Indonesia-Japan Strengthen Innovative and Impactful Forestry Cooperation

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut), is strengthening more innovative and impactful forestry cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni, in his statement in Jakarta on Monday, said this is a follow-up to President Prabowo Subianto’s directives regarding the enhancement of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Japan. “Both parties have agreed to strengthen strategic cooperation in the forestry sector, particularly in supporting the agenda of climate change control, land degradation rehabilitation, and the management of world-class conservation areas,” said Forestry Minister Raja Antoni. This agreement emerged during a meeting between Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni and JICA Senior Vice President Yoshifumi Yoshikawa in Tokyo, Japan. In the meeting, Forestry Minister Raja Antoni emphasised that the Indonesian government has a strong commitment to climate change control and accelerating the rehabilitation of degraded land as part of efforts to maintain environmental sustainability while improving community welfare. In addition, Kemenhut conveyed its grand vision of developing Indonesia’s conservation areas into World Class National Parks, which excel not only in biodiversity protection but also in governance, best practices in ecotourism, and contributions to local and global economies. “Kemenhut invites JICA to jointly strengthen the World Mangrove Center initiative as a bridge for global efforts in rehabilitation, research, education, and innovation in mangrove ecosystem management. This initiative is expected to become an international reference in nature-based climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts,” said the Forestry Minister. “JICA’s support to date has been assessed as providing tangible contributions to various forestry programmes in Indonesia, including sustainable forest resource management and institutional capacity building,” said Raja Antoni. He also emphasised that this meeting is an important momentum in strengthening the Indonesia-Japan partnership in the forestry sector, while affirming the strategic role of international cooperation in addressing global challenges related to climate change and environmental degradation. “Strengthening technical forestry cooperation with JICA is one of the programmes to bolster Indonesia-Japan relations and is part of the series of state visits by President Prabowo Subianto to Japan,” he said.