Environment

The Indonesian government has launched a more massive tree planting program called "One Billion Indonesian Trees for the World", according to the forestry ministry.

Some 70 percent of the total 25,688 hectares of mangrove forest in Pohuwato district, Gorontalo, were damaged, a source of the local community said.

Oil palm planters in 20 Indonesian provinces are ready to boycott Nestle products if the foreign company really stops buying crude palm oil (CPO) from national producers, a spokesman said.

Petani village residents in Mandau subdistrict, Bengaklis district, Riau province, are threatening to kill the wild elephants that have been disturbing their lives for weeks if the authorities fail to take action.

A herd of hungry wild elephants have been occupying two residential areas of Petani village, Bengkalis, Riau, over the past two weeks forcing tens of families to flee their homes.

Greenpeace activists scaled the Ministry of Forestry building in South Jakarta and unfurled a giant banner reading "Plantations are not forests".

Policemen in the East Java island of Madura arrested three fishermen for possessing home-made explosives in a sweeping operation on Thursday.

Asia-Pacific countries will discuss the climate change issue at an Asia Pacifik Global on Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) in Sanur, Bali.

A number of wild elephants destroyed three houses in Petani village, Mandau sub-district, Bengkalis, on Thursday and Friday, local risidents said.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner is optimistic about the results of the just concluded Bali environment ministers` meeting here as the conference had enabled them to find a collective voice again after the "great frustrations" in Copenhagen.