Norway announced that it will pay Brazil’s Amazon Fund $1 billion USD by the end of the year. This payment fulfills a pledge that Norway made to Brazil in 2008 to compensate deforestation reduction. Norway made another $1 billion USD pledge to Indonesia in 2008, but Indonesia’s efforts have fallen short. Brazil’s accomplishments were commended by the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, as well as by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Lawmakers and administration officials in Indonesia aim to revise the 1990 Conservation Law by 2016 so that wildlife crimes will receive stronger sentences. In an effort to combat the illegal wildlife trade, the law would address new kinds of crimes, such as transactions made over the Internet, and would allow for the arrest of perpetrators whether or not wildlife could be seized as evidence. In addition, Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry plans to build judicial capacity by hosting a series of trainings on environmental issues.

Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry scuttled 41 illegal foreign fishing boats on May 20 as part of an ongoing effort by President Joko Widodo's administration to curb illegal fishing, which is considered rampant in the region. The government has now sunk 60 vessels that were seized on charges of illegal or unreported fishing.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a non-governmental, voluntary certification organization, has banned one of its biggest members, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), from acquiring or developing new land while a complaint concerning the company's practices in Indonesia is resolved. The complaint was filed by the UK-based Forest Peoples Programme, and alleges GAR took community land and filed for expansion without completing the proper environmental assessments in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province.

Dozens of Indonesian government entities signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on February 17 aimed at stemming corruption and coordinating better management of the country's fisheries and forests. The document, entitled the "National Movement to Save Indonesia's Natural Resources," was signed by the Corruption Eradication Commission, the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, the Minister of Environment and Forestry, 34 regional fisheries agencies, and 24 regional forestry agencies.

The provincial government of Aceh, Indonesia, has adopted a new spatial plan, Qanun 19/2014, that critics worry will have severe consequences for the important Leuser Ecosystem and natural disaster mitigation. The plan makes no mention of the specially protected Leuser Ecosystem, despite the fact that the provincial government gained authority over the area's management in 2006. The plan also ignores rules prohibiting development on slopes graded steeper than 40%, which are intended to protect soils and prevent destructive landslides.

A law amended by the Indonesian government in September makes it more difficult for palm oil companies to conserve carbon-dense, high-biodiversity areas within their forest concessions, according to a report published on October 21, 2014, by Indonesian environmental group Greenomics. The report examined efforts that Golden-Agri Resources (GAR), Indonesia’s largest palm oil producer, is taking to eliminate the deforestation of high carbon stock and high conservation value forests.

The government of Indonesia, currently the world’s top exporter of thermal coal, has launched an effort to tighten regulation and enforcement of the industry. The country’s coal industry, which tripled production in the last decade, has been plagued by corruption, illegal mining and exports, and conflicts with local and indigenous communities, and has caused severe environmental and health impacts.

The High Court of Banda Aceh denied an appeal by palm oil company PT. Kallista Alam, which had been found guilty of destroying over 1,000 hectares of protected peat forest in Gunung Leuser ecosystem. The company faces a 114 billion rupiah ($9.4 million) fine, and is required to pay an additional 252 billion rupiah ($20.7 million) for cleanup, restoration, and remediation of the Tripa swamp area. Further, if the company is late in its compliance, it must pay an additional 5 million rupiah ($410) a day.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he may take over management of the escalating fires on the island of Sumatra if local officials in Riau province do not increase their efforts to stop the burning. According to the World Resources Institute, Sumatra had 3,101 fire “hot spots” from February 20-March 11—a number that far exceeds the fire alerts from June 13-30, 2013, the peak of the previous haze crisis.