Indonesia drops plans to designate plantations as forests

14/04/2010

The forestry ministry in Indonesia has announced that it is dropping plans to classify oil plantations as forests. This is following protests from environmental campaigners who feared that a re-designation would encourage deforestation.

Tachir Fathoni, the head of research and development at the ministry, confirmed the decision saying: ““We have dropped it. No more talk about it.”

He went on to say that any alterations in the definition of a forest needed to be made by amending the forest law of 1999. This defines forest as an integrated ecosystem in the form of land, containing biological resources and dominated by trees in natural forms, and a surrounding environment that cannot be separated from each other.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world and the forestry ministry’s previous initiative to designate oil plantations as forests met with strong objection from Greenpeace and the Indonesian Environmental Forum.

Greenpeace feared that including plantations in the definition of forests, would lead to a huge concealment of emissions arising from the destruction of forests and peat land.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum has now welcomed the government’s decision to drop the re-classification plan.