Raja Antoni Says Prabowo Supports Ecosystem Restoration, alludes to Commitment at the UN 

Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni/DOK Kemenhut

JAKARTA - Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni revealed President Prabowo Subianto's support for accelerating ecosystem restoration in Indonesia. According to Raja Antoni, this support is an important capital for the government to encourage the recovery of degraded land, including in forest areas and conservation areas.

The statement was made by King Antoni when attending the 2026 National Nature Conservation Day (HKAN) at the Muara Angke Nature Park (TWA).

Raja Antoni said President Prabowo gave the Ministry of Forestry a lot of space to carry out ecosystem restoration programs.

"I will be honest, I personally feel that I have received tremendous support from the President, yes, for the space to carry out the restoration of this ecosystem," said Raja Antoni, Monday, August 10.

He said the support was in line with the commitment made by President Prabowo in the United Nations (UN) forum on the restoration of degraded land.

"Even in his speech at the UN last year, he said loudly his commitment, Indonesia's commitment to restore the ecosystem to degraded land," he said.

Raja Antoni revealed that Indonesia still faces a major challenge in ecosystem recovery. Of the approximately 12 million hectares of critical land in Indonesia, as much as 6.7 million hectares are in forest areas, while around 1.27 million hectares are in conservation areas.

He also alluded to President Prabowo's support, which was seen through the addition of the number of Forest Police (Polhut) as part of strengthening forest area management.

However, Raja Antoni admitted that the government's ability to carry out large-scale restoration was still limited by the budget. Therefore, the government is looking for various cooperation schemes so that the process of ecosystem recovery continues.

According to him, budget constraints should not be an excuse to stop forest restoration efforts.

"But then again we must not stop and then be trapped in pessimism. There are many other spaces that we can still exercise to then work together to restore these forests," said Raja Antoni.

"One of the important things is of course to open ourselves up to cooperation with any party. Humbly we must say that as a policymaker, as a regulator, the state has limitations," he concluded.