A Litoria frog, which uses a loud ringing song to call for a mate, was discovered in a rainforest during a Conservation International (CI) led Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) expedition of Papua New Guinea's highlands wilderness in 2008 is pictured in this undated handout photo. REUTERS/Steve Richards/Conservation International/Handout
Two motorcycle riders in Lumajang, East Java, observe Mount Semeru from a distance. The Center for Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation has announced that the frequency of lava eruptions at the crater have been decreasing, a sign of lava flow clogging that could lead to a violent eruption. (Antara/Sucipto)
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Agriculture Ministry said Indonesia has succeeded in achieving self-sufficiency in corn as domestic production has reached 90 percent of domestic demand.
"We have become self-sufficient in corn and have also begun exporting the product. However, it does not mean that imports have stopped. But domestic production now meets 90 percent of national demand. In 2008 we also exported corn," the ministry`s director general of food crops, Sutarto Alimoeso, said here on Wednesday.
In 2008 Indonesia imported 170,000 tons of corn and exported 150,000 tons.
He said exports could still increase. Fir this year the production target had been set at around 18 million tons of which one million tons would be exported.
The agriculture ministry was expecting domestic corn production to increase 14 percent this year.
National corn production in 2008 rose more than 22 percent from 16.3 million tons in the previous year.
He said the corn plantation area was increasing while productivity was also rising following the use of superior seeds.
Alimoeso said the government was subsidizing seed prices for rice, corn and bean farmers. Besides seed subsidy the government was also helping farmers to get superior seeds and seeds taken from national reserves.
For 2009, the agriculture ministry had allocated a corn seed subsidy for producing 4,266 tons of corn on an area of 225,534 hectares.
Seed assistance taken from national seed supply for the farmers will reach 5,595 tons for an area of 353,000 hectares. Direct top seed assistance totaling 7,610 tons meanwhile is allocated for an area of 507,333 hectares.
WWF-Canon / Alain COMPOST, 07 Apr 2009
Jakarta, Indonesia: A major Indonesian plantation company has become the country’s first certified maker of sustainable palm oil as WWF simultaneously collaborated with the Indonesian Department of Agriculture and others to hold a first-time regional training workshop for small producers.
Musim Mas Group Plantations, is the first company in Indonesia to demonstrate that some of its plantations comply with the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles and Criteria, a set of standards that helps ensure that palm oil is produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil.
The RSPO brings together oil palm growers, oil processors, food companies, retailers, NGOs and investors to help ensure that no rainforest areas are sacrificed for new oil palm plantations, that all plantations minimize their environmental impacts and that basic rights of local peoples and plantation workers are fully respected.
“Musim Mas hopes that its certification will encourage more Indonesian companies to follow suit,” said Liantong Gan, head of Musim Mas’ sustainability department.
Musim Mas’ certification underscores the progress that WWF, and others, have made in efforts to increase the number of palm oil producers that are operating sustainably.
WWF works to ensure that oil palm expansion does not come at the expense of forests by promoting its expansion onto degraded lands. It is also helping to develop guidance for the small holders representing 40 per cent of Indonesia’s palm oil growers.
"WWF is pleased to see progress in Indonesia, but there is much work to be done before sustainable palm oil can be a mainstream reality," said Ian Kosasih, Director of the Forest Programme at WWF Indonesia.
"WWF Indonesia will continue to cooperate with stakeholders to build the capacity of farmers to implement the RSPO guidelines, promote the use of idle or degraded land for oil palm expansion, and put pressure on those companies that persist in converting natural forest for oil palm expansion," Kosasih said.
WWF helped organize the training for 21 training representatives from small Indonesian palm oil plantations from West Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, and West of Kalimantan.
WWF held the training in collaboration with the Indonesian Smallholders Working Group, the Department of Agriculture, the RSPO Indonesia Liaison Office, Sawit Watch, and various certification bodies. The training stemmed from a memorandum of understanding signed on Feb. 17 between the RSPO and the Indonesian Department of Agriculture.
The objective was to educate trainers on the threats of oil palm plantations to the region’s forests and local species, to motivate smallholders to comply with the RSPO P & C, and to provide practical ways smallholders can comply with these sustainability criteria, including mitigating the wildlife human conflict that often occurs happens in oil palm plantations.
In addition, a syllabus and training modules were developed so that the representatives could take them back to their operations for educational purposes.
The Indonesian Smallholders Working Group is planning to hold further trainings in the five provinces represented at the March training, and follow them up with audits.
As a founding member of the RSPO, WWF has worked since 2002 with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the RSPO standards contain robust social and environmental criteria, including a prohibition on the conversion of high conservation value (HCV) areas.
The workshop and Musim Mas’ certification come only months after the first shipment of RSPO certified sustainable palm oil arrived in Europe from southeast Asia.
Several European companies, including Unilever, Sainsbury’s and Albert Heijn, have already made strong public commitments to buy certified sustainable palm oil.
The next RSPO Roundtable meeting and the 6th General Assembly of RSPO members will be held in November 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Earthquakes rocked North Sulawesi and West Papua on Saturday, but did not trigger any tsunami, according to the National Meteorological and Geophysics Office here Saturday.
North Sulawesi was hit by a 6.5-magnitude temblor on Saturday at 2.31 am Western Indonesian Time (WIB). The quake`s epicenter was located at 4.99 degrees northern latitude and 127.04 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 km below sea level, around 117 Km northeast of Melonguane, North Sulawesi.
West Papua was jolted by a 5.1-magnitude temblor at 1.09 pm Western Indonesian Time (WIB). The quake`s epicenter was located at 0.73 degrees southern latitude and 133.30 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 101 km, around 86 Km northwest of Manokwari town, West Papua.
On Friday (April 3), Palu, Central Sulawesi Province, was jolted by two consecutive earthquakes in the wee hours, causing a number of local residents to panic and wonder about the temblors` magnitudes.
The first earthquake was 4.4 on the Richter scale and the second was 4.9 on the Richter scale.
Indonesia, the world`s largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.
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The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/02/2009 7:34 PM
An environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) has on Thursday called for the government to intervene in the prevention of further wildlife poaching in Sumatra following the death of two female elephants at an elephant conservation center in Bengkulu last week.
"Elephant and tiger poaching is increasing and the death of the female elephants wasn't the first. At least seven others were killed at the conservation park between 2004 and 2007," representative of wildlife protection NGO ProFauna Radius Nursidi said.
He added that the perpetrators were never caught nor processed.
Apart from endangered elephants, the second most poached wildlife animal is the Sumatran tiger.
A survey conducted by ProFauna in March this year revealed 12 tiger snares were found around a conservation park in Bengkulu.
One of these snare had successfully trapped a Bornean leopard in 2007.
The authorities were informed of the perpetrator but no legal recourse was taken.
“The police need to fully enforce the law on wildlife crime. Without law enforcement, elephant and tiger poaching in Bengkulu will persist”, Nursidi argued.
Under the law, poaching and trading protected species is against the law and offenders are liable to a maximum of five years in jail and a Rp 100 millions (10,000 USD) fine. (amr)
By IRWAN FIRDAUS
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Two Sumatran elephants were found dead with gunshots to the head in a protected forest in western Indonesia, a conservationist said Tuesday.
Park rangers have been riding the animals for weeks in the Kerinci National Park and surrounding areas to prevent entry by illegal loggers, who have been clearing jungles at an alarming rate to make way for palm oil and other commercial plantations.
Though provincial conservation chief Andi Basrul refused to speculate on a motive for the shootings, he said they appeared to have been carried out by professional poachers.
Basrul said the Sumatran elephants were both 20-year-old females. Rangers found their bodies on March 24, hours after they were used for a patrol and several hundred yards (meters) from their camp.
Conservationists believe there are less that 3,000 Sumatran elephants remaining in the wild.
"It is a big blow to our efforts to protect these endangered animals," Basrul said.
The habitats of Sumatran elephants are quickly shrinking due to illegal logging and land clearing. That has led, increasingly, to clashes with humans, often because the starving animals stray into villages and destroy crops in their search for food.
An investigation will be carried out into the latest attack in Bengkulu province on Sumatra island, said Yatim Suyatmo, a police spokesman.
Jungle operation: Sr. Comr. Zainal Paliwang, head of Riau Water Police Directorate (left) leads illegal logging raid operation in Tohor River kanals in Tebing Tinggi, Meranti district in Riau, on Tuesday. Antara/FB Anggoro
Riau Water Police have confiscated 200 tons of illegal logs, allegedly cut down from Meranti and Bengkalis regencies areas, during a two-day raid operations.
Sr. Comr. Zainal Paliwang, head of Riau Water Police Directorate, told Antara that they have named and arrest two people as suspects.
“We received a tip-off from the local resident and we later begun an investigation that lasted three weeks. The logs were found at four different locations,” he said.
On Monday, the police confiscated eight tons of logs from a location on the banks of Tanjung Sari river in Tanjung Samak district in Bengkalis. They also arrested two men, Yamin, 39, and Edo Tampubolon, 68, who were on a tug boat to deliver logs to Tanjung Balai Karimun in Riau Islands.
The rest of the logs were confiscated from three locations in Tohor River banks in Tebing Tinggi district in Meranti.
Zainal said the police were to continue their investigation to catch illegal loggers in the areas. (dre)
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/31/2009 7:21 PM
A tornado had reportedly hit several areas in Central Jakarta Tuesday evening, kompas.com reported.
Petojo and Cideng were among the areas hit by the whirlwind that occurred within a ten minute time frame.
According to residents, house rooftops, tree branches, a billboard and a tower belonging to the City Transportation Agency were blown away.
Central Jakarta mayor Sylviana Murni is said to have inspected the damages.
"I've just toured the area to observe the situation at hand," Murni said. (amr)
Hanoi (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) -- The global economic crisis has reduced demand for wood products, according to an official from the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VFA).
Association statistics show the wood processing industry had a total export turnover of about US$500 million during the first three months of this year, down 22.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis because many main partners had reduced their imports.
Last year, firms received US$2.8 billion for wood products, which was 13.4 per cent higher than in 2007, but in the first two months of this year, the value fell 60 per cent to US$330 million compared with the same period last year, said VFA Deputy Chairman, Nguyen Ton Quyen.
Muaro Bungo, Jambi (ANTARA News) - Forestry Minister MS Kaban said that Indonesian forests were experiencing a chronic `ailment` or serious damage which needed a long time to cure.
"The chronic disease infected the forests as a result of mismanagement in the past which has now affected forest industries and timber companies," the minister said when inaugurating a rural forest project in Lubuk Beringin hamlet, Bungo district, here on Monday.
Forests were damaged as the result of weak government control and mismanagement by forest concessionaires (HPH), timber estates (HTI) and licensed plantations (HGU), he said.
The bankruptcy of forest industries has cut the state`s foreign exchange earning and caused forest theft or illegal logging, the minister said.
In the past, the biggest earner of the country`s foreign exchange was the forestry sector while the oil and gas came only in the second list.
But the past exploitation has adversely caused destruction of our forest now and created different kinds of natural disasters such as floods and drought.
In the new order government era, the conditions of Indonesia`s natural resources were good, such as those of forest, mining and marine resources, which all contributed significant incomes to the state, he said.
He said that over the past three years the government had been launching a forest plantation movement. Through the movement, a total of 1.9 million trees had been planted.
Recovering remains: Indonesian soldiers search for victims after a dam burst in Jakarta on Sunday. Attention shifted to caring for homeless and hungry survivors after a dam burst outside the Indonesian capital, sending a wall of water crashing into homes and killing at least 91 people. More than 100 others are still missing, but hope dimmed Sunday of finding them alive. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
An emergency search and rescue team (UMJ) combing the Situ Gintung area has so far found 96 fatalities, while 100 residents remain missing, tempointeraktif.com reported on Sunday.
"The count is based on the reports of local residents and also neighborhood coordination. Many of the bodies are not clear which neighborhood unit they belong to," UMJ coordinator Rahmat Salam said.
More than 500 people have volunteered to help evacuate victims in the aftermath of the deadly collapse of the Situ Gintung sluice gate and embankment in Cireundeu, Tangerang.
The team comprises members of the national Search and Rescue (SAR), BNPN, Gegana bomb squad, the Health Agency, the Indonesian Red Cross, the police, college students and other members of the public.
The dam burst, which was triggered by heavy torrential rains on Friday evening, had flatted 319 homes, schools and a university campus.
More than 500 residents became homeless and were staying at temporary shelters erected at several locations around the disaster area. (amr)
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 03/27/2009 2:48 PM
The Bandung-based Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center has raised the status of Semeru volcano in Central Java, to second highest level alert, bringing the total number of volcanoes on the same alert level to three.
Agus Budianto, a top official at the governmental office, said Friday that Semeru was the latest volcano to increase its acitivity.
Previously the office had raised Karangetang volcano in North Sulawesi and Ibu volcano in North Maluku since December and April last year, respectively.
Agus said that currently there are 68 active volcanoes, out of a total of 129 volcanoes, in Indonesia.
Out of the 68 volcanoes, 14, including Dempo in South Sumatra, Anak Krakatau in Sunda Strait, and Bromo in East Java, are on first level alert status – the lowest of the three level statuses.
The office warns the people living near Semeru volcano to remain cautious of volcano disaster. (dre)
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A dam on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst on Friday, killing 28 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby, officials said.
Police said that they were still searching the area for more casualties. Metro TV showed rescuers wading up to their chests in floodwater.
"The break down of Situ Gintung dam has claimed 28 lives, and seven houses were swept away," Chrysnanda Dwilaksana, a spokesman for the Jakarta police, said in a telephone text message.
The dam, which was used to retain water in Lake Situ Gintung in Tangerang District, southwest of Jakarta, broke early on Friday morning. There had been heavy rain in the area but so far the cause of the accident is not known.
"Hundreds of houses are flooded, tens of houses damaged, it was like a small tsunami," said Rustam Pakaya, an official at the health ministry.
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Tens people missing, 12 killed after dam bursts in Tangerang
A women safe his child from floods in Pondok Pinang, Tangerang, Banten province, Friday (Mar 27). Dike of Gintung reservoir was broken down cause some citizen settlements inundated and 18 peoples death. (ANTARA photo/Paramayuda)
A rescuer searches for flood victims after a dam burst on the outskirts of Jakarta in Indonesia. (Reuters/Dadang Tri)
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 03/27/2009 10:16 AM
A dam burst in Cirendeu, Ciputat, South Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta, before dawn Friday, sending a flash flood into a crowded residential neighborhood, submerging hundreds of houses and killing at least 20 people, officials said.
A wave of water crashed into around 400 homes in the industrial area of Tangerang at around 2.00 a.m., said Health Ministry Crisis Center chief Rustam Pakaya. Floodwaters were up to 2.5 meters deep is some areas, police and witnesses said.
Pakaya said 20 bodies had been recovered by rescue teams, but that he expected the death toll to climb because residents were sleeping when the disaster happened. At least a dozen others were reportedly missing.
Antara news agency reporte that search and rescue officers were still working to rescue residents being trapped in their submerged houses. The survivors were evacuated to higher grounds at the nearby Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta.
It was unclear what caused the failure of the 10-meter-high dam, which was holding back around 2 million cubic meters of water at the Pesanggrahan river, according to South Jakarta Police chief Makmur Simbolon.
A rescue worker identified only as Toni, told El Shinta radio another 19 people were being treated at nearby hospitals.
"A flash flood came suddenly and was horrifying," said Seto Mulyadi, whose car was washed nearly 300 feet (100 meters) from his driveway into a public park, as quoted by The Associated Press. "My house in a dreadful mess ... Thank God my family is safe."
Mulyadi said he heard a siren sound at the dam before the water smashed out all the windows and doors and inundated his home in 2.5 meters of water. He said his wife and four children were all sleep upstairs and were unharmed. (dre)
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A Litoria frog, which uses a loud ringing song to call for a mate, was discovered in a rainforest during a Conservation International (CI) led Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) expedition of Papua New Guinea's highlands wilderness in 2008 is pictured in this undated handout photo. REUTERS/Steve Richards/Conservation International/Handout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jumping spiders, a striped gecko and a chirping frog are among more than 50 new species discovered in Papua-New Guinea, the environmental group Conservation International reported on Tuesday.
The creatures were found during an expedition in July and August in Papua-New Guinea's highlands wilderness, the group said in a statement.
A total of 50 spider species, two plants, three frogs and one gecko found on the expedition are believed to be new to science.
The three frogs include a tiny brown frog with a sharp chirping call, a bright green tree frog with big eyes and a torrent-dwelling frog that has a loud ringing call.
An East Java zoo is welcoming the arrival of 32 newborn Komodo dragons.
Surabaya Zoo spokesman Agus Pangkat says the endangered lizards - believed to number less than 4,000 in the wild - all hatched in the last two weeks. He says 14 eggs are still under observation.
He is calling it the Komodo's most successful breeding year ever at the zoo.
He said Monday the giant reptiles have been kept at the zoo since the early 1980s, but the newborns brought their total from 34 to 66.
Komodo dragons can grow up to 10 feet long (three meters) and weigh as much as 150 pounds (70 kilograms). They have a bite that can be deadly and can only be found in the wild on the eastern Indonesian islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca.
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The Star Online, Malaysia , 22 March 2009
The Star says
JUST scrap this inept idea. There are other ways of bringing the roar back to Penang besides creating a tiger park.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s proposal to create such a park on 40ha of land owned by the Penang Municipal Council in Relau certainly doesn’t fit the description of an eco-tourism project.
The plan has drawn flak from wildlife experts, conservationists and locals. They know better that the rightful place for the majestic animal is in our shrinking forests, not in an artificial habitat near highly populated urban areas.
It has been the CM’s propensity to initiate slogans with the acronym of CAT – Competency, Accountability and Transparency, Central Area Transit, and Career Assistance & Training. This big cat, however, should be best left out of ideas to boost the state’s tourism.
Perhaps, the CM should instead think FAST – Food, Arts, Sea and Traditions – areas in which Penang has enough attractions that can be developed further.
The Pearl of the Orient has already won its culinary credentials. It is a gastronomic destination among top-market travellers, tour groups and back-backers besides domestic tourists hooked on its delectable hawker fare.
Penang is also rich in the arts, with a wide range of museums, galleries, libraries, exhibition halls and colourful performances, including its indigenous boria.
Besides the island’s scenic beaches of Tanjung Bungah, Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang, which can use some cleaning-up, easier access should be provided to better ones located along the secluded northwestern coast.
The island’s unique traditions and rich multi-cultural heritage are certainly big draws now that Georgetown has been given a huge tourism advantage through its listing as a World Heritage Site together with Malacca.
But if eco-tourism is indeed the focus, the CM should look at existing areas to improve and promote, like the bio-diversity rich Pantai Aceh National Park, Pulau Jerejak or even Penang Hill.
The idea of confining endangered wild animals in enclosures is passe and regarded as another wanton exploitation of wildlife.
Unlike conservation forest reserves where free roaming animals are kept after being captured for their protection, tiger parks, like the one being planned in Penang, are grossly inappropriate for a species whose natural habitat covers a huge range.
So let’s leave our tigers in the forest.
Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Wild elephants in Bengkulu province are under threat of extinction because illegal loggers and land squatters have begun to operate in areas close to the Seblat Elephant Training Center in North Bengkulu district, a local nature conservation official said.
If the illegal activities were not stopped soon, the forest corridor linking the Elephant Training Center with the Kerinci Seblat National Park would be breached and the habitat of elephants under the center`s care destroyed, Andi Basral, head of Bengkulu`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said on Friday through Aswan Bangun, coordinator of the Seblat Elephants Training Center.
"We can do little to overcome the illegal activities because of lack of support from the local law-enforcing agencies," Bangun said.
The BKSDA had the authority to act against the illegal loggers and squatters but the agency`s personnel were limited in number and could therefore not achieve much, he added.
Bangun said about 1,500 heactares of the 6,865-hectare forest-covered zone belonging to the Seblat Elephant Training Center were now in seriously damaged condition because of the illegal activities.
The Seblat Elephant Training Center could only be saved if the local administration, including law-enforcing agencies, took part in efforts to protect the center and the elephants` habitat, Bangun said.
In the past, he said, he had asked for and received assistance from the local forestry service and police to drive away the illegal loggers and squatters but it was only temporary.
"When they (illegal loggers and squatters) get wind of an imminent joint operation against them, they cease their activities but as soon as the officers have gone, they are at it again," he said.
If the illegal activities were not halted, the elephants` habitat would gradually disappear and leave the protected animals nowhere to live.
Bangun said he believed 85 percent of Bengkulu`s wild elephant population was living outside the center and the Kerinci Seblat National Park but did not know exactly how many wild elephants there were in Bengkulu province.
The little pink calf was spotted in amongst an 80-strong elephant herd
A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana.
A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta.
Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants.
They are unsure of its chances of long-term survival - the blazing African sunlight may cause blindness and skin problems for the calf.
Mike Holding, who spotted the baby while filming for a BBC wildlife programme, said: "We only saw it for a couple of minutes as the herd crossed the river.
The baby elephant seems to be sheltering under its mother to protect itself from the sun
"This was a really exciting moment for everyone in camp. We knew it was a rare sighting - no-one could believe their eyes."
Documented evidence
Albino elephants are not usually white, but instead they have more of a reddish-brown or pink hue.
While albinism is thought to be fairly common in Asian elephants, it is much less common in the larger African species.
Ecologist Dr Mike Chase, who runs conservation charity Elephants Without Borders, said: "I have only come across three references to albino calves, which have occurred in Kruger National Park in South Africa.
"This is probably the first documented sighting of an albino elephant in northern Botswana.
"We have been studying elephants in the region for nearly 10 years now, and this is the first documented evidence of an albino calf that I have come across."
He said that the condition might make it difficult for the calf to survive into adulthood.
"What happens to these young albino calves remains a mystery," said Dr Chase.
"Surviving this very rare phenomenon is very difficult in the harsh African bush. The glaring sun may cause blindness and skin problems."
However, he told BBC News that there might be a ray of hope for the pink calf as it already seemed to be learning to adapt to its condition.
Dr Chase explained: "Because this elephant calf was sighted in the Okavango Delta, he may have a greater chance of survival. He can seek refuge under the large trees and cake himself in a thick mud, which will protect him from the Sun.
"Already the two-to-three-month-old calf seems to be walking in the shade of its mother.
"This behaviour suggests it is aware of its susceptibility to the harsh African sun, and adapted a unique behaviour to improve its chances of survival."
He added: "I have learned that elephants are highly adaptable, intelligent and masters of survival."
Friday, 20 March, 2009 | 17:28 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Purbalingga: A number of Japanese investors intend to invest in food production in Purbalingga regency. “At least 171 Jpanese companies are interested in investing in crystal coconut sugar produced by Purbalingga,” said Djoko Triwinarso, Purbalingga Secretariat spokesperson, yesterday.
Two investors, Pooki Teading Co and Asaki Yushi Koogyo, said they were ready to build livestock feed and food industries. However, they submitted some requirements, such as open price standards, quality and continuity.
Purbalingga regent, Triyono Budi Sasongko, said he would support the interest of the Japanese investors. “Beside capital investment, we also hope for a process of technology transfer,” he said.
ARIS ANDRIANTO
By Aloysius Bhui, Reuters, Fri Mar 20, 2009 6:31am EDT
JAKARTA, March 20 (Reuters) - Sinar Mas Group, one of Indonesia's top palm oil growers, denied on Friday accusations that its activities were damaging the environment and said it would stick to plans to expand its plantations.
Greenpeace activists have targeted Sinar Mas in a recent campaign for contributing to deforestation in Indonesia, which is blamed as a key source greenhouse gas emissions in the Southeast Asian country.
"We should have been arrested if we had ever been involved in deforestation," Gandi Sulistiyanto, a managing director of Sinar Mas Group, told Reuters.
He said the company only opened up new plantations in degraded land that had been farmed on or previously logged and not rainforest.
Sinar Mas Group owns publicly-listed PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources Tbk (SMART) (SMAR.JK), which runs its palm oil business, and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which operates the pulp and paper business.
Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner, accused Sinar Mas of destroying forest areas.
"We are facing the greatest threat to humanity -- climate chaos, yet still companies like Sinar Mas can continue to destroy forests and peatlands, rather than protecting them for future generations," Maitar said in a statement.
As of the end of September, SMART managed 127,124 hectares (314,100 acres) of planted oil palm, according to the company.
It produced 410,314 tonnes of crude palm oil in January-September last year, against 509,095 tonnes in all of 2007. [ID:nJAK279457]
The group has earmarked a $100 million palm expansion this year and is not planning to pull back the plan.
"We are still a growing company. We (Indonesia) are still competing with Malaysia to become the world's top producer of palm oil. So we must keep planting," Sulistiyanto said.
He said the current financial crisis may slow down the expansion but would not stop the firm from planting in new areas.
According to Greenpeace, Sinar Mas has 200,000 hectares of unplanted concessions in rainforest in Indonesia and plans to acquire an additional 1.1 million hectares, mainly in Papua.
Sulistiyanto said the firm was currently focused on managing the 11,000 hectares that it has planted with oil palm in the past 14 years in Papua.
"Everybody is eyeing Papua because of its huge land but we haven't got any more concessions there," he said.
Indonesia, the world's top producer of palm oil -- used in a wide range of products, from soap to biodiesel -- is expected to produce 20.25 million tonnes of palm oil in 2009, up from 18.8 million in 2008, the industry association has estimated.
Annette Cotter, campaign manager for the forests campaign in Greenpeace Southeast Asia, has urged Indonesia palm growers to squeeze far higher yields from existing plantations rather than open up more land. [ID:nJAK381772]
Indonesia yields only about 2 tonnes per hectare from its plantations, or just a third of the 6 to 7 tonnes in countries such as Malaysia with better estate management practices. (Editing by Ed Davies and Valerie Lee)
Thursday, 19 March, 2009 | 18:46 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Purwokerto: The Banyumas regency government is encouraging farmers to make better use of organic fertilizers. The effort is being supported by building five organic fertilizer plants in five sub-districts of Banyumas. “With these plants, farmers should no longer burn or throw away their hay after harvesting,” said Banyumas regent, Mardjoko, yesterday. The government has allocated Rp40 million from its budget for this project.
Suwito, chief of the Setia Jaya Farmers Group from Adisana village said the fertilizer plants in his village can produce one ton of organic fertilizers a day. The group has 102 members, with a 30-hectare area of land to work on.
ARIS ANDRIANTO
Wednesday, 18 March, 2009 | 16:37 WIB
Rahmat Gobel vice chairman of the chamber said, “the plan must be carried out quickly because it could reduce production cost and improve competitivenes.”
Rahmat said the storages planned for East Java, Central Jawa, Sulawesi, and Papua could eliminate illegal levies. While certification on stored timber would lower illegal logging accusations.
NIEKE INDRIETTA
Monday, 16 March, 2009 | 15:54 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Purwakarta: Jungle Trekkers and Mountain Hikers Association, Wanadri, is building the Yusril Hill monument at Buru Masigit Kareumbi Park in Kareumbi village, Cicalengka, Bandung, West Java.
“We will mark the monument by first planting trees,” said Fahrizal, representing Wanadri during the 40 day-memorial of the passing away of Tempo senior journalist, Yusril Djalinus, in Purwakarta, last Saturday.
The Yusril Hill monument, Fahrizal said, is to honor the late Yusril for his dedication in building and strengthening Wanadri. “He was a senior activist who contributed significantly to Wanadri,” Fahrizal said.
The next day, they planted mahogany trees in the 12,470 hectare area. The denuded hills are important as upstream areas and as sources of water which are fed by the Cimanuk and Citrarum rivers. The river separates Bandung and the downstream areas in West Java’s Northern Coast.
People donated Rp50.000 per tree. “The donation is valid for five years. If the tree dies, they will get a replacement,” Fahrizal said. Yusril passed away on February 2 at 10.30 at the Mitra Keluarga International Hospital, Jakarta. Yusril, a founder of Tempo magazine, was buried at Pasar Senen Cemetery in Purwakarta.
NANANG SUTISNA
Monday, 16 March, 2009 | 16:57 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Malang:The Malang Disaster Management Team has called on people around Mount Semeru to be on alert following the intensified volcanic activity. “An early warning will be publicly announced if there are indications that the volcano will erupt,” said the team’s chief, Rendra Kresna, yesterday.
According to Rendra, staff of the geological disaster volcanic and mitigation center continue to monitor the volcano from six surrounding sub-districts. The Malang regency government has allocated Rp4,5 billion for the operation, which can be cashed at anytime.
EKO WIDIANTO
The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Mon, 03/16/2009 11:30 AM
Milking it all the way: A farmer milks a cow at his farm near Jl. Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, in this June 19, 2008, file photo. The Agriculture Ministry has proposed Rp 145 billion (US$12.18 million) this year from the stimulus package to boost the competitiveness of the country’s meat, milk and dairy businesses against foreign competitors, ministry officials said Saturday. (JP/J. Adiguna)
Indonesia is preparing massive financial and technical support for meat and tropical fruit businesses in a bid to cash in on ASEAN’s free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand.
The Agriculture Ministry’s director general of husbandry, Tjeppy D. Soedjana, said Saturday the ministry had proposed Rp 145 billion (US$12.18 million) this year from the stimulus package to boost competitiveness of the country’s meat, milk and dairy businesses against foreign competitors.
He added the businesses would face tougher challenges due to the recently inked free trade agreement (FTA) between ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand.
“The proposed stimulus will help local cattle farmers develop their businesses, while also preparing them to compete against imported products before the ASEAN FTA with Australia and New Zealand takes full effect,” Tjeppy said.
Under the FTA, Indonesia will completely slash its import duties on four beef products from the two countries by 2020 and on seven dairy products between 2017 and 2019.
Tjeppy said steps in preparing the farmers should be taken immediately from the upstream level of the cattle breeding sector.
“If the Finance Ministry approves the stimulus, not only we can cover domestic demand, but we can also compete with overseas products and even export our products,” he said.
He added the stimulus would take the form of loan interest subsidies for domestic cattle farmers under the existing cattle breeding business financing (KUPS) scheme.
“The KUPS scheme is pro-poor and intended for small cattle farmers,” he said, adding local farmers were currently breeding 10 million cows.
Besides the subsidy, the ministry will also help cattle breeders work with oil palm farmers to help provide sufficient feed for the cattle.
“A hectare of oil palm plantations can feed two to three cows. There are around 7 million hectares of plantations, which translates into feed for 21 million cows,” Tjeppy said.
He added Indonesia imported 30 percent of its meat demand annually, consisting of 450,000 cows for breeding and 150,000 tons of frozen meat, while importing 70 percent of its dairy demand.
Besides the meat and dairy businesses, the ministry will also help expand the export of tropical fruit to Australia and New Zealand under the FTA, which scraps import duties for horticultural produce.
Sri Kuntarsih, secretary of the Agriculture Ministry’s horticulture directorate general, said Indonesian fruit exports to Australia were limited because of strict quality inspection systems in place, which acted similar to non-tariff barriers.
She added that ever since the deal was signed, the ministry had submitted a proposal to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta regarding the possibility of exporting three types of produce: mangosteens, mangoes and onions.
“However, the embassy said we had to select only one for the time being. So we’ve decided to go with mangosteens,” she said.
“Australia has very high standards for the quality of agriculture produce. “This has been our main concern for not being able to enter their market sooner.”
Indonesia is targeting a 13 percent jump in horticulture exports worldwide this year to $411 million. (fmb/hdtw)
The Jakarta Post, Bogor, West Java | Mon, 03/16/2009 11:36 AM
Betting on higher prices for top commodities and the emergence of new markets, the country’s plantation industry is seeking to buck the trend and expects export values this year to increase by 16 percent.
“We believe we can raise our income from exports to US$21.68 billion from last year’s $18.85 billion. This is based on the fact there are new markets available and we believe main commodities prices will improve,” Herdrajat, the Agriculture Ministry’s plantation protection director, said Saturday.
He cited China, the Middle East and India as some of the new export markets.
“Last year’s achievement, which surpassed the original target of $11.55 billion income set in early 2008, was also a big factor in our confidence to increase this year’s exports” he added.
Indonesia is home to plantations of some of the world’s key commodities, including crude palm oil (CPO), rubber and cocoa.
But since the second half of 2008, as the global economic turmoil kicked in, commodities-rich countries like Indonesia have been hit hard by a drop in demand and prices.
However, Herdrajat expected demand would pick up from the new markets, while commodity prices would also recover, providing an eventual boost for the industry.
Still, Herdrajat said it was vital for the government to immediately disburse the stimulus package, in particular the parts designated for the development of agriculture and plantation infrastructure.
“The industry needs the stimulus to improve irrigation and repair broken roads to enhance effectiveness and efficiency,” he said.|
Data from the ministry shows the government also plans to revitalize up to 290,000 hectares of CPO, cacao and rubber plantations in 27 provinces this year.
“[For the project] the government plans to give banking credit subsidies to support farmers in revitalizing the plantations,” Herdrajat said.
“We hope to encourage farmers to revitalize the plantations using the subsidy. We will also fund them for fertilizers in the first year, but we hope they can be self-sufficient in the following years.”
During revitalization, the plantations will not produce commodities for a few months while they are cleaned out.
“For that reason, the government will also give training programs on developing seasonal commodities for farmers to ensure their income during revitalization.”
Plantation revitalization and intensification, which has often caused a rift with other industries, is one of the main challenges the industry still has to face in the future.
“Often the local regent publishes two authorizations on land development for two different stakeholders. For instance, one is for the mining industry and the other for CPO plantations; this situation often causes conflicts,” he said.
“And most of the time, people regard mining as more important than plantations.”
The CPO industry, which absorbs around 3.7 million laborers, contributed around $10.7 billion to the country’s economy in 2008.
“With these training programs, we hope farmers will have more initiative to take action, not just wait for government officials to do the job for them,” Herdrajat said.
“We will also give them technical training on plantation development, sanitation and fertilizing techniques.” (hdt)
Plantation exports (in US$ billion)
Year Target Realization
2007 11.25 14.64
2008 11.55 18.85
2009 21.68 --
Source: Agriculture Ministry
By Aloysius Bhui and Ed Davies, Reuters, Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:14am EDT
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia needs to squeeze far higher yields from existing palm oil plantations rather than open up more land in a country with some of the world's swiftest deforestation, a Greenpeace official said on Monday.
Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, yields only about 2 tonnes per hectare from its plantations, or just a third of the 6 to 7 tonnes in countries such as Malaysia with better estate management practices, said Annette Cotter, campaign manager for the forests campaign in Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
A view of a destroyed rainforest in Kotawaringin Timur district in Indonesia's central Kalimantan province, October 9, 2007. REUTERS/Hardi Baktiantoro
"What's interesting about palm oil in Indonesia is that the current plantations actually yield a very, very poor return," Cotter said, speaking as part of the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit.
Indonesia has 7.1 million hectares, or 17.5 million acres of palm oil estates, with smallholders accounting for about 35 percent, but is looking to expand further.
In a controversial move, Indonesia's agriculture ministry said last month it would allow 8 percent of its 25 million hectares of peatlands, which harbor huge carbon stocks, to be used for palm oil, ending a freeze on permits dating from December 2007.
"You don't need to expand into further forest and further peatland to get increased economic benefits from palm oil," said Cotter, calling the move to end the freeze on peatlands "a total disaster."
Up to 84 percent of Indonesia's carbon emissions come from deforestation, forest fires and peatland degradation, a report sponsored by the World Bank and Britain's Department for International Development says.
"So what you've got is a situation of relatively poor management of existing plantations and you've got companies looking for further expansion to increase production but not looking at increasing productivity in existing estates," said Cotter, who has spent 12 years at Greenpeace with time in Brazil monitoring Amazon forests.
By boosting existing estates' productivity, Indonesia would "go a very long way to increasing production and increasing therefore Indonesia's exports," she added.
GREEN PALM OIL?
Under fire from green groups and consumers, the palm oil industry set up a Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004, to develop an ethical certification system, with commitment to save rainforests and wildlife.
One of Indonesia's top palm companies, PT Musim Mas, was its first to be certified by RSPO in January.
Cotter called RSPO a "toothless tiger" that has failed to seriously curb deforestation.
"They (RSPO) need to prove that they are actually committed to their principles before we can say they are actually doing a good job," she added.
The global financial crisis was delaying planned palm oil expansion and showing up its flaws, she added.
"What palm oil is being sold as is the green gold, but it's another classic boom and bust industry," said Cotter, noting that a collapse in palm oil prices late last year led to job losses and fruit rotting on trees.
BIOFUEL THREAT
The growing trend of palm oil use in biofuel also threatened conservation and food security, Cotter said.
Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top two palm oil producers, have made the use of palm-based biodiesel mandatory from this year.
Cotter said biofuel could be looked at for development only after food security issues had been addressed, and principles of sustainable agriculture enforced.
"But that's not the case we are in at the moment."
Sharp drops in global food prices, including palm oil, have temporarily eased concerns over food security.
"If you look where the trends are going internationally with palm oil it's focusing more and more on biofuels and less and less on food," she said.
"And so you're actually going to see in the future questions around food security."
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur | Mon, 03/16/2009 10:47 AM
Preachers in some Malaysian mosques will urge worshippers to help stop the poaching of tigers, elephants and other endangered animals after similar sermons on turtle conservation were well received, an environmentalist said Monday.
Dozens of preachers in northern Kelantan state bordering Thailand have agreed to read sermons against the illegal wildlife trade, said Sara Sukor, an official with the World Wildlife Fund.
The sermons "talk about how Islam teaches you to conserve animals and plants. We try to connect the Quran verses with the issues themselves," she said. "It has gotten very critical of late. In unofficial reports we hear about all this conflict and poaching going on."
Last year, Islamic preachers in neighboring Terengganu state stressed the importance of turtle protection in a specially written sermon. World Wildlife Fund officials say the sermon received a good response. Figures indicating the impact of the sermons on illegal trade in turtles were not immediately available.
Sukor said the sermons to protect elephants and tigers were expected to start in April or May.
Among other messages, preachers will explain how chopping down forests takes away elephants' and tigers' natural habitats, forcing them to raid plantations and villages for food.
Wildlife fund officials say only 500 Malayan tigers still live in the wild in Malaysia - down from 3,000 in the 1950s - while about 1,300 Asian elephants remain on peninsular Malaysia, according to government figures.
The World Wildlife Fund said it also hopes to work with local Islamic authorities in other states to distribute conservation sermons nationwide, dealing with each area's specific issues and animals.
Kelantan and Terengganu states are among Malaysia's most conservative. Some 60 percent of Malaysians are Muslims, and Islam is the country's official religion.
The Jakarta Globe, March 13, 2009
Singapore. Singapore will award nearly $200,000 to a Dutch scientist who pioneered an environmentally friendly, low-cost way of treating waste water and refused to patent the process.
Gatze Lettinga, an environmental engineer from Amsterdam, was chosen as this year’s winner of the award, launched in 2008 and named after Singapore’s founding father and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, officials said.
Resource-starved Singapore, which is already recycling sewage into clean water for use in factories and homes, gives out the award to honour persons or groups for “outstanding contributions” in the field of water.
Lettinga, who turns 73 next month, said he did not patent his discovery because he wanted everyone to benefit.
“I believe that innovative technologies for treating used water, waste, and gas … will contribute to more sustainable living which the world urgently needs,” the retired professor told a news conference in Singapore.
Lettinga focused on anaerobic technology, which uses micro-organisms in an oxygen-free environment to purify waste water before it is released to the environment, reducing the threat of pollution.
While anaerobic technology has been around for hundreds of years, his research proved that it can be done at a much lower cost and in a manner that is environmentally sustainable, organizers of the award said in a statement.
Because it does not use oxygen, anaerobic technology uses up to 40 percent less energy than the conventional aerobic system and is also cheaper to operate and maintain, the statement said.
The technology is now used in almost 3,000 reactors, representing 80 percent of all anaerobic used water treatment systems worldwide.
The award, which comes with a cash prize of 300,000 Singapore dollars ($194,000) and a gold medallion, is sponsored by the Millennium Foundation, a philanthropic body supported by sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.
Agence France-Presse
Tribal peoples are fighting huge hydro-electric projects that are carving up the island's rainforest
From The Sunday Times, March 15, 2009
Deforestation: Access roads and terraced fields erase Sarawak's rainforests
Michael Sheridan, Kuching, Sarawak
THE island of Borneo, a fragile treasure house of rainforests, rare animals and plants, is under threat from plans for Chinese engineers to build 12 dams that will cut through virgin land and displace thousands of native Dayak people.
The government of the Malaysian state of Sarawak says the dams are the first stage of a “corridor of renewable energy” that will create 1.5m jobs through industries powered by safe, clean hydro-electricity.
Campaigners are furious but appear powerless in the face of a project they fear will compound the devastation wreaked on Borneo’s peoples and land by previous dam projects and the felling of its forests.
They point to the ruin caused by the levelling of millions of acres of trees for oil palm plantations to meet the world’s demand for biofuels.
The dams would slice across a vast sweep of Sarawak, a place where wisps of cloud cling to remote, tree-clad peaks, huge butterflies flit through the foliage and orang-utans, sun bears and leopards roam.
There is more than an ecological argument over the scheme. The initial contract has gone to the Chinese state-owned company that built the controversial Three Gorges dam – a project described by Dai Qing, the campaigning Chinese journalist, as “a black hole of corruption”.
Teams from the China Three Gorges Project Corporation are at work on the first of the 12 new dams at Murum, deep in the interior, from where Sarawak’s great rivers uncoil towards the South China Sea.
Tribal peoples are dazed and frightened, telling a visiting researcher last week that they had been ordered off their ancestral lands. Signs in Chinese were posted all over the project site.
No financial details or contracts have been publicly disclosed. Analysts in China say the work is likely to have been financed in part by a loan from a state institution.
Critics argue that Sarawak does not need more electricity. It produces a 20% surplus and there is as yet no cable to deliver power to peninsular Malaysia – which itself generates more energy than it needs.
Company records filed with the Malaysia stock exchange show that a big beneficiary of the policy is a firm whose shareholders and directors include the wife and family of Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sarawak’s chief minister.
Taib, 72, who drives around in a vanilla Rolls-Royce, is one of the richest and most powerful men in Malaysian politics. He also serves as Sarawak’s finance minister and planning minister.
The family-owned firm, Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), has interests in cement, construction, quarrying and road building. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rio Tinto, the London-listed mining group, to build a “world class” aluminium smelter that will get its electricity from a dam at Bakun.
The Bakun dam, a separate project due to be completed by 2011, has already displaced an estimated 10,000 indigenous people, leading to bitter legal battles and a chorus of dismay from economists about cost overruns.
Malaysia’s reinvigorated opposition is now campaigning against what it calls “crony capitalism”, helping hitherto powerless tribal peoples to challenge in the courts land grabs and cheating.
For all that, it may be too late to save the natural bounty of Borneo itself. Orphaned orang-utans, piteously holding the outstretched hands of their human saviours, are the most conspicuous symbols of its fragility.
Divided between Malaysia and Indonesia, with Brunei occupying a tiny enclave in the north, Borneo’s riches have ensured its plunder.
One reason is the voracious world demand for timber. The other is the fashion for biofuels made from palm oil. Almost half of Borneo’s rainforests have been cut down. Two million acres have vanished every year as trees are felled, the wood sold and the land turned over to oil palms.
The greatest plunderer of all was Indonesia’s late dictator, Suharto, who doled out timber concessions to generals and cronies during his 32 years in power.
Now the central government in Jakarta is winning praise for a determined crackdown that has slowed the rate of illegal logging.
However, much of Indonesian Borneo is already laid waste. Enormous fires cast a perpetual pall of toxic haze, making Indonesia the world’s third largest greenhouse gas polluter after China and the United States.
“Green gold”, or palm oil, poses an even more insidious threat because it promises prosperity and development to the numerous poor of Borneo – along with immense rewards for the elites.
The vegetable oil comes from crushed palm husks. Long used for cooking, cosmetics and soap, it has now become a principal source of biodiesel fuel.
Malaysia and Indonesia produce about 85% of the world’s supply of palm oil – most of it on Borneo.
The price of this apparently environment-friendly fuel is high. Its damage far outweighs its benefits, according to a recent international study published in the journal Conservation Biology.
One of the research team, Emily Fitzherbert of the Zoological Society of London, concluded that oil palm as a biofuel was “not a green option”.
John Anthony Paul, a Dayak notable in Sarawak, explained it another way: “There’s a stench from the palm oil mill close to my longhouse. There’s a huge quantity of slurry and sludge. Our water is deteriorating. Many fish disappear and there are more floods. Pesticides leach into our soil. The insects start to change, so the pollination changes and so does the quality of our fruits and crops. It’s unsustainable.”
Resistance is growing. Last week two Dayaks walked for four hours, carrying their sharp-edged parangs, or blades, to meet me near a cluster of huts housing Chinese dam workers.
The scene was Bengoh, a place so wild, flower-strewn and lovely that it would have made a tourist poster were it not for the grumble of construction noise and the gouged earth.
The Dayaks are being forced out of their villages because engineers from SinoHydro, a second Chinese contractor, are building yet another dam to improve the water supply to Kuching, capital of Sarawak.
“We are 28 families, in our village since our ancestors,” said Simo Anakbekam, 48. “The government says we must leave. We want them to recognise our rights to our land.”
The state government says it has offered adequate compensation plus resettlement to new homes with better jobs, health and education.
However, most people in Simo’s village just want to move higher up their familiar mountainside and cannot understand why they must depart for the hot, marshy lowlands.
It turned out to be an example of legal coercion with the familiar echo of “crony capitalism”. Armed with eviction orders, the dam builders told the Dayaks their presence might contaminate the new water supply.
However, lawyers for the villagers found draft plans for the Bengoh dam – drawn up, the documents state, with input from Halcrow, the British consultancy firm – which reveal that unnamed investors plan to build two resorts on the site.
The Dayaks are now fighting for better compensation and the right to stay in the area.
All over Sarawak, tribal people have lost their ancestral lands to similar gambits. “They don’t know that this thing is coming until they hear the sound of the bulldozers,” said See Chee How, a lawyer and civil rights activist.
It is worse deep in the northeast interior, where logging, palm oil and dams threaten the existence of the Penan, a nomadic tribe. Last week a British researcher for Survival International, the campaign group, found people running short of food.
“They hunt but go for weeks at a time without finding a single animal. Fish are also scarce, because the logging silts up the rivers. Sago is becoming more and more difficult to find,” said the researcher, who asked not to be named.
“One old man told me that the changes could be seen in the bodies of the young people, who were thinner and weaker than the people of his generation. The Penan asked me again and again to get news of their plight to the outside world.”
The ravishing of Borneo – its peoples, animals and the land itself – has roots in the past. But there may be a remedy, too.
Sarawak led a romantic, isolated existence under the “white rajahs” of the Brooke dynasty, whose adventurous founder, James Brooke, established himself in 1848 as an absolute ruler. His heirs held power until 1946.
The Brookes disdained the British empire’s commerce and industry, seeking to preserve a noble Dayak culture in all its splendour.
They established native customary rights by which district officers recorded land tenure as a way to stop headhunting wars among the Dayaks. The rajahs also granted leases and published an official gazette.
Malaysian courts have upheld cases based on such documents and now a hunt is on for letters folded away in longhouses and yellowing copies in archives in Britain. For many in faraway Sarawak, it may be their only hope of justice.
Related Article:
Indonesia PLN buys power from Malaysia
Saturday, 14 March, 2009 | 00:25 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Ratih Dewanti, director of the National Space & Aviation Agency’s (LAPAN) Remote Sensor Development and Utilization Center, said Indonesia will be using Japan’s earth monitoring satellite, the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (JAXA-ALOS), to map forests. “The mapping will cover vegetation, forest density, wood volume and other forestry-related issues,” Ratih said, during a seminar in Jakarta yesterday.
The collaboration with Japan through the ALOS program began in 2006. The satellite was used to map floods in Jakarta and earthquakes in Yogyakarta.
REH ATEMALEM SUSANTI
Friday, 13 March, 2009 | 20:27 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Lumajang:Mount Semeru again erupted yesterday morning. The Volcanic Observation Post at Mount Sawur detected smoke coming out as high as 800 meters above the rims of the Jonggring Saloka crater.
Agus Budianto, chief of Mount Semeru Emergency Response Team, said the eruption occurred at 02.13 Western Indonesian Time. The incident lasted for about five minutes. Eruptions normally range about 400 meters above the crater’s rim.
However, Agus said the incident did not automatically mean that Mount Semeru’s alert status needed changing. “There is no indication that the status of Mount Semeru will be raised,” he said.
DAVID P
The Jakarta Post | Fri, 03/13/2009 4:19 PM
The Jakarta Post | Fri, 03/13/2009 4:26 PM
The Malang chapter of the Indonesian Red Cross has assembled 400 volunteers to participate in a team that is being prepared for an evacuation process on the possibility of the volcanic eruption of Mount Semeru.
The volunteers are local residents in villages spread around the hills of the mountain such as the Poncokusumo village, Ampelgading, Dampit and Tortoyudo.
A team has been made available by the Red Cross to train the volunteers on disaster management, evacuation methods, shelter management and simple medical treatments.
“It will be them who will give the first aid to victims, while also engaging in disaster management and making daily reports,” said head of Red Cross disaster management team Muji Utomo on Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Utomo predicted that the Semeru eruption would not have a significant impact on those living in Malang regency because the stream of lava from the crater would not reach residential areas.
“What we are concern of is the volcanic ash and the heat gas from the eruption,” he said. (and)
The Jakarta Post, Wed, 03/11/2009 2:04 PM
BOGOR: The management of the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park in Bogor will allow local farmers to tap pine trees as a way to minimize destruction in the conservation park.
Park management head Bambang Supriyanto said the farmers were allowed to tap pine trees in the 118.6-hectare forest.
He said the tapping involved eight farmers' groups from the three villages of Cianten, Malasari and Gunung Malang, where the park was located.
"We have also involved CIFOR *Center for International Forestry Research* to monitor the activities for six months and to research the tapping spots," Bambang told The Jakarta Post.
The Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti, March 9, 2009
A motion-sensitive camera captured this endangered tiger on film in Jambi Province, Sumatra. (Photo: Zoological Society of London Indonesia)
The trapping and killing of three endangered Sumatran tigers by residents of Indragiri Hilir district, Riau Province, in February, may have been related to the illegal trade in tiger body parts, an official said on Monday.
It had previously been reported that the tigers were killed near Tanjung Pasar village because residents felt threatened by the animals. Two tigers were killed on Feb.10 and the last was found dead on Feb. 16.
“We are still investigating the case but there are strong indications that the killings were also a part of the illegal trade in tigers,” said Syahimin, head of technical affairs at Riau’s Natural Resources of Conservation Center.
He said his office had already detained two villagers who were believed to have trapped and killed the tigers but they have not yet officially been named as suspects.
“We’re still questioning them and trying to develop a case on the possibility of illegal trading rather than on conflict issues,” he said. “One of villagers has already confessed to having sold a slain tiger but we’re still looking for more evidence.”
Meanwhile, Syamsidar, spokeswoman of the Riau branch of the World Wildlife Fund, or WWF, said it appeared the trappings were carried out by people with experience catching tigers.
“The traps couldn’t have been set up by ordinary people; professional expertise would’ve been needed to catch the tigers,” she said.
She said the killings were reported as being carried out by local villagers because the tigers had been spotted close to villages.
“The reports said the villagers took the initiative to prevent the tigers from attacking first, but they shouldn’t have acted on their own,” she said. “They should have contacted the authorities.”
She said she was worried that opportunists may have taken advantage of the situation in order to profit from the tigers.
“We all know that [Sumatran] tigers are worth a lot, so it’s possible some people may have convinced the locals to move against the tigers,” she said.
The total population of Sumatran tigers is thought to be less than 500, and continuing loss of habitat, illegal trade and conflict with humans are pushing them towards extinction.
Based on Ministry of Forestry data, an average of 33 tigers are killed each year — often for to be stuffed of for their fur — though more killings go unrecorded.
The price of a preserved full-grown tiger starts at Rp 25 million ($2,250) on the black market, while furs are sold for between Rp 12 million and Rp 25 million.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/10/2009 11:23 AM
A routine Navy patrol on Tuesday morning foiled an attempt to smuggle around 2,000 exotic birds from Batam to Singapore, Antara reports.
Chief of the patrol team first Lt. Rudi Amirudin said his team had stopped the MV Citra Lima just minutes after it left Batam International Seaport at around 8:30 a.m. following a tip off from locals.
The officers discovered thousands of canaries and estrildid finch songbirds (locally knows as burung pipit) and could find no documents for their shipment.
After questioning the boat's captain and passengers no once claimed ownership of the birds or knew who had brought them onboard.
The team returned the birds to Batam Quarantine Office, Rudi said. (dre)
The Jakarta Post | Mon, 03/09/2009 8:52 PM
The Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center has increased the status of Mount Semeru in Lamongan to alert status following its frequent eruptions in the past one month, tempointeraktif.com reported Monday.
Head of the center Surono said that his office had recorded a volcanic quake three times since Friday and had yet to show any decreasing activities so far.
“We have suspected that the quake indicated the moving of magma from the bottom of the mountain to the upper ground,” he said in Bandung.
He said that the mountain had erupted 42 times and 63 times on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“Between 00:00 and 06:00 a.m, the mountain erupted for 18 times,” he said.
He said that his office had warned all visitors and sand miners to temporarily stop their activities in case of any lava rain pouring down the area. (ewd)
