T

he government has pledged to reduce deforestation, following a report showing that Indonesia has a higher deforestation rate than that of Brazil.

Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto said on Thursday that the ministry had taken several actions to reduce deforestation rates in Indonesia, especially in deforestation-prone areas such as Riau and Kalimantan.

Hadi said the measures included the extension of a moratorium on the conversion of natural forests and peat land, the provision of degraded-forest areas for economic activity, a compliance audit on several companies in Riau and the eradication of illegal logging, which can trigger forest fires.

On the forest fires issue, however, Hadi acknowledged that the ministry was falling behind in its efforts to tackle problems in Sumatra, Jambi, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, but promised to continue to improve its performance.

'€œToday several parties, including the Forest Ministry, have signed a cooperation agreement to address haze issues under the coordination of the Coordinating Economic Ministry,'€ he said.

Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung signed the cooperation as an acting forestry minister, together with Agriculture Minister Suswono, National Disaster Management Board chairman Syamsul Maarif, the Home Ministry'€™s law enforcement deputy Himsar Sirait and the Environment Ministry'€™s disaster mitigation director Masduki.

Hadi further said that the ministry would sign on Friday an agreement with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the Home Ministry, the National Land Agency (BPN) and the Public Works Ministry to settle territorial conflicts around forest areas.

In 2015, the Forestry Ministry is expected set up a new body under the direct command of the President that will have the authority to investigate forest destruction. '€œThe body will have a function like the KPK. It is mandated by Law No. 18/2013 on preventing the clearing and destruction of forests,'€ Hadi added.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4) said the government was yet to find the most accurate method for calculating deforestation rates.

UKP4 deputy chairman Nirartha Samadhi said that accurate data was needed to formulate the most efficient ways to manage Indonesian forests and reduce carbon emissions.

In June, the University of Maryland'€™s Belinda Margono published a study in Nature Climate Change journal stating that between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia lost over 6.02 million hectares of primary forest.

The study also revealed that by 2012, Indonesia had begun recording losses of 0.84 million ha a year, almost twice Brazil'€™s annual primary forest loss of 0.46 million ha.

The Forestry Ministry, meanwhile, reported this year that the deforestation rate of primary and secondary forests was around 628,000 hectares from 2011 to 2012.

Belinda said that she and the ministry actually had same data from Landsat satellites, but the results were different because they used different methods to calculate the rate. '€œI used an automated method, while the ministry used a manual or visual method,'€ she said. (ask)