Indonesia Counts its Islands

Indonesia has so many islands it has not been able to count them all and is having a hard time finding names for them. From coral-fringed atolls to jungle-clad volcanoes thrusting up from the ocean, its chains of islands sprinkled along the equator make up the world’s biggest archipelago. Officially there are about 17,000 islands, but that number may drop as one minister fears hundreds of islands might vanish because of rising sea levels from global warming. So, before it’s too late, the country aims to complete its first detailed survey this year, spurred on by worries ranging from sovereignty disputes to climate change.