Home to more rainforest than any country but Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia is one of the most significant nations from an environmental and biodiversity perspective. Here are three of the key forestry stories and trends from Indonesia this year, ranging from a national deforestation slowdown and the end of a freeze […]
SORONG, West Papua Indigenous people in Indonesia’s West Papua province are fighting for the rights to their ancestral forests, now that the local government has rescinded licenses for oil palm concessions on their lands. For years, the residents of Segun village in West Papua’s Sorong district feared that their forests would be razed to […]
SORONG, West Papua With its lush rainforests and long stretches of beaches, Waimon, a coastal village in Indonesia’s West Papua province, seems like an idyllic place. But some residents consider it a hostile, almost inhospitable place due to its remoteness and the heavy rains that can make traveling by boat a deadly prospect. “Living […]
JAKARTA An Indonesian court has upheld a landmark 2017 ruling that all plantation data and maps in the country must be made publicly available a ruling that the government continues to defy. The decision, which rejects the government’s appeal against the earlier verdict, marks the latest development in a long-running fight by civil […]
Local government in Indonesia’s West Papua province has revoked permits for 12 oil palm concessions that cover an area twice the size of Los Angeles after a recent audit of palm oil concession holders found widespread administrative and legal violations. Activists have called on the government to follow up on the revocation by granting Indigenous peoples access to the rescinded concessions instead of granting new licenses to other investors.