More Than 44,000 Hectares of Forest in Central Sulawesi Degraded

TheIndonesia.co - The Lore Lindu National Park Office (BTNLL) reported that at least 44,523.9 hectares of forest in Central Sulawesi continue to be in critical condition due to illegal logging and mining, as well as changes in forest’s spatial planning.

Acting head of BTNLL Hasmuni Hasman said unauthorized activities that continue to take place in the forest area have been causing land degradation in the province.

“The condition occurs to forest within and outside of the Lore Lindu National Park,” Hasman said on Monday, March 21, as reported by Antara.

He said according to the Minister of Environment and Forestry’s decree No. 306/2018 on the designation of national critical land, 264,874 hectares of forest in Central Sulawesi was classified as being in critical condition due to deforestation.

However, despite decreasing in size, the 2019-2020 data showed that 44,523.9 hectares of land continued to be deforested.

Hasman said to continue tackle deforestation and land degradation, the participation of all stakeholders is required.

“Forest within the Lore Lindu National Park has been designated as biosphere reserve since 1977 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, and has become the Earth’s lungs. It’s our responsibility to protect it,” he said.

BTNLL has been educating residents of nearby villages to gradually reduce their dependence on forests as their main source of income.

“To help them to be less dependent on the forest, we provide assistance program in forms of trainings and aids for micro, small, and medium enterprises, or MSMEs,” Hasman explained.