Mika was in his mid-30s in 2013 when prospectors from a shadowy company called the Menara Group (menara means “tower” in Indonesian) arrived with the intention of razing the Aru Islands for a massive ...

In Indonesia, the Aru Islands are among the richest of biodiversity. The area comprises 823 island clusters with 800,000 hectares of land and 4 million hectares of surrounding waters. The Aru Sea ...

Aru Islands. Courtesy of Global Forest Watch. The plan elicited strong reactions from local people, green activists and even celebrities, and its feasibility was questioned by government officials.

Read Saving Aru, the story of how the Aruese people organized to successfully defend their forested islands from a massive plantation proposal, here. Banner image: Mika Ganobal in the forest near ...

The blocks lie 500 km southwest of the BP-operated North Arafura PSC and 200 km west of the Aru Island group in Maluku Province. West Aru I covers 8,100 sq km and West Aru II covers 8,300 sq km ...