T

he Forestry Ministry claimed that its effort to stop deforestation has been sucessful.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that the rate of deforestation in the country has been reduced to 300,000 hectares per year from 3 million hectares per annum 10 years ago.

“We have gone past the critical stage and we are now entering a recovery process,” Zulkifli said as quoted by kompas.com.

In an effort to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, a presidential decree in May 2011 ordered a two-year suspension on new concession permits on primary forests and peatland.

Data from Greenpeace published in 2011 estimated that 4.9 million hectares of primary forests and peatland, out of a total 71.01 million hectares covered by the moratorium, would have been lost to palm-oil industries, coal mines and other forest conversions by the end of May this year.