Indonesia

Indonesia Country Profile

Indonesia is an archipelago between the Indian and Pacific Oceans in Southeast Asia, covering a total area of 1,904,569 km2. Indonesia borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. More than 700 languages are used in Indonesia, with Bahasa Indonesia (the country’s official language), English and Dutch being the most spoken.

Geography & Wildlife

Indonesia’s population of almost 280 million live across 922 permanently inhabited islands, with a major concentration on the island of Java.

Indonesia has a tropical, hot, humid climate, being more moderate in the highlands.

The terrain comprises mostly coastal mangrove and lowland tropical rainforests, whereas the larger islands have interior mountains and temperate upland forests.

Despite its high population, Indonesia remains the most heavily forested region on earth after the Amazon, being 51.7% forested (2018 est.).

To the west of ‘Wallace’s line’ (the transitional zone between two of the world’s major faunal regions: the Oriental and the Australian), there live rhinos, orangutans, tapirs, tigers and elephants. To the east are marsupials and birds such as cockatoos, bowerbirds and birds of paradise.

Main Conservation Challenges

Large-scale deforestation (much of it illegal) and related wildfires; over-exploitation of marine resources; environmental problems associated with rapid urbanisation and economic development, including pollution.