activity highlights how the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/nasa-satellites-show-surge-in-indonesia-hotspots-as-2025-fires-send-smoke-to-malaysia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304212</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study maps rare Borneo forests with unique habitats &#038; urgent need for protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2025 02:19:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/12094955/Heath-Forest_Bernat-Ripoll-Capilla-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304113</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, Gold Mining, Mining, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Research, and Restoration]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In their latest study, a group of researchers from Indonesia, the U.K., and the U.S. find that heath forests (locally known as kerangas) span 16,586 square kilometers (6,400 square miles) — almost the size of Hawaii’s land area — across Kalimantan. This figure suggests about a 33% loss of forest cover since a 1996 estimate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In their latest study, a group of researchers from Indonesia, the U.K., and the U.S. find that heath forests (locally known as kerangas) span 16,586 square kilometers (6,400 square miles) — almost the size of Hawaii’s land area — across Kalimantan. This figure suggests about a 33% loss of forest cover since a 1996 estimate of 24,750 km² (9,550 mi²), they write in a paper published July 16 in Cambridge University Press’ Journal of Tropical Ecology. The authors say their research offered a baseline by clarifying the mosaic structure of lowland kerangas and highlighting their distinct role as a unique habitat within the landscape, given limited research on these forests and the resulting gaps in understanding the effects of human pressures and conservation measures. “Research into kerangas forest coverage in Kalimantan was inspired by our discovery of the Rungan forest landscape’s fascinating forest and exceptional conservation value,” Namrata Biligeri Anirudh, a Ph.D. ecologist from the University of Indonesia who is the paper’s lead author, told Mongabay in an email interview. A new study mapping lowland heath forests (kerangas) in Indonesian Borneo reveals major changes in their extent and limited formal protection. Image courtesy of Bernat Ripoll Capilla. Anirudh noted that the landscape was nestled between the Rungan and Kahayan rivers in Central Kalimantan, serving as home to an extraordinary variety of endangered plants and animals, thanks to its rare mix of heath forests on sandy soils, swamps, lowland forests and abundant Borneo ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri). “The fact that such a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/study-maps-rare-borneo-forests-with-unique-habitats-urgent-need-for-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304113</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian palm oil company sues experts who helped secure $18m pollution ruling</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2025 11:31:14 +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/20/2025/04/22123507/borneo-Dayak-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303123</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators. Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, both veteran forensics experts whose testimonies have helped convict major polluters, are being sued by PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Two of Indonesia’s most prominent environmental experts are facing a lawsuit that activists say is part of a wider trend of silencing scientists who testify against environmental violators. Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, both veteran forensics experts whose testimonies have helped convict major polluters, are being sued by PT Kalimantan Lestari Mandiri (KLM), a palm oil company they helped hold accountable for massive fires in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. Their expert testimony and damage assessments have proved crucial in securing rulings against environmental offenders. By calculating the cost of ecological destruction, they help judges assign real value to environmental losses — evidence often used to prove corporate liability or even corruption. Bambang has testified as an expert in more than 500 environmental destruction cases, and is currently assisting in more than 15 cases — from fires that spew toxic haze, to mining-caused floods and landslides. The KLM case stems from 2018, when the Indonesian government sued the company for fires that burned 511 hectares (1,263 acres) of its concession in Central Kalimantan. Those fires contributed to the toxic haze crisis that routinely blankets parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries during the dry season, causing widespread respiratory illness, school closures and flight cancellations. Peatland fires in particular release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making them a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions and regional air pollution. A court found KLM liable for the fires and ordered it to pay 89 billion&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-palm-oil-company-sues-experts-who-helped-secure-18m-pollution-ruling/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303123</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 22:02:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21213531/IF_Quilpue_24_2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299460</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bolivia, Brazil, Congo Basin, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, Republic of Congo, South America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Deforestation, El Nino, Environment, Fires, Forest Loss, Forests, Global Warming, Green, Habitat Loss, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Temperate Forests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory, made available on World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. The data indicate a record 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory, made available on World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. The data indicate a record 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres) of primary tropical forest was destroyed in 2024 — an area almost the size of Panama. Nearly half of this forest loss was driven by fire, according to WRI’s analysis of the data. Five times more tropical forest burned in 2024 than in the previous year. That made fire, not agricultural expansion, the primary driver of tropical forest loss for the first time. Non-fire related tropical forest loss was also up, by 14% compared with 2023. “The 2024 numbers must be a wake-up call to every country, every bank, every international business,” Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of GFW said during a press conference. “Continuing down this path will devastate economies, people’s jobs and any chance of staving off climate change’s worst effects.&#8221; In 2024, the Amazon experienced the worst drought — and fire season — in decades. Fires are normally rare in humid tropical ecosystems. But in hot dry conditions, agricultural fires, many lit to clear land, can quickly spread, driving forest loss in the Amazon and other parts of Latin America. The data revealed that in the Congo Basin, shifting cultivation remained the primary driver of tropical forest loss, with rates of forest loss in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/tropical-forest-loss-hit-new-heights-in-2024-fire-a-major-driver-in-latin-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299460</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Borneo village, Indigenous Dayaks leave farming amid stricter fire rules</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-borneo-village-indigenous-dayaks-leave-farming-amid-stricter-fire-rules/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-borneo-village-indigenous-dayaks-leave-farming-amid-stricter-fire-rules/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2025 03:59:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rendy Tisna]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/22123507/borneo-Dayak-fire-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297993</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Conflict, Culture, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Fires, Food, food security, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Law, Law Enforcement, Regulations, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANTANGAI, Indonesia — The last time Remie recalled a good harvest season here in Central Kalimantan province was in 2018, when 20-liter bags of rice seed were piled against the walls. “The house was full back then,” Remie told Mongabay Indonesia. “We packed almost 100 bags of seeds in here.” Today it is increasingly difficult [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANTANGAI, Indonesia — The last time Remie recalled a good harvest season here in Central Kalimantan province was in 2018, when 20-liter bags of rice seed were piled against the walls. “The house was full back then,” Remie told Mongabay Indonesia. “We packed almost 100 bags of seeds in here.” Today it is increasingly difficult for Indigenous Dayak farmers like Remie to procure seeds around Mantangai subdistrict, near the banks of the Kapuas River. The price for a 20-l (5.3-gallon) sack of rice seed has bulged to around 300,000 rupiah ($18). Instead of growing food for his family, Remie now earns a small cash wage from rummaging around the landscape collecting galam, a durable wood from the cajuput tree (Melaleuca cajuputi) used in basic construction. The 46-year-old says the blame lies mainly with an environmental and public health policy introduced a decade ago by then-President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi. Between May and October in 2015, an unrelenting dry season fueled by the El Niño climate pattern led to fires on 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of peatlands and mineral soils. One study estimated that the resulting air pollution blanketing Borneo and Sumatra Islands would lead to 100,000 premature deaths. In the embers of that 2015 Southeast Asia wildfire crisis, Jokowi drew up Presidential Instruction No. 11 to harden existing rules against the burning of biomass. The policy ignited a police crackdown against smallholder farmers starting fires to clear forests for planting. However, a large number of farmers were also detained&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/in-borneo-village-indigenous-dayaks-leave-farming-amid-stricter-fire-rules/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297993</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s peatlands face growing flood risks amid widespread degradation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Apr 2025 11:28:08 +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/20/2025/04/07111117/Banjir_Kalsel_2021-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297154</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Papua, South Kalimantan, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Disasters, Ecosystems, Environment, Fires, Flooding, Forests, Landscape Restoration, Peatlands, Restoration, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation caused by unchecked exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) — an area twice the size of Belgium — classified as highly vulnerable, according to a new report. The report, by peatland watchdog Pantau Gambut, examined three peatland-rich regions of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Nearly half of Indonesia’s peatlands are vulnerable to flooding due to degradation caused by unchecked exploitation, with 6 million hectares (15 million acres) — an area twice the size of Belgium — classified as highly vulnerable, according to a new report. The report, by peatland watchdog Pantau Gambut, examined three peatland-rich regions of Indonesia: the island of Sumatra; the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, known as Kalimantan; and the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, known as Papua. Each region has distinct topographical and climate characteristics. Kalimantan features lowland coastal peat with high rainfall. Sumatra has both inland and coastal peatlands. Papua is the most complex, with extremely high rainfall and peatlands spanning inland, coastal and mountainous areas. The report found that at least 25% of Indonesia&#8217;s peatlands are highly vulnerable to flooding, with another 18% classified as moderately vulnerable. This means 43% of the country’s 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of peatlands are at risk, while only 57% have low vulnerability. Peatlands, as part of wetland ecosystems, are naturally waterlogged and capable of absorbing far more water than mineral soils. Peat can retain 100-1,300% of its dry weight in water, while mineral soils typically absorb only 20-30%. However, once degraded, peatlands lose their ability to retain water effectively. This phenomenon, known as irreversible drying, turns standing water into uncontrolled runoff, leading to flooding. “The floods occurring are not a natural cycle commonly found in peatland ecosystems,” said Wahyu Perdana, advocacy and campaign&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/indonesias-peatlands-face-growing-flood-risks-amid-widespread-degradation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297154</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesians suing pulpwood firms over haze face intimidation, seek human rights protection</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 04:37:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/25043038/GP0SU4UJG_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296392</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, South Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Air Pollution, Business, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Environment, Environmental Law, Fires, Forests, Human Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Peatlands, Pollution, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Residents of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra are seeking protection from the country’s National Human Rights Commission after reportedly facing intimidated for filing a lawsuit against three pulpwood companies over recurring haze pollution. One of the 11 plaintiffs, Yeyen, said she was pressured by a company representative to withdraw the lawsuit just months after filing it. “The company contacted me, urging me to drop the case. They even offered, ‘How much money do you want? Where does your husband want to work? We can arrange it. If your child is old enough, what kind of job would they like?’&#8221; she told Mongabay. Yeyen said she was given a week to consider the offer. When a company representative later visited her home for a final decision, she declined the offer, Yeyen said. “I told them that I was standing together with my friends in this lawsuit, and I didn’t want to betray them,” she said. “I made my decision to continue fighting for health, the economy, and the environment.” Another plaintiff, Ayu, said a local journalist contacted her, urging her to drop the case and threatening to share her personal information with the companies. Concerned about the escalating threats, the group visited the human rights commission, known as Komnas HAM, in Jakarta on Feb. 26, seeking protection. “There are risks in suing large companies, and we need security guarantees,” Arif, another of the plaintiffs, told Mongabay. “We don’t know what threats might come next. There have already been&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/indonesians-suing-pulpwood-firms-over-haze-face-intimidation-seek-human-rights-protection/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296392</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Sustainable’ palm oil firms continue illegal peatland clearing despite permit revocation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 02:45:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/14053750/Peat-fires-Indonesia-2015-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296182</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Carbon Emissions, Certification, Climate, Climate Change, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporations, Deforestation, Environment, Fires, Forests, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Palm Oil, Peatlands, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Sustainability, Threats To Rainforests, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil companies in Indonesia continue to operate on protected peatlands and clear forests, despite having their forestry permits revoked and being certified as sustainable, a new report alleges. Local environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Kaoem Telapak investigated three companies operating in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo: PT Agrindo Green [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Palm oil companies in Indonesia continue to operate on protected peatlands and clear forests, despite having their forestry permits revoked and being certified as sustainable, a new report alleges. Local environmental NGOs Pantau Gambut and Kaoem Telapak investigated three companies operating in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo: PT Agrindo Green Lestari (AGL), PT Citra Agro Abadi (CAA) and PT Bangun Cipta Mitra Perkasa (PT BCMP). Their findings implicate all three in illegal peatland conversion, deforestation and recurring fires. Two of the three companies, AGL and CAA, are subsidiaries of the PT Ciliandry Anky Abadi, a privately held plantation company with a 120,000-hectare (300,000-acre) land bank in Central Kalimantan. Ciliandry Anky Abadi itself was identified as the single biggest deforesting palm oil company in Indonesia in 2023. The AGL and CAA concessions cover a combined 18,224 hectares (45,032 acres) in Pulang Pisau district, overlapping with protected peatlands and high conservation value (HCV) areas. Around 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) have been identified as critical orangutan habitat. Satellite imagery from 2015 to 2023 reveals that most of the protected peatlands within CAA’s concessions have been converted into oil palm plantations, with planting beginning in 2022. As of 2023, 2,753 hectares (6,803 acres) of protected peat ecosystems had been cleared for planting — an area the size of 55,000 basketball courts. These peatlands have protected status because of their deep peat layers that hold vast quantities of carbon, and also because of their high conservation value. But converting peatlands&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/sustainable-palm-oil-firms-continue-illegal-peatland-clearing-despite-permit-revocation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296182</doi>				</item>
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