The Rainforest Journalism Fund aims to support and build capacity of local, regional, and international journalists reporting on issues related to tropical rainforests. One of the three rainforest regions of focus is Southeast Asia, including the mainland and island countries. The Southeast Asia RJF advisory committee is composed of leaders in journalism on issues relating to tropical rainforests, and members help to inform the priorities and direction of this initiative with their critical understanding of regional and local contexts.
Members of the Southeast Asia RJF advisory committee review and provide independent guidance for proposals for local and regional reporting projects focusing on tropical rainforests in the greater region. The committee also helps to develop annual convenings for journalists reporting from and on Southeast Asia. Current members of the Southeast Asia RJF Advisory Committee are:
To contact Harry Surjadi, the Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator, please email [email protected].
To contact Nora Moraga-Lewy, the RJF Coordinator, please email [email protected].
The next two months will be crucial for Nazir Foead and his team at Indonesia's Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG). Peatlands have been vulnerable to fires during this time of year, and BRG has been the target of criticism.
Land and forest fires ravaged Indonesia in 2019. Satellite imagery and field checking suggest that companies were at fault. Poor law enforcement and lax regulations may trigger similar disasters in the future.
Companies responsible for forest fires in Indonesia are not being served equal punishment. Civil suits are difficult to execute, while criminal suits do not seem to be moving forward.
Power plants in three Indonesian villages stopped operating less than a year after being officially opened. As a result, hundreds of families spend their nights without electricity.
A conspicuously issued permit for building a coal-transporting road threatens Sumatra's protected Harapan Forest.
A conspicuously issued permit for building a coal-transporting road threatens Sumatra's protected Harapan Forest.
Four species of endangered primates are endemic to the Mentawai Islands. Their last refuge is Siberut National Park.
Four species of endangered primates are endemic to the Mentawai Islands. Their last refuge is Siberut National Park.
The derailing of Hkakabo Razi’s World Heritage bid reveals a multifaceted battle of interests spanning international conservation, commercial exploitation, party politics, and local desires to wrest back forest management.
The back of Teu Takbabalen’s pigsty house leads to dense forest of the Siberut National Park. The pigs were free to enter the forest to look for other food. But the pigs always come back.
Attempts to nominate northern Myanmar’s Hkakaborazi Landscape as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in 2017 sparked fierce debate over who should manage natural resources in the biodiverse region.
The Mentawai culture is being expurgated by modern life.
Donate Now
