Iola Abas
Executive Director
Known as Ola, Iola Abas is the Executive Director of Pantau Gambut, responsible for orchestrating all organizational activities, encompassing strategy, programs, operations, and key initiatives.
She leads Pantau Gambut’s efforts to position itself as a research-based campaign and advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and sustainability of Indonesia’s peatlands.
Prior to assuming this role, Iola accumulated 15 years of experience working across national and multinational NGOs, including WRI Indonesia, ActionAid Indonesia, Save the Children, and Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Oleh: Iola Abas - Wednesday, 02 September 2026
Every August, the atmosphere feels different. Flags are put up in front of houses, the national anthem is heard more often, children begin practicing for competitions, and various speeches once again remind us of what independence means. Yet, not everyone experiences August in the same way.
Oleh: Iola Abas - Thursday, 26 February 2026
What does independence mean if we are still trapped by our own smoke and the forest and land fires that continue to be deliberately set?
Oleh: Iola Abas - Thursday, 14 March 2024
Behind the 2024 general election contest, there lies the power of political parties that will shape the formulation of government policies in the future.
Oleh: Iola Abas - Thursday, 10 September 2026
Language is a tool for communication, but in the hands of those in power, it can become an instrument for crafting narratives with potent magical influence.
Oleh: Iola Abas - Monday, 14 September 2026
[This page will translated soon]
Oleh: Iola Abas - Friday, 22 May 2026
Indonesia stands upon a remarkable yet fragile ecological treasure, an expanse of peatland hydrological units spanning 24.2 million hectares spread across Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua. These landscapes are not ordinary wetlands, but vast carbon reservoirs storing an estimated 57 gigatons of carbon or equivalent to nearly twenty times the carbon capacity of mineral soils.
Oleh: Iola Abas - Friday, 11 September 2026
Indonesia’s peatlands face layered risks: already-degraded ecosystems intersect with governance structures that remain persistently unreformed. How can this be addressed?
Drowned Peatland
Oleh: Juma Maulana, Agiel Prakoso, Wahyu Perdana, Abil Salsabila, Fiqri Abdi, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Wednesday, 02 September 2026
In addition to forest and land fires (karhutla), which have been the focus of attention, floods also pose a serious threat resulting from peatland ecosystem damage. Through the launch of the 'Drowned Peatland' study, Pantau Gambut highlighted the flood threat in Peat Hydrological Units (KHG) across Indonesia, which are divided into three regions: Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua.
From Concessions to Consequences
Oleh: Juma Maulana, Abil Salsabila, Wahyu Perdana, Agiel Prakoso, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Regulatory inconsistency in protecting peatland ecosystems has turned the communities and ecosystems into victims.
Dread in Wetland Bed
Oleh: Almi Ramadhi, Agiel Prakoso, Juma Maulana, Wahyu Perdana, Abil Salsabila, Johan Wahyu Inzar Robiya, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Through the launch of the study “Dread in Wetland Bed: Corporations, Governments, and All Their Empty Peatland Restoration Commitments”, Pantau Gambut exposes many peatland restoration infrastructures that are not up to standard.
Land and Forest Fires Alert
Oleh: Almi Ramadhi, Agiel Prakoso, Wahyu Perdana, Ricky Amukti, Juma Maulana, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Tuesday, 24 September 2024
Pantau Gambut published a vulnerability of forest and land fires to the Peat Hydrological Unit (PHU) in 2023 study.
Alert of Forest and Land Fire Vulnerability in 2022
Oleh: Oriz Anugerah Putra, Agiel Prakoso dan Iola Abas - Tuesday, 07 March 2023
The occurrence of peat forest and land fires in 2022 has been widely covered by the national media. Provinces prone to haze such as: Riau, Central Kalimantan, Aceh and West Kalimantan have been burning even since the first quarter of 2022. In fact, the Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) stated that the start of the dry season in 2022 in Indonesia will only occur in April - June and enters the peak of the dry season from June to September.
Field of False
Oleh: Juma Maulana, Abil Salsabila, Agiel Prakoso, Johan Wahyu Robiya, Wahyu Perdana, Almi Ramadhi, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Thursday, 31 October 2024
Who would have thought that much of the land designated for the Central Kalimantan Food Estate has now become overgrown with shrubs, or worse, overlapped with privately owned palm oil plantations? Through the launch of the study "Food Misery in the National Granary: A Review of the Central Kalimantan Food Estate Project After Three Years," Pantau Gambut sheds light on the murky current situation of this National Strategic Project (PSN).
Chapter 1: Report After Three Years on The Food Estate Project in Central Kalimantan
Oleh: Oriz Anugerah Putra, Desti Ayunda (WRI Indonesia), Agiel Prakoso, Iola Abas - Thursday, 23 February 2023
The Food Estate Project has officially entered its third year since its establishment in 2020. Back in 2020, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also issued a warning on the food crisis potential impact of quarantine policies and areal lockdowns to food supply chain disruptions on a global scale. Under the intention to maintain national food stocks demand, notably rice, Republic of Indonesia government put out discourse on paddy fields intensification and extensification through the Food Estate program. Shortly after the discourse was declared, this project was listed in Presidential Regulation Number 109/2020 concerning the National Strategic Project (PSN), validating the government's priority to actionize it.
A Look at the Track Record of Supporting Parties for Presidential Candidates
Oleh: Abil Salsabila, Wahyu Perdana, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Monday, 29 July 2024
Pantau Gambut conducted an analysis of the vision, mission, and programs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates to illustrate the track record of all their supporting parties in the 2024 presidential election contest.
Unveiling the Complexity of Paddy Field Extension
Oleh: Oriz Anugerah Putra, Agiel Prakoso dan Iola Abas - Friday, 14 October 2022
The proposed site of the paddy field extension in Central Kalimantan overlaps with an existing government policy.
The New Food Estate Program, What’s the Rush?
Oleh: Oriz Anugerah Putra, Iola Abas, Clorinda Wibowo (WRI) - Friday, 14 October 2022
The government has yet to address the flood of criticism and recommendations following a warning from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) on the national food estate program, which is purportedly aimed at strengthening Indonesia’s food security and anticipating food crisis in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the megaproject continues to be expedited, as it has now been expanded in four regions, including Central Kalimantan, Papua, South Sumatra and North Sumatra.
A Decade of Peatland Restoration in Indonesia
Oleh: Abil Salsabila, Juma Maulana, Muhammad Syafiq, Ryan Kusumo, Yoga Aprillianno, Iola Abas - Friday, 11 September 2026
97% of burned peatlands have never returned to forests. This fact serves as the truest reflection of Indonesia's decade-long peatland restoration program, which claims to have restored million hectares of peatlands but failed to reverse the decline of one of the country's most critical ecosystems.