- World’s multilateral forest organisation confirms Indonesia’s anti-deforestation efforts;
- Different methodologies confirm Indonesia’s 90% reduction in deforestation;
- Experts attribute success to effective policies and monitoring
The Indonesian government released its “State of Indonesia’s Forests 2024” report this week at FAO Forestry Week in Rome. The report underlines and confirms the ongoing efforts by Indonesia to reduce deforestation and increase forest protection.
The key data point for the report is the significant decline in Indonesia’s deforestation over the past three decades. The net deforestation rate dropped from 1.9 million hectares per year in 1990-1996 to around 133 thousand hectares in 2022-2023.
The 2022-2023 period saw a slight increase in deforestation compared to the previous year. This rise was attributed to fires and El Niño effects. However, deforestation levels remain much lower than those recorded in 2015 and 2019.
The report acknowledges challenges faced in 2023 due to the El Niño phenomenon. However, the actual deforestation rates for the year were less severe than initially forecast. This improvement is partly due to enhanced law enforcement measures and other mitigation strategies undertaken by the Indonesian government.
Professor Matthew Hansen – arguably the world’s most prominent deforestation expert – spoke at the launch event for the report. He noted that the reduction in deforestation levels is consistent
“Despite using different analytical methodologies… The use of parallel and consistent charts has also demonstrated a notable reduction in deforestation rates in Indonesia which can be corroborated using IPCC methods [and] the consistent and significant decrease in deforestation could be attributed to effective policy interventions and robust monitoring capabilities within the country.”
The report doesn’t ignore ongoing challenges. The slight uptick in deforestation in 2023 highlights the complex relationship between environmental factors and forest conservation efforts.
The FAO’s global report – State of the World’s Forests – was also launched at the same time as the Indonesia report. It included some hints on even more positive data for next year’s Forest Resources Assessment, which is the benchmark for forest data. According to the FAO, a preliminary review of Indonesia’s confirms a reduction in deforestation of 90 per cent over the past decade.
Central to Indonesia’s deforestation efforts is the country’s SIMONTANA forest monitoring system, which has been compiling data since 1990, and on an annual basis since 2010.
The importance of SIMONTANA cannot be underestimated as the European Union introduces the EUDR. Thus far, the EU’s own maps have been roundly criticised for a lack of accuracy.
Deputy Minister of Environment and Forestry, Alue Dohong, recently stated:
EUDR policies must consider more parameters and the need for ground-check activities. This is what we can develop further through a robust forest monitoring system … we must still do ground-check activities to refine the remote sensing analysis results.”
SIMONTANA will be critical as the EU attempts to benchmark the deforestation risk of countries going forward, as will Indonesia’s successful deforestation efforts.