An Indonesian woman passes a truck carrying acacia logs, to be processed at a pulp and paper factory
Photograph: Dita Alangkara/AP

Satellite images show the damage done to Sumatra's lowland tropical forest. 8m hectares were lost to logging, farming and other changes in land use between 1990 and 2000 alone, with an area roughly the size of El Salvador cleared every year. If deforestation continues at the present rate, lowland trees on the island and neighboring Borneo will disappear by 2010, say conservationists
Photograph: NASA

A villager picks up water spinach growing in a polluted pond, which is used to dump waste from a palm oil factory in the Luwu district of Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province. Indonesia’s parliament recently passed a new bill giving the environment ministry the power to revoke polluters’ business licences, which environmentalists said could lead to more effective enforcement. In addition to the destruction of its forests and wildlife, Indonesia’s rapid economic growth has been accompanied by widespread pollution of its waterways, soil and air, prompting criticism from green groups and the World Bank
Photograph: Yusuf Ahmad/REUTERS

The sun, visible through the haze from the 2006 bush and forest fires
Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters