POLICY

CNA Insider videos on Indonesia's forests counterbalanced by authorities
March 5, 2021

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JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - In response to two videos posted recently by CNA Insider (Channel NewsAsia) concerning Indonesia’s forests and peatlands, the country’s forestry authorities have emphasized that Indonesia remains a global superpower in tackling the climate crisis as it retains huge natural tropical forest cover.

In a virtual discussion (Mar 4), Rasio "Roy" Ridho Sani, Director General of Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, made a number of key points to counterbalance the content of the two videos from the Singapore-based media outlet.

The videos concerned are titled “Indonesia's vanishing forests: 'Too little, too late for Asia's largest rainforests (Mar 1)" and "Deforestation in Indonesia: A waiting world catastrophe?" (Mar 3).

Over 1,237 times the size of Singapore

New data from the ministry show that Indonesia is still home to 90.1 million hectares of natural tropical forest cover, equivalent to more than 1,237 times the size of Singapore or over 3.7 times the size of the UK.

The following chart demonstrates the extent of existing natural tropical forest cover in Indonesia, in the form of primary and secondary drylands along with peat and mangrove forests. The vastness of its natural tropical forest cover makes Indonesia a genuine global superpower in terms of efforts to address the climate crisis.

“When it comes to remaining natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia is at a very high level, it's a superpower. This is fact, not fiction,” the director general stated.

Indonesia, he continued, has also legally designated over 66 million hectares, an area larger than France, into the permanent moratorium aimed at protecting primary forests and peatlands. These areas are still significantly forested and form part of the remaining 90.1 million hectares of natural tropical forest cover in the country.

"In real terms, Indonesia's remaining natural tropical forest cover continues to play various important roles such as providing a habitat for multiple flagship species and a rich array of biodiversity. This is also fact, not fiction,” said Roy.

Zero transboundary haze

According to Roy, the absence of any transboundary haze originating from Indonesia during the first year of the global pandemic differentiates the country from the US and Brazil, among others.

“During the first year of the pandemic, everybody saw that there was no transboundary haze. Again, this is fact, not fiction,” Roy reiterated.

The chart below confirms that the number of potential fire spots in Indonesia plummeted in the first year of the global pandemic, compared to 2019. This sharp decrease was brought about by endeavours in the field, not by working from home.

“It was reasonable for the Singaporean government to convey its appreciation to President Joko Widodo for his leadership in tackling haze-causing fires, especially given the fact that Singapore and other neighbouring countries have not been affected by transboundary haze over the past year,” Roy explained.

Over 1,500 law enforcement actions

The ministry's law enforcement director general pointed to the scope of law enforcement efforts related to forestry and environmental cases in the past five years of President Joko Widodo's administration. During this period over 1,500 law enforcement actions have been undertaken.

“It turns out there has never been such an intensive level of law enforcement in Indonesia's history. It's only been like this for the last five years,” said Roy.

He reaffirmed that such efforts remain underway despite the global pandemic, especially as relate to cases involving land and forest fires as well as illegal logging, and include ongoing court battles. 

"In fact, more than 1,000 forestry and environmental crimes have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in victory after victory. This too is fact, not fiction," the director general asserted.

“Among other achievements, intensive law enforcement has significantly enhanced the level of legal compliance by corporations, as is apparent from a series of regular inspections carried out by the ministry,” he added.

75.03% level of avoided deforestation

Roy also highlighted the dramatic fall in Indonesia’s deforestation rate during the first year of the pandemic, meaning that substantial amounts of deforestation were avoided.

Using 2018/2019 as a base year, there was a 75.03% plunge in deforestation in 2019/2020, in effect avoiding the conversion of nearly 350 thousand hectares of forests - an area over 4.7 times the size of Singapore.

The following chart depicts the trend of Indonesia's deforestation rate from 2011/2012 to 2019/2020. President Joko Widodo's presidency has overseen a sustained trend of decreasing deforestation, which took a further sharp dive in the most recent reporting period.

Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya pointed to the chart above when asserting that the 75% plus reduction in deforestation in 2019/2020 constituted evidence not merely perception, as reported recently by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Mar 3).

This striking decline in deforestation completely belies claims that deforestation in Indonesia increased during the first year of the pandemic.

Still free of charge

Roy also stressed that, with over 90.1 million hectares of remaining natural tropical forest cover spread across the archipelago, Indonesia retains a strong position among the world's top countries in terms of its role in carbon sequestration and storage.

“If monetized, the economic value of carbon sequestration and storage from Indonesia's remaining natural tropical forest cover is sizable, far exceeding USD1 billion per year. This is clearly not too little,” he said in reference to the dubious title of one of the CNA Insider videos.

“It's also worth noting that the huge economic value of Indonesia's carbon sequestration and storage is provided free of charge, with the true economic value still unpaid by everyone. Once again, this is fact, not fiction,” he added.

“Considering its vast remaining natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia irrefutably continues to play a hugely significant role in the fight against the climate crisis. Its contribution is certainly not too little,’ the director general contended.

“On the contrary”, he said, “Indonesia remains an extremely powerful player in addressing climate change and its actions are in no way too late.”

Director General Roy concluded by spelling out Minister Nurbaya's bottom-line: that as a powerful country, well equipped to deal with the climate crisis thanks to its massive expanse of natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia needs to maintain its high levels of confidence and optimism and continue working consistently with an evidence-based, forward-looking orientation.


TAGS: DEFORESTATION , NATURAL FORESTS , CLIMATE CRISIS

RELATED STORIES


POLICY

CNA Insider videos on Indonesia's forests counterbalanced by authorities
March 5, 2021

facebookfinal.png wafinal.png twitterfinal.png emailfinal.png

JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - In response to two videos posted recently by CNA Insider (Channel NewsAsia) concerning Indonesia’s forests and peatlands, the country’s forestry authorities have emphasized that Indonesia remains a global superpower in tackling the climate crisis as it retains huge natural tropical forest cover.

In a virtual discussion (Mar 4), Rasio "Roy" Ridho Sani, Director General of Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, made a number of key points to counterbalance the content of the two videos from the Singapore-based media outlet.

The videos concerned are titled “Indonesia's vanishing forests: 'Too little, too late for Asia's largest rainforests (Mar 1)" and "Deforestation in Indonesia: A waiting world catastrophe?" (Mar 3).

Over 1,237 times the size of Singapore

New data from the ministry show that Indonesia is still home to 90.1 million hectares of natural tropical forest cover, equivalent to more than 1,237 times the size of Singapore or over 3.7 times the size of the UK.

The following chart demonstrates the extent of existing natural tropical forest cover in Indonesia, in the form of primary and secondary drylands along with peat and mangrove forests. The vastness of its natural tropical forest cover makes Indonesia a genuine global superpower in terms of efforts to address the climate crisis.

“When it comes to remaining natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia is at a very high level, it's a superpower. This is fact, not fiction,” the director general stated.

Indonesia, he continued, has also legally designated over 66 million hectares, an area larger than France, into the permanent moratorium aimed at protecting primary forests and peatlands. These areas are still significantly forested and form part of the remaining 90.1 million hectares of natural tropical forest cover in the country.

"In real terms, Indonesia's remaining natural tropical forest cover continues to play various important roles such as providing a habitat for multiple flagship species and a rich array of biodiversity. This is also fact, not fiction,” said Roy.

Zero transboundary haze

According to Roy, the absence of any transboundary haze originating from Indonesia during the first year of the global pandemic differentiates the country from the US and Brazil, among others.

“During the first year of the pandemic, everybody saw that there was no transboundary haze. Again, this is fact, not fiction,” Roy reiterated.

The chart below confirms that the number of potential fire spots in Indonesia plummeted in the first year of the global pandemic, compared to 2019. This sharp decrease was brought about by endeavours in the field, not by working from home.

“It was reasonable for the Singaporean government to convey its appreciation to President Joko Widodo for his leadership in tackling haze-causing fires, especially given the fact that Singapore and other neighbouring countries have not been affected by transboundary haze over the past year,” Roy explained.

Over 1,500 law enforcement actions

The ministry's law enforcement director general pointed to the scope of law enforcement efforts related to forestry and environmental cases in the past five years of President Joko Widodo's administration. During this period over 1,500 law enforcement actions have been undertaken.

“It turns out there has never been such an intensive level of law enforcement in Indonesia's history. It's only been like this for the last five years,” said Roy.

He reaffirmed that such efforts remain underway despite the global pandemic, especially as relate to cases involving land and forest fires as well as illegal logging, and include ongoing court battles. 

"In fact, more than 1,000 forestry and environmental crimes have been successfully prosecuted, resulting in victory after victory. This too is fact, not fiction," the director general asserted.

“Among other achievements, intensive law enforcement has significantly enhanced the level of legal compliance by corporations, as is apparent from a series of regular inspections carried out by the ministry,” he added.

75.03% level of avoided deforestation

Roy also highlighted the dramatic fall in Indonesia’s deforestation rate during the first year of the pandemic, meaning that substantial amounts of deforestation were avoided.

Using 2018/2019 as a base year, there was a 75.03% plunge in deforestation in 2019/2020, in effect avoiding the conversion of nearly 350 thousand hectares of forests - an area over 4.7 times the size of Singapore.

The following chart depicts the trend of Indonesia's deforestation rate from 2011/2012 to 2019/2020. President Joko Widodo's presidency has overseen a sustained trend of decreasing deforestation, which took a further sharp dive in the most recent reporting period.

Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya pointed to the chart above when asserting that the 75% plus reduction in deforestation in 2019/2020 constituted evidence not merely perception, as reported recently by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Mar 3).

This striking decline in deforestation completely belies claims that deforestation in Indonesia increased during the first year of the pandemic.

Still free of charge

Roy also stressed that, with over 90.1 million hectares of remaining natural tropical forest cover spread across the archipelago, Indonesia retains a strong position among the world's top countries in terms of its role in carbon sequestration and storage.

“If monetized, the economic value of carbon sequestration and storage from Indonesia's remaining natural tropical forest cover is sizable, far exceeding USD1 billion per year. This is clearly not too little,” he said in reference to the dubious title of one of the CNA Insider videos.

“It's also worth noting that the huge economic value of Indonesia's carbon sequestration and storage is provided free of charge, with the true economic value still unpaid by everyone. Once again, this is fact, not fiction,” he added.

“Considering its vast remaining natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia irrefutably continues to play a hugely significant role in the fight against the climate crisis. Its contribution is certainly not too little,’ the director general contended.

“On the contrary”, he said, “Indonesia remains an extremely powerful player in addressing climate change and its actions are in no way too late.”

Director General Roy concluded by spelling out Minister Nurbaya's bottom-line: that as a powerful country, well equipped to deal with the climate crisis thanks to its massive expanse of natural tropical forest cover, Indonesia needs to maintain its high levels of confidence and optimism and continue working consistently with an evidence-based, forward-looking orientation.


TAGS: DEFORESTATION , NATURAL FORESTS , CLIMATE CRISIS

RELATED STORIES