Indonesia misses reforestation target for 2007
mongabay.com
September 9, 2007
Indonesia has missed its forest rehabilitation target by a wide margin due to lack of funds, reports the Jakarta Post.
The Indonesian government had committed to rehabilitating some three million hectares of land over a four year period ending this September. To date the government has rehabilitated about 2 million hectares — a shortfall of one million hectares. Annual deforestation in Indonesian is estimated at more than 1.8 million hectares, meaning that even if the government had met its goals, the country would still have had a net loss in forest cover.
In 2006, when Rp 300 billion (US$33.3 million) was set aside for reforestation, the government managed to reforest only 37,790 hectares. Darori, the director general of the land rehabilitation office, said that the ministry will seek Rp 8.6 trillion ($955 million) from the state budget for reforestation next year.