Indonesia Press Release

(February 26, 2016) (NEW YORK - November 23, 2015) - WCS (Wildlife conservation Society) announced today that Irma Hermawati and Musir Riswan of WCS’s Indonesia Program have both been honored with a Conservation Hero Award from the Disney Conservation Fund. The award recognizes local citizens for their efforts to protect wildlife and wild places, and to engage communities in conservation.    Recipients from around the world were nominated by nonprofit environmental organizations, and each honor...

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(December 15, 2015) New York (December 15, 2015) – The Criminal Investigation Division of the Indonesian National Police and the WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) announced today an enforcement action against a major tiger skin trader and an intermediary who offered tiger skin products to potential buyers. Both were  arrested in Jakarta, on December 11, 2015. The trader has been selling tiger skin products and other protected wildlife to suppliers and buyers located in Java, Bali, and Sumatra. He is...

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(August 12, 2015) The status of Sumatran Elephant has been escalated from endangered into critically endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in 2012. This mostly because the Sumatran Elephants have significant reduction in population number as indicated by the loss of over 69% of its potential habitat in just one generation (the last 25 years). Currently, all elephants in West Sumatra have been extirpated, nine populations in Lampung have been lost, and six out of nine fore...

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(April 27, 2015) NEW YORK (April 27, 2015) – The Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (BARESKRIM MABES POLRI), the Government of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) today announced the seizure of a shipment of pangolins headed to China and valued at approximately 1.8 million US dollars (USD). The pangolin smuggler involved in the case has been arrested.  This is the largest case of pangolin smuggling in Indonesia since 2008...

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(February 11, 2015) Tiger middleman arrested selling endangered Sumatran tiger parts and protected wildlife including a stuffed tiger, a stuffed Javan leopard, and four stuffed sambar deer Arrests made by South Sumatra Military Police, South Sumatra Provincial Natural Resource Conservation Office, with technical assistance from WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit Wildlife Crimes Unit connects two middlemen that operated in Jakarta and Southern Sumatra Suspect allegedly sold 100 stuffed tigers over last ...

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(February 04, 2015) For the first time, Indonesian Mountain Weasel which is little known in distribution, population and ecology was documented through camera trap in Leuser, Sumatra. Mountain weasel (Mustela leutrolina), the small carnivore, was recorded on February 15, 2013, in Leuser Ecosystem Area through camera trapping activity by Gunung Leuser National Park (TNGL) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Indonesia. Previously, until 2008 there were only five records of mountain weasel in the form of specimen ...

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(October 30, 2014) Two traders arrested for selling endangered Sumatran tiger parts including a whole skin, a stuffed head, and stuffed paws Arrests were made by West Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of the Ministry of Forestry and the Indonesian Police (Lampung office), with technical assistance from WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit Traders face maximum of 5 years prison and a fine of USD $10,000   NEW YORK (October 30, 2014) – The West Java Natural Resources ...

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(November 17, 2013) As recently as 2004, Karimunjawa National Park was considered as a ‘paper’ park with grim prospects for improvement. Almost 10 years later, Dr. Stuart Campbell revisits the changes that have turned this protected area off the coast of Java into a growing success story.  At a recent workshop I attended, a comment was made that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) traditionally have been set up to protect biodiversity. Whilst this view is likely justified by the development of global MP...

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(November 12, 2013) Maxi Lahading, the 56-year-old retired head of Bahoi village, works every day to catch fish for his income. He also has voluntarily maintained the Bahoi marine sanctuary for about 10 years. Maxi also monitors the village fishing grounds surrounding the sanctuary for signs of illegal fishing and over the years has educated, confronted and reported violators using dynamite, cyanide and illegal boats and nets.  Tough love Through Maxi’s faith and belief in the protection of oceans&rsqu...

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(November 12, 2013) WCS has also assisted the district government of North Minhasa and other relevant government agencies to commit to a planning process to establish a 32,000 hectare MPA that encompasses community based MPA sanctuaries in the region  Lack of ‘respect’ for marine wildlife fuels conflict  After a promising start, the sanctuary’s management activities ceased due to lack of outside and internal support from 2005 to 2010. But with increasing foreign and domestic tourists c...

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