Indonesia’s Historic Poll
Indonesia’s first ever presidential election is a massive enterprise, with more than 150 million eligible voters spread across 14,000 islands and three time zones. Presidential elections were held in Indonesia on July 5, and September 20, 2004. In the second round former security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defeated incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Yudhoyono was inaugurated on October 20. The second round of Indonesia’s historic first direct presidential election has taken place successfully, in a general atmosphere of calm, order, and open participation. This represents a major step in the country’s ongoing democratic transition.
Photo by: Ahmad Zamroni
Tangisan Serigala Setelah Memenangkan Lomba Foto
Storybook Wolf. Photograph: José Luis Rodriguez
Fotografer yang dinobatkan menjadi “wildlife photographer of the years“ oleh The Natural History Museum di London boleh sangat kecewa saat panitia membatalkan hadiah sebesar £10.000 atau sekitar 125 jut rupiah setelah para juri menemukan dugaan yang cukup kuat bahwa sang fotografer menyewa serigala Iberian yang terkenal sangat langka di Spanyol untuk difoto.
Vanishing forests a counterpoint to Indonesia’s climate crusade
Peatland Forest, Riau, Indonesia. Photo: Ahmad Zamroni
Photo by: Ahmad Zamroni
Text by : Aubrey Belford
KUALA CENAKU, Indonesia (AFP) – Head man Mursyid Ali stands amid blackened stumps, the remains of much of the rainforest belonging to this village on Indonesia’s Sumatra stripped and drained in spite of local protests.
Thanks largely to the burning of forests and destruction of carbon-rich peatlands, Indonesia is the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, a statistic coming under the spotlight ahead of the nation hosting a major international climate change conference next month.
The December 3-14 UN summit on the resort island of Bali will see delegates from around the world — including more than 100 ministers — thrash out a framework for negotiations on a global regime to combat climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.
Satellite images from environmental watchdog WWF show that only 25 years ago, the majority of Riau province — home to Ali’s village — was covered in equatorial forest, one of the most ecologically diverse habitats on Earth and a vital absorber of carbon.
Today, four million hectares (nearly 10 million acres), or more than 60 percent, have gone. Land clearing, both legal and illegal, has made way for tree and oil palm plantations, logging concessions and small farms.
