Since proclaiming independence in 1945, Indonesia’s leaders have not been shy about their ambitions to transform the county into an economic powerhouse. For decades, economic plans relied heavily on extracting resources like timber, coal and gas. Now, though, President Joko Widodo is embracing a plan to ride the wave of the global climate agenda with […]
COT GIREK, Indonesia Saleh Kadri, a young farmer from Leubok Pusaka village in North Aceh district, was on his way to his plantation when he spotted eight elephants on the riverbank. From his canoe, he recorded a video with his phone. The animals looked stunned. One seemed to be staring at Saleh’s moving canoe, […]
JAKARTA Fires in areas of carbon-intense peatland forest on the island of Sumatra appear to have been set in and around oil palm plantation concessions and could signal the start of another season of forest-razing burns in Indonesia. The fires burned 6,168 hectares (15,241 acres) of peatlands an area 18 times the size […]
JAKARTA A palm oil company whose permit was revoked at the start of the year and which was ordered to halt operations is allegedly continuing to clear forests in Indonesia’s Papua province. PT Permata Nusa Mandiri (PNM), one of more than 100 companies targeted in a mass cancellation of plantation permits by Indonesia’s environment […]