JAKARTA: Indonesia has extended a landmark moratorium aimed at preserving the archipelago’s vast swathes of tropical rainforest, but environmentalists said yesterday the logging ban did not go far enough.
Large tracts of the country are covered in trees, including some of the world’s most biodiverse rainforest that is home to endangered animals such as orangutans, tigers and elephants.
But huge swathes have been chopped down by palm oil, mining and timber companies in Southeast Asia’s top economy, which has become the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter as a result.
In 2011 Indonesia signed a two-year moratorium, which bans new logging permits for primary or virgin forest — defined as forest not logged in recent history, as well as peatlands which store large quantities of carbon.
The scheme was created with help from Norway, which has pledged to pay out up to US$1 billion (33.5 billion baht) to the government to preserve rainforests, depending on progress. It protects an area of about 43 million hectares, according to environmental group the World Resources Institute.
The logging ban had already been extended once, in 2013 to this year.
On Wednesday, President Joko Widodo signed a further two-year extension, telling reporters: “We need to protect our forests”.
However environmental groups criticised the moratorium, saying that it still allowed deforestation for projects deemed in the national interest. Infrastructure projects and crop plantations are among those excluded from the ban.