TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) executive director Mufti Barri on Monday refuted the statement of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the G20 Summit who claimed deforestation in Indonesia had decreased.

Barri countered the President’s claim and insisted that deforestation had actually increased to 1.47 million hectares annually from 2013-2017, which is higher compared to 2009-2013 that logged 1.1 million hectares.

“Even though Indonesia had pledged to suppress the rate of deforestation,” said Mufti in a press statement on November 1.

He countered the President’s claim and said deforestation in Indonesia within the past two years is irrelevant as there are new areas in the East and Western regions falling victim to deforestation. He also claims the reduced deforestation is not due to government attempts to tackle the issue but rather because of depleting natural resources.

The environmental watchdog executive claims there were at least 229,000 hectares of forest and land areas that came under fire throughout 2021.

President Jokowi addressed deforestation in his speech at the G20 conference on climate change, energy, and the environment and claimed deforestation is at its lowest point in the last two decades. He also claims there are 3 million hectares of critical land that were rehabilitated from 2010-2019.

Read: Luhut Meets Boris Johnson to Talk G20, Deforestation

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