Riau رياو
—  Province  —
Seal
Location of Riau in Indonesia
Coordinates: 0°32′N 101°27′E / 0.533°N 101.45°E / 0.533; 101.45Coordinates: 0°32′N 101°27′E / 0.533°N 101.45°E / 0.533; 101.45
Country	Indonesia
Capital	Pekanbaru
Government
• Governor	Rusli Zainal
Area
• Total	75,569 km2 (29,177 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
• Total	6,043,031
• Density	80/km2 (210/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnic groups	Malay (38%), Javanese (25%), Minangkabau (11%), Batak (7%), Banjarese (4%), Chinese (4%), Buginese (2%) [2]
• Religion	Muslim (88%), Buddhist (6%), Catholic (5%), Protestant (1%), Hindu (0.2%)
• Languages	Malay, Indonesian, Minangkabau, Hokkien
Time zone	WIB (UTC+7)
Website	www.riau.go.id

  Riau Governmental office in Pekanbaru

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] This has been further reduced an average of 160,000 hectares per year on average, leaving 22%, or 2.45 million hectares left as of 2009.^[4] Deforestation for palm oil and paper has led to not only perennial serious haze over the province, but in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and intensifying flooding and landslides. Kuala Lumpur and surrounds has been sent into "unhealthy" air quality^[5][6] levels again in mid 2012 from Indonesian haze originating in Riau.

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.^[7] The provincial population is 5,543,031 (as at the 2010 census).^[1]

  Language

Riau is home to various dialects of the Malay and Chinese language. The dominant language used by the Malay population is 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.

  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'.^[8] 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.^[9]

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]}

  Administrative division

  Riau in Sumatra. Lithography to an original watercolor by J.C. Rappard. ca. 1883-1889.

Riau Province is subdivided into 10 regencies and 2 autonomous cities, listed below with their (provisional) populations at the 2010 Census.

# The area and 2000 Census population of Meranti Islands Regency are included in the figures for Bengkalis Regency

  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.^[10]

  Ecology

  Giam Siak Kecil - Bukit Batu biosphere reserves

Riau's forest area is around 2 million ha. reduced from 8 million ha. Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve, 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 notorious conglomerate involved in forest destruction, Sinar Mas Group, owning the largest paper and pulp company in Indonesia.

  See also

Indonesia portal

• Deforestation in Indonesia
• 2012 Pekan Olahraga Nasional

  References

	North Sumatra	North Sumatra	Malacca Strait
	West Sumatra		South China Sea Riau Islands
		Riau
	West Sumatra	Jambi	Jambi

Regencies, Cities, and Islands of Riau Capital: Pekanbaru Regencies Bengkalis Indragiri Hilir Indragiri Hulu Kampar Kepulauan Meranti Kuantan Singingi Pelalawan Rokan Hulu Rokan Hilir Siak Cities Dumai Pekanbaru Islands Bengkalis Basu Halang Jemur Padang Rangsang Rupat Tebing Tinggi Island See also: List of regencies and cities of Indonesia