Conservation and environmental news & publications: Indonesia
06 May 2008
$63 million to protect the Coral Triangle
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are joining together to support the preservation of Asia’s Coral Triangle – the world’s centre of marine life – with the GEF committing $63 million to fund conservation of this area. » Read more
17 Apr 2008
Extinct Javan elephants may have been found again - in Borneo
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race – accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, a new publication suggests.
If the Borneo pygmy elephants are in fact elephants from Java, an island more than 1,200 km (800 miles) south of their current range, it could be the first known elephant translocation in history, providing scientists with critical data from a centuries-long experiment. » Read more
25 Mar 2008
APP irregularities threaten massive climate and tiger impact
Pekanbaru, INDONESIA – One of the world’s biggest carbon stores and a key tiger habitat are threatened by a new logging road in Riau Province, Sumatra, according to an investigative report published today.
An absence of permits and other irregularities suggest that the new road cutting into Kampar peninsula is likely to be illegal, says Riau’s Eyes on the Forest group, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia. » Read more
14 Mar 2008
More of Africa urged to boost rhino numbers
After bringing Africa’s black rhinos spectacularly back from the brink of extinction one of the world’s most successful conservation programmes is to celebrate its first decade by seeking to extend its operations to more of Africa.
“What we know from looking back at the last ten years is that sustained conservation can and does work,” says George Kampamba, WWF International’s African Rhino Programme Coordinator.
» Read more
04 Mar 2008
Chasing rhinos in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park
How hard can it be to catch a glimpse of a beast which can weigh 2,300kg and measure over 3m in length? As a WWF team discovered, it takes patience, skill and not a little ingenuity to capture the movements of this elusive giant on film. » Read more
26 Feb 2008
Pulp and palm oil the villains in Sumatra's global climate impact and local elephant losses
Pekanbaru, Sumatra: Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found. » Read more
25 Feb 2008
Indonesian government moves to regulate turtle trade
The Indonesian government has moved against rampant illegal trade in threatened species of turtles and tortoises, tightening regulations and contacting countries where turtles and tortoises are being obtained or sold. » Read more
13 Feb 2008
Body part by body part, Sumatran Tigers are being sold into extinction
Laws protecting the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger have failed to prevent tiger body parts being offered on open sale in Indonesia, according to a new TRAFFIC report . » Read more
10 Jan 2008
Endangered status an advantage to turtle traders
More than half the freshwater turtle and tortoise species sold by pet dealers in Jakarta markets are threatened and nearly all are obtained illegally, according to a survey by the WWF-linked wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. » Read more
07 Jan 2008
Illegal logging and road building threatens tigers and tribes of the Heart of Sumatra
Field investigations in central Sumatra have found that the home of two tribes of indigenous people and endangered elephants, tigers and orang-utans faces “being split in half” by the construction of “a legally questionable highway” for logging trucks servicing one of the world’s largest paper companies. » Read more
