"We have an early warning system that tracks when and where forest clearing occurs, and we update it every two weeks," said Agus Budi Santosa, Director of Forest Resources Inventory and Monitoring at the ministry, during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday.
He said coordination is being carried out between the Directorate General of Forestry Planning and the Directorate General of Sustainable Forest Management (PHL) in monitoring areas managed under Forest Utilization Business Permits (PBPH), particularly those involving wood and derivative products.
Santosa explained that tree cutting in production forests is classified as planned deforestation. Such activities, carried out by licensed operators, are not recorded as deforestation by the ministry.
Similarly, when a company plants trees in a production forest, the activity is not categorized as reforestation.
He noted that Indonesia's definition of deforestation differs from that of several other parties, including the European Union (EU). Under Indonesian law, logging conducted by PBPH holders in accordance with their annual work plans is not considered deforestation.
In contrast, the EU defines deforestation as any loss of land cover, whether planned or unplanned. Differences also exist in how forests are classified between Indonesia and other countries, Santosa added.
The ministry has also begun applying artificial intelligence (AI) to distinguish forest and non-forest areas and to detect vegetation loss. AI technology is used to enhance monitoring and early detection of deforestation.
"The confidence level for detecting vegetation loss has now reached 82 percent. For deforestation mapping, we use AI to identify forest and non-forest areas, and the confidence level has reached 84 percent," he said.
According to the ministry's data, Indonesia's forest area reached 95.5 million hectares, or 51.1 percent of the total land area, in 2024, with net deforestation recorded at 175,400 hectares. The figure is based on gross deforestation of 216,200 hectares minus reforestation of 40,800 hectares.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna Violleta, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Anton Santoso
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