On March 10, Indonesian activists won a major battle in the war for transparency over natural resources when their Supreme Court ordered the coal-happy Kutai Kartanegara district government to hand…
Three wildlife traffickers who were caught in November with as many baby Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) were sentenced to between two and two-and-a-half years behind bars this week by a court in…
Authorities in Aceh arrested two more tiger poachers last week, with investigators posing as buyers to catch the men in the act of making the illegal sale. Police recovered two skins…
n the summer of 2013, as Indonesian fires enveloped the region in a toxic haze, public ire settled on plantation firms as prime culprits in the disaster. Burning land to…
Local governments, environmental agencies, emergency services and the military are working across Indonesia’s fire-prone areas as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo tries to minimize this year’s haze in what could be…
It must be one of the most extensive compendiums of suffering and struggle ever produced in Indonesia – the result of a national inquiry into land conflicts affecting indigenous peoples, published…
In the latest twist in a decades-long push to define the legal status of Indonesia’s indigenous citizens, the government will seek authorization from the House of Representatives to finalize a…
The number of hotspots across Indonesia's forests and peatlands increased to 76 across Kalimantan and Sumatra on Monday as authorities prepared for elevated risks of widespread fires in the coming…
Indonesia’s environment and forestry ministry will convert a former gold mining site into a sanctuary for the Sumatran rhinoceros in East Kalimantan province, after conservationists identified 15 of the critically…
Indonesian fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti is purging the archipelago of foreign-made fishing boats, which she believes are being widely used as fronts for illegal foreign fishing operations. The action follows…
Want to make a million dollars? Find the most efficient way to map Indonesia’s peatlands. That’s the ticket to winning the Indonesian Peat Prize, announced by the cartographically challenged Southeast…
ith a vigorous campaign to repatriate and compensate scores of foreign fishing slaves winding down, the Indonesian government has pledged to make human trafficking a central front in its war…
A coalition of NGOs working with Indonesia’s antigraft agency has produced an index on mining practices and supervision in 12 provinces, part of an official effort to combat the prevailing…
Indonesian government investigators have uncovered widespread profiteering by state-backed retailers, who are selling millions of dollars worth of subsidized fertilizers meant for small farmers to big plantations. Nearly a third of…
The leadership of Indonesia’s new peatlands restoration agency was rounded out on Friday, with the inauguration of five lieutenants to agency chief Nazir Foead. Hartono Prawiratmadja was named secretary. The…
Last year, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama signed a gubernatorial instruction meant to change Indonesia’s reputation as a cumbersome, bureaucratic place to invest. He proposed reducing the number of…
The government of Norway announced on Wednesday it would continue its environmental funding partnership with Indonesia, offering $50 million to support the archipelago’s newly created Peat Restoration Agency. “This is…
On Tuesday, a proposed bill on the rights of indigenous peoples was excluded from Indonesia’s 2016 legislative agenda. Its frustrated supporters are now calling on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to…
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has appointed conservationist Nazir Foead to head up a newly-created peatland restoration agency, which aims to resurrect peatlands devastated by recent fires. The establishment of the…
Round two, industry. Four months after Indonesia’s Supreme Court ordered an oil palm grower to pay a record $26 million for cut-and-burning forest in Aceh, a different firm has been…
On Sunday, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo released 190 birds into the wild outside the Presidential Palace in Bogor, a suburb of Jakarta. “We have to protect the ecosystem,” the Indonesian president…
Rice paddies in Bali. Photo: Rhett Butler Indonesian civil society groups and experts welcome President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's campaign promise to redistribute nine million hectares of land to farmers –…
Rainforest in Riau, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Last fall Indonesia elected its first president with no ties to the established political order or the military. Joko Widodo's election…
