location: East Nusa Tenggara

location: East Nusa Tenggara

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Dam displaces farmers as drought parches Indonesia’s Flores Island
- In 2015, Indonesia announced the construction of seven dams to provide water in East Nusa Tenggara province, an eastern region of the archipelago where access to freshwater is scarce during the annual dry season.
- One of the national priority dams, the Lambo Dam on Flores Island, has yet to be finished because of a land dispute with Indigenous communities in Nagekeo district.
- Research shows that much of Indonesia, particularly in the east, face increasing water stress due to climate change, as well as drought spikes brought on by the positive Indian Ocean dipole and El Niño patterns.

In Indonesia’s Flores, a lifelong bamboo flautist looks to the next generation
- Flautist Marselus Selu has started a music collective on the island of Flores to foster traditional wind instruments made from native bamboo.
- The 64-year-old taught himself to build and play the instruments as a teenager.
- In nearby Langagedha village, Margaretha Dae has become the first woman to plant bamboo, contributing to improved water storage and reducing carbon emissions.

In Indonesia’s West Sumbawa, tide turns on taste for turtle eggs
- Consumption of turtle eggs is widespread in Indonesia’s West Sumbawa district, where they’re served to guests of honor such as local government officials.
- All seven species of sea turtle are listed as threatened worldwide, with egg poaching a key cause of endangerment.
- West Sumbawa officials have pledged to stamp out poaching and consumption of sea turtle eggs.

Indonesia’s new epicenter of forest fires shifts away from Sumatra and Borneo
- Indonesia, a country that suffers from recurring fires every year, saw an increase in land and forest fires this year, with flames burning an area twice the size of London.
- Two-thirds of the burned area was in the provinces of West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, which until recently experienced much less burning than the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
- Experts attribute the increase in fires in the two provinces to the lack of firefighting capacity at the local level and the extreme dry weather.

Indonesian researchers study how to help rays released as bycatch survive
- Researchers in Indonesia are studying the survival rate of manta rays and devil rays released after being caught unintentionally by fishers.
- The study, which has so far tagged five of the animals with satellite trackers, aims to come up with best practices to boost the survival of these threatened rays.
- Populations of mantas and devils rays, from the genus Mobula, have been hit by the global trade of their parts, particularly their gills, for traditional medicine and food.

Water crisis in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara linked to mining, observers say
- Many parts of Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province have experienced a shortage of clean water shortage since last year.
- Environmental activists attribute the problem to environmental degradation in forested water catchment areas, including by mining companies.
- Women and children in several areas have to walk up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) to get water from privately run tanker trucks.
- Even in the provincial capital, Kupang, 36% of households reportedly lack access to clean water.

African swine fever rips through parts of southern Indonesia
- An outbreak of African swine fever has flared up in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, officials say, killing tens of thousands of pigs.
- The island of Flores, famous for its Komodo dragons, is particularly hard hit, with a single district there losing up to 40% of its pigs.
- An official with a local nonprofit working with farmers and fishers says the death toll may be far higher because many pig farmers aren’t reporting the deaths of their animals to authorities.
- The swine flu outbreak also threatens Southeast Asia’s various wild pig species, many of which are rare and endangered.

Inside the weaving protests of West Timor
- Across Indonesia, hundreds of communities are in conflict with companies seeking control of their resources. In some cases, the resistance has been led by women.
- Journalist Febriana Firdaus travelled across the country to meet grassroots female activists and delve into the stories behind their struggles.
- This article is part two of a series about her journey, which has also been made into a film, Our Mothers’ Land.
- Photos by Leo Plunkett, illustrations by Nadiyah Rizki.

New honeyeater species described from Indonesia’s Alor Island
- Scientists have described a new bird species found only on the island of Alor in eastern Indonesia.
- The Alor myzomela is easily distinguished from other known members of the Myzomela genus of honeyeater birds thanks to its unique call and paler upper wings.
- A growing human population on the island is already fragmenting the species’ only known habitat, prompting the researchers to recommend it be considered endangered on the IUCN Red List.
- The bird’s scientific name, Myzomela prawiradilagae, is a tribute to prominent ornithologist Dewi Malia Prawiradilaga from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Reef fish are faring fine in eastern Indonesia, study suggests
- A new study examines the health of reef fish populations in the lesser Sunda-Banda seascape, a part of the Coral Triangle, which overlaps with Indonesian waters in the western Pacific.
- In remote areas far from large human populations, reef fish are generally doing well, the researchers found.
- The researchers propose turning one area in Southwest Maluku, Indonesia, into a marine protected area.

Indonesia arrests 7 for allegedly selling Komodo dragons over Facebook
- Indonesian officials have arrested seven suspected members of a trafficking network that sold at least 40 Komodo dragons, along with other rare species, through Facebook and other social media platforms.
- Komodo dragons are found only in Indonesia and are a protected species, which means the suspects could face up to five years in prison and up to $7,000 each in fines for trading the animals.
- Six baby Komodo dragons were seized from the suspects, and are now being cared for by conservation officials ahead of a possible release back into the wild.
- The arrests have highlighted the dominant role of social media platforms in facilitating the illegal trade in Indonesia’s protected wildlife, with up to 98 percent of transactions believed to be carried out online.

Bird-rich Indonesian island yields up new songbird species
- Researchers have described a new species of songbird found only on the Indonesian island of Rote — the second new avian discovery there in less than a year.
- The Rote leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus rotiensis) was initially assumed to be the same species as the Timor leaf-warbler from a neighboring island, but closer studies of its physical characteristics and genetic analyses have distinguished it as its own species.
- Rote is home to a large number of species found only there or on neighboring islands, but lacks any major terrestrial protected area.

Indonesian province calls time-out on mining
- The new government of East Nusa Tenggara, a mineral-rich province in eastern Indonesia, has pledged to reform its mining sector as officials and environmentalists cite the lack of benefits from the extractive industry.
- The administration said it would not accept new mining license applications, and that those awaiting approval would be rejected.
- Some environmental groups have praised the new government’s plan to reform the mining sector, calling it a positive step for sustainability.

Indonesia’s land swap program puts communities, companies in a bind
- The Indonesian government has a program in place that requires plantation companies to conserve and restore peatlands within their concessions, in exchange for land elsewhere, as part of a wider program to prevent peat fires.
- But part of the land bank designated for the swap program covers community lands that have also been earmarked for a social forestry program launched much earlier.
- Activists say the communities should not be sidelined at the expense of the plantation firms. The latter have also been wary about taking the land allocated to them by the government, citing the potential for conflicts.
- Activists have also criticized the government for allocating up to two-fifths of the land bank for the swap program from natural forests. They say the government earlier promised the land would come from unused and planned timber concessions.

Komodo protesters say no to development in the dragons’ den
- Two private developers are set to build a restaurant and accommodation on islands that are home to the rare and threatened Komodo dragon in Indonesia.
- Residents have protested the plans, however, saying the giant lizards’ island habitat should be kept in pristine condition.
- They have also questioned the government’s commitment to the conservation of the dragons and their own livelihoods.
- For its part, the government says the developments will have a minimal footprint and will boost tourism revenue.

Unified land-use map for Indonesia nears launch, but concerns over access remain
- A unified database integrating all of the land-use maps currently in use in Indonesia is set for an earlier-than-expected launch this August, as the government scrambles to collate outstanding data from various agencies and regions.
- The one-map policy is seen as key to resolving a host of development and planning problems caused by overlapping and often contradictory maps wielded by different agencies, including the issue of plantations being permitted inside forest areas.
- The government, however, says access to the database will be restricted, and is drafting regulations that will govern who gets to see it.

Meet Indonesia’s new honeyeater species from Rote Island
- A new bird species from Indonesia has been described by a group of scientists after it was first observed in 1990, a paper said.
- The bird, which belongs to the honeyeater family, has been named after Indonesia’s first lady, Iriana Joko Widodo, as a way to promote the protection of the species.
- The researchers said the newly described species’ population was primarily threatened by deforestation to clear land for residential and agricultural use.

Fossil discovery in Indonesia reveals ‘lost world’ of beasts
- On the Indonesian island of Sumba, scientists unearthed the bones of tiny elephants, giant rats and other extinct creatures.
- They also found Komodo dragon fossils, confirming the lizard’s existence outside the islets off of nearby Flores island.
- Sumba remains little researched. The scientists hope more can be done.

First real test for Jokowi on haze as annual fires return to Indonesia
- Land and forest fires have broken out in pockets of Indonesia since mid-July.
- Last year the country caught a break, when a longer-than-normal wet season brought on by La Niña helped mitigate the fire threat.
- This year, hotspots have started appearing in regions with no history of major land and forest fires, like East Nusa Tenggara and Aceh.
- The government has responded by declaring an emergency status as well as deploying firefighters.

Indonesia sues Thai energy giant PTT for $2B over 2009 oil spill
- The lawsuit follows a meeting in March between Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating maritime minister, and Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister.
- It also comes on the heels of a class-action suit brought by 15,000 Indonesian seaweed farmers against the firm in Australian court.
- The company maintains it has seen no evidence of damage from the spill in Indonesian waters.
- NGOs are calling on all sides to form a joint task force to establish once and for whether such damage occurred.

A Thai oil firm, Indonesian seaweed farmers and Australian regulators. What happened after the Montara oil spill?
- The 2009 Montara oil spill was the worst such offshore disaster in Australian history. The company behind it acknowledges “mistakes were made that should never be repeated.”
- But while the firm has paid a penalty to the Australian government, it has yet to compensate Indonesia, which says it too suffered from the spill.
- Now, thousands of seaweed farmers are suing the Thai-owned oil and gas giant, seeking compensation in Australian court. The Indonesian government has also launched a lawsuit.
- The dispute highlights the complexity of regulating transnational corporations operating in maritime borderlands like the Timor Sea, a relatively narrow body of water rich in oil and gas reserves and surrounded by multiple countries.

Fish magnet boom creates headaches in Indonesia’s war on overfishing
- Recent comments by Indonesian fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti indicate the government will crack down on fish aggregating devices, which have proliferated in the Southeast Asian nation’s waters.
- Experts agree the issue deserves more attention from Jakarta but urge President Joko Widodo’s administration to consider the impact a purge of the devices will have on small fishers.
- Minister Pudjiastuti has said that many of the devices are owned by large companies.

These Indonesian villages are powered by locally sourced sustainable energy
- An estimated 1.6 million poor households in Indonesia are not connected to the electricity grid.
- Indonesia’s national energy plan, which targets 35,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, relies primarily on coal and other fossil fuels.
- In rural, off-grid areas, the government has shown more support for renewable energy generation, but progress remains slow.
- In the meantime, villages like Reno on Flores Island have built their own small-scale renewable energy sources.

The cousins from Indonesia who revived an ancient spring
- A major reforestation effort is underway in the eastern part of Indonesia’s Flores island.
- It began when residents Markus Hayon and Damianus Pelada set out to restore an area around an ancestral spring that had all but dried up after an earthquake in the 1980s.
- The cousins proceeded to plant thousands of trees — though not without some challenges along the way.

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