Indonesia plans permanent moratorium on new forest clearance: minister

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s moratorium on new forest clearing for palm plantations or logging operations, that has been regularly extended since 2011, can become permanent, environmental surroundings minister said on Wednesday.

Indonesia has on the list of highest rates of deforestation on the globe, with more than 74 million hectares of rainforest – a zone nearly twice the size of Japan – logged, burned or degraded in the half century, in line with Greenpeace.

The moratorium covering around 60 million hectares (231,661 square miles) of primary forest and peatland has been available since 2011 in an effort to reduce emissions from fires brought on by deforestation. (reut.rs/2IbOXBf)

“I have thought they would keep the moratorium as a substitute for renewing it every twenty-four,” Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told reporters.

Indonesia is susceptible to outbreaks of forest fires during dry seasons, often blamed on the draining of peatland forests and land clearance for agriculture.

The resulting choking smoke often blows across to neighboring countries for example Singapore and Malaysia, slashing visibility and producing a health hazard.

President Joko Widodo a year ago also apply a three-year moratorium on new permits for palm plantations, and said there will also be a review of unused long-standing plantation permits.

Planters, especially smallholders, are instead being pushed to optimize the yield from existing areas under cultivation and not expanding such areas.

The World Bank has estimated that 2.6 000 0000 hectares of land in Indonesia was destroyed during 2019 forest and peat land fires, causing damage worth $16 billion.

Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s two biggest palm oil producers, have faced pressure on the crop’s environmental toll when the European Commission said palm oil actually considered a renewable transport fuel, albeit by incorporating exemptions.