location: West Nusa Tenggara

location: West Nusa Tenggara

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As MotoGP heads to Indonesia, Indigenous Sasak brace for another weekend of repression
- Motorcycle racing’s biggest show, the MotoGP championship, is on the Indonesian island of Lombok this weekend, where top racers will battle it out on a track built on land taken by force from Indigenous Sasak communities.
- Experts from the United Nations have called on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the single biggest lender to the Mandalika development where the race will be held, to suspend its funding for an assessment of the impact to the local communities.
- Since the track was completed in late 2021, the Sasak communities have been subjected to repressive security measures by Indonesian security forces, including threats of criminal charges for staging any kind of protest.
- Legal advocates for the Sasak say the communities continue to be denied fair compensation for their land, which developers appropriated through the use of eminent domain — essentially a land grab under the pretext of development.

Indonesian fishers mount a community-led fight against destructive fishing
- In coastal communities across Indonesia, local fishers are pushing back against destructive and illegal fishing methods by organizing into volunteer patrol groups known as Pokmaswas.
- These groups have become crucial in protecting Indonesia’s vast marine resources amid limited government resources and infrastructure.
- In recognition of their importance, the government has increased financial support for Pokmaswas and aims to strengthen these community-run surveillance networks further.
- Mongabay Indonesia met with members of two groups, one on the island of Sulawesi and the other on Lombok, to find out the shared challenges they face, the role they play as educators, and their use of social media to promote their mission.

Lombok sand mine corruption probe continues as Indonesia to resume exports
- After more than a decade of operation, a sand mine on the east coast of Indonesia’s Lombok Island has been shuttered amid a graft investigation.
- The shutdown comes as Indonesia repeals a ban on the export of sand, which had been in place for more than two decades.
- Civil society groups say the decision to resume exports of sand could exacerbate coastal abrasion in the world’s largest archipelago country.

O.K. Coral: Outlaw fisher turns reef marshal in Indonesia’s Sumbawa
- Former dynamite fisher Amiruddin has ceased using destructive fishing practices and become a marine conservationist in his native Sumbawa.
- In 2010, Amiruddin was arrested and almost died while using poison to kill fish off Sumbawa’s west coast.
- Today he has installed lattices to support coral growth in the islands where he fished with explosives and poison in his youth.

Indonesia’s Mandalika project a litany of violations for Indigenous Sasak
- A new investigation has revealed myriad problems plaguing the resettlement and compensation process for Indigenous Sasak families affected by a tourism development project on the Indonesian island of Lombok.
- According to the report by local and international NGOs, the project has impoverished the communities, who have been forced to resettle far from their coastal homes without being properly consulted from the beginning.
- Despite the numerous human rights violations, the project’s main funder, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the project’s developer, the state-owned Indonesian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), insist to conclude the resettlement process in September.
- Activists have called on the AIIB and ITDC to not rush the process without properly consulting with affected communities and remedying the rights violations they’ve suffered and continue to suffer.

Indonesia’s Mandalika megaproject still trampling on Indigenous community’s rights: Report
- U.N. human rights experts have raised concerns about the Mandalika tourism development megaproject in Indonesia for a third year running, a record number for a project of this scale funded by a multilateral development bank.
- The concerns revolve around alleged violations by the security forces against local and Indigenous communities in the Mandalika region of the island of Lombok, which the government plans to turn into a “New Bali” with resorts, hotels and a racetrack.
- The U.N. experts say reports of intimidation, impoverishment and disenfranchisement of the Indigenous communities in Mandalika continue to flood in, despite the U.N. having flagged the project since 2021.
- NGOs have called on the $3 billion Mandalika project’s main funder, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to suspend its financing and launch an independent investigation into the alleged human rights violations.

On Lombok, rising sea levels force fishers into different jobs
- Residents of the Indonesian island of Lombok say sea levels are rising at alarming levels, swallowing seaside towns.
- People are abandoning their family trade of fishing to instead grow seaweed or leave the island for stable employment.
- The provincial government created a climate adaptation task force to address the compounding problems of climate change, as families send their children to school and hope they choose a life different from fishing.

Work on cable car line to Indonesian volcano to begin despite concerns
- Construction will begin this month on a cable car line to Mount Rinjani on the Indonesian island of Lombok, a UNESCO-listed geopark.
- Environmental activists have expressed concern about the project, noting that local authorities have still not published the environmental impact analysis and feasibility study for public review.
- Authorities insist the cable car line won’t cross into Mount Rinjani National Park, and have touted a series of measures to minimize the environmental impact.

U.N., rights groups flag potential violations in $3b Indonesian tourism project
- The U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has again raised concerns about alleged violations against local and Indigenous communities who are being moved for a tourism development project in Indonesia.
- The Indonesian government envisions building a “New Bali” in the Mandalika region of the island of Lombok, including resorts, hotels and a racetrack, for which it is relocating 121 households.
- Special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter says there are concerns around four issues: the conditions under which the community members are being moved; whether they’ve even consented to doing so; the amount of compensation the government is offering; and the conditions of their resettlement.
- NGOs have called for the $3 billion Mandalika project’s main funder, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to stop financing the project in light of these allegations of rights violations.

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.

People want to do right by nature. They just need a nudge, study shows
- Subtle messaging and cues can encourage tourists to engage in behaviors that protect the marine ecosystem, a new study says.
- The researchers conducted two field experiments, focusing on plastic bag use and snorkeling behavior, on the Indonesian island of Gili Trawangan, a popular destination for beachgoers.
- Many tourists have the knowledge and responsibility to take environmentally conscious actions, but in practice, they often fail due to contextual obstacles.
- The study authors urged stakeholders in the tourism sector to apply these approaches as a simple effort to reduce local impacts on the environment, particularly marine ecosystems.

Indonesian lobster exporters, advised by a smuggler, flout domestic requirements
- The resumption of Indonesia’s exports of wild-caught lobster larvae was supposed to be a golden opportunity for the country’s small fishers, who had been hit by an export ban imposed in 2016.
- Part of the requirements for lifting the ban was that exporting companies would partner with small fishers to set up lobster farms.
- However, this hasn’t happened, with exporters bypassing the requirement by buying directly from the fishers — in some cases not paying in full — and not investing in aquaculture farms.
- Many of the exporting companies are linked to politically influential figures, with at least one hiring a convicted lobster smuggler as a consultant.

As COVID-19 batters fishery, Indonesia’s sharks get a respite
- The shark and ray fishery in Indonesia has largely ground to a halt as a result of plummeting demand due to COVID-19-related export restrictions and a domestic lockdown that has hit the restaurant industry.
- West Nusa Tenggara province, the heart of the country’s shark fishery and home to one of the world’s biggest markets for the species, saw trade volume drop by 68% in the first quarter of the year.
- Conservationists say this is an opportunity to evaluate and improve the fishery by beefing up monitoring and traceability to protect the sustainability of wild populations, while also supporting fishers with alternatives sources of income.
- Indonesia, which has the world’s highest diversity of sharks, allows the catch of some endangered species for domestic consumption, but loopholes effectively allow the illegal export of protected species.

Critics push back as cable car project for Indonesia’s Rinjani is revived
- Authorities on the Indonesian island of Lombok say they want to build a cable car to Mount Rinjani to allow more non-hikers to visit the national park.
- The proposed cable car line would be built outside the park boundaries, but critics say the impact to the environment will ripple into the park itself.
- The government says it plans to complete the project before Lombok hosts the Indonesian leg of next year’s MotoGP racing championship, but a host of studies and permits will be required.
- Rinjani is also part of a global network of UNESCO geoparks, and the cable car project could affect that status when it comes up for evaluation next year.

For Indonesia’s Javan deer, non-protected areas play key conservation role
- Nearly a quarter of the native population of Javan deer, and two-fifths of introduced populations, occur outside protected areas in Indonesia, according to a recent study.
- These non-protected areas include pulpwood and oil palm plantations and logging concessions, and are therefore at much higher risk of being deforested than protected zones.
- The study’s authors have called for have called for those non-protected areas to be be considered in conservation policymaking for the Javan deer.

Watchdog denounces arrests of four anti-mining activists in Indonesia
- Police in South Sulawesi province have arrested a resident of the island of Wawonii in connection to his opposition to plans to mine the island for nickel.
- The arrest comes just over a week after police detained and charged three university students over a protest against iron ore mining operations in Bima district, West Nusa Tenggara province.
- Environmental activists have called the recent arrests part of a pattern of systematic efforts to silence community-led opposition to destructive mining activities.
- Activists have called on the government and police to release the four protesters and investigate their allegations of violations by the mining companies in question.

For one Indonesian village, mangrove restoration has been all upside
- Demand for firewood in recent years led to the depletion of the mangrove forest in the Indonesian village of Paremas.
- But the local government and NGOs worked with the community to emphasize the importance of restoring the mangrove, with surprising results.
- Today, the tidal pools on the coast provide food that can both sustain the locals and provide an income, allowing families to be less dependent on the remittances sent home by mothers and fathers working arduous jobs overseas.
- In addition to protecting biodiversity, the mangroves also absorb energy from large ocean swells and stop garbage from piling up in foul-smelling sumps on the beach.

Illegal online sales driving mercury pollution crisis in Indonesia
- Illegal online mercury sales are booming in Indonesia.
- Use of the toxic metal was banned in 2014, but it remains popular among small-time miners, for whom it’s become increasingly easy to procure online.
- It’s a quick and dirty process that constitutes the livelihoods of some 1 million people spread across the country. But prolonged exposure to mercury can have severe health consequences.

Arson attack in Indonesia leaves activist shaken
- Murdani, the head of a local chapter of Indonesia’s largest environmental NGO, was the victim of an arson attack on his home over the weekend. No one was hurt, but his property was badly damaged.
- Murdani believes he was being watched in the months leading up the attack. He had received threatening text messages linked to his advocacy work.
- Murdani thinks his advocacy against sand mining on his native island of Lombok might be the reason he was targeted.

In an Indonesian village, compressor diving for fish is a dangerous business
- At least 11 men from Indonesia’s Seriwe village, on the island of Lombok, have died in compressor diving accidents. Others have suffered varying degrees of paralysis.
- The accidents are made more likely because the divers use cheap, makeshift rigs that tend not to include pressure gauges.
- When their husbands suffer an injury and are unable to work, responsibility for providing for the family falls on the divers’ wives.

Indigenous architecture saves lives in Lombok quakes
- Huge earthquakes have devastated the Indonesian island of Lombok in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people.
- Many more people lost their homes in the disaster. But where houses made of concrete and brick collapsed or were severely damaged in the quakes, traditional houses made of wood and bamboo remained standing.
- The Indonesian government has often dismissed indigenous architecture as mark of poverty and “backwardness,” and Lombok is no exception. But now some are calling for a greater emphasis on traditional designs.

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.

A data trove to support a hoped-for shark sanctuary in Indonesia
- Growing international demand for shark fins has caused a massive increase in shark catches.
- Local groups in the Gili Islands want the government to create a sanctuary for sharks there. It would be Indonesia’s first.
- To build their case, conservationists are gathering data about the abundance of species in the area, which they hope will convince the government to establish the sanctuary.

Lombok’s blooming community forest bears fruit and raises livelihoods – and haj trips
- In 1997 the land around Santong was practically a dead zone following years of untrammeled exploitation during the rule of General Suharto.
- To address this the community banded together with the local office of the Forestry Ministry and made Santong the pilot site for a community forest program.
- Today, delegations from each of the ASEAN bloc states have visited Santong to study the scheme’s successes.

Indonesian villagers transform ailing forests into oasis of fruit
- A village on the island of Lombok convinced local forestry officials to increase its management rights over its forests.
- The villagers have sometimes clashed with rangers from a nearby national park, but they have turned nutmeg and other crops into a major source of income.
- The villagers are trying to get similar regulations passed throughout Lombok.

Shrinking Indonesian shark fisheries spur a national action plan
- Indonesia has the world’s highest diversity of sharks, with 118 species.
- It also has the world’s largest shark fishery. With recent landings topping 50,000 tons, the fishery focuses on species classified as “vulnerable” or “endangered.”
- Under international pressure, the country is developing a national plan of action to conserve its sharks and rays.

Lack of stock data and incentives to collect it stymie Indonesian tuna fisheries on path to sustainability

7:00 am; Labuhan Lombok, Indonesia. It’s offloading time on the 30-foot-long M/V Nusa Indah 2. Crewmen pop the lid off the hold and pull yellowfin tuna from the icy pool below. The silver-skinned behemoths weigh 150 pounds apiece, and it takes three men to move one fish across the boat deck to a waiting factory […]

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