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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
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a landslide in Suwawa on Sulawesi Island in July 2024.

Indonesia’s illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy of mercury pollution

Sarjan Lahay, Junaidi Hanafiah, Teguh Suprayitno 7 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
A woman stands near a shop damaged during a flood in Aceh province, Indonesia, Nov. 29, 2025.

Indonesia closes 2025 with rising disasters and stalled environmental reform

Hans Nicholas Jong 30 Dec 2025
Ningsih is about to add chlorine to the "Gentong Mas Santun" septic tank, which functions to inhibit the growth of and eliminate bacteria and microbes in feces.

On Indonesia’s longest river, a Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone

Anggita Raissa 29 Dec 2025
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
Three locals observing the ruins of their former warung.

Photos: Tourism ambitions clash with local livelihoods on Indonesia’s Lombok Island

Helena Ureta 23 Dec 2025

Taboo against harming strangler fig spirits protects forests in Indonesian Borneo

Liz Kimbrough 22 Dec 2025

Can anyone save the Sumatran rhino?

22 Dec 2025
Bee Smith, from her Instagram account.

Bethany “Bee” Smith, researcher who documented a megamouth shark alive, died in a diving accident, aged 24

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Dec 2025

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

Jaka Hendra Baittri 20 Dec 2025
Misty morning in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Rethinking how we talk about conservation—and why it matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Dec 2025
Sumatran rhino. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Pulp giant RGE admits possible deforestation breach in Bornean wildlife habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 19 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
Musofa arrived at the Javan Rhino Study and Conservation Area (JRSCA). Image courtesy of Ujung Kulon National Park Authority.

Indonesia’s 1st Javan rhino translocation ends in death, in conservation setback

Basten Gokkon 16 Dec 2025

From Kalimantan’s haze to Jakarta’s grit: A journalist’s journey

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Dec 2025

Green labeler PEFC under fire for certifying Indonesian firm clearing orangutan habitat

Hans Nicholas Jong 15 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
Smoke rises from a coal-burning power plant. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which includes large amounts of plastics, is replacing fossil fuels in some energy and industrial furnaces. But critics say this practice is merely replacing one dirty fuel for another.

Boom in burning waste for fuel could put human health and environment at risk

Sean Mowbray 10 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

Rescue teams racing after last week’s flooding in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand

Associated Press 3 Dec 2025
A Bornean orangutan.

Indigenous Dayak sound alarm as palm oil firm razes orangutan habitat in Borneo

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Dec 2025
A Manggarai village in Flores.

As agroforestry declines in Indonesia’s Flores, a traditional ecological lexicon fades with it

Keith Anthony Fabro 28 Nov 2025

How religious beliefs may help protect Mentawai’s forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Nov 2025
Cleared forest in the foreground, rainforest in the background in East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Saving forests won’t be enough if fossil fuels beneath them are still extracted, experts warn

Hans Nicholas Jong 26 Nov 2025
An Annamite striped rabbit in a breeding facility in Thailand.

Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade

Spoorthy Raman 25 Nov 2025
Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis, two environmental experts from IPB University, after the first hearing of their lawsuit against their testimony at the Cibinong District Court,

In Indonesia’s courts, truth can be a lonely witness

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Nov 2025

Bearing witness to Indonesia’s environmental challenges: Sapariah Saturi

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Nov 2025

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