From the air we breathe, the wood we use, to being home to most of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity – forests are essential to every living creature. The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) describe forests as the “lifeblood of our economies and our health.” Forests cover nearly one-third of the global land area and are the source of 75 percent of the world’s freshwater.

The Indonesian government’s plan to relocate the country’s capital from Java to Borneo has hit a wall amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a top official saying they would “evaluate it or something” after the crisis passes.President Joko Widodo announced last August a US$33 billion project to build a new capital city in East Kalimantan province, citing worsening traffic, land subsidence, flooding and a host of other problems in Jakarta.But the government’s current focus on handling the COVID-19 o

Indonesia said Wednesday it has cut ties with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as it accused the global conservation group of overstepping its mandate in the country and unfairly criticising efforts to extinguish out-of-control forest fires last year.The Southeast Asian nation said it had sent a letter to the WWF’s domestic office last week terminating a cooperation agreement that stretched back to 1998.The agreement involved joint work in the area of wildlife conservation and forestry, i

Abandoning Jakarta for a new capital in Borneo won't save the fast-sinking Indonesian megacity from disaster and could even spark a fresh environmental crisis in a region home to rainforests and endangered orangutans, critics have warned.President Joko Widodo announced this week that the Southeast Asian nation's political heart would be moved nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east to a yet-to-be-built model city as a way of easing pressure on densely populated Java.Sprawling Jak

Indonesia will move its capital to the eastern edge of jungle-clad Borneo island, President Joko Widodo said Monday, as the country shifts its political heart away from congested and sinking megalopolis Jakarta.The proposed location – near the regional cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda – is an area at "minimal" risk of natural disasters, where the government already owns some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land, he added."The location is very strategic – it's in the