Forestry ministry to map forests

Forestry ministry to map forests

JAKARTA: The forestry ministry and the National Coordinating
Agency for Surveying and Mapping signed a memorandum of
understanding on Thursday for a joint project to map out the
country's forests.

The head of the ministry's forestry planning body, Boen M.
Purnama, said the move was needed to provide accurate data and
information on forests in the country.

The cooperation, which will last five years, will start with
pilot projects in South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan.

Boen earlier said the ministry did not have accurate data on
60 million hectares of forest in the country, including the rate
of deforestation.

Indonesia has lost more than 75 percent of its forest over the
past few decades. Over the past five years, some 43 million
hectares of Indonesia's forest, the equivalent of half of
Kalimantan island, has been destroyed. -- JP