A

new study has found that forest cover loss in Indonesia remained high during the six years of the implementation of a moratorium on forest conversion.

Using the latest satellite data from the University of Maryland in the United States, the World Resources Institute (WRI) said in its study that deforestation increased significantly in 2014 and 2015 after declining in 2013, suggesting that the government’s moratorium on permits for primary forests and peatland had “scant effect” on forest protection.

“This could be because the moratorium is issued in the form of Presidential Instruction, which does not entail legal consequences for the perpetrators,” the WRI said in its study.

The study recorded that forest cover loss in Indonesia decreased in 2013 and then increased in 2014 and 2015 to 796,500 hectares and 735,000 ha, respectively.

Generally, almost half of the nationwide deforestation in 2015 took place in Kalimantan with 323,000 ha, while forest cover loss rate is also alarming in Papua island, despite the government saying it would prioritize the moratorium, aimed at slowing unsustainable agriculture expansion into primary forests and peatland, in the easternmost region.

The study also found deforestation within moratorium areas in 2015 was highest in Kalimantan with 69,000 ha, followed by Sumatra with 39,000 ha and Papua with 25,000 ha.