Hans Nicholas Jong

JAKARTA — Indigenous Papuans say they've been caught off guard by helicopters flying over their villages and excavators tearing down their forests in their area, all while accompanied by the Indonesian military.

In Jakarta, an unidentified group disrupted, intimidated and behaved aggressively toward protesters in a Sept. 27 climate march, highlighting the increased challenges to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Indonesia.

JAKARTA — Indonesian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as there are indications of corruption related to the palm oil industry. The attorney general’s office said the case relates to the management of oil palm plantations within forest areas from 2005-24. The suspected corruption case has resulted in loss […]

Indonesia's strategy for increasing renewable energy production could see Indigenous communities lose huge swathes of their forests to biomass plantations.

Indonesia’s push for biomass energy could lead to widespread deforestation in Borneo, threatening Indigenous communities who rely on the rainforest for their survival.Hans Nicholas Jong and Philip Jacobson report for Mongabay.In short:Biomass plantations are poised to clear significant portions of B...

Joko Widodo, Indonesia's president for the past decade, failed to make good on his promises to recognize and protect Indigenous people's rights, Indigenous rights groups says.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is expected to issue a new standard for its member companies to abide by when it holds its annual general meeting next week.

Environmental activists say they see no letup in fossil fuel burning and environmental degradation under Indonesia's new president, Prabowo Subianto.

JAKARTA — At the U.N. climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Indonesian government announced an ambitious plan to reforest 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of degraded land, an area 80 times the size of London. The government framed the policy as a critical move to combat climate change, as Indonesia is one of […]

JAKARTA — In recent United Nations biodiversity conferences, global leaders have championed Indigenous peoples as critical partners in achieving conservation goals. Indonesia, as a signatory to an international treaty on biodiversity protection, pledged to uphold these principles. Yet, its latest conservation law does the opposite—sidelining Indigenous communities and threatening to criminalize their traditional practices, despite […]