While Indonesia’s courts have fined plantation companies more than $21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion) for forest and peatland fires, almost none of that money has been collected. This fuels a cycle of impunity where fires continue to flare up in concessions already found guilty by court. Indonesia’s enforcement gaps also allow repeat offenders to continue operating unchecked, profiting from the very land they were banned from using. by Hans Nicholas Jong

Conservation news

How Indonesian companies dodge fines for forest & peatland fires

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s courts have ordered plantation companies to pay more than 21 trillion rupiah ($1.3 billion), an amount 28 times the envir...

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For a long time, manta rays were considered a single species. In 1868, Australian Museum director Gerard Krefft suggested a second species, though, it was only in 2009 that a paper confirmed the reef manta ray as a valid species distinct from the giant oceanic manta ray. A recent study has now confirmed - there’s a third species of manta ray gracefully gliding through the seas. by Shreya Dasgupta

Conservation news

Third manta ray species confirmed in western Atlantic

There’s a third species of manta ray gracefully gliding through the seas, a recent study has confirmed. Researchers have named the newly describe...

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