The Ministry Of Environment And Forestry Expressed The Decline In Indonesia's Deforestation Rate At The United Nations Forum

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) stated that in recent years data on forest monitoring systems has shown Indonesia's deforestation rate has decreased significantly through exposure to forest-related UN forums.

"Through a long process of improving the forest monitoring system, Indonesia can now show data related to deforestation trends that can be explained scientifically. In the last three decades, Indonesia's deforestation rate has decreased significantly," said Acting Director General of Forest Management Lestari (PHL) KLHK Agus Justianto as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, May 10.

Agus said the net deforestation rate fell 8.4 percent between the 2021-2022 period, with a gross reduction in deforestation reaching 14.1 percent.

Indonesia's net deforestation in the 2021-2022 period was 104,000 hectares, compared to 2020-2021 of 113,500 hectares.

This result was achieved from data processing results, both remote sensing and field inspection or hybrid combination. Indonesia itself already has a National Forest Monitoring System (Simontana) to find out the current forest conditions.

At the event held in New York, United States, he explained, Indonesia has 23 classes of land closures divided into forest areas and not forests. Forest areas include natural and artificial forests and not forests including other types of vegetation and mixtures.

"The land cover data is used as the main consideration in the national policy formulation in implementing the practice of sustainable forest management," he explained.

On the same occasion, Deputy Minister of Environment and Forestry Alue Dohong when opening the event said that Indonesia's strong monitoring system also supports sustainable forest conservation and management efforts based on valid data.

"I also want to emphasize the importance of data and information accuracy specifically in developing policies that can significantly impact the global economy," said Deputy Minister of LHK Alue.

Previously, Indonesia was involved in the 19th UNFF which was held at the UN Headquarters in the city of New York, United States on May 6-10, 2024.

The Indonesian delegation was led by the Deputy Minister of LHK Alue Dohong who was directly involved in various strategic discussions regarding forest policy in the main forum and held additional activities.

The activity consisted of discussions on monitoring and increasing forest utilization with experts and exhibitions during the implementation of UNFF.