It's more moot than Miles Davis PC. I actually did some editing for the European Union Forestry Commission once before they packed up and went home in despair (I don't think it was because of me). Indonesia is the world's canary in a coal mine. Environmental catastrophe is assured...

Oil and gas firms have proposed to invest US$14 billion this year, about 15 percent higher than the $13.15 billion calculated last month. Last month’s figure was based on submitted Work Program and Budget (WP & B) proposals from the majority of 203 contract holders. More contractors have submitted their business proposals since, says upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas. “WP & B consists of the contractors’ projected work programs and their budgets.

As it tries to ward off the fallout from the global recession, Indonesia’s economy should focus more on developing the agriculture sector. That was the message conveyed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), when the two parties met Saturday with representatives from the business community to discuss the parties’ respective economic policies.

Right now it is illegal to clear peatland where the depth of peat is more than 4 meters. Presumably this decree plans to change that. Mind you, the ban is from the forestry dpt, whereas the guy quoted is from the Agriculture ministry, who are not in charge of plantations. Apart from being a really really bad idea, I doubt they'll change the law as fast as all that.

The Indonesian government will allow developers to convert millions of hectares of land for oil palm plantations, reports The Jakarta Post. The decision threatens to undermine Indonesia's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from land use and fashion itself as a leader on the environment among tropical countries.

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s economy, Southeast Asia’s biggest, probably expanded at the slowest pace in more than two years in the fourth quarter as exports slumped. Gross domestic product grew 5.7 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, after gaining 6.1 percent in the preceding quarter, according to the median forecast of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Central Statistics Bureau will release the data after 1:30 p.m. today.

The business community remains upbeat that the country will be able to achieve about 4 percent economic growth this year despite the global economic crisis, but that such a rate requires the delivery of a speedy fiscal stimulus package and stable macro-economic indicators.