North sumatra News

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Survivors inspect clothings they salvaged at a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Sumatra’s ‘natural’ disaster wasn’t natural: How deforestation turned a rare cyclone catastrophic

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Dec 2025
A mother and infant Tapanuli orangutan were directly sighted in the Lumut Maju peat swamp forest in North Sumatra. Image by Junaidi Hanafiah/Mongabay-Indonesia.

Sumatran flood disaster may have wiped out a key Tapanuli orangutan population, scientists fear

Hans Nicholas Jong 12 Dec 2025
Men stand on logs swept away by flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Dec. 2.

Death toll rises in Sumatra flood catastrophe as gov’t moves to protect Batang Toru forest

Achmad Rizki Muazam, Ayat S. Karokaro, Taufik Wijaya 9 Dec 2025
Wilmar Eliaser Simandjorang

Indonesia retiree rewilds world’s largest volcano lake as church demands plantation closures

Sri Wahyuni 17 Oct 2025

New cluster of Tapanuli orangutans discovered in Sumatra peat swamp

Junaidi Hanafiah 17 Oct 2025

Hope and frustration as Indonesia pilots FSC’s logging remedy framework

Hans Nicholas Jong 22 Jul 2025

A fragile win as Indonesia cancels high-risk mine permit after court ruling

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Jun 2025

Sumatran tiger protection needs more patrols, tougher penalties, study finds

Basten Gokkon 15 May 2025
Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica

Indonesian pangolin trafficking prosecution reveals police involvement — and impunity

Ayat S. Karokaro 14 May 2025
A siamang gibbon seized in Chennai, India in August 2024, along with turtles and pythons. It was being carried in the baggage of a passenger travelling from Bangkok.

Illegal trafficking of siamang gibbons is a concerning and underreported crisis (commentary)

Sinan Serhadli 18 Apr 2025

Global outcry as petitioners demand no mining expansion in orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Mar 2025
Zulkifli Dalimunthe pulls in the net he cast the previous morning.

Unchecked illegal trawling pushes Indonesia’s small-scale fishers to the brink

Tonggo Simangunsong 11 Feb 2025
Syafi'i catching shellfish in the waters of the Malacca Strait.

As Sumatra loses mangroves to oil palms, local fishers also suffer

Ayat S. Karokaro 25 Nov 2024
Gustina Salim Rambe with a lawyer.

Indonesian mother imprisoned for protesting palm oil factory next to school

Sri Wahyuni 5 Nov 2024

Canopy bridges serve a lifeline for Sumatra’s tree-dwelling primates

Basten Gokkon 31 Oct 2024

‘Stop the stupidity’: Indonesia’s top court orders end to mine in quake zone

Hans Nicholas Jong 5 Sep 2024
Efron spending the night in a forest hut.

A one-time illegal logger grows back a forest for his people in Sumatra

Barita News Lumbanbatu 30 Aug 2024

Indonesia expands IPLC land recognition — but the pace is too slow, critics say

Hans Nicholas Jong 21 Aug 2024
Ilham Mahmudi

Unrest and arrests in Sumatra as community fights to protect mangroves

Ayat S. Karokaro 5 Jun 2024

Study challenges use of charismatic wildlife as umbrella species for conservation

Basten Gokkon 20 Apr 2024

Norway pension fund breaks with U.K. conglomerate Jardines over endangered orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 12 Mar 2024

Indonesian gold mine expanding in ‘wrong direction’ into orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 11 Mar 2024

Bid to mitigate gold mine’s impact on orangutans hit by stonewalling, data secrecy

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Feb 2024

Newly described tree species from Sumatra could be vital for threatened orangutans

Liz Kimbrough 28 Dec 2023
Dairi residents stood in solidarity with farmers and called for the rescue of Dairi from the zinc and lead mines.

Sumatra women farmers celebrate court win against China-backed zinc mine

Rabul Sawal 16 Aug 2023

World’s top sovereign fund latest to cut ties with dam in orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 31 Jul 2023
A worker in an oil palm plantation.

Alleged torturers roam free as Indonesia struggles to bring charges in palm oil slavery case

Mongabay.com 21 Jun 2023
A long-tailed macaque.

Sumatra’s young primate whisperer brings bullhorn to macaque conservation

Barita News Lumbanbatu 5 Jun 2023

High-carbon peat among 1,500 hectares cleared for Indonesia’s food estate

Hans Nicholas Jong 26 Apr 2023

Meet the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

Liz Kimbrough 24 Apr 2023

World’s newest great ape faces habitat loss, multiple threats: Will it survive?

Hans Nicholas Jong 14 Apr 2023
A female Tapanuli orangutan.

Saving the last Tapanuli orangutans

Lucia Torres 13 Apr 2023

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