Police investigates orangutan burning posted on facebook

Pangkalan Bun, Ekuatorial – After mounting protests through social media, police and West Kotawaringin Natural Resources Conservation Agency tracked down facebook account owner which displayed a man burning an orangutan. Officials managed to track down the truck’s plate, KH 9563 GC, which was shown in the ‘Polo Panitia Hari Kiamat’ page to West Kotawaringin (Kobar), […]

Houses for Sinabung refugees will be completed in August, says Governor

Kabanjahe, Ekuatorial – North Sumatra Gatot Pujo Nugroho promised that settlements for Sinabung refugees will be completed in August. “Starting on Sunday, forestry agency had already cut down trees [to built houses]. We hope that they can immediately move to those houses,” said Nugroho adding that 128 units were still in completion. Out of 370 […]

28 billion rupiah prepared to revitalize Tondano lake, says official

Tondano, Ekuatorial – After being postponed for a year, Minahasa government will finally resume Tondano Lake revitalization project immediately, said a senior official, on Tuesday (9/6), in Tondano. The government had prepared Rp 28 billion (US$ 2.1 million) for the project. “Because this revitalization is for public interest, especially for Minahasa and North Sulawesi. We […]

Violations found in Lampung’s community forest

Bandarlampung, Ekuatorial – Officials found violation on community forest practice in Ulubelu subdistrict, Tanggamus district of Lampung recently, where local people planted coffee and other crops instead of hard woods. “If they don’t immediately plant hard wood, it’s possible that their permits will be revoked and be given to other communities suitable to manage the […]

Climbers piled up trash in Lawu Mountain

Karanganyar, Ekuatorial – As much as one garbage truck of trash collected by volunteers during their clean up initiative in Mount Lawu, Karanganyar, Central Java, on Sunday (24/5). Around 225 climbers of Paguyuban Pecinta Alam Bersatu, in cooperation with Rescue Karanganyar Emergency, cleaned up Cemoro Kandang hiking trail, consists of four posts, from mineral water […]

Land use changes destroy Lampung’s natural resources

Bandarlampung, Ekuatorial – Land use changes to plantation, mining, and ecosystem payment services have led to the collapsed of Lampung’s natural resources, activists said, on Monday (11/5). Novriansyah, manager of Kawan Tani Lampung Project, said that plantation sector had reached 443,118,987 hectares, gold mining had reached 40,000 hectares and ecosystem services such as geothermal had […]

Oil palm expansion has taken its toll in Sorong district

Sorong, Ekuatorial – Due to massive oil palm plantation expansion, water scarcity hit Malalilis village of Klaili, Sorong district, said an activist, in Sorong, on Tuesday (5/5). “People are getting hard to find clean water as their village is located inside oil palm plantation. Forest cleared for oil palm. There’s no water in the village. […]

East Aceh elephants get a new conservation location

Aceh Timur, Ekuatorial – To anticipate increasing conflict between humans and elephants, East Aceh government established an elephant respond unit located in Bunin village, Serbajadi subdistrict, East Aceh, said an official, in East Aceh, on Monday (4/5). “Conflicts between elephants and humans in East Aceh have been going for too long and there’s still no […]

Bureaucracy and high price hinder certified legal timber for Yogya wood business

Yogyakarta, Ekuatorial – Despite of rising demands from Europe for certified legal timber, Yogya’s small and middle businesses have yet to obtain certification due to difficult bureaucracy and lack of human resources. Deddy Effendy, owner of Palem Craff Jogja and chair of Legal Wood Group, said exporters were having difficulties to penetrate Europe’s market without […]