The progress has been attributed to a combination of regulations, public scrutiny and growing emphasis on sustainability from businesses buying palm oil.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic country, has successfully reduced deforestation rates through a combination of policies and technological advancements, according to The Wall Street Journal. A decade ago, Indonesia was destroying its tropical rainforest at a faster rate than almost any other country, and “virgin forest five times the area of Los Angeles was vanishing (in Indonesia) every year.”
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Indonesia’s Reduction on Deforestation Rates
The rate of deforestation in Indonesia fell by more than half from 2015 through 2021, and is now at its lowest in two decades. Indonesia’s remarkable turnaround offers lessons for policy makers, businesses and environmentalists around the world. The success owes to a three-pronged, overlapping approach.
Firstly, the Indonesian government issued strict directives prohibiting wholesale forest clearance some five years ago. It implemented policies prohibiting the clearing of primary forest and peatland, established a moratorium on new permits for forest clearing, and created a program to restore degraded land.
Secondly, multinational consumer-product companies pledged to boycott palm oil that involved forest destruction, blacklisted forest-slashing plantations and tracked their activities with satellites.
Thirdly, environmental nonprofits exposed murky supply chains that long made it hard to know whether palm oil came from a company that was knocking down forests.
Indonesia’s efforts provide an exciting breakthrough in the global fight against climate change. The country’s remarkable achievement in reducing deforestation rates proves that it is possible to balance economic development and environmental conservation. The measures implemented in Indonesia can be replicated in other countries to help mitigate the adverse effects of deforestation and climate change. By working together, we can reverse the damage done to our planet and create a sustainable future for generations to come.
Above all, this is an exciting news in the fight against climate change!
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