Indonesia has consolidated its land management policies in a testament to its commitment to reduce deforestation and sustainable development. Forests supply important goods and services. They help to filter water, control water flow, protect soil, moderate the climate, cycle and store nutrients, and support many species of animals and plants and provide spaces for recreation.
One of the world largest and richest rainforest
Half of Indonesia rainforests have disappeared since the 1960s.
Indonesia, where much of the land area was covered in woods in the 1960s, was a prime target. Today, less than half of it is forested, with some 24 million hectares of forest gone since 1990. The good news is that the rate of deforestation fell by 50% from the 1990s to the early 2000s.
Palm oil production is another major driver of deforestation in Indonesia. Indonesia is believed to be responsible for nearly 40% of the world’s palm oil production. Expansion of palm oil production is adversely influencing the remaining forests in Indonesia that have been logged and burned.
In May 2011, Indonesia limited oil palm conversion licenses to two-year periods to assess the risk that this use may have on climate change. The government has enacted an interim ban on palm oil until 2020 to allow time for it to consider ways to double production without subjecting forests to undue harm.The impact of this ban remains to be seen, given the grandeur of the target and the long-running government struggle to control unlawful production.
Indonesia’s forests and peatlands burn annually. One of the severest fire-years occurs in September until October in regions throughout Southeast Asia. Peatland fires are often used to establish oil palm, pulp and paper, or industrial tree plantations in Indonesia.
After the massive fires we had in 2015, we realized that it’s almost impossible to put out fires on peatland. So the best strategy is, of course, to prevent the fires happening in the first place on peatland. And that would mean that we need to recognize that a lot of peatlands have been drained and degraded, so we have to restore the functions of their ecological and hydrological functions of peatland to keep it wet, moist, even during dry seasons, so it will not be easy to burn. To prevent the fires. The task of the Peat Agency is to restore the drained peatland. – said Nazir Foead from Peatland Restoration Agency.
New data from the University of Maryland, released on Global Forest Watch, tree cover loss — defined as a loss of any trees, regardless of cause or type, from tropical rainforest to tree plantation.
Indonesia struggled to reduce its deforestation rates in 2017, as indicated by the World Resources Institute. In 2016, the country lost 1 million hectares of forestland, but in the following year that dropped by 60 percent, leading to a decrease of 400,000 hectares.
Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar credited the decline to “efforts from multiple policies” being put in place.
“There has been a decline in deforestation in production forests, from 63 percent [of total deforestation] in 2014 to 44 percent in 2017,” she said.
“The government has become much more serious on the fires and haze issue since 2015,” says Arief Wijaya, senior forests and climate manager at WRI Indonesia
The Ministry of Forest Ruandha Agung Suhardiman, distinguished various concentrations of commercial plantations from forests when the plantations were replanted with acacia and eucalyptus trees.
“Planting in industrial forest areas is considered reforestation,” he said.
Sources:
globalforestwatch.org
thespicerouteend.com
redd-monitor.org
forestdeclaration.org
ecotopical.com
