https://news.mongabay.com/list/sumatra/ Environmental science and conservation news Fri, 17 Nov 2023 04:37:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png https://news.mongabay.com/list/sumatra/ 32 32 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-for-fsc-to-drop-canadas-paper-excellence-over-ties-to-deforester/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-for-fsc-to-drop-canadas-paper-excellence-over-ties-to-deforester/#respond 16 Nov 2023 03:15:02 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275487 - They are now calling on the Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies millions of hectares of Paper Excellence-managed forests as well as 42 of the company’s mills, to cut ties with it.
- APP was in 2007 “disassociated” from the FSC and remains barred from membership due to “destructive forestry practices”; its control of Paper Excellence should lead to the same outcome for the Canadian company, activists say.
- Both companies have denied allegations of controlling ties — despite the fact that Paper Excellence’s sole shareholder is the son of the APP chair and previously directed APP’s China business, among other revelations.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-for-fsc-to-drop-canadas-paper-excellence-over-ties-to-deforester/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/#respond 07 Nov 2023 09:59:10 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275074 - The case against PT Kallista Alam (KA) was supposed to set an example for how the government is cracking down on companies that allow burning in their concessions, but has instead highlighted the difficulty of collecting on the fines.
- KA has paid just $3.6 million of its total fine, and despite a 2021 regulation barring fine payments in installments, the company has been allowed to stagger its payments over time.
- The company is one of 22 sued by the government since 2013 for fires; 14 of these have been found liable and ordered to pay a combined 5.6 trillion rupiah ($353 million), but only one has paid in full.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/burn-now-pay-later-fines-trickle-in-from-indonesias-crackdown-on-forest-fires/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/indonesian-activist-gita-syahrani-wins-3m-award-for-work-on-sustainable-growth/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/indonesian-activist-gita-syahrani-wins-3m-award-for-work-on-sustainable-growth/#respond 03 Nov 2023 12:21:28 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274981 - Gita has for many years focused on supporting district governments protect peatlands and forests while developing policies for sustainable economic growth.
- Gita said she is keen to explore and include approaches that are more mindful and spiritual in encouraging more people to be active in protecting, rehabilitating and recovering the balance between people and the environment.
- Gita is the second Indonesian awardee of Climate Breakthrough grants, following environmentalist Arief Rabik in 2019; her fellow awardee this year is Jane Fleming Kleeb of the U.S., a prominent activist against the Keystone XL pipeline.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/indonesian-activist-gita-syahrani-wins-3m-award-for-work-on-sustainable-growth/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-alleges-app-continues-deforestation-10-years-after-pledge-to-stop/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-alleges-app-continues-deforestation-10-years-after-pledge-to-stop/#respond 31 Oct 2023 05:42:14 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274819 - The report identifies 75,000 hectares (185,300 acres) of deforestation in APP supplier concessions or companies connected to APP between February 2013 and 2022 — an area the size of New York City.
- APP has also changed the start date of its no-deforestation policy from 2013 to 2020, which would allow the company at some point in the future to accept new suppliers that deforested between 2013 and 2020.
- APP denies allegations of continued deforestation and says its suppliers have ceased forest conversions since 2013; the company also says it has committed to peatland restoration.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-alleges-app-continues-deforestation-10-years-after-pledge-to-stop/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/for-1st-time-indonesia-government-recognizes-ancestral-forests-in-aceh-but-only-some/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/for-1st-time-indonesia-government-recognizes-ancestral-forests-in-aceh-but-only-some/#respond 26 Oct 2023 14:50:48 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274675 - In total, Indigenous communities in Aceh seek recognition of 144,497 hectares (357,060 acres) of customary forests, and thus activists are calling for the government to recognize the rest of the forests.
- The communities welcome the recognition, saying it will give them legal protection to manage their forests in a sustainable manner.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/for-1st-time-indonesia-government-recognizes-ancestral-forests-in-aceh-but-only-some/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-indigenous-seafarers-run-aground-by-overfishing-and-mangrove-loss/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-indigenous-seafarers-run-aground-by-overfishing-and-mangrove-loss/#respond 23 Oct 2023 05:24:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274495 - A study published in October found that intact mangroves were associated with up to a 28% increase in fish and shellfish consumption among coastal communities.
- Duano elders say young people from the community are increasingly retiring from the community’s traditional livelihood to take up poorly paid casual work.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-indigenous-seafarers-run-aground-by-overfishing-and-mangrove-loss/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-half-of-plantations-in-indonesias-palm-oil-heartland-are-illegal/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-half-of-plantations-in-indonesias-palm-oil-heartland-are-illegal/#respond 13 Oct 2023 11:29:03 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274283 - With the illegal plantations spanning 2.52 million hectares (6.23 million acres) of land — an area nearly the size of Hawai‘i — Riau is home to more than half of illegal oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
- EoF has called on the government to focus its amnesty program, which gives operators of illegal plantations a grace period of three years to obtain the proper permits, in Riau.
- It has also called for greater transparency in the amnesty program to avoid corruption in the process.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/report-half-of-plantations-in-indonesias-palm-oil-heartland-are-illegal/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/wasnt-us-fire-hit-indonesia-claims-as-malaysia-chokes-on-poor-air-quality/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/wasnt-us-fire-hit-indonesia-claims-as-malaysia-chokes-on-poor-air-quality/#respond 05 Oct 2023 15:04:58 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273982 - Air quality in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Malaysia have worsened in recent days, with more than a dozen regions recording unhealthy air quality.
- Indonesian officials have denied that fires in their jurisdiction are to blame, and accused their Malaysian counterparts of misreading the data.
- Indonesia dismissed that same source of data in 2019, however, when fires in Sumatra and Borneo also spread to Malaysia and Singapore.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/wasnt-us-fire-hit-indonesia-claims-as-malaysia-chokes-on-poor-air-quality/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesian-children-locked-out-of-school-as-el-nino-haze-chokes-parts-of-sumatra-kalimantan/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesian-children-locked-out-of-school-as-el-nino-haze-chokes-parts-of-sumatra-kalimantan/#respond 05 Oct 2023 14:04:39 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273958 - Air pollution on Oct. 5 in one area of Palangkaraya far exceeded the level at which air quality is classified dangerous to human health.
- The government of Jambi province has closed schools until Oct. 7, after which it will review whether to reopen for in-person teaching.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesian-children-locked-out-of-school-as-el-nino-haze-chokes-parts-of-sumatra-kalimantan/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-rhino-birth-is-rare-good-news-for-species-sliding-to-extinction/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-rhino-birth-is-rare-good-news-for-species-sliding-to-extinction/#respond 03 Oct 2023 08:41:43 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273783 - The new birth brings the captive population of the species to 10; estimates put the wild population at 34-47 individuals, making Sumatran rhinos one of the world’s most endangered species.
- Each new calf born in captivity signals hope that the species will persist for another generation, but serious problems remain: All of the captive males are closely related, plans to capture more rhinos have stalled, and the existing wild populations are slowly disappearing.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/sumatran-rhino-birth-is-rare-good-news-for-species-sliding-to-extinction/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-village-forms-coast-guard-to-shield-octopus-in-mentawai-islands/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-village-forms-coast-guard-to-shield-octopus-in-mentawai-islands/#respond 03 Oct 2023 05:52:59 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273771 - Global demand for octopus is expected to outpace supply over the medium term, implying higher dockside prices for many artisanal fishers, if stocks can be managed sustainably.
- Maintenance of local fishing grounds also offers crucial nutritional benefits for remote coastal communities in the Mentawais, where rates of child stunting exceed Indonesia’s national average.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/indonesia-village-forms-coast-guard-to-shield-octopus-in-mentawai-islands/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/#respond 28 Sep 2023 16:46:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273723 - In Palembang city, new respiratory infections will likely soon eclipse the total diagnosed in 2022.
- Meteorology officials expect the monsoon to begin in parts of Sumatra and Borneo islands in October, but warn dry conditions will persist in much of Indonesia until November.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/sumatran-province-hangs-on-for-late-rain-as-el-nino-fires-bring-heat-and-sickness/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-slam-massive-discount-in-fines-for-indonesian-palm-oil-billionaire/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-slam-massive-discount-in-fines-for-indonesian-palm-oil-billionaire/#respond 27 Sep 2023 10:14:45 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273677 - The country’s highest court of appeal upheld the initial conviction of Surya Darmadi for conspiring with a local official to illegally obtain licenses for his oil palm plantation, but cut his fines from $2.7 billion to just $144 million.
- Experts who testified in Surya’s prosecution say the latest ruling sets a bad precedent for future law enforcement against corruption and environmental crimes in the country.
- And without fines, they warn, there can be no efforts to recover the carbon-rich and biodiverse peat ecosystems in Sumatra that Surya’s plantations destroyed.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-slam-massive-discount-in-fines-for-indonesian-palm-oil-billionaire/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/deforestation-for-palm-oil-continues-in-indonesias-orangutan-capital/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/deforestation-for-palm-oil-continues-in-indonesias-orangutan-capital/#respond 22 Sep 2023 16:59:37 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273592 - While new plantations appeared to have not been established yet along the new canal channels, there is a mosaic of illegal oil palm around the locations of the new canal, indicating a future development of palm oil.
- As new canals continue to be dug, deforestation has also picked up, reaching 372 hectares (919 acres) in the first six months of 2023, a 57% increase from the same period in 2022.
- RAN has called on global brands like Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever to address the development of new canals and illegal plantations as their supply chains are tainted with illegal palm oil from the wildlife reserve.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/deforestation-for-palm-oil-continues-in-indonesias-orangutan-capital/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/investors-over-islanders-as-indonesia-uses-force-to-push-development-project/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/investors-over-islanders-as-indonesia-uses-force-to-push-development-project/#respond 21 Sep 2023 16:38:22 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273528 - Security forces have cracked down hard on the protesters, raising concerns about human rights violations, including the use of rubber bullets and tear gas at a middle school.
- The government has justified its response and its insistence on pushing the project through, saying it’s of strategic national importance and that the investors must be accommodated.
- Critics have pointed out that the government previously championed local residents’ rights when it came to disputes like these, and that the U-turn shows preferential treatment for “big capital” over local communities.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/investors-over-islanders-as-indonesia-uses-force-to-push-development-project/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/#respond 15 Sep 2023 17:40:44 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273374 - Official data show a fourfold increase in hotspots up to September, compared with the same period last year.
- Residents in some major cities like Palembang have fallen ill due to toxic smog from the fires.
- Carbon-rich peatlands, which have been protected and partly restored through government policies and measures, are also burning, with more than 14,000 hotspots detected in peat landscapes in August alone.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/el-nino-leads-to-more-fires-and-toxic-air-pollution-in-indonesia/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesian-regulator-gets-12-years-jail-for-palm-oil-permit-bribery/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesian-regulator-gets-12-years-jail-for-palm-oil-permit-bribery/#respond 12 Sep 2023 15:16:34 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273201 - Muhammad Syahrir, formerly the head of the land agencies in Riau and North Maluku provinces, was found guilty of taking the equivalent of $1.38 million in bribes from various companies over the course of five years.
- In addition to the jail sentence, the court also imposed fines totaling $1.5 million; failure to pay could incur additional prison time of up to three and a half years.
- The case has spurred calls for a sweeping evaluation of the permitting process, not just in the palm oil industry, but across all sectors in Indonesia, where bribery is common.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/indonesian-regulator-gets-12-years-jail-for-palm-oil-permit-bribery/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/#respond 22 Aug 2023 04:08:47 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272453 - Muhammad Syahrir, formerly the head of the land agencies in Riau and North Maluku provinces, is accused of taking 20.9 billion rupiah ($1.36 million) in bribes from various companies over the course of five years.
- In the case at the center of the trial, Syahrir is alleged to have solicited the equivalent of $228,000 from palm oil company PT Adimulia Agrolestari to renew its right-to-cultivate permit, known as an HGU.
- Environmental law experts say the secrecy around HGU permits is what allows corruption to flourish, and have renewed calls for the government to make the permit data publicly accessible.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/indonesia-permit-payoff-raises-alarm-about-palm-oil-industry-corruption/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/in-sumatras-jambi-community-forest-managers-fish-to-protect-peatlands/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/in-sumatras-jambi-community-forest-managers-fish-to-protect-peatlands/#respond 02 Aug 2023 18:11:54 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271727 - In 2015, around 80% of the province’s peat forest was damaged during the Southeast Asia wildfire crisis.
- Jambi-based nonprofit KKI Warsi cites the number of peatland canals as the greatest barrier to replenishing the wetland.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/in-sumatras-jambi-community-forest-managers-fish-to-protect-peatlands/feed/ 0 https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephant-encounters-rattle-farmers-in-indonesias-jambi-province/ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephant-encounters-rattle-farmers-in-indonesias-jambi-province/#respond 01 Aug 2023 15:32:17 +0000 https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271660 - The two bull elephants were translocated in an effort to get them to breed with local females.
- Only 924-1,359 elephants are thought to remain in the wilds of Sumatra, a decline of more than half over a decade prior.
]]> Mongabay]]> https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/elephant-encounters-rattle-farmers-in-indonesias-jambi-province/feed/ 0