November 18, 2014 edition
Clearing Oil Palm in Leuser
Efforts to restore forest in the Leuser Ecosystem Zone that had lasted for six years ran aground when the gubernatorial succession took place. An environment-loving community in Aceh Tamiang tried hard to mend the damage.
Bowing forward, Sudirman faced the giant Tasto 007 chainsaw. His left land grabbed the handle, his right yanked the starter. On the third try, the old machine roared to life, breaking the silence of the oil palm plantation in Tenggulun village, Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh. "You have to test it before using it," he told Tempo a few weeks ago.
Efforts to restore forest in the Leuser Ecosystem Zone that had lasted for six years ran aground when the gubernatorial succession took place. An environment-loving community in Aceh Tamiang tried hard to mend the damage.
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More Outreach articles in other editions
November 11, 2014 edition
The Perfect Sweetsop
A civil servant from Buleleng, Bali, self-taught himself how to crossbreed superior seeds. His influence has spread through Java and Bali.
No ordinary sweetsops hung on the trees at the Superior Fruit nursery in Singaraja, Bali. The skin of the fruit was a striking dark red, not green like the usual sweetsops (annona squamosa) found in Indonesia, and neither was it covered in bumps. Instead the surface was smooth with little dots. When it was broken open, the texture of the flesh was more like a common sweetsop, clear white in color. The taste was sweet and creamy like ice cream.
The fruit, also known as sugar-apple, is fairly large. Only two or three make a kilogram. Sweetsops from the nursery contain only a few dozen seeds, an improvement over the common sweetsop which usually has a cumbersome 90 to 100 seeds. While the common variety goes rotten in three days, the crossbred nona sri variety can last for a week.
A civil servant from Buleleng, Bali, self-taught himself how to crossbreed superior seeds. His influence has spread through Java and Bali.
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November 4, 2014 edition
Indonesia is the country with the fifth-most bird species in the world. More than 1,600 species of bird live in the archipelago, and 380 of them are native to nowhere else. Of those endemic species, 13 are critically endangered. Jihad, a staffer of Burung Indonesia Bird Conservation, said many of the birds lived in especially small areas, making them more vulnerable to habitat disruption. "Birds that are only distributed on Sangihe Island like anis bentet (shrike thrush) face the high risk of extinction when the island is subjected to land conversion," he said.
The other factor is hunting. Jalak putih (black-winged starling), for instance, is hunted for its melodious song. Hawk-eagles are sought for their prestige. In fact, birds serve as an important indicator to determine nature conservation priority regions. If a variety of bird species live in a zone, its biological diversity is in good shape.
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January 1, 1970 edition
Less than five minutes from Tomohon, North Sulawesi, rows of wooden houses stand on stilts along a two-kilometer stretch of road. There are small two-room abodes and larger five-room constructions. But none are occupied. Visitors can enter freely and, if they like what they see, bring the buildings home.
These 'knock-down' houses can be dismantled and reassembled. The stretch of road serves as a showroom. This is the famous Woloan Stilt House Industrial Zone. The artisans come from four subdistricts in the area: Woloan I, North Woloan I, Woloan II and Woloan III. But people just refer to them together as Woloan.
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January 1, 1970 edition
January 1, 1970 edition