Indonesia denies report on increased deforestation
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E-mail Xinhua, May 9, 2012
The Indonesian government has denied a report regarding the country's loss of almost five million hectares of forest and peatlands since the implementation of a moratorium on deforestation, local media reported on Tuesday.
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An aerial view of deforestation at Indonesia's Sumatra island. [File photo] |
"The report cannot be understood because it's different from the forestry ministry's record, which says the deforestation rate over the past few years has drastically decreased to around 500, 000 hectares annually," said Agus Purnomo, a presidential special aide on climate change.
Nevertheless, Greenpeace adamantly claims that Indonesia is still losing forest lands at an alarming rate.
"By May 2012, Indonesia could lose 4.9 million hectares of its forests and peatlands. With each revision of the forest moratorium, the acreage continues to decrease," said Yuyun Indradi, political campaigner of Greenpeace in recent statement.
Purnomo, however, cited a Forest Ministry's report that Indonesia's deforestation rate has decreased over the last 10 years.
"We invite Greenpeace to explain its methodology used to determine the forest degradation in order to clarify the issue. Determining whether the figure is just imaginary or an accurate figure might lead to the correction of Indonesia's deforestation rate," Purnomo was quoted by the Jakarta globe as saying, adding that the dramatization of this issue could reinforce a lie.
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