Medan – Thousands of hectares of mangroves along the eastern coast of North Sumatra have been seriously damaged due to large areas being converted into oil palm plantations.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government is gearing up to restore as many as 2 million hectares of peatlands destroyed through decades of mismanaged oil palm plantations.

Indonesia's forestry business players have urged the government to withdraw a draft Presidential Decree that would see an end to new licenses for peatland clearing and corporate license

Jakarta – Green group Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) has criticized the Environment and Forestry Ministry for being one of the most secretive ministries in the government and has warned that that att

Bangkok – Toxic fumes from the Indonesian fires that have spread a choking haze across Southeast Asia may be doing more harm to human and plant health than officials have indicated, scientists meas

Kate Lamb – Freshly burned land in Indonesia has already been illegally planted with oil palm, new evidence suggests, following the loss of two million hectares of forest and peatland since July to

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government plans to revise regulations related to the forestry sector in a bid to put an end to the annual forest fires that have put the lives of millions of peop

Jakarta – A leading anti-haze activist has accused the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly of allowing corporations to burn forests and causing the haze crisis.

Jakarta – More than two million hectares of forest area have been reduced to ashes in the past five months in Indonesia, according to the data published by the National Space and Aviation Agency (L

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – While the annual land and forest fires usually occurr in Sumatra and Kalimantan, a large agricultural project in Merauke, Papua, could turn the eastern part of Indones

Khoirul Amin, Jakarta – The Trade Ministry has defended its stance on a revised regulation annulling the timber legality verification system (SVLK) requirement for exporting 15 downstream products

Alex Morales – Indonesia's forest fires have catapulted the southeast Asian nation to the top of the rankings of the world's worst global warming offenders, with daily emissions exceeding those of

Jakarta – A smear campaign against the national palm-oil industry is underway, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) has claimed, as pictures went viral on social media showing youn

John Vidal – Raging Indonesian forest fires have advanced into dense forest on Borneo and now threaten one third of the world's remaining wild orangutans, say conservationists.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Raging forest fires across Indonesia are thought to be responsible for up to half a million cases of respiratory infections, with the resultant haze covering parts of Malaysia

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – A conservation scientist has described an acrid haze choking parts of South-east Asia as one of the worst ever man-made environmental disasters, saying that it is affecti

KoPi – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), a social organisation concerned with the environment, has released a list of big companies causing the forest and land fires in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Ten people have died in Sumatra and Kalimantan due to smog from forest and land fires, which include those killed during fire extinguishing operations and victims of acute respiratory inf

Jakarta – The Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) calls on Muslims to conduct a prayer for rain to help manage the haze crisis in the country, a top official of the organization said on Wednesday.

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government is set to cancel its plan to relax certification requirements for downstream timber products.

Jakarta – Indonesian forest fires that have caused choking smoke to drift across Southeast Asia are spreading to new areas and are unlikely to be put out until next year, experts said on Monday.

Parliza Hendrawan, Palembang – The bad old practices of the New Order dictatorship of former President Suharto are still being applied in some government agencies in Indonesia.

Tama Salim, Jakarta – The number of people falling ill from deteriorating air quality has jumped to almost 500,000 as fires that have ravaged forest and peat lands in Sumatra and Kalimantan over th

Jakarta – A new palm oil producer grouping being set up by Indonesia and Malaysia would replace "no deforestation" pledges made by major palm companies in favor of a joint set of standards proposed

Nani Afrida and Haeril Halim, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen.

Jakarta – The government has revoked the forest concession license of one company and suspended the licenses of three others for their alleged involvement in starting the land and forest fires curr

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government's plan to relax certification requirements for downstream timber products has raised concern from environmental groups.

Jon Afrizal and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Jambi/Padang – Fires that razed extensive forest areas and peat lands in Sumatra and Kalimantan over the past few weeks have caused local residents to struggle

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Indonesia has asked Australia to help it fight forest fires raging through Kalimantan and Sumatra that have created dangerously high levels of air pollution in the region

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – Malaysia has ordered all schools to close for two days as choking haze blanketing a large swathe of south-east Asia is on track to become the worst on record.

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – An Australian company is being investigated by Indonesian police over a fire on a palm oil plantation in Borneo as the republic tries to crack down on companies responsib

Ward Berenschot – On 9 December voters in Central Kalimantan were supposed to elect a new governor. In early November I travelled to the province to follow the campaign.

Jakarta – World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia, an international NGO concerned with conservation, research and environmental conservation, called on the government to be more serious about pr

Jakarta – Up to 218 cases related to forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan are currently being investigated by police.

Singapore has launched legal action that could lead to large fines against Indonesian companies blamed for farm and plantation fires spewing unhealthy levels of air pollution over the city state.

Rizal Harahap and Ina Parlina, Pekanbaru/Jakarta – Smoke produced by land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has continued to intensify over the past few days, severely threatening the heal

Jambi – President Joko Widodo has again been forced to cancel a trip to monitor efforts to quell haze-causing forest fires, as visibility was still too low on Friday to safely fly the presidential

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government has announced the revocation of permits for four firms whose concessions in Sumatra and Kalimantan have burned up recently, adding to the haze fire disa

Jakarta – Indonesian police are expediting a criminal investigation into one of 10 companies charged so far with starting forest fires that have generated choking haze across vast swaths of Sumatra

Indonesian Green Institute chairman Chalid Muhammad has said that large parts of Indonesia's forests have been converted into plantation businesses, mostly for oil palm, including many owned by for

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja for the Straits Times – Indonesian police arrested seven corporate executives on Wednesday in connection with illegal forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan, as part of a

Jakarta – A Malaysian company is among more than 20 firms under investigation by Indonesian authorities in connection with forest fires that have caused a haze to engulf large parts of Southeast As

Jakarta – At least 10 companies believed to be behind several land fire incidents across Sumatra and Kalimantan have been charged by the National Police with violating the Law on the Environment.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by palm oil company PT Kallista Alam and ordered the company to pay fines totalling Rp 366 billion (US$25.6 million) for illeg

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja – Ten plantation companies operating in Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi and Kalimantan provinces may see their licences revoked, and may be fined as investigators probe whether the

Rizal Harahap and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Pekanbaru/Padang – A day after being appointed the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Willem Rampangilei pledged on Wednesday to clear up

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb and Rizal Harahap, Padang/Pekanbaru – Thick haze produced by land and forest fires has continued to blanket several parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, forcing local authorities t

Jakarta – Most regions of Sumatra are currently blanketed by smoke from land and forest fires and the pollution will potentially reach neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

Rizal Harahap and Apriadi Gunawan, Pekanbaru/Medan – Thick haze caused by ongoing land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has forced local authorities on the two islands to temporarily shut

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – In stark contrast to Indonesia's commitment to reduce rampant deforestation, the government has surprisingly become a vocal opponent of a "zero deforestation" pledge s