The Ministry of Trade issued a regulation revoking its decision from February to no longer require Indonesian timber companies to obtain export licenses that certify the wood comes from legal sources. BAY ISMOYO / AFP / Getty Images
By Hans Nicholas Jong
The Indonesian government has backed down from a decision to scrap its timber legality verification process for wood export, amid criticism from activists and the prospect of being shut out of the lucrative European market.
<p>On May 11, the Ministry of Trade issued <a href="http://jdih.kemendag.go.id/peraturan/detail/1998/2" target="_blank">a regulation</a> revoking its decision from February to no longer require Indonesian timber companies to obtain export licenses that certify the wood comes from legal sources. That earlier decision caught environmental activists, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and even timber businesses by surprise, prompting a widespread outcry.</p><p>Sulistyawati, the trade ministry's director of forestry product exports, said that with the revocation, the export process would go back to the previous system. She <a href="https://kompas.id/baca/humaniora/ilmu-pengetahuan-teknologi/2020/05/14/lemahkan-sistem-verifikasi-legalitas-kayu-peraturan-menteri-perdagangan-dicabut/" target="_blank">said</a> the revocation was in accordance with a request from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.</p><p>Under the trade ministry's <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/indonesia-timber-illegal-logging-legality-license-svlk/" target="_blank">controversial February regulation</a>, which would have taken effect on May 27, exporters would no longer have needed to obtain licenses verifying that their timber and finished wood products come from legal sources. The so-called v-legal ("verified legal") licenses are at the heart of Indonesia's timber legality verification system, or SVLK, which took the country a decade to develop and implement in an effort to tackle illegal logging.</p>
<p>The European Union, one of the key markets for Indonesian timber and finished wood products, <a href="https://www.euflegt.efi.int/background-indonesia" target="_blank">recognizes the SVLK</a> as the basis for importing timber from Indonesia into its market. Scrapping the standard would have <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/indonesia-eu-timber-wood-legality-svlk-license-logging/" target="_blank">jeopardized exports to the EU</a>, experts warned. Activists were also quick to <a href="https://theconversation.com/penghapusan-syarat-lisensi-kayu-bisa-tingkatkan-penebangan-liar-dan-beri-citra-buruk-pada-produk-mebel-lokal-136509" target="_blank">criticize</a> the move, saying it would open up the black market for illegally logged timber.</p><p>Businesses, meanwhile, were worried the decision would undermine hard-won gains for the reputation of Indonesian timber, which was heavily associated with illegal logging in the past.</p><p>A recent poll by Gadjah Mada University showed that nearly half of 137 timber businesses surveyed felt ending the v-legal license requirement for exports would harm their business. Industry groups in key export markets have also raised questions about the policy, including the International Wood Product Association (IWPA) in the United States and the Australian Timber Importers Federation (ATIF).</p>
<p>The Indonesian Furniture Entrepreneurs Association (Asmindo), a trade group, welcomed the government's U-turn and reinstatement of the v-legal license requirement. Robert Wijaya, the deputy head of regulation reviews at Asmindo, said the rationale that the licensing requirement put an onerous burden on exporters was baseless. He said data from the national statistics agency, the BPS, showed Indonesia's furniture exports increasing since the implementation of the SVLK.</p><p>In 2019, Indonesia exported $1.95 billion worth of wood furniture, a 14.6% increase from 2018.</p><p>"So it's not true that the SVLK is said to be hampering exports," Robert said.</p><p>Muhammad Kosar, from the Indonesian Independent Forest Monitoring Network (JPIK), which keeps track of the SVLK's implementation, said the trade ministry's about-face showed the lack of coordination between government institutions. As a result, he said, different government departments have different interpretations of the importance of the system.</p>
<p>Krystof Obidzinski, a timber legality expert at the European Forest Institute, agreed that appreciation of the SVLK and associated export agreement with the EU might have declined in recent few years. Thus it's important to communicate the importance of the SVLK to ministries other than the environment ministry, the main proponent of the system, so that the SVLK isn't jeopardized in the future, he said.</p><p>"Communication and understanding of the SVLK outside the environment ministry are very minimal," Obidzinski said. "Maybe that's because [of] staff turnover or other interests. So to increase export and [strengthen] the SVLK, it's important to build bridges with other ministries so that the level [of understanding] can be the same."</p><p>Under the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/10/indonesia-eu-sign-historic-deal-to-end-the-illegal-timber-trade/" target="_blank">signed</a> in 2013, all timber shipped to the EU from Indonesia must be certified under the SVLK, which aims to track the chain of custody of timber products and ensure that timber is harvested in compliance with Indonesian law. The agreement also requires Indonesia to commit to SVLK certification for all timber exports — not just to the EU — as well as timber traded in the domestic market.</p>
<p>That stringent implementation of checks at every stage of the process was the justification for cited by the trade ministry for dispensing with the requirement at the end stage — exports. In making this argument, the ministry adopted the main talking point of the Indonesian Furniture and Craft Association (HIMKI), a trade body that has been at the forefront of the lobbying efforts to drop the SVLK requirement for producers of finished wood items. It <a href="https://ekonomi.bisnis.com/read/20180826/257/831697/kenapa-svlk-di-industri-hilir-mebel-perlu-dihapus-ini-jawabannya" target="_blank">argued</a> that if a piece of timber has already been legally certified at the logging stage, then there's no need to continue with legality checks further on down the line, including for exporters.</p><p>HIMKI chairman Sunoto denounced the trade ministry's backtracking, insisting the SVLK requirement made it difficult for producers to export their furniture products overseas.</p><p>"Two months ago, we were already happy because the SVLK had been cancelled at the downstream level [exporters]," he <a href="https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/news/20200513145438-4-158200/pak-jokowi-aturan-legalitas-kayu-bikin-pengusaha-mebel-marah" target="_blank">said</a>. "Now it is resurrected. It's not that we don't agree with the SVLK. HIMKI doesn't agree if the SVLK is implemented at the downstream level."</p>
<p>This argument was echoed by Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita during a government meeting on May 22. He <a href="https://bisnis.tempo.co/read/1345507/alasan-menteri-luhut-sebut-svlk-atau-legalisasi-kayu-penting/full&view=ok" target="_blank">suggested</a> that the SVLK requirement should only be made mandatory at the logging stage, but not at the downstream level.</p><p>To address the concerns over the high cost of SVLK certification, the environment ministry will issue a regulation containing several changes to the system. Under the regulation, it'll be the government who verify SVLK certification, not third-party agencies, according to Bambang Hendroyono, the secretary-general of the environment ministry.</p><p>"So in the [planned] ministerial regulation, we will make sure that small-and-medium businesses no longer have problems for export, especially to China and Korea," he said.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/indonesia-svlk-legal-timber-license-eu-vlegal-export/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Land clearing by Digoel Agri. Pusaka
A new company has begun clearing rainforest in an area of Indonesia's easternmost Papua province earmarked to become the world's largest oil palm plantation, in a vast project that has been mired in allegations of lawbreaking.
<p>If seen through to completion, the Tanah Merah project will generate an estimated $6 billion in timber and create a plantation almost twice the size of London, at the heart of the largest tract of intact rainforest left in Asia. It will also release an immense amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at a time when Indonesia has committed to reducing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/emissions" rel="noopener noreferrer">emissions</a> from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" rel="noopener noreferrer">deforestation</a>.<em></em></p>
<p>Since March of last year, the Digoel Agri Group, founded by a politically connected Jakarta family and now backed by an investor from New Zealand, has bulldozed 170 hectares (420 acres) of rainforest in a section of the project previously spared from land clearing, satellite imagery shows.</p><p>The clearance amounts to a fraction of the 280,000 hectares (692,000 acres) allocated for the project, now controlled by several different conglomerates. But it signals that deforestation could quickly accelerate after a decade of false starts by other investors.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5NzQzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTU3MjkwMH0.Dvf-M0hbY-fIaELT0R0DyctTdKkOvGwuLzd1eXrnbJI/img.jpg?width=980" id="78247" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f4d56d58401899bcc49dd41f190d8a9c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A satellite view of Digoel Agri's forest clearance, seen in late November 2019.
<p>Since it was first conceived in 2007, the rights to the project have changed hands several times, involving a string of investors who have deployed crude and complex corporate secrecy techniques to hide their identities.</p><p>The licensing process for the project has been plagued by irregularities. A cross-border <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/the-secret-deal-to-destroy-paradise/" target="_blank">investigation</a> by The Gecko Project, Mongabay, Malaysiakini and Tempo, published in November 2018, revealed that key permits were signed by an elected official who was simultaneously serving a prison sentence for embezzling state funds.</p><p>A subsequent <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/revealed-government-officials-say-permits-for-mega-plantation-in-papua-were-falsified/" target="_blank">report</a> found that officials believe other essential permits — for both the plantation and a giant sawmill to process the timber — were falsified.</p><p>Two companies, majority-owned by anonymous firms registered in the United Arab Emirates, began operating on the basis of these permits, to the north of the land now held by Digoel Agri. In response to written questions from The Gecko Project and Mongabay they have denied the allegation that the permits were falsified.</p><p>On paper, Digoel Agri's involvement in the project represents a clean break from those allegations. The firm arrived on the scene after the suspect permits held by earlier investors were revoked and reassigned to it.</p><p>Jackson Iqbal de Hesselle, 32, a member of the Rumangkang family, which is behind Digoel Agri, said its operations were clean. "We're obeying the rules," he said in a recent interview at the firm's office in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.</p><p>However, while there are no apparent links between Digoel Agri and the previous investors, its ability to operate is partly predicated on the allegedly compromised licensing process that went before.</p><p>The legal basis of Digoel Agri's activities rests partly on decrees rezoning the land to allow development, issued by the Ministry of Forestry in 2012, following requests from earlier investors. The applications were based on the plantation permits that were allegedly falsified.</p><p>As of late last year, Indonesian authorities had yet to investigate the allegations, officials from several agencies <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/revealed-government-officials-say-permits-for-mega-plantation-in-papua-were-falsified/" target="_blank">said at the time</a>.</p><p>NGOs scrutinizing the project assert that officials rushed into reallocating the lands to new investors without properly considering the allegations of irregularities in the licensing process and the environmental and social impacts the project would have.</p><p>Arie Rompas, the head of forest campaigns at Greenpeace Indonesia, called the Tanah Merah project a "public scandal" and said the permits underlying it should be examined and revoked.</p><p>"There is still an opportunity to save this area," he said.</p>
Enter the Rumangkangs
<p>Digoel Agri was set up by members of the Rumangkang family, according to the Indonesian government's corporate registry. The late family patriarch, Ventje Rumangkang, who <a href="https://kumparan.com/kumparannews/pendiri-partai-demokrat-ventje-rumangkang-meninggal-dunia-1stwRMdnjsT" target="_blank">died</a> in February at the age of 74, was a founder of Indonesia's Democratic Party, the vehicle for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's successful presidential run in 2004.</p><p>At their office in Jayapura, Jackson and his brother Jones Rumangkang, 44, said they had decided to invest in the Tanah Merah project after being encouraged to do so by bureaucrats in Boven Digoel, the district in which the project is located. They then formed several companies under the Digoel Agri brand and set about acquiring the permits.</p><p>The brothers said they were helped along by Fabianus Senfahagi, the head of a local indigenous people's association. He had played a role shepherding through the project in its early stages, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/the-secret-deal-to-destroy-paradise/" target="_blank">accompanying</a> surveyors sent by other investors around 2012.</p><p>A paper trail of correspondence among Fabianus and government officials shows he subsequently agitated for the permits to be revoked and reassigned to the Digoel Agri Group.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5NzQzOS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMzYxNzczMX0.ZcD-KdlSgXx5kqObg-YRDbnfnUz4QLIR0D7G_E2I25s/img.png?width=980" id="e849c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c7a429fa0a26cf860930a108f7da9c6f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>His letters to the district government in 2014 claimed the local Auyu people were anxiously waiting for the project to begin. By this time, the land concessions that would be transferred to the Rumangkangs were majority-owned by Tadmax Resources, a Malaysian logging and property conglomerate. Minority stakes were retained by the Menara Group, an enigmatic Jakarta firm that brought the project to life in 2010.</p><p>Over the next three years, the permits held by Tadmax and Menara were revoked by the district and provincial governments. The stated rationale for cancelling them was the companies' failure to begin operating. However, bureaucrats at the Papua investment agency had also raised concerns that some of the permits had been falsified.</p><p>Tadmax and Menara have not responded to repeated requests to comment on these allegations.</p><p>By 2017, the concessions previously held by Tadmax and Menara had been reallocated to the Digoel Agri Group.</p>
<p>In early 2019, Tadmax and Menara challenged this decision. A letter to the central government from Dr. Sadino & Partners, a law firm representing the joint investors, accused officials of illegally revoking the permits. They also argued that anyone using the same land on the basis of new permits — like the ones underlying Digoel Agri's operations — was committing a crime.</p><p>Jones and Jackson insisted that Digoel Agri was in compliance with the law and had obtained the permits it needed to begin operating, from the district and provincial governments.</p><p>Ordinarily, to convert rainforest to a plantation, Digoel Agri would also have needed to apply to the forestry ministry in Jakarta to rezone the land for development. But by the time the Rumangkangs arrived in Papua, this process had already taken place.</p><p>The Menara Group and its co-investors had obtained decrees rezoning the land from the then-minister in 2011. These decrees were issued on the basis of permits that provincial government officials have repeatedly reported were falsified.</p>
<p>In an interview last year, Sigit Hardwinarto, the ministry's director-general of forest planning, said the rezoning could be reviewed if the allegation that the permits had been falsified was reported to his department.</p><p>The rezoning of the land is a legacy of the administration of President Yudhoyono and then-Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan. During his tenure, Zulkifli <a href="http://www.greenomics.org/vast-majority-of-palm-oil-permits-granted-by-sby-regime" target="_blank">reportedly</a> rezoned 2.4 million hectares (5.9 million acres) of land for conversion to oil palm plantations.</p><p>Yudhoyono's successor, President Joko Widodo, and the new forestry minister, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, have sought to strike a different path. In 2018, Widodo <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/indonesian-president-signs-3-year-freeze-on-new-oil-palm-licenses/" target="_blank">signed</a> a three-year moratorium on the issuance of new licenses for oil palm plantations.</p><p>The policy had been announced in the wake of Indonesia's 2015 fire and haze crisis, in which Indonesia's vast peat swamps burned as a result of agricultural fires from the oil palm and timber plantation industries. Toxic smoke from the fires drifted into neighboring countries, creating a public health crisis.</p><p>The moratorium explicitly barred the forestry ministry from rezoning land for oil palm development. It also instructed the cabinet to review all existing oil palm permits with an eye toward possibly revoking them. Several weeks after the president first declared he would sign the moratorium, in 2016, Siti singled out the Tanah Merah project as one that merited scrutiny.</p><p>In comments posted on her <a href="http://www.sitinurbaya.com/kegiatan-menteri-lhk/569-unprecedented-steps-taken-to-reinforce-presidents-palm-oil-expansion-moratorium" target="_blank">personal website</a>, Siti referred disparagingly to the fact that the project appeared to have been established so the licenses could be "traded" to Malaysian investors, and said the president had instructed her to prioritize implementing the moratorium in Papua.</p><p>"We really have to safeguard [the forests of Papua] and must formulate and implement a development concept in Papua to the best of our ability," she quoted Widodo as telling her.</p><p>However, neither these policies nor the allegations around the Tanah Merah project have stymied its progress under the direction of new investors. NGOs monitoring the implementation of the moratorium have noted limited progress in Papua.</p><p>"There has been no significant progress in how this policy is implemented," said Arie, the Greenpeace campaigner. "The Tanah Merah project should be a strong case to see how this [policy] can be carried out seriously and effectively."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5NzQ0NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NDI5MzkxNH0.pdeCBRSpo4RBY_jHYpiQcB97hicn5vCvDircXLw271s/img.png?width=980" id="490ad" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3e81cf5fcb4e682a7e2b84c7c1baa808" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A road cuts through one of the Digoel Agri land concessions, seen in January. Pusaka
Competing Interests
<p>The Rumangkangs insist that the project will benefit the Auyu people. Jones said the ones he met were overjoyed about the prospect of a plantation on their land.</p><p>"They didn't just ask, they cried," he said. "The Auyu tribe is the poorest in Boven Digoel, even though they're so rich [in natural resources]."</p><p>The Rumangkangs have enlisted foreign investors to help them develop the plantation. Their chief partner is a New Zealand property developer named Neville Mahon. In 2018, Mahon became the majority shareholder of the Digoel Agri subsidiaries with land concessions in the project. He could not be reached for comment.</p><p>Mahon associate Thirunavukarasu Selva Nithan, an Australian national, is the sole director of the three companies, corporate records show. Contacted by email, he said he had resigned his position and directed questions to Jackson.</p><p>The involvement of these investors adds to a growing list of actors from across the world with a stake in what could become the world's largest stretch of oil palm. Malaysian logging giant Shin Yang has constructed a sawmill to process timber from the project.</p><p>North of the Digoel Agri concessions, investors whose identities are hidden behind anonymously owned companies in the United Arab Emirates have also begun clearing land, with the Menara Group and the sister of a prominent politician from Indonesia's National Mandate Party as their minor partners. So far, they've bulldozed 8,300 hectares (20,500 acres) of forest, nearly 3% of the project's total area.</p><p>Yet another firm holds the rights to the northernmost block of the project. Corporate records show it is majority owned by two holding companies registered to a letterbox address in Malaysia. The minor shareholder in that venture is the Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau.</p><p>Many Auyu remain steadfastly opposed to the Tanah Merah project, according to Franky Samperante, the director of Pusaka, an Indonesian nonprofit that advocates for indigenous peoples' rights.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5NzQ0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjEzMDU3OX0.N5bvUeHwDRD4y0fyN1WJY00sNEoVMmmP9ljXWsmLQ0Y/img.jpg?width=980" id="bdb0a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9b24cd26b8abc8784869535ba9d4a23c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/new-player-starts-clearing-rainforest-in-worlds-biggest-oil-palm-project/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Franky Samperante. Sandy Watt / The Gecko Project
<p>On a recent trip to the area, he found that members of the Kemon clan, whose land has been targeted by Digoel Agri, did not want the plantation to go ahead on the grounds that it would destroy their food and water supplies.</p><p>He questioned the government's decision to allow the plantation to move ahead, without investigating the allegation that permits held by the earlier investors had been falsified.</p><p>"In light of the irregularities that have arisen, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry must review the decrees rezoning the land," he said. "The government must impose sanctions on the perpetrators."</p>From Your Site Articles
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An Indonesian man pumps water up to the second floor of a house to wash away the mud in a flooded neighborhood on Jan. 3 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ed Wray / Getty Images
After nearly 15 inches of rain fell in one day and caused flash floods and landslides in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, that destroyed 60,000 homes and killed at least 43 people, the Indonesian Air Force sent two planes to drop salt on approaching rain clouds to break them up before they reached the city, according to Reuters.
<p>The slowly sinking capital that is crumbling into the Java Sea has started the new year with a humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of people were displaced and over 190,000 were evacuated by the sudden deluge on Dec. 31, 2019. </p>
<p>To stave off further damage, Indonesia's technology agency BPPT teamed up with the air force to carry out three rounds of cloud seeding earlier today, with more expected when needed, a BPPT official said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>"All clouds moving towards the Greater Jakarta area, which are estimated to lead to precipitation there, will be shot with NaCl (sodium chloride) material," Indonesia's technology agency BPPT explained in a statement, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50981453" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>The two small planes dropped salt on rain clouds above the Sundra Strait. A larger plane was loaded and on standby if more rain clouds approached the city, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>Indonesian authorities often use cloud seeding or salt flares into clouds to try to catalyze rainfall to help put out forest fires during the dry season, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"We will do cloud seeding every day as needed," said BPPT chief Hammam Riza to reporters, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, who last year announced that the capital would move to East Kalimantan on Borneo to help relieve Jakarta's overcrowding, blamed stalled flood control infrastructure projects for the disaster. Meanwhile, authorities are using hundreds of pumps to try to suck water out of residential areas and from public infrastructure like roads and railways, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">the Guardian</a> reported.</p><p><em>[<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/indonesia-to-move-capital-jakarta-2636197365.html">Read why Indonesia will move its capital from fast-sinking Jakarta.</a>]</em></p><p>However, even in areas where the water has receded, mud and debris have prevented people from returning to their homes, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50981453" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>Jakarta regularly experiences flooding during the rainy season, which started in November. This week's flood was "one of the most extreme rainfall" events since records began in 1866, the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said on Friday, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>The agency said the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> had increased the risk of extreme weather and warned that heavy rainfall could last until mid-February, with Jan 11-15 an expected peak, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.<br></p>
<p>This week's flooding is the worst since 2013 when dozens were killed by overflowing canals when monsoons struck the city. More than 50 people died in floods in the capital in 2007, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. </p>
<p>"This year's flooding was phenomenally bad because of the extremely high rainfall," said Yayat Supriatna, a Jakarta-based urban planning expert, as the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jakarta-flood-2020-indonesia-capital-inundated-record-rainfall-dozens-deaths-missing-today-2020-01-03/" target="_blank">AFP</a> reported.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1213086357188276226" id="twitter-embed-1213086357188276226" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1213086357188276226&created_ts=1578057300.0&screen_name=AFP&text=VIDEO%3A+%F0%9F%87%AE%F0%9F%87%A9+Hundreds+of+people+displaced+because+of+severe+flooding+in+the+Indonesian+capital+%23Jakarta+hold+Friday+pr%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FmPrp4C87qr&id=1213086357188276226&name=AFP+news+agency" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="478GLK1578073127"></iframe><p>He added that Jakarta's many infrastructure problems, including poor drainage and rampant overdevelopment, worsened the situation.</p><p>"Yes, the weather conditions were terrible, but this was exacerbated by awful urban planning," said Supriatna.</p><p>Authorities said 17 died in floodwaters, while 12 were killed in landslides. Several people died after coming into contact with downed live electrical lines and from hypothermia. As a precaution, officials turned off the electricity in many districts in Jakarta as a precaution, according to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/01/03/43-die-in-Jakarta-flooding/4011578060106/" target="_blank">UPI</a>.</p>
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Citizens' activities during flood conditions in the residential and commercial areas of Kampung Pulo, Jatinegara, Jakarta, Jan. 2. Dasril Roszandi / NurPhoto / Getty Images
At least 21 people have died in some of the deadliest flooding to swamp Jakarta in years, according to the latest report from Reuters.
<p>Unusually heavy rain began to fall in and around the Indonesian capital Dec. 31, 2019: 377 millimeters (approximately 14.8 inches) were recorded New Year's Eve at an East Jakarta airport by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). That's the highest rainfall tally for a single day since records began in 1996, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50969418" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>.<br></p><p>"This rain is not ordinary rain," the BMKG said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/01/01/not-ordinary-rain-worst-rainfall-in-over-decade-causes-massive-floods-in-jakarta.html?src=mostviewed&pg=news/2020/01/01/multiple-deaths-reported-as-floods-landslide-strike-greater-jakarta.html" target="_blank">The Jakarta Post</a>.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1212686217353080837" id="twitter-embed-1212686217353080837" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1212686217353080837&created_ts=1577961899.0&screen_name=BBCWorld&text=At+least+21+people+have+died+in+severe+flooding+in+Indonesia%27s+capital%2C+Jakarta%0A%0AThe+city+is+having+its+most+intens%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F2wt4JdNwS0&id=1212686217353080837&name=BBC+News+%28World%29" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="3ORFDM1577975776"></iframe><p>The BMKG said the extreme rainfall was caused by the combination of a monsoon and the fact that warmer Indian Ocean temperatures south of Java had allowed more water vapor to accumulate in the atmosphere.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> generally is causing more extreme rainfall because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and because more water is evaporating off the ocean, <a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-101-why-does-climate-change-increase-rainfall" target="_blank">The Climate Reality Project explained</a>. Jakarta is also especially vulnerable to flooding because it is the fastest sinking city in the world: a combination of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">sea level rise</a> and land sinking caused by the drilling of groundwater wells and the weight of its buildings means much of North Jakarta could be underwater by 2050. Because of this, Indonesian President Joko Widodo <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/indonesia-to-move-capital-jakarta-2636197365.html" target="_self">announced plans</a> to relocate the capital last year.</p><p>The current New Year's flooding has displaced more than 62,000 people in Jakarta alone, according to Reuters.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1212241771213643778" id="twitter-embed-1212241771213643778" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1212241771213643778&created_ts=1577855935.0&screen_name=AFP&text=A+family+use+an+inflated+inner-tube+to+leave+their+home+after+rain+caused+flooding+in+Jakarta%2C+Indonesia+%0A%0A%F0%9F%93%B8+Bay+Is%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F6ImDIwxb1R&id=1212241771213643778&name=AFP+news+agency" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="6XGD1O1577975776"></iframe><p>"It has not flooded for so long here. We didn't have the chance to bring anything," 52-year-old evacuee Umar Dani told Reuters. "I have to live on the streets now."</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> also cut power and disrupted train service. Floodwaters swamped the runway at Jakarta's Halim Perdana Kusumah domestic airport, closing it and stranding around 19,000 people, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/dead-thousands-caught-flooding-indonesia-jakarta-200102010300411.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera reported</a>.</p><p>The death toll is the highest for flooding since 2013, BBC News reported. The victims, aged between eight and 82, died from hypothermia, drowning and landslides. One 16-year-old boy, Arviqo Alif Ardana, was electrocuted, Al Jazeera reported.</p><p>"I did not know what had happened until his younger brother came and told me that his brother had died and when I came to the scene, people said that my child was electrocuted when he was holding a lamp post and tried to be rescued by local residents (but failed and died)," his father, Al-Latif Ilyas Darmawan, said.</p><p>Widodo told reporters Thursday that evacuations and safety precautions would be prioritized, Reuters reported. He also said on Twitter that flood mitigation projects had been delayed since 2017 because of problems with land acquisition.</p>Heavy rains are expected to last until Jan. 7, according to Indonesia's Cabinet Secretary. But Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the geophysics agency, told reporters rains could fall until mid February.
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100 Trash Barriers to Be Installed in Bali Rivers to Reduce Plastic Pollution
25 November 2019
Oceans
100 Trash Barriers are being installed in Bali. Make A Change
In recent years, Bali has been called the trash island in the world after a British diver recorded himself in one of the island's most iconic dive spots fully surrounded in plastics. In December 2017, the Balinese Government even declared a trash emergency.
With 80 percent of plastic pollution in our oceans coming from rivers and streams, Make A Change World is launching 100 trash booms around Bali to prevent plastics going out to sea under its latest project Sungai Watch.
<p>Sungai Watch is Make A Change World's newest project aimed at tackling the alleyways of plastic pollution, our rivers. "In the last 10 years, we have launched expeditions in some of the world's most polluted rivers and have seen first hand the urgent need for action." says Gary Bencheghib, founder of Make A Change World.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4933b5dbe63396657dc8ef68b0722aba"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/495128701089705/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div><p>With the support of beer Bintang, Make A Change World are launching their 3 first river booms in tributaries of the Ayung river, Bali's most important waterway. The river booms will be set up in the coming weeks and will follow an interactive educational campaign aimed at raising awareness about the importance of not throwing plastics in our rivers. </p><p>"We did this to show our commitment to support the Indonesia tourism industry and keep Bali as the star destination. We believe that the best way to prevent trash running to the beach and sea should be started from responsible waste management behavior and the local habit of throwing rubbish into the river should be eliminated immediately," said PT Multi Bintang Indonesia Niaga Marketing Director, Mariska van Drooge.</p><p>The booms are engineered by the German based company Plastic Fischer, an environmental startup founded by three friends, Georg Baunach, Karsten Hirsch and Moritz Schulz. They have the goal to intercept plastic pollution in our rivers through affordable technology solutions. For the past 5 months, they have been setting up waste collection solutions in Java including their proven successful pilot trash booms on the Citarum river. "We invented effective trash booms that are made of local materials to provide a simple and cost efficient waste collection solution for rivers as soon as possible. They are easy to assemble and maintain" says Moritz Schulz, Plastic Fischer's leading engineer.</p>
<p>Two years ago, Gary and his brother Sam rowed down the Citarum River in Indonesia known to be the most polluted river in the world. Their two week expedition inspired Indonesian President Jokowi to clean the river. Since their expedition, Indonesia has deployed 7,000 military troops who are actively involved in the clean up. The clean up has become a priority on the President's agenda and a national concern. So much so that there is university programs dedicated to the clean up and an important journalist coalition who are documenting the progress daily.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="be0ea5a948f6a4310cf918903f7ad22c"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/1564262856962259/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div><p>"We came up with the idea for Sungai Watch as a way to monitor rivers and unite communities in doing so. Imagine watching the cleanup of the world's most polluted river in real time." says Gary. Sungai Watch's online platform will be made available to the public in early 2020. It uses GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping and artificial intelligence (AI) to see details in rivers of up to 10 centimeters. Gary hopes that it will be the go-to platform to clean rivers worldwide.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjEwMzU3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODAzMTgxOX0.RC1ViucCDQTHe58eSrcnj-yDf4se4-1Kfbgmw_06s4o/img.jpg?width=980" id="6d86d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bcae2dcd05561698db608bb4fea947ae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Make A Change
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Fires in peat land in Cengal of South Sumatra's Ogan Komering Ilir district, Indonesia. Nopri Isim / Mongabay Indonesia
By Hans Nicholas Jong
The makers of Oreo cookies and KitKat chocolate bars are among the companies getting some of their palm oil from producers linked to the fires that have razed large swaths of land in Indonesia, a new report says.
<p>The fires, started mostly to clear land for planting, have <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/indonesia-fire-burning-forest-haze-hotspots-peatland-deforestation/" target="_blank">burned 8,578 square kilometers</a> (3,304 square miles) as of the end of September — an area the size of Puerto Rico. Many of the companies on whose concessions they've occurred are affiliated with groups that supply palm oil to companies like Mondelēz, Nestlé, Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G), according to the report published Nov. 4 by Greenpeace.</p><p>Many of the companies involved across the supply chain have made sustainability pledges that commit them to not sourcing palm oil from growers linked to deforestation and/or burning. The new findings show they've clearly fallen short, said Annisa Rahmawati, a Greenpeace Indonesia senior forest campaigner.</p><p>"Companies have created a facade of sustainability," she said. "But the reality is that they source from the very worst offenders across the board. The companies responsible for the fires and those who financially benefit from them should be held accountable for these environmental atrocities and the devastating health impacts caused by the fires."</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/oreos-kitkat-mondelez-nestle-palm-oil-greenpeace-indonesia-fire/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em><em></em></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA3MTgzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDk5NzQ1NH0.EgXUq1lYPBE--Xdghgc7oEv2NxjhOq_YV1ycn-cZOcc/img.jpg?width=980" id="4195b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8c4f44fff85922adbd0d381e86c04b69" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Land burning in an oil palm concession owned by PT Agro Tumbuh Gemilang Abadi (ATGA).
Elviza Diana / Mongabay-Indonesia
Household Brands
<p>The report first looks at the plantation companies with the highest number of fires on their concessions between January and September this year, the largest areas of burned land on their concessions between 2015 and 2018, and/or those that have been sanctioned for fires.</p><p>Greenpeace identified 30 such groups, 21 of which are current members of the leading certification body for ethical sourcing of the crop, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The RSPO has a strict "no burning" and "no deforestation" policy for its members.</p><p>Greenpeace then looked at whether the palm oil produced by these groups was present in the supply chains of major brands and traders. It found that all 30 of the palm oil producer groups most closely linked with the fires in Indonesia trade in the global market, supplying to leading consumer goods companies.</p><p>Four household names — Mondelēz, Nestlé, Unilever and P&G — are each linked to up to 10,000 fire hotspots, as they buy from palm oil producer groups with the highest numbers of fire hotpots in 2019. Mondelēz and Nestlé, the respective producers of Oreo and KitKat, among other brands, buy from 28 of these groups. Unilever buys from at least 27, and P&G from at least 22, according to Greenpeace.</p><p>These big brands also source from companies with legal problems or that are currently under public investigation for fires. Unilever, for instance, is supplied by eight plantation companies with court actions or sanctions against them, and 20 companies whose operations have been sealed for investigation as a result of the 2019 fires, according to the report.</p><p>Major palm oil traders are also still getting some of their supply from producers linked to the burning.</p><p>Wilmar, the world's largest palm oil trader, for example, is supplied by palm oil groups responsible for more than 1,400 square kilometers (540 square miles) of burned land between 2015 and 2018 and nearly 8,000 fire hotspots in 2019 to date.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA3MTgzOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTExMzkxOX0.ZOoODCnULQSQMApoKDFUoO-Tppt80IYF8nAtDeOB3qM/img.jpg?width=980" id="6764c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d10da3c6dad6f724823192a32245f48b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Burned area in oil palm concession owned by PT ATGA.
Elviza Diana / Mongabay-Indonesia
Poor Monitoring
<p>Greenpeace's Annisa said burning-linked palm oil was being allowed to circulate through the global supply web because of weaknesses in the respective companies' monitoring of their supplies' provenance.</p><p>Some of the consumer goods companies failed to identify palm-fruit processing mills that were on their supplier lists as belonging to producer groups that they had in fact already banned. For instance, both Nestlé and Unilever's supply chain disclosures still show supply chain links to mills owned by Salim Ivomas Pratama, a member of Indonesia's Salim Group.</p><p><a href="https://www.eco-business.com/news/major-brands-break-ties-with-indonesian-palm-oil-giant/" target="_blank">Nestlé</a> and <a href="https://www.unilever.com/Images/unilever-response-to-allegations-against-salim-group_tcm244-523124_1_en.pdf" target="_blank">Unilever</a> previously removed the Salim Group from their respective lists of suppliers in light of longstanding allegations of <a href="https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Salim_Peat_Report_04102018.pdf" target="_blank">environmental</a> and <a href="https://www.ran.org/wp-content/uploads/rainforestactionnetwork/pages/15889/attachments/original/1467043668/The_Human_Cost_of_Conflict_Palm_Oil_RAN.pdf?1467043668" target="_blank">labor violations</a>.</p><p>In a response to Greenpeace, Nestlé said that since April 2018, following a supply chain mapping process, "several mills have been suspended or otherwise removed. This includes ten upstream supply chain companies published on our website, like the Korindo Group and Salim. This underscores our commitment to achieving deforestation-free supply chains."</p><p>Unilever said it had "suspended sourcing from six of the indirect suppliers identified in the Greenpeace tables. These are: Austindo Nusantara Jaya [ANJ]; Best Agri Plantation; Citra Borneo Indah [SSMS]; Jaya Agra Wattie; Salim Group …; Sungai Budi/Tunas Baru Lampung. These six suspended groups are no longer in our Supply Chain and will not appear in the next scheduled update to our mill list."</p><p>However, they failed to attribute Salim Ivomas Pratama mills as belonging to the Salim Group, according to the report.</p><p>Nestlé says "Salim Ivomas Pratama isn't one group with Salim Group. But they're clearly one group," Annisa said. "This is amazing because it means [the brands] aren't aware of what's happening at the level of traders and producers. So most of them don't know. They just believe what they've been told by their suppliers."</p><p>This is also happening with traders such as Cargill, Annisa said.</p><p>Cargill's grievance tracker states that as of May 2018, Indofood, an arm of the Salim Group, is no longer in its supply chain. However, Cargill's most recent supply chain disclosure reveals purchases from "Gunta Samba" mills, which are part of the Salim Group but not classified as such by Cargill.</p><p>Greenpeace identified 332 fire hotspots within the concessions associated with the Salim Group (including subsidiaries IndoAgri, Indofood and IndoGunta) between January and September this year, and 78 square kilometers (30 square miles) of burned area from 2015 to 2018. Plantation company PT Kebun Ganda Prima, which had its concessions sealed off by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry this year, is also identified by Greenpeace as belonging to the Salim Group.</p><p>The Salim Group declined to respond to Greenpeace's fire hotspot and burn scar data on the grounds that "your information and data is neither specific nor detailed," according to the report.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA3MTgzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzY0OTIzMn0.7aM0aG0JBCrlQqqwxyV3oXfIIEOza0g0n28NqdwN-W4/img.jpg?width=980" id="5f668" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f3597721b4313f90c67a8b3f10c02ee1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A patrolling team hired by oil palm company PT ATGA to douse fires in the concession.
Elviza Diana / Mongabay Indonesia
Defining Producer Groups
<p>Exposure to producer groups with links to environmental and social violations is common among big brands, but difficult to trace, the report says.</p><p>"[A]s a result of serious transparency failings, much of this exposure is not made explicit in their public supply chain disclosures, which require painstaking analysis to reveal the full extent of the companies' links to fires, deforestation, and human exploitation," it says.</p><p>This is in part because there's still disagreement over how producer groups are defined, Annisa said, even as many consumer goods brands and traders state that their sustainability policies are intended to apply to entire producer groups.</p><p>She said the definition should extend beyond formal parent-subsidiary corporate relationships because a large segment of the plantation industry, especially in Southeast Asia, has always been controlled by complex conglomerates owned by individuals and families.</p><p>Therefore, a group definition should take into account not only common ownership but also shared financial, managerial and/or operational control, Annisa said.</p><p>"So the definition of a group isn't firm yet, it's very elastic," she said. "But it's clear that if there's shared managerial and financial control, then it's a group. We also found many companies with the same addresses. Don't we include these companies in one group? So the definition of producer group has to be revised. Otherwise, companies can evade their responsibilities repeatedly."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA3MTg0MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzA4ODE1M30.oiT3sAtw5ZTJjkEFLzdUQgfcT6LsCM4aomIO8dH-CDI/img.jpg?width=980" id="ed4ff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1bbe4b0314f53e8bfb94b0d0b5b23983" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Smoke rises from an oil palm plantation on a peatland in Sumatra.
Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay
‘No Business on a Dead Planet’
<p>Annisa said there was an urgent need for drastic transformation in the palm oil industry, especially as the fires in Indonesia were contributing significantly to carbon emissions and hence climate change.</p><p>According to data from the <a href="http://www.globalfiredata.org/index.html" target="_blank">Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED)</a>, this year's fires have released an estimated 465 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent as of Oct. 22 — almost the entire total greenhouse gas emissions of the U.K. in a year.</p><p>"If the forests are gone, we can't do anything," Annisa said. "This is what [the companies] fail to realize. We all know that there's no business on a dead planet."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Journalists were found dead at a palm oil plantation like this one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. ILO Asia-Pacific / Flickr
By Ayat S. Karokaro and adapted by Basten Gokkon
Two Indonesian journalists who had reported on an illegal oil palm plantation in Sumatra while also allegedly trying to gain control of the crop have been found dead at the plantation.
<p>The body of Maraden Sianipar, 55, was found on Oct. 30 in a ditch in the concession of palm grower PT Sei Alih Berombang (SAB). The body of Martua Siregar, 42, was found the next day in the bushes near a warehouse at the same site. Both men worked for a <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/11/04/press-groups-condemn-killings-north-sumatran-journalists-call-thorough-probe.html" target="_blank">weekly publication</a>, Pindo Merdeka, based in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province.</p><p>Local media <a href="https://www.posmetro-medan.com/2019/10/dua-wartawan-tewas-mengenaskan-tubuh.html" target="_blank">reported</a> that Maraden had been found with his left arm hacked off and wounds to his head, while Martua appeared to have stab wounds in his abdomen, back and head.</p><p>Police have launched an investigation into the case amid mounting calls from Indonesian press groups <a href="https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1267447/aji-kecam-pembunuhan-2-orang-yang-diduga-wartawan-di-medan/full&view=ok" target="_blank">condemning the deaths</a> and demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice. But it's not clear whether they were killed because of their critical reporting on SAB, whose concession was <a href="https://simantab.com/blog/dinas-kehutanan-sumut-laksanakan-eksekusi-lahan-pt-sab-ksu-amelia-di-labuhanbatu/" target="_blank">sealed off by authorities</a> a year ago after it was found to have cleared 750 hectares of forest to plant oil palms.</p><p>Witnesses said the pair were also known to be part of a community group that had for years been <a href="https://www.gosumut.com/berita/baca/2019/11/01/polres-labuhanbatu-masih-selidiki-kematian-2-pria-di-kebun-pt-sab" target="_blank">locked in a dispute</a> with the plantation company and had sought to take control of the oil palms once the local forestry office had ruled that the company's expansion onto forested land was illegal.</p><p>Other witnesses said Maraden and Martua had gone by motorbike to the plantation on Oct. 29 with a group of locals seeking to harvest the palm fruit. One witness said he had warned Maraden that plantation guards armed with machetes were guarding a checkpoint in anticipation of the group.</p><p>"We have questioned eight witnesses, and we're collecting as much evidence [as possible] to solve the deaths of the two victims," Budiarto, a local police chief, told reporters on Nov. 2.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA1OTk3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDU4ODQ3NX0.1Ws5Ad2dqW9rV7OWV6By9uCjl64sFDOQ8O6WarxWuUw/img.jpg?width=980" id="61ff3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="231e613c62b1002765121d7110126d7c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
An oil palm worker harvesting palm fruit at a plantation in North Sumatra. Nanang Sujana for RAN / Oppuk
<p>Locals reported that violent conflicts were common between the plantation's security guards and people trying to take the palm fruit. The latter, who say they have just as much claim to the illegally cultivated crop as SAB, have sought assistance from environmental groups, including the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), to resolve the land dispute that has simmered since 2015.</p><p>"We suspect the deaths [of the two] to be unusual," said Khairul Buchori, who heads the advocacy and legal department at Walhi's North Sumatra chapter.</p><p>Maraden and Martua's deaths come less than a month after the suspicious death of <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/environmental-activist-death-murder-indonesia/" target="_blank">Walhi environmental activist Golfrid Siregar</a>, also in North Sumatra. He was found unconscious with severe head injuries on a traffic overpass in Medan, and died in hospital three days later, on Oct. 6, without ever regaining consciousness.</p><p>Golfrid was best known for his legal advocacy work for local communities ensnared in land conflicts with oil palm companies. At the time of his death he was also involved in a lawsuit against the North Sumatra government over <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/allegation-of-forged-signature-casts-shadow-over-china-backed-dam-in-sumatra/" target="_blank">alleged forgery</a> in the permitting process for a controversial hydropower project in an orangutan habitat.</p><p>Police, however, ruled Golfrid's death the result of a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/weird-police-probe-rules-indonesian-activist-died-in-drink-driving-crash/" target="_blank">drunken-driving crash</a>. But his former colleagues dispute that claim, pointing to several holes in the evidence cited by police, including independent testimony from his family that he wasn't a drinker.</p><p>While the motives behind each of the recent deaths remain unclear for now, press and environmental activists agree that they ring alarm bells about the state of the free press and activism in the country.</p><p>The number of reported cases of violence against journalists rose to 64 in 2018 from 60 in 2017, according to the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI). The group says the main perpetrators of abuse against journalists are companies and the state.</p><p>There were also 171 recorded cases of violence against activists in Indonesia between 2010 and 2018, according to the Indonesian Human Protection Foundation (YPII), with most of the victims environmental activists.</p><p>Walhi's Khairul called for the National Police to take over the North Sumatra police's investigations into the recent deaths, saying the latter had "failed to resolve" these cases.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA2MDA5MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTUyMTA2NH0.zrjf78lr4EKv2BtWUwmEPuJzJ__Ik9PioZQHs8PYLrU/img.jpg?width=980" id="44df8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="845d4e18726bcebad0705e58c5092211" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/indonesia-palm-oil-violence-journalists-plantation-sab/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Golfrid Siregar, left, protests against the proposed Batang Toru hydropower project, which threatens the only known habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)
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Golfrid Siregar, left, at a protest against the proposed Batang Toru hydropower project, which threatens the only known habitat of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. Indonesian Forum for the Environment
Environmental activists in Indonesia have raised suspicions over the death this week of a human rights defender who was a staunch advocate of communities threatened by palm oil plantations.
<p>Golfrid Siregar, 34, a member of the legal advocacy team for the North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), was found unconscious on a traffic overpass in Medan, the provincial capital, in the early hours of Oct. 3 and taken to hospital. He was found next to his motorbike, but personal items including his laptop computer, ring and wallet were missing.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1181359653378150400" id="twitter-embed-1181359653378150400" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1181359653378150400&created_ts=1570493064.0&screen_name=walhinasional&text=Human+rights+activist+and+the+legal+council+coordinator+for%C2%A0the+Indonesian+Forum+for+the+Environment+%28Walhi%29%2C%C2%A0Golfr%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fmz410gJCeh&id=1181359653378150400&name=WALHI+Nasional" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="24JHHN1576661327"></iframe><p>On Oct. 6, he passed away from severe injuries to his head.</p><p>Preliminary police reports suggested he was injured in a motorbike accident or in an attack by bike-riding robbers. But fellow activists have questioned this theory, saying that a traffic accident would have flung him away from his motorbike, and that in the case of a violent theft, the assailants would have taken his motorbike in addition to his other personal belongings. They also note that the injuries were only to Golfrid's head, and not the rest of his body, ruling out a bike crash.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMTk4ODQ5MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzI0MjkzNH0.Xz4Mcg-GDSaevrPMV1ABKTGPAfMjzJHuKwalMt44CjQ/img.png?width=980" id="aea33" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a66eccf4c1f069c3c06cf58abbe5190" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/environmental-activist-death-murder-indonesia/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Golfrid Siregar, center, and his colleagues show the lawsuit they filed against the North Sumatra government over an alleged forgery in the permitting process for a hydropower project in Batang Toru, Sumatra.
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).
<p><br>"We suspect the victim was beaten up at another location," Roy Lumbangaol, Golfrid's manager at Walhi, told reporters on Oct. 7. "To eliminate the evidence, he was brought to the location where he was eventually found."</p><p>Walhi has called on police to launch a thorough and transparent investigation into Golfrid's death. The group also asked the National Commission on Human Rights to monitor the police investigation.</p><p>Associates last had contact with Golfrid on the afternoon of Oct. 2, when he left home to deliver a package and have a meeting. By the evening, he couldn't be contacted. At 1 a.m. on Oct. 3, a rickshaw driver found his body on the overpass.</p><p>The police have said they will call in the rickshaw driver for further questioning and check footage from CCTV cameras installed near the location where Golfrid was found.</p><p><span></span>Golfrid was best known for his work with legal aid and civil society groups in helping local communities ensnared in land conflicts with palm oil companies.</p><p>His most recent work was on a lawsuit against the North Sumatra government over the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/allegation-of-forged-signature-casts-shadow-over-china-backed-dam-in-sumatra/" target="_blank">alleged forgery of a researcher's signature</a> in an environmental impact assessment for a proposed hydropower project. Activists say the planned dam would threaten the only known habitat of the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/the-eighth-great-ape-new-orangutan-species-discovered-in-sumatra/" target="_blank">Tapanuli orangutan</a> (<em>Pongo tapanuliensis</em>), a critically endangered species. According to Walhi, Golfrid had recently lodged a complaint to the National Police against the North Sumatra Police's decision to drop the investigation into the alleged forgery.</p><p>Golfrid's death is the latest in a disturbing pattern of environmental defenders dying under suspicious circumstances in Indonesia. From 2010 to 2018, there were 171 recorded cases of violence against activists in Indonesia, according to Ainul Yaqin from the Indonesian Human Protection Foundation (YPII). Most of the victims were environmental activists.</p><p>Earlier this year, the head of Walhi's West Nusa Tenggara chapter <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/arson-attack-leaves-activist-in-indonesia-shaken/" target="_blank">survived an arson attack</a> after assailants barricaded him inside his home and set it on fire.</p><p>"The struggle as human rights defenders will always continue," Walhi said in a <a href="https://walhi.or.id/pembela-hak-azasi-manusia-hrds-sumatera-utara-terindikasi-korban-percobaan-pembunuhan-meninggal-dunia" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Intense Forest Fires Threaten to Derail Indonesia’s Progress in Reducing Deforestation
07 October 2019
Popular
Indonesian firefighters battle a forest fire, one of many spewing toxic haze across the region causing an increase in reports of respiratory illnesses, in Kampar, Riau on Sept. 23. WAHYUDI / AFP / Getty Images
By Sakinah Ummu Haniy, Hidayah Hamzah and Mirzha Hanifah
Indonesia's forest fires have made headlines globally over the past few weeks. This year's forest fires have affected millions of people. Schools have closed in some areas due to unsafe levels of air pollution, while many people are suffering from respiratory illnesses. The haze has spread so far as to affect Singapore and Malaysia.
<p>While forest fires are cyclical, typically occurring in Indonesia every year from July through October, this year's season <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/haze-from-fires-indonesias-national-embarrassment-are-back/" target="_blank">is the worst since 2015</a>, when fires <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/12/01/indonesias-fire-and-haze-crisis" target="_blank">resulted in $16 billion in economic losses</a> and spewed <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/10/indonesia-s-fire-outbreaks-producing-more-daily-emissions-entire-us-economy" target="_blank">more greenhouse gas emissions daily than the entire U.S. economy</a>. The fires — most of which have been set intentionally to clear land — threaten to derail progress Indonesia has made in <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-primary-rainforests-last-year" target="_blank">curbing its deforestation in recent years</a>.</p><h4>Here's a deeper look:</h4>
<h2>What Can We Do?</h2><p>The fact that fires are still a far cry from the levels seen in 2015, the last time the country experienced an El Niño weather pattern, shows an improvement in the government's effort to tackle forest and peatland fires. However, <a href="https://sciencemag.org/news/2019/10/indonesias-fires-are-bad-new-measures-prevented-them-becoming-worse" target="_blank">experts agree</a> that more efforts to reduce forest fires and haze are required, and the country still could go further in preventing forest fires. Three actions could help:</p><ol class="ee-ol"><li><strong>Restore peatlands.<br><br></strong>Peat swamps are normally moist year-round, unless they're drained for agriculture. The risk of fires increases when peatland is dried. A small fire could trigger huge fires on peatland — not only horizontally across the landscape, but also <a href="https://pantaugambut.id/pelajari/dampak-kerusakan-lahan-gambut/kebakaran-hutan" target="_blank">vertically, up to 4 meters below the surface</a>. Even if the top of peatland is free from fires, fires below could survive for months and spread to other areas.<a href="https://pantaugambut.id/pelajari/pemulihan-lahan-gambut/langkahlangkah-restorasi-gambut" target="_blank">Rewetting</a> degraded peatlands — by blocking canals, digging wells and more — will increase peat's water levels over time, potentially slowing down the spread of fires. <a href="https://pantaugambut.id/pelajari/pemulihan-lahan-gambut/langkahlangkah-restorasi-gambut" target="_blank">Comprehensive peatland restoration</a> should also include mapping, restoration planning, revegetation, and revitalizing communities in the surrounding areas so that they will not need to drain peatland again to support agriculture.<br></li><li><strong>Incentivize non-burning land-clearing </strong><strong>methods.<br><br></strong>According to Indonesia's <a href="https://bnpb.go.id/kepala-bnpb-99-persen-karhutla-oleh-manusia" target="_blank">National Disaster Management Agency</a> (BNPB), the majority of the country's forest fires are caused by humans, both intentionally and unintentionally. Fires are usually caused by land clearing for plantations using slash-and-burn methods. Even though the punishment for such methods could be up to <a href="https://palembang.kompas.com/read/2018/04/18/16485151/pelaku-pembakaran-hutan-dan-lahan-terancam-12-tahun-penjara" target="_blank">12 years in prison</a> or a 10 billion rupiah fine (more than $700,000), slash-and-burn continues because it's seen as <a href="https://www.vice.com/id_id/article/59nydz/kami-ngobrol-bareng-pembakar-lahan-memahami-alasannya-menyulut-bencana-asap-di-sumatra" target="_blank">the easiest and cheapest method</a> to clear land.Banning the practice without a readily accessible alternative is ineffective. In past years, the Indonesian government has disseminated to farmers and companies information about non-burning methods, such as using <a href="https://www.tribunnews.com/nasional/2017/01/23/brg-beri-tiga-opsi-buka-lahan-tanpa-membakar" target="_blank">heavy equipment and biological materials</a>, or cultivating plants that can be grown without draining peatland. But these solutions alone are not enough for people to shift their habits, <a href="https://news.detik.com/berita/d-4675035/bnpb-harap-bppt-temukan-solusi-buka-lahan-tanpa-karhutla" target="_blank">BNPB admitted</a>, especially since some of them are expensive or unfamiliar to farmers. The agency asked the Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT) for help in finding other methods. BPPT is currently developing biopeat fertilizer technology, a method to improve peatlands' fertility, to prevent slash-and-burn practices. The fertilizer has been <a href="http://kabar24.bisnis.com/read/20190917/15/1149305/bppt-tawarkan-inovasi-biopeat-untuk-cegah-karhutla" target="_blank">tested in a company plantation</a> <a href="https://kabar24.bisnis.com/read/20190917/15/1149305/bppt-tawarkan-inovasi-biopeat-untuk-cegah-karhutla" target="_blank">in Riau</a> <a href="https://www.antaranews.com/berita/643758/bppt-rampungkan-pabrik-biopeat-di-pulau-sambu" target="_blank">since 2017</a>, but it hasn't been massively produced. More time and investment will be required to determine whether this method could be a mainstream approach for farmers.All sectors, including NGOs and civil society, can participate in identifying, popularizing and incentivizing methods that could end slash-and-burn practices for good. As buyers of agricultural commodities, corporations have a huge responsibility in encouraging their suppliers to avoid slash-and-burn practices. Giving them incentives to eliminate slash-and-burn and investing more in sustainable land-clearance practices could help.<br></li><li><strong>Strengthen data transparency. <br><br></strong>Disclosure of information and transparent, <a href="https://wri-indonesia.org/id/blog/transparansi-informasi-dan-cap-waktu" target="_blank">accountable and inclusive governance</a> can help solve the problem of forest fires. The Indonesian government is still reluctant to publish data on things like the location of palm oil, timber and other concessions, <a href="https://nasional.republika.co.id/berita/nasional/umum/pnzxzy409/ini-alasan-pemerintah-tolak-buka-data-hgu-atas-lahan" target="_blank">citing national security reasons</a>. NGOs and the public need this information to help monitor fires in their area and hold land owners accountable. This information can help civil society to be an active partner in pushing for <a href="https://www.kompas.tv/article/54732/walhi-penegakan-hukum-karhutla-masih-lamban" target="_blank">more effective law enforcement</a>.</li></ol><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/intense-forest-fires-threaten-derail-indonesia-s-progress-reducing-deforestation" target="_blank">World Resources Institute</a>.</em></p>
1. 2019's fires are the worst since 2015.
<p><a href="https://fires.globalforestwatch.org/report/index.html#aoitype=GLOBAL&reporttype=globalcountryreport&country=Indonesia&dates=fYear-2019!fMonth-1!fDay-1!tYear-2019!tMonth-9!tDay-30" target="_blank">According to data displayed on Global Forest Watch (GFW) Fires</a>, there have been 66,000 fire alerts from January through the end of September. While this is much lower than fire levels in 2015 — which saw more than 110,000 alerts at the end of September — it far exceeds forest fires levels in 2016, 2017 and 2018.<span></span><br></p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMTIyMTk5NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTcxNjI5OX0.NkfLvIX3K-RpaU1AgJTA3C9O_NMaFOmyGEHc4XR69eU/img.png?width=980" id="1cb6b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6264ba49cee5d735604d750532617f1d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />2. This year’s fires jeopardize Indonesia’s progress in reducing deforestation.
<p>Of the countries historically most responsible for the world's deforestation, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indonesia" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indonesia</a> is the only one that's actually reduced <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-primary-rainforests-last-year" target="_blank">its deforestation rate in recent years</a>. This year's fires season could derail this promising trend.<br></p><p>According to annual tree cover loss data on Global Forest Watch, Indonesia's deforestation rate declined significantly <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-primary-rainforests-last-year" target="_blank">in 2017 and 2018, after a record-high in 2016</a>. National policies like the forest moratorium and peatland restoration plan played a big role, but these years also benefited from wetter conditions associated with the La Niña weather pattern. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/09/18/wildfires-indonesia-have-ravaged-acres-palm-oil-farmers-are-blame/" target="_blank">While farmers set fires every year to clear land</a>, the blazes are less likely to spread or rage out of control during wet years than they are during dry years. With the return of El Niño this year and its warmer, drier conditions, it's unclear if Indonesia will see further declines in deforestation this year. We'll need to wait until Global Forest Watch's 2019 tree cover loss data is available to measure fires' full impact on the country's forests.</p>3. 42% of fires have occurred in peatlands.
<p><a href="https://fires.globalforestwatch.org/report/index.html#aoitype=GLOBAL&reporttype=globalcountryreport&country=Indonesia&dates=fYear-2019!fMonth-1!fDay-1!tYear-2019!tMonth-9!tDay-30" target="_blank">Data on GFW Fires</a> shows that 42% of fire alerts detected in Indonesia this year occurred in peatlands, just like in 2015 where <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2016/09/after-record-breaking-fires-can-indonesias-new-policies-turn-down-heat" target="_blank">40% of fires were observed</a> on peatland.<br></p><p>Fires on carbon-rich peatlands are notoriously difficult to extinguish. Organic matter inside peat makes fires bigger and generates more haze. Burning peatland is also problematic for the climate — <a href="https://en.pantaugambut.id/peatland-101/the-important-role-of-peatlands/managing-climate-change" target="_blank">draining one hectare</a> of tropical peatland will produce <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/destruction-tropical-peatland-overlooked-source-emissions" target="_blank">an average of 55 metric tons</a> of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of burning more than 6,000 gallons of gas.</p>4. Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan are experiencing the most fire alerts.
<p>The provinces of Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan have seen the most fire alerts in 2019, followed by Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra. Within those provinces, Ketapang regency in West Kalimantan and Pulang Pisau regency in Central Kalimantan experienced <a href="https://fires.globalforestwatch.org/report/index.html#aoitype=GLOBAL&reporttype=globalcountryreport&country=Indonesia&dates=fYear-2019!fMonth-1!fDay-1!tYear-2019!tMonth-9!tDay-30" target="_blank">more fire alerts</a> than any other areas of Indonesia — <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/09/land-and-forest-fires-indonesia-reach-crisis-levels" target="_blank">just like they did in 2015</a>.<br></p><p>Ketapang is the biggest regency in West Kalimantan, and an area where the expansion of oil palm plantations has resulted in significant tree cover loss. Pulang Pisau regency is very vulnerable during the dry season because its <a href="https://www.pulangpisaukab.go.id/topografi-geologi-dan-jenis-tanah/" target="_blank">geological structure</a> is <a href="https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/country/IDN/14/12?mainMap=eyJzaG93QW5hbHlzaXMiOnRydWUsImhpZGVMZWdlbmQiOmZhbHNlLCJoaWRlUGFuZWxzIjpmYWxzZX0%3D&map=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%3D%3D&menu=eyJkYXRhc2V0Q2F0ZWdvcnkiOiIiLCJtZW51U2VjdGlvbiI6IiIsInNlbGVjdGVkQ291bnRyaWVzIjpbIklETiJdfQ%3D%3D" target="_blank">dominated by drained peatland</a>. <a href="https://crisp.nus.edu.sg/~acrs2001/pdf/126boehm.pdf" target="_blank">The government's Mega Rice Project of the mid-1990s</a> sought to convert 1 million hectares of peatlands into rice plantations. The program has since been abandoned because the land proved unsuitable for massive rice cultivation. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMTIyMjE2Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTM3NjgxNH0.cACLW2UWhstTy5EhD-IH--HR_yPpmpDF1tF_5dTCyAE/img.png?width=980" id="f9692" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a40695db0e44944b8de10e590748fbc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />From Your Site Articles
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Forest fire continues to blaze in Indonesesia on Sept. 18. WAHYUDI / AFP / Getty Images
Nearly 200 people have been arrested in Indonesia over their possible connections to the massive wildfires raging in the nation's forest, officials said this week.
<p>Hundreds of wildfires have burned nearly 840,000 acres of forest in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra this year, in the country's worst fire crisis since 2015. Officials say that some 80 percent of the fires, usually a regular occurrence in the dry season, are due to slash-and-burn techniques to clear the land for agriculture. </p><p>The fires have led to evacuations and unhealthy air quality levels across the country and in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, with more than 600 schools in Malaysia forced to close from the smoke. </p><p><strong>For a deeper dive: </strong><a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=27488f410e&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=d414349254&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">New York Times</a> $, <a href="https://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=4834c5073c&e=0afd421a28" target="_blank">Mongabay</a></p><p><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank">Twitter</a> </em><em>and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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Elephants at the Padang Sugihan Wildlife Reserve on Dec. 15, 2018. Khairul Abdi / CIFOR / Flickr
By Taufik Wijaya
The planned construction of a bridge and private port in southern Sumatra threatens to damage one of the last remaining habitats of the island's critically endangered elephants.
<p>The project is part of the South Sumatra provincial government's tourism development drive, under which it plans to build a bridge from the Sumatran mainland to the island of Bangka. The site where the bridge will begin has also been earmarked for construction of a private port by a subsidiary of Indonesia's biggest paper producer, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).</p><p>Environmentalists say both proposed projects will damage a crucial habitat of the Sumatran elephant (<em>Elephas maximus sumatranus</em>), a critically <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" rel="noopener noreferrer">endangered species</a> whose population has plunged as a result of habitat loss, human-<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife</a> conflicts, and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" rel="noopener noreferrer">poaching</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests" rel="noopener noreferrer">Forests</a> in the area are already under intense pressure. APP's pulp and paper mill, said to be the biggest in Indonesia, has been <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/five-years-after-zero-deforestation-vow-little-sign-of-progress-from-indonesian-pulp-giant/" target="_blank">lambasted</a> by critics who say it will drive APP's appetite for pulpwood, compelling the company to clear more natural forest and peatlands. The mill has a greater production capacity than initially advertised.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDk1MDEwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDY1NDQ0Mn0.Lr-GMXZKlEJz1Y_0AKYTjLiBTvl_ickPUblZ-InvGqs/img.jpg?width=980" id="c3f84" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="400895d1eefe0a50bac5eac9b4b1ed24" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Sumatran elephants in the Padang Sugihan Sebokor Wildlife Sanctuary in sourthern Sumatra.
Nopri Ismi / Mongabay Indonesia.
<p>The location in question includes the Padang Sugihan Sebokor Wildlife Sanctuary, a particularly important hub for the elephants as it connects smaller populations in several other fragments of forest. Combined, these peatland habitats are home to an estimated 152 elephants, according to Jumiran, a local elephant conservation official. In December last year, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" rel="noopener noreferrer">conservation</a> groups recorded five new elephant calves, indicating that the population is thriving in the sanctuary.</p><p>If the authorities have any intention to ensure the elephants' continued survival, they should protect the area from any future development, said Yusuf Bahtimi, from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), who has studied this region of Sumatra extensively.</p><p>For instance, he said, any roads connecting to the planned bridge or port should be elevated, to allow the elephants to continue wandering below. "We can make that happen," he said. "We made it to the moon, so protecting the elephant corridor and habitat should be easy."</p><p>Yusuf also said the government should anticipate an influx of people to the area once the infrastructure projects were underway. To prevent unchecked sprawl and destruction of the forest, "the government must zone the area properly and correctly.</p><p>"[It should] state clearly which areas can be developed for what purposes, and which must be protected," he added. "The areas to be protected include the corridors and habitats of the Sumatran elephant, peatland and forests.</p><p>"Failing to do so will result in conflicts between humans and elephants, which the elephants will lose."</p><p>Yusuf also warned against a proposal to relocate the elephants from the area, saying this had been tried here in 1982, when the national government was incentivizing residents of Java to move to other islands across Indonesia.</p><p>"It failed," he said of the relocation. "The elephants were moved because the location for the transmigration program was in their habitat. But the relocated elephants returned to the habitat."</p><p>Since then, Yusuf said, authorities had allowed the area to revert to the wildlife sanctuary that it is today. The only solution, he said, "is to live in peace with the elephants."</p><p>That's what locals have been doing for years, according to Edi Rusman, a farmer in Perigi Talangnangka village, near the wildlife sanctuary. He said there had never been any human-elephant conflicts there involving local residents, and that any conflicts that did arise involved migrants and companies operating in the area.</p><p>"Any type of development will create conflicts if it doesn't protect the elephant habitat," Edi said. "So be careful with doing development."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDk4MjIyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTYzNTM2Mn0.2dWhCtdV6MUkNJJHPA3TqVkj9q2nSkm6TCnHkGGHotA/img.jpg?width=980" id="876b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f318e1738f087fb0d5616ce3d47ba175" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
One of the young male elephants at the Padang Sugihan Elephant Training Center on Dec. 15, 2018.
Rifky / CIFOR
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New research finds that elephants create foot-shaped habitats for breeding frogs as they travel through the forest in Myanmar. via <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EcoWatch</a> <a href="https://t.co/HVUkLG68u6">https://t.co/HVUkLG68u6</a></p>— Rainforest Trust (@RainforestTrust) <a href="https://twitter.com/RainforestTrust/status/1144320916731695104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/sumatran-elephant-sanctuary-under-threat-from-bridge-port-projects/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Related Articles Around the Web
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