Indonesia Shifts Food Estates to Degraded Land: Prabowo Bans New Clearing of Natural Forest, 6 Million Hectares Assessed
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has instructed that natural forests must no longer be cleared to open new food and energy plantation zones, and the government is shifting its food estate programme to degraded land, Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in Jakarta on November 6.
Hanif said Indonesia has around 9.7 million hectares of potentially degraded land, and that after excluding plots within state forest areas, approximately 6 million hectares could be considered for the national food production area programme. The government is still assessing the locations and reconciling maps and land status data.
The shift is meant to support Indonesia's food and energy self-sufficiency programmes while easing criticism over deforestation. Food estate projects involving forest clearing have drawn criticism from environmental groups for years.
(Source: Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, Indonesia)
Source: Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, Indonesia
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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