Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The Indonesian government is planning to revise a presidential instruction (Inpres) that prohibits the construction of buildings and other infrastructure, in

Vindry Florentin, Jakarta – National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated that 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang coincides with the peak of

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru – Air quality in Dumai regency, Riau has worsened, with the latest air quality index showing a moderate level of pollution resulting from recent fires in surrou

Miami – The population of orangutans in Borneo has plummeted by more than half since 1999 – nearly 150,000 of the apes – largely due to chopping down forests for logging, paper, palm oi

Authorities in Indonesia have issued four new palm oil permits in its Papua provinces despite a moratorium on palm oil expansion declared by president Joko Widodo in 2016.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has reported a second straight annual decline in the country's deforestation rate, but continues to confound with its definition

Hans Nicholas Jong – Officials in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's biggest producers of palm oil, have lambasted the European Parliament's decision to phase out the commodity from mo

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has slammed the approval of the new EU bill on clean energy by the European Parliament on Wednesday, which, among other things, wil

Indonesian activists and church people have reacted angrily to a draft bill set to go before legislators aimed at regulating the palm oil industry, saying it panders to large scale palm

Mongabay – Extensive deforestation in Sumatra has corralled the island's native tigers into fragmented habitats, only two of which contain a sufficiently robust population of the nearly extinct big

Deforestation to make way for palm oil plantations is driving critically endangered Sumatran tigers towards extinction, researchers warned on Tuesday.

Vast swathes of rainforest are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, threatening endangered species and pushing indigenous people off their lands

Anuradha Raghu, Kuala Lumpur – As concerns about palm oil's sustainability simmer in Europe, the world's second-biggest grower is ramping up its defense of the most-consumed edible oil.

Arthur Neslen – Nestle, Mars and Hershey have been accused of breaking pledges to stop using "conflict palm oil" from deforested Indonesian jungles, just days before the annual Halloween confection

Francis Chan, Jakarta – The number of forest fires across Indonesia fell by more than 30 per cent this year as fire prevention and enforcement efforts, started after the trans-boundary haze crisis

N. Adri, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan – Environmental activists said a lack of concrete action may hinder the success of agreements made by the governor's Climate and Forest Task Force (GFC).

Laura Villadiego in Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia – Armed with a chainsaw and a copy of Indonesia's environmental laws, biologist Rudi Putra and his team of eco-warriors have been identifying and cutting

Syofiardi Bachyul, Padang – The residents and regency administration of the Mentawai Islands have opposed the decision made by the central government and West Sumatra provincial administration to g

Hans Nicholas Jong – Under fire from watchdogs and consumers of its smartphones, Samsung said it would not pursue a joint venture with Korindo, itself the target of an NGO campaign for destroying r

Jakarta – A large chunk of protected forest in Padang Lawas district in North Sumatra, which has been illegally occupied and converted into large-scale commercial plantations by dozens of companies

Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur – Facing a backlash in Europe over palm oil's environmental toll, the world's top producers are scrambling to find new markets and even striking unusual barter deals, such as e

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – The Jambi Police have named five people as suspects during their investigation into seven land and forest fire cases, which occurred from January to August.

Jakarta – As the world's biggest exporter of palm oil, Indonesia plans to increase production to 42 million tons by 2020 to maintain its global lead, according to a top industry player.

Vaidehi Shah Friday – Environmental campaigners have found that The Australian and Courier Mail newspapers in regional Queensland are printed on paper linked to illegal deforestation and human righ

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – While the number of hot spots in some areas across Sumatra is declining with the onset of the rainy season, land and forest fires in Jambi continue to break out.

It's been called the orangutan capital of the world, but the great apes in Indonesia's Tripa peat forest on the island of Sumatra are under threat by palm oil plantations that have gobbled up thous

Stephen Wright and Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – In a remote corner of Borneo, an Indonesian company and its Chinese partner are pushing ahead with an industrial wood plantation in a tropical forest an

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has warned of an increasing risk of land and forest fires from August to September as a result of the prolonged dry s

Eveline Danubrata and Stefanno Reinard, Jakarta – Indonesian security companies have seen a surge in demand for guards to protect palm oil plantations from fruit thieves and land grabbers, amid a r

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, Jakarta – Rainfall has helped with firefighting efforts in the forests and plantations of Kalimantan and Sumatra, but new hotspots have emerged in Papua, in the eastern part

Jakarta – A military official in the Indonesian province of Jambi said on Saturday (05/08) he has ordered that anyone who deliberately sets fire to forest areas be shot, as authorities struggle to

Padang, W Sumatra – Around one million hectares of oil palm plantations are illegal in Riau, Director General of Ecosystem and Natural Resources Conservation of the Environment and Forestry Ministr

Jakarta – A severe risk of forest fires has been identified in at least eight of Indonesia's provinces, as the country braces itself for a return of the annual scourge.

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – The government is calling on industrial forest firms to comply with its peatland protection policy amid the increasing threat of forest fires in numerous regions in the

Meulaboh, Indonesia – Young children lie in hospital in Aceh province, Indonesia, as thick smoke caused by forest fires forces dozens of people to be treated for lung infections.

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Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) has warned of an escalating threat of forest fires with the dry season expected to peak in coming months, while hot spots detected in the province of A

Jakarta – Indonesia's environment minister said on Monday (24/07) she wants to make permanent a moratorium on issuing new licences to use land designated as primary forest and peatland.

Arthur Neslen – Pepsico, Unilever and Nestle have been accused of complicity in the destruction of Sumatra's last tract of rainforest shared by elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers together in

Jakarta – Indonesia's palm oil association said on Friday (07/07) it is worried that a French plan to reduce the use of palm oil in biofuels will prompt other European countries to follow suit, dam

Eman Riberu, Merauke – A local government's decision in Papua to pull licenses for a number plantation companies has won overwhelming backing from the Catholic Church and local people, calling the

Jakarta – Several experts have urged the government to revise the draft of the palm oil bill as they consider it too lenient to companies producing the commodity and fear it could in turn threaten

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – A new study has found forest cover losses in Indonesia remained high during a six-year moratorium on forest conversion.

Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has approved a two-year extension to a moratorium on issuing new licences to use land designated as primary forest and peatland, the environment and forest

Riau – The Indonesian climate agency detected 18 hot spots on Friday, indicating forests and lands were burning in regions on Sumatra Island, as happens each year, resulting in pollution and upsett

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla has called on the European Union to stop its negative campaign against palm oil products based on environmental issues.

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – Environmental group Sawit Watch is urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to fulfill his pledge to declare a moratorium on the issuance of new permits for oil palm planta

Jakarta – Jakarta has denounced the European Parliament's recent ruling on palm oil and deforestration that it considers to be damaging to the country's biofuel exports.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Singaporean Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad has congratulated Indonesia on its success in reducing land and forest fire

Apriadi Gunawan, Syofiardi Bachyul Jb and Panca Nugraha, North Sumatra – Rampant illegal logging and the conversion of protected forests around the upstream area of the Batang Ayumi River are being