Indonesia’s protected forests and conservation areas are still under threat from land clearance felling and illegal logging according to the country’s Ministry of Forestry.
Widodo S Ramono, director of the conservation areas at the Ministry, said the attrition rate last year was 18% with the loss of 5.9 million ha. A major problem is local populations clearing woodland and forest areas for agriculture and building development.
The green group Forest Watch Indonesia says the area destroyed may be higher than shown in official Ministry data. The organisation says the only way to stop the damage is to prosecute people found felling trees without official permits and to close down any timber businesses that fail to operate a sustainable harvesting strategy.
