Riau

Riau (Jawi: رياو ; Chinese: 廖内; pinyin: liàonèi) is a province of Indonesia, located in the center of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. Originally the province included the Riau Islands, a large group of small islands located east of Sumatra Island and south of Singapore, before they were split off as a separate province in July 2004. The biggest islands in the archipelago are Batam and Bintan Island. The provincial capital of Riau Province and its largest city is Pekanbaru. Other major cities include Dumai, Selat Panjang, Bagansiapiapi, Bengkalis, Bangkinang, Rengat and Siak Sri Indrapura. Riau is currently one of the richest provinces in Indonesia and is rich with natural resources, particularly petroleum, natural gas, rubber, palm oil and fiber plantations. However extensive logging has led to a massive decline in forest cover from 78% in 1982 to only 33% in 2005.[3] Since the 1970s, much of Indonesia has experienced declining population growth rates. Riau has been a significant exception, with increasing rates every decade since 1970 to a 4.35 percent annual rise for the 1990s.[4] The provincial population is 5,543,031 (as at the 2010 census).[1] Contents [hide] 1 Language 1.1 Riau Indonesian 2 Cities and Regencies 3 Economy 4 Ecology 5 See also 6 References [edit]Language Riau is home to various dialects of the Malay and Chinese language. The dominant language used by the Malay population is Riau Malay, on which the national language, Indonesian, is based. The Chinese population (predominantly Hokkien), Hakka, and Teochew speak a variety of Chinese dialects, the most common being Min Nan, originating from the southern part of Fujian province in the south-eastern part of China. [edit]Riau Indonesian The dialect of Indonesian spoken in this region is considered by linguists to have one of the least complex grammars among the languages of the world, apart from creoles, possessing neither noun declensions, temporal distinctions, subject/object distinctions, nor singular/plural distinction. For example, the phrase Ayam makan (lit. 'chicken eat') can mean, in context, anything from 'the chicken is eating', to 'I ate some chicken', 'the chicken that is eating' and 'when we were eating chicken'.[5] A possible reason for this is that Riau Indonesian has been used as a lingua franca for communication between different people in this area during its history, and extensive foreign-language speaker use of this kind tends to simplify the grammar of a language used.[6] Riau Indonesian is the basis for the modern national language, Indonesian, which however has extensive additional influence from Javanese, Chinese, Arabic, Dutch and English, among others.[citation needed] [edit]Cities and Regencies Riau in Sumatra. Lithography to an original watercolor by J.C. Rappard. ca. 1883-1889. Pekanbaru City Dumai City Rokan Hilir Regency Rokan Hulu Regency Siak Regency Indragiri Hilir Regency Indragiri Hulu Regency Pelalawan Regency Kampar Regency Bengkalis Regency Kuantan Singingi Regency Meranti Islands Regency [edit]Economy The economy of Riau expands faster (8.66% in 2006) than the Indonesian average (6.04% in 2006), and is largely a resource-based economy, including crude oil (600,000 bpd), palm oil and other forest products. Local government income benefits from a greater share of tax revenue (mainly from crude oil) due to the decentralization law of 2004.[7] [edit]Ecology Giam Siak Kecil - Bukit Batu biosphere reserves Riau's forest area is around 8 million ha. Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Indonesia, is a peatland area in Sumatra featuring sustainable timber production and two wildlife reserves, which are home to the Sumatra tiger, elephant, tapir, and sun bear. Research activities in the biosphere include the monitoring of flagship species and in-depth study on peatland ecology. Initial studies indicate a real potential for sustainable economic development using native flora and fauna for the economic benefit of local inhabitants. Cagar Biosfer Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu (CB-GSK-BB) is one of seven Biosphere Reserves in Indonesia. Located in two areas of Riau Province, namely Bengkalis and Siak. CB-GSK-BB is a trial presented by Riau at the 21st Session of the International Coordinating Council of Man and the Biosphere (UNESCO) in Jeju, South Korea, on May 26, 2009. CB-GSK-BB is one of 22 proposed locations in 17 countries accepted as reserves for the year. A Biosphere Reserve is the only internationally recognized concept of environmental conservation and cultivation. Thus the supervision and development of CB-GSK-BB is a worldwide concern at a regional level. CB-GSK-BB is a type of Peat Swamp Forest is second to none, unique to the Kampar Peninsula Peat Forest (with a small area of swamp). Another peculiarity is that the CB-GSK-BB was initiated by private parties in cooperation with the government through BBKSDA (The Center for the Conservation of Natural Resources). Including the Sinar Mas Group.