Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah has sent a letter to the environment and forestry minister requesting permission to rezone 8,000 hectares for geothermal exploration in the Kappi plateau, a crown jewel in the heart of Aceh's 800,000-hectare Mount Leuser National Park.

The request comes amid a legal fight over a 2013 provincial spatial plan that fails to list the Leuser Ecosystema 2.8-million-hectare landscape, of which the park is a sectionas a conserv