Prabowo Targets Reforestation of Deforested Land in Indonesia Within 10 Years

President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted the declining tree cover in several areas of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). According to him, one of the issues that needs to be addressed immediately is the practice of clearing land by burning forests.

Prabowo urged the government to accelerate reforestation by establishing nursery centres at the provincial and district levels. All open land is to be directed towards planting productive trees as well as plants that can help maintain water availability.

“I understand these regions quite well. The problem here is that many trees have been lost. If I am not mistaken, for a long time the people here have also burned forests, right? Is that correct? I remember, I know,” said Prabowo while chairing a meeting on earthquake disaster management in NTT on Wednesday, 26 August 2026.

Prabowo said the problem cannot be solved through enforcement alone, but requires educating the public on how to clear land without burning forests.

“When I was young, I also spent a long time in these areas. That is the problem. So our people must be given education; land clearing must not involve burning. But okay, that is indeed the problem,” he said.

In his remarks, Prabowo also touched on the history of the NTT region, which he said once had much denser forest cover. He linked the decline in timber resources to the history of exploitation during the colonial era.

“This area used to be dense, if we think back 100 years, 200 years ago. The Portuguese and Spanish came here looking for timber for their navies,” he said.

Prabowo said the need for timber to build naval fleets was part of the history of military power of major nations in the past.

“That is why they colonised East Timor and entered West Timor, looking for our timber for their navies. So the superpowers of the past had their military strength in their navies, and their navies were made of wood. We should remember this. But that is history,” he said.

However, Prabowo stressed that the current government must focus on restoring environmental conditions and increasing vegetation cover.