Indonesia claims success for lowest deforestation rate in 5 years as Covid-19 cases are still rising and goes above 1.379 million

The condition of the road to Merbau village in Tanjung Jabung Timur. Residents are worried that they would not get any help when forest and land fires happen. - The Jakarta Post/ANN

JAKARTA, March 7 (Jakarta Post/ANN): The government has claimed more success in reducing the loss of Indonesia’s forest area, with recent data showing that last year’s deforestation rate was the lowest in five years.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry recorded a loss of up to 115,460 hectares of forests due to deforestation from 2019 to 2020, lower than the two previous figures of 462,500 ha in the 2018-2019 period and 439,400 ha in 2017-2018.