Latest Riau Stories

Sumatran tigers are Critically Endangered, with as few as 400 left in the wild Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB) March 14, 2011 A suspected tiger smuggler has been arrested in Sumatra, Indonesia, following a three-day operation by the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA) in Riau and West Sumatra provinces, with support from World Wildlife Fund-Indonesia's (WWF) Tiger Protection Units. The team also seized the skin of a Sumatran tiger that they believe was poisoned inside a wildlife...

Infrared footage has shown a rare tiger roaming in protected forests on Indonesia's Sumatra island, which conservationists claim to have been illegally cleared. Environmental group WWF released the video in May and June.  The group has been monitoring Sumatran tigers since last year in a wildlife preserve near Bukit Tigapuluh national park in Riau province. A male Sumatran tiger was seen walking towards a camera and sniffing it in one clip. WWF spokeswoman Desmarita Murni told AFP that a...

Environmental group WWF said on Monday that poachers might have used pineapples to poison and kill an endangered Sumatran elephant for its tusk.Syamsidar, a WWF spokeswoman, told AFP that the male was found dead in a pulp plantation in Riau province, Sumatra last Friday with its tusks removed.  This is the seventh recent Indonesian elephant found dead from poaching. "Pineapple fibers were found in its stomach. The fruit could have been poisoned," she added.Syamsidar said the...

A report said on Tuesday that three dead elephants were suspected of being poisoned in the forest concession area of a pulp company in the Riau province of Indonesia's Sumatra island.Two of the animal carcasses were found on May 28 and one of them was found June 1 in an industrial crop forest managed by PT Rimba Peranap Idah (RPI), a government official was quoted saying by Antara state news agency."The company must be responsible for the safety of those elephants because the spot where...

Severe fires in Indonesia "“ responsible for some of the worst air quality conditions worldwide "“ are linked not only to drought, but also to changes in land use and population density, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience led by Robert Field of the University of Toronto."During the late 1970s, Indonesian Borneo changed from being highly fire-resistant to highly fire-prone during drought years, marking the period when one of the world's great tropical forests became one of...

Conservation body WWF said that Sumatra's endangered elephants and tigers are expecting a boost from an Indonesian government move to expand one of their last havens, a four-year-old national park on the island.It was announced in Jakarta on Thursday that the park area would be more than doubled to 86,000 hectares (212,500 acres).Increased efforts would be vital to ensure that poaching and other illegal activities"”like unsanctioned logging and settlement"”did not continue in the park,...

By Chai Mei Ling PAPER is a necessary evil. But one pulp and paper firm challenges this impression by giving back just as much, if not more, to the environment and society. CHAI MEI LING went to visit its paper mill in Kerinchi, Indonesia a sceptic, but came back liking what she saw. Gliding across the cottony airway of Riau province in an aircraft, one notices that the velvety green stretching well beyond the horizon is actually broken up by differing hues. There are emerald tracts of...

By Su Aziz SU AZIZ rejuvenates under blue skies and near the sea. Something has to be said about women's pain threshold. It is very high! There is a crick between my neck and shoulder that has been bothering me for the past few months. It's a constant dull ache. The pain refuses to go away no matter how much these muscles have been kneaded, pummelled and coaxed into submission. Honestly, I have given up trying to get rid of it. However, a great warrior will always stand up for one more...

In an investigative report published today by Eyes on the Forest, evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province -- strongly indicated as illegally built by companies connected to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) -- is cutting into the heart of Sumatra's largest contiguous peatland forest, a rare hydrological ecosystem that acts as one of the planet's biggest carbon stores. The road would allow APP and affiliated companies to restart clearance of natural forest and destruction of deep...

By Ed DaviesJAKARTA -- Choking smoke from Indonesian forest fires marks the return of an annual hazard across the region which authorities appear powerless to stop and that only one thing can be relied upon to contain -- rain.The fires are a regular occurrence during the dry season in areas such as Sumatra and Borneo, but the situation has worsened in the last decade, with timber and plantation firms often blamed for deliberately starting fires to clear land.Indonesian authorities have vowed...