President Prabowo pledges full support for ecosystem restoration

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has stated that President Prabowo Subianto is giving full support to ecosystem restoration efforts in Indonesia. The minister made the remarks during the commemoration of National Nature Conservation Day (HKAN) 2026 at the Angke Nature Tourism Park in Jakarta, held with the Directorate General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation.

“I can frankly say that I personally feel tremendous support from the President for this ecosystem restoration effort,” he said. He explained that President Prabowo’s strong commitment to environmental recovery was previously demonstrated on the international stage during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly last year.

At that forum, the President committed Indonesia to restoring 12 million hectares of degraded land, of which 6.7 million hectares are within forest areas and 1.27 million hectares are in conservation zones. Beyond the commitment to restore critical land, concrete support from the President is also being shown through the fulfilment and increase of Forest Police personnel to strengthen supervision in conservation areas.

The recruitment of forest police is targeted to reach 21,000 personnel, with at least 3,000 new members to be added in the near future. Minister Raja Juli acknowledged that ecosystem restoration is not an easy task, especially given the state’s budgetary limitations to carry out everything on a large scale independently. However, he stressed that this should not be a reason to stop or become pessimistic.

“As a policymaker and regulator, the state has limitations. There are many other avenues we can exercise, one of which is opening ourselves to cooperation with any party that has good intentions,” the Minister said.