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Climate-fueled landslides killed an estimated 58 Tapanuli orangutans, study finds

Hans Nicholas Jong 16 Jun 2026

Environmental group intervenes in lawsuit to help orangutans, tigers in Indonesia

Hans Nicholas Jong 11 Jun 2026

In Sumatra, social forestry links conservation with livelihoods

Basten Gokkon 9 Jun 2026
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)

Survivors sue Indonesian government over response to catastrophic Sumatra floods

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Jun 2026

‘Same dangerous project’: Fury after Indonesia revives disputed mine

Hans Nicholas Jong 22 May 2026
The site of an illegal gold mine in Sijunjung Regency where a landslide occurred, killing nine people.

Nine killed at illegal mine in latest Sumatra landslide tragedy as gold surge continues

Novia Harlina 21 May 2026
A student goes to school wearing a mask in the haze that blankets the city of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan in 2017.

Indonesia braces for possible ‘Godzilla El Niño’ as fire season escalates early

Hans Nicholas Jong 15 Apr 2026

Indonesia plan to rezone elephant reserve for carbon trading and tourism sparks backlash

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Mar 2026
Juvenile Sumatran orangutans like this are highly sought by traffickers. Image courtesy of Onrizal Onrizal.

Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)

Onrizal Onrizal 12 Mar 2026
David Chivers. Courtesy of Selwyn College

David Chivers, student of the singing apes

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Mar 2026
The electric current flowing through the fences not only endangers elephants but also humans and other wildlife.

Electrocution, conflict, poaching mark grim start to year for Sumatran elephants

Junaidi Hanafiah 9 Mar 2026

Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations

Tonggo Simangunsong 6 Mar 2026

Sumatra province plan to permit ‘community’ mines alarms civil society

Jaka Hendra Baittri 20 Feb 2026
A community settlement in Pidie Jaya Regency, destroyed by flooding.

Indonesia faces scrutiny over permit revocations following deadly floods and landslides

Hans Nicholas Jong 20 Feb 2026
Collage featuring a white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus) and a poacher

The most desirable songbird in Indonesia is disappearing from the wild

Rizky Maulana Yanuar, Sandy Watt 18 Feb 2026
A firefighter puts out fires in a peatland in Indonesia.

Thousands of peat fires flare across Indonesia despite rainy season

Hans Nicholas Jong 13 Feb 2026
Drained, cleared, and burned peat forest in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

The fair costs for forest rehabilitation in Indonesia (commentary)

Aida Greenbury 2 Feb 2026
Rainim Purba gives a speech and attempts to climb a fence during a protest urging the ministry of environment to revoke PT DPM’s environmental permit in Jakarta, May 2025.

The long struggle of women farmers to halt a zinc mine in North Sumatra

Tonggo Simangunsong 26 Jan 2026
A man holds a chicken as he walks on log used as a makeshift bridge at a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, Dec. 1.

Indonesia revokes forest and mine permits over role in deadly Sumatra landslides

Hans Nicholas Jong 22 Jan 2026
Flood survivors use logs to cross a river in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 2, 2025. Image by AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara.

Indonesia sues 6 companies over alleged links to deadly floods & landslides

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 Jan 2026
Forest illegally cleared for oil palm in Riau Province. Photo by Rhett A Butler

Indonesia says 4 million hectares of plantation, mining lands reclaimed in crackdown

Hans Nicholas Jong 14 Jan 2026
Tame Sumatran elephants were brought in to help clean up flood-affected residential areas in Meunasah Bie village, Meurah Dua district, Pidie Jaya.

A catastrophe that might offer a glimpse of hope for Indonesia (commentary)

Aida Greenbury 11 Jan 2026
A community settlement in Pidie Jaya Regency, destroyed by flooding.

Indonesia launches sweeping environmental audits after Sumatra flood disaster

Hans Nicholas Jong 7 Jan 2026
In this aerial photo taken using a drone, people are seen making their way on a muddy road at a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. Photo credit: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara

After Cyclone Senyar, Indonesia probes whether development amplified scale of disaster

Hans Nicholas Jong 6 Jan 2026
Rainforest in Brunei in 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The year in rainforests 2025: Deforestation fell; the risks did not

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Dec 2025

A flood of logs post-Cyclone Senyar leaves Padang fishers out of work

Jaka Hendra Baittri 20 Dec 2025
The presence of Sumatran elephants is intended to help transport wood left over from the flood.

Tsunami veteran rescue elephants mobilized for Indonesia cyclone disaster relief

Junaidi Hanafiah 19 Dec 2025

Tapanuli orangutan, devastated by cyclone, now faces habitat loss under zoning plans

Hans Nicholas Jong, Achmad Rizki Muazam 18 Dec 2025
Izzy Sasada and orangutan

Orangutans rescued undergo re-training to return to the wild

Izzy Sasada, Sam Lee 17 Dec 2025
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

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