Bioclime - Biodiversity and Climate Change

Erik Meijaard: A Sumatran Wonderland

The forest was not like any other I had visited. Relatively short, thin, mossy trees, with many conifer-type species, an uncommon feature in tropical rainforests. And it was quiet and cool, unlike the oppressive hot humidity and constant buzzing and chirping normally encountered in these environments. I was back in Batang Toru, for the first time in 18 years.

In 1997 I had been asked to survey the forests south of Lake Toba in Sumatra. Common knowledge was that the Toba region divided Sumatra into two bioregions. To the north, species like Orangutans and White-handed Gibbons occur, while south of Toba you get the Tapir and Bearded Pig. Why these forest species don’t occur across the entire island is unclear. Something unusual apparently happened around Toba that ensured that species lived either north or south but not both.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/erik-meijaard-sumatran-wonderland/

Rice and palm oil risk to mangroves

The threat posed by the development of rice and palm oil plantations to mangroves in South-East Asia has been underestimated, a study has suggested.

Rice and oil plantations accounted for 38% of mangrove deforestation between 2000 and 2012, the research showed.

As well as being important carbon sinks and rich in biodiversity, mangrove forests provide fuel and food for coastal communities.

Government aims to establish 500,000 ha of community forests by 2017

The West Sumatra provincial administration has expressed optimism that it can complete a plan to hand over the management of 500,000 hectares of protected forests to local communities by next year despite the relatively slow progress of the policy, which was initiated in 2012.

West Sumatra Forestry Agency head Hendri Octavia said that three years after the launch of the program, the local administration had been able to introduce community-based forest management for 43,821 ha of forest land, only 19 percent of the designated target.

Palembang District Court finds no damages after forest fires

The government's efforts to bring justice to companies allegedly responsible for the annual forest fires in the country have suffered a setback after the Palembang District Court in South Sumatra rejected Rp 7.8 trillion (SS$804 million) lawsuit against a supplier to Sinar Mas Group, one of Indonesia's largest conglomerates.

Delivering the decision on Wednesday, the court said that the evidence collected in the case against PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH, failed prove its alleged criminality in the burning of 20,000 hectares of its concession in Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, in 2014.

Hackers Strike District Court Website After Not Guilty Verdict in Forest Fire Case

Jakarta. The website for a South Sumatra district court has reportedly been hacked, days after issuing a not guilty verdict against one of the plantation companies accused of slash-and-burn practices that destroyed two million hectares of forests and caused debilitating haze.

The Palembang District Court has been criticized for ruling in favor of Bumi Mekar Hijau last week, dismissing accusations made by the Ministry of Forestry and Environment that it purposely burned forests in its own concession area to make way for oil palms during the 2014 drought season