After drawing international acclaim, Indonesia's moratorium on forest clearing has proved hard to implement, as special interests whittle down the area protected under the agreement, environmental groups say.

Large-scale crop plantations are expanding at a rapid pace across southeast Asia, with multinational firms often benefiting the most at the expense of local communities and the environment, two U.N. rights experts warned on Wednesday.

Demand for agrofuels, such as those derived from sugar cane and palm oil, has boomed thanks in part to the United States, Europe and other rich economies seeking alternative ways to fuel their cars and homes in order to reduce their carbon emissions.

Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020, Norway's environment minister said on Tuesday.

Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, despite resistance from some government departments and from resource firms looking to expand in the archipelago.

Indonesia's government said on Monday it would protect a strip of peatland in Aceh province at the centre of an international storm over palm oil development, in a case that had become a test of the country's commitment to halt deforestation.

Indonesia imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest last May under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, but the former governor of the country's westernmost Aceh province breached the ban by issuing a permit to a palm oil firm to develop the peatland.

It is a tiny piece of heaven on the Odisha coast. The Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary is where the world's largest living reptile, the estuarine crocodile, is thriving amidst sylvan surroundings after having been brought back from the brink. But now there is trouble with the reptile population booming, posing a threat to the natural balance.

From a strength of 96 crocodiles in 1976, the population now stands at 1,646. A boat ride in some areas can yield crocodile sightings as frequent as one croc a minute, according to a conservationist.

A microfinance provider in Karnataka has been selected alongside seven other organisations from Peru, Indonesia, Cambodia and Afghanistan as a finalist for the Ashden Awards, the world’s leading green energy prize.

The finalists will compete for over £120,000 pound prize, with the winners to be announced at a prestigious ceremony in London on May 30. Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project in Karnataka is a prime example of the vital role a well-run microfinance organisation can play in meeting the poor’s energy needs.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will lead a global panel to set international targets on sustainable development, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

The panel will start work after a major summit next month in Rio de Janeiro. The trio admitted in a joint statement that there was still "some way to go" to eliminate global poverty.

The Asia-Pacific region may be home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies including China, Japan, India and Indonesia. But, last year at least, it also was the most vulnerable to natural disasters that hampered expansion and disrupted trade.

The United Nations Economic and Social Survey of the Asia Pacific, a report released Thursday, says Asia Pacific sustained damages and losses of $266.8 billion out of $366 billion globally in 2011 — the worst year in history for catastrophes.

Scientists from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years.

The joint statement by some of the world's leading science academies was issued on Thursday ahead of the G8 summit in the United States. It is part of the annual lobbying effort aimed at focusing the attention of world leaders on issues the scientific community regards as crucial.

Floods carrying volcanic debris swept through a town in eastern Indonesia yesterday killing four people, including a nine-year-old child, and leaving 10 others missing, a government official said.

A further 15 people were injured after floodwaters rampaged through 11 villages in Ternate City in North Maluku province, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.