Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A leading non-governmental organization (NGO) has opposed a plan by the government to grant forest concessions to 11 businessmen intended to secure a supply of

Jakarta – Authorities are preparing to charge 10 senior local officials from the Indonesian part of Borneo with involvement in illegal logging and embezzlement of state reforestation fu

Jakarta – As the forestry-based industry has yet to perform efficiently, the government should review its policy to increase next year's natural forest logging quota, an environmental o

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Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – At least 50,000 hectares out of a total of 216,000 hectares of forest in the Gunung Leuser National Park has been deforested since 1980, sparking concern over a

Jakarta – The Riau Police confiscated on Saturday more than 1,600 cubic meters of illegally felled logs from Gaung River in Indragiri Hilir regency, during a raid against illegal loggin

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – The fishing village of Kuala Penet, situated at the estuary of Way Kambas National Park in Lampung, might be just a small dot on the map, but for envir

Jakarta – Global conservation organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has warned the government that establishing the world's largest oil palm plantation in Kalimantan could have

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Two drivers calmly gave themselves up to the police when they were apprehended in Bandarlampung recently with trucks laden with meranti and kruing timb

Rusman, Samarinda – The sound of chain saws was very load. Mustarmin, 37, and his four colleagues immediately scampered away from a big tree as it crashed into small trees around it.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A leading non-governmental organization is set to file a class action lawsuit against 10 companies in connection with the August forest fires and chok

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – To support the government's forest protection program, the participation of local people living in the vicinity of forests is crucial to sustaining ecosystems and

Jakarta/Medan – The choking haze from forest fires on Sumatra island has spread to more areas on Sunday, including Medan and Pontianak, threatening public health and disrupting transpor

Michael Casey, Jakarta – Indonesia will prosecute 10 companies – eight of them Malaysian – for illegally lighting fires on Sumatra Island that have enveloped much of Malaysia with smoke

Jakarta/Medan – The authorities say they are trying to identify companies responsible for the current forest fires in the Sumatra region which have caused choking haze in neighboring Ma

Jakarta – Environmentalists have criticized a draft presidential regulation on forest use as not providing protection for forests because of its outright "pro-business agenda".

Kuala Lumpur – Forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra province covered Kuala Lumpur and 32 other areas of Malaysia with a smoky haze Tuesday, reducing visibility in some places to a half-m

Jakarta – A coalition of environmental organizations are demanding that timber firms on Sumatra island that are operating based on licenses from local chief executives stop clearing for

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has pledged over US$15 million to aid in the fight against illegal logging which is leaving the country's forests depleted, the forestry ministry sai

Contributor to The Jakarta Post Riedo Panaligan is a recipient of the 2005 Journalism Fellowship Program of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court has cleared the way for 13 mining companies to resume mining in protected forests, citing the government's need to improve th

A thick haze shrouding Malaysia's tourist island of Penang and caused by fires in neighbouring Indonesia has spread to the mainland, meteorological officials said.

Rusman, Samarinda – Junaedi, 32, waited for his illegally bought logs to be hauled out of the Mahakam River in the upper reaches of Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, where they had be

Jakarta – The need for wood in Aceh's rehabilitation in Aceh post tsunami waves will be supplied from domestic sources.

Krystof Obidzinski, Bogor – Barely a day goes by without a story appearing in the Indonesian media about illegal logging.

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) has supported the Mentawai regent's decision to revoke 17 licenses for the right to undertake and prof

Environmental agencies say the government crackdown on illegal logging in Indonesia's Papua province has failed to catch those behind the lucrative trade.

Eva C.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Environmentalists testified on Tuesday before the Constitutional Court about the devastating effects of open-pit mining in protected forests as they attempted to

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – The gigantic and pungent Titan Arum or Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum), which can reach up to three and a half meters in height, is slowly disappearing fro

Hera Diani, Jakarta – In a rush to rebuild tsunami-devastated Aceh, there are fears that the reconstruction work may endanger the resources of first-growth forests in the province and o

Rendi A.

Puji Santoso, Pekanbaru – Historically thick haze from forest fires and burn-offs blanketed several parts of Riau on Friday, including the capital of Pekanbaru, disrupting flights and f

Medan/Jambi/Pekanbaru – Haze thickened on Thursday in several parts of Sumatra, causing flight delays and school shutdowns.

Rendi A. Witular and Eva C.

Environmental investigators said Thursday they had uncovered massive timber smuggling from Indonesia's Papua province to China in what they described as the world's largest logging rack

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban said on Friday he planned to meet with Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo

John Aglionby – Environmental activists have exposed what they claim to be the world's biggest timber smuggling racket, the supply of the luxurious dark hardwood, merbau, from Indonesia

Jakarta – The most egregious case of timber smuggling ever discovered – valued at more than US$1 billion – was made public on Thursday by two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who

Environmental investigators say they have uncovered massive timber smuggling from Indonesia's Papua province to China in what they described as the world's largest logging racket involv

Pekanbaru (Riau) – Fire has razed 14,000 hectares of forest in two regencies here over the past week, and causing smoke haze problems.

Jambi – Pancakarya residents in Limun district have their own way of fighting illegal loggers, by declaring 400 hectares of forest area as the village's restricted forest.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Most coastal areas in East Java, similar to tsunami-hit coastal regions in Aceh and North Sumatra, are susceptible to disasters like tsunami, warns an offic

Jakarta – Improving the economic welfare of communities living in forested areas would do little to reduce the widespread illegal logging across the country, environmentalists say.

Bogor – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the European Commission (EC) launched a joint program on Tuesday to preserve the country's rapidly shrinking tropical forests a

Jakarta – Police have arrested nine businessmen and confiscated trucks, boats, heavy machinery and 107,337 cubic meters of timber worth Rp 600 billion (US$66 million) in a series of rai

Pekanbaru-RoL – The Minister of Forestry, H.

Jakarta – The National Police headquarters (HQ) is to investigate the involvement of former Sorong Police Operations chief, First Inspector Anshar Johar and former Sorong Police chief,

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Activists here told the government on Tuesday that illegal logging was the work of domestic organized crime syndicates – including security officials

Tony Hotland and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Jayapura – Police are investigating the possible involvement of high-ranking police officers in illegal logging in Papua following the confe