Landowners with oil palm trees in designated production forests will be allowed to continue growing the crops after paying fines, while plantations found in protected forests will have to be turned over to the government for reforestation. Companies that grow oil palms illegally after the Nov. 2 deadline will be subject to legal action.
The Indonesian federal government has recognized 55,700 acres of ancestral forests on the northern tip of Sumatra for the first time. Indigenous communities in the region have welcomed the recognition, saying it will give them legal protection to manage their forests in a sustainable manner.
The new all-electric rail line, between the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bandung, cuts journey time from around 3 hours, down to just 45 minutes. There are plans to continue the line onwards, from Bandung city node, all the way to the eastern end of Java.
In just a span of five months since EO 21 was issued, the number of offshore wind energy service contracts awarded to qualified investors went from 38 to 78. The biggest growth in terms of gigawatts and allocation happened between August to October when the number of rose from 63 to 78 contracts with a total of 61.6 GW.
For centuries, this disease has afflicted millions of people worldwide, causing pain, severe disability and social stigmatization. It is now the second neglected tropical disease (NTD) that the Southeast Asian country has eliminated following the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem in 2017.
In a move celebrated as a victory by an Indigenous community that since 2005 has been fighting plans to mine nickel in a protected area, the Philippine Supreme Court issued a verdict mandating the company and government agencies involved in the project to address Indigenous concerns about forest destruction.
Sungai Watch, founded by Sam Benchegjib, has successfully cleaned several of Indonesia’s most polluted rivers and revived mangrove ecosystems that have been damaged because of plastic pollution.
Faced with an unending stream of unrecyclable waste from wealthy nations, Indonesia has tightened its regulations and has begun to make progress in stemming the plastics flow.
“We’re not only returning objects; we’re also embarking on a period of closer cooperation with Indonesia and Sri Lanka in areas like collection research, presentation, and exchanges between museums,” said Dutch Secretary of State for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu.
Across both countries, average yearly forest loss fell dramatically between the years 2015-2017 and 2020-2022, with Indonesia seeing a 64 percent decline and Malaysia a 57 percent decline.
