The government’s plan to extend the moratorium on forest clearance may prove pointless as it also plans to restart log exports, a move activists say will only make illegal logging more rampant.
Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto said on Tuesday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was considering extending the moratorium, which will expire on May 20. “Without the moratorium, our forests are actually protected under the law. However, despite the existing law, we’ve still found illegal activities that have been damaging our protected forests. The moratorium adds another layer of forest protection,” he said.
Presidential Instruction No. 10/2011 on the moratorium was issued after Indonesia and Norway signed a US$1 billion deal to help Indonesia reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation.
Data from the ministry shows that from 1996 to 2003, deforestation in the country reached 3.5 million hectares per year.
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