How a former rock musician became Indonesia's environmental storyteller

Before sunrise in Surabaya, Akhyari Hananto is already scrolling through Google Analytics. He's watching which stories kept readers awake last night, which headlines made them pause, where their attention drifted. By the time the sun breaks over Indonesia's "City of Heroes," he's already drafted the day's editorial priorities. This ritual — data first, then instinct — shapes everything he does.

Hananto is the multimedia manager for Mongabay Indonesia, which means he lives at the intersection of storytelling and strategy. On any given morning, he might be editing a video about deforestation, analyzing social media engagement, or figuring out how to translate a complex environmental issue into something that stops someone mid-scroll. The work connects to one clear mission: making sure Mongabay's environmental journalism actually reaches people across the archipelago, and actually sticks.

That mission matters urgently here. Indonesia is a nation of 280 million people whose forests, peatlands and coral reefs contain some of Earth's richest biodiversity — and face some of its most serious threats. For Hananto, who joined Mongabay in 2014, the stakes are personal. "As an Indonesian, it's impossible not to care," he says. "These issues are unfolding right here."

The unlikely route

His path to environmental journalism reads like someone making it up as they went. In Yogyakarta during the grunge era, he fronted a Pearl Jam-inspired rock band. Later he moved into banking, then into humanitarian work after the 2006 earthquake devastated Indonesia. Somewhere in that trajectory, he discovered that stories — the right stories, told the right way — could move people toward action in ways that facts alone couldn't.

Now he applies that instinct to one of journalism's hardest problems: how do you make people care about forests they'll never walk through, peatlands they've never seen, threats that feel abstract until they're suddenly personal.

Hananto has learned that the answer often lies in format and timing. Short-form video performs well on social media, reaching younger, mobile-first audiences. Localizing global stories — showing how a worldwide trend shows up on Indonesian islands — makes abstract issues concrete. Most importantly, he's learned that environmental journalism doesn't have to choose between honesty and hope.

"We can't just focus on doom and gloom," he says. "We have to show people that change is possible."

That approach shaped some of Mongabay Indonesia's most influential recent work. In 2019, Hananto produced a series on palm oil production that sparked national dialogue. More recently, he led a multimedia project documenting Indigenous communities protecting their own forests — stories about solutions, not just problems. He also sits on the board of the Indonesian Environmental Journalists Network, where he pushes for coverage that empowers rather than paralyzes.

Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler calls him "a true champion for environmental journalism in Indonesia." What that really means is: he's figured out how to make people in a nation of 280 million care about their own backyard, one story at a time. As the sun rises over Surabaya tomorrow, he'll be back at his desk, watching the data, planning the next move.