Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia will revoke 22 forestry permits across the country after deadly floods and landslides devastated parts of the northwestern island of Sumatra.
The decision was announced by forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni on December 15 amid growing warnings from environmentalists and experts about the role forest loss played in flash flooding and landslides that this month killed more than 1,000 people and washed torrents of mud into villages.
According to Raja, the government will revoke 22 forestry permits that covers more than 1 million hectares of forest, including over 100,000 hectares in Sumatra.
With the addition of another 1 million hectares, around 1.5 million hectares of the country's forests have been regulated, he said, referring to the total following his decision in February to revoke permits that encompassed around 500,000ha of land.
Forests help absorb rainfall and stabilise the ground held by their roots, and their absence makes areas more prone to flash flooding and landslides.
Indonesia is regularly among the countries in the world with the largest annual forest loss. Mining, plantations and fires have caused the clearance of large tracts of the country's lush rainforest over recent decades. Over 240,000ha of primary forest were lost in 2024, according to analysis by conservation start-up The TreeMap's Nusantara Atlas project./.
