Govt: Forest Net Sink Different from Zero Deforestation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya in a statement on Wednesday made it clear that the government’s initiation of  Indonesia Forestry and Other Land Uses (FoLU) Net Sink 2030 is dissimilar to the concept of zero deforestation. 

“We adopted a carbon net sink where we reduce deforestation to its minimum and continue to conduct reforestation, introduce fixes, and environmental reforestation,” the Minister wrote on November 3. 

The 2030 net sink policy is basically a strategy to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in forests and reach a condition where the carbon absorption level is balanced or even exceeds carbon that is emitted in certain sectors by 2030.

Meanwhile, ‘zero deforestation’ absolutely bans any type of tree-logging activities, which she said could be adopted in the individual context or private sector. However, she asserts that zero deforestation cannot be achieved in a vast country such as Indonesia which consists of dozens of thousands of villages located within and around forests. 

She argues that Indonesia is currently active in spreading its massive development projects and that the developing status of the country does not fit with the zero deforestation concept. "Indonesia is responsible for its development, but of course by implementing sustainability values,” she said, 

Read: Forest Watch Refutes Jokowi's Claim on Decreasing Deforestation

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