Jakarta – Natural disasters have hit several parts of Indonesia at the start of 2021. The series of distressing calamities began on Saturday January 9 when landslide claimed 32 lives in Sumedang, West Java.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) is urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to summon companies which have business permits covering forest areas and land in South Kalimantan.

Feybien Ramayanti, Jakarta – Greenpeace Indonesia suspects that the flash floods which have inundated South Kalimantan are because watershed areas lost around 304,225 hectares of forest cover between 2001 and 2019. Most of this has been converted into palm oil plantations.

Jakarta – Enlightened Indonesia Foundation Executive Director Adhityani Putri says that the government should be more aggressive in realising its commitments to addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Jakarta – Environmental organisation Greenpeace says that corporations in the palm oil sector have begun to venture into forests in Papua in concert with diminishing land availability in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) officially passed the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation into law during a plenary meeting on Monday October 5. The House accelerated the scheduled ratification – which had been planned for October 8 – on the grounds that the number of Covid-19 cases is continuing to rise.

Zakarias Demon Daton, Samarinda – Health officials in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, tried to force three activists to undergo isolation at a local hospital after claiming that they had tested positive for Covid-19.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has rejected an invitation to attend a public hearing with the House of Representative’s (DPR) Legislative Body (Baleg) to discuss the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation on Wednesday June 10.

A recent case in Gowa, South Sulawesi, has highlighted numerous instances of illegal logging uncovered since COVID-19 began to spread across the country. The Environment and Forestry Ministry investigated at least five other similar cases in April alone and many more over the last three months.

Jakarta – The Banyuwangi municipal police say that a clash in the Pesanggaran sub-district of Banyuwangi, East Java, in late March was trigged by a protest by a group of people opposing a mine operated by the company PT Bumi Suksesindo (BSI) on the pretext of preventing the spread of the corona virus.