NORTH SUMATRA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s environment ministry on Dec. 6 suspended private sector activity in a crucial high conservation value rainforest as rescuers continued working through three Sumatran provinces following a highly unusual and catastrophic tropical cyclone. “We’ve identified at least three main sources exacerbating the flooding: industrial forestry plantations, massive hydropower development and gold mining activities in the Batang Toru watershed,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said Dec. 6. “All of these have contributed significantly to the pressure on the environment.” Batang Toru is an old-growth Sumatran rainforest home to the Tapanauli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), the world’s most endangered species of ape. The minister said the operating permits for three companies would be suspended pending a review following an aerial survey of Batang Toru, one of the areas of Sumatra worst affected by a rare tropical cyclone. Glenn Hurowitz, the chief executive of Mighty Earth, a nonprofit that has campaigned for protection of the Batang Toru ecosystem, said Minister Hanif “deserves thanks from around the world for taking decisive action to protect the Batang Toru ecosystem and local communities… Suspending the operations of companies driving deforestation is a vital step to avoid a repeat of this catastrophe.” Hanif was joined over the weekend on a helicopter flyover by the environment ministry’s deputy director of the law enforcement division, which has powers to conduct criminal investigations. “We’ll assess the damage, assess the legal aspects, and we won’t rule out the possibility of criminal proceedings if violations are found that worsened…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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