Indonesia Reduces Deforestation by 21% in 2 Years
Jakarta. Indonesia has reduced deforestation within its borders by 21.2 percent over the past two years due to improved forest management, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said in a statement on Monday (29/01).
The total area of deforested land numbered 496,370 hectares from 2016-2017, in comparison to the 630,000 hectares of deforested land from 2015-2016. Last year, the total area of forests in the country covered 93.6 million hectares.
"This is the result of our efforts and hard work to continue to reduce rates of annual deforestation," said Siti Nurbaya, Environment and Forestry Minister.
Siti added that the number was reduced mainly because of an improvement in government policy in forest management, which includes the establishment of a moratorium on palm oil plantations and new regulations on changing land used.
The minister explained that deforestation occurs due to poor space utilization and control, illegal logging and forest encroachment, as well as poor forest management caused by corruption.
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