Most of the forest in Papua is still intact, but we know all of the forest in Papua is under big threat, especially from the logging company and, at the moment, is the palm oil company.
He says that unless the government takes action to stop deforestation, the forest could be gone in ten years.
We’re asking, in the long term, we’re asking for zero deforestation. It means no more deforestation in Indonesia by 2015. Before 2015, we’re asking the Indonesian government to put in a table [a] moratorium on forest conversion of any kind of forests and peat land area in Indonesia.
A spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry says the only way for the moratorium to work would be if there’s minimal impact on economic and regional development.
If all the stakeholders, most of the stakeholders, agreed to have the moratorium with minimum impact of economic and regional development, then let’s find a way for that. If the only solution is just moratorium without having any options, then that will be difficult.
Earlier this month, Greenpeace began an expedition to monitor the impact of deforestation on the last remaining intact forests in Southeast Asia. They witnessed the clearing of sago and nipah forests which are important crops for the indigenous people to make way for large-scale palm oil plantations. Greenpeace says it also saw suspended logging companies operating illegally. According to Greenpeace, deforestation releases around 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. And they say Indonesia is the third largest global contributor of greenhouse gases.