A 2013 spatial plan exposed Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem to industrial development by the Aceh Government. Nine Aceh citizens filed a class action lawsuit last week against the plan, calling it illegal and requesting that Jakarta fulfill its promise to revoke it. The Leuser Ecosystem is one of Sumatra’s last intact rainforests. It spans 2.6 million hectares and is often cited as one of the most precious landscapes remaining on earth. Prior to launching the lawsuit, the citizens sent a warning letter to the Home Affairs Ministry; when the letter went unanswered, the citizens formally challenged the legality of zoning laws passed by the Aceh parliament in 2013. The home ministry was supposed to revise the land-use laws in February of 2014. but the spatial plan remains in force in its unrevised version. The plaintiffs are asking that the Ministry of Home Affairs cancel the Aceh spatial plan and that the Aceh parliament revise it. The spatial plan, as is, legalizes new roads, which would fragment the sensitive ecosystem and provide mechanisms for new development. For the full story, see http://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/aceh-citizens-sue-government-to-save-leuser-ecosystem/