REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Ministry of Forestry Zulkifli Hasan plans to extend moratorium of new permits conversion of primary forest and peat lands in Indonesia. the effort was also supported by Chairman of the National Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) Task Force, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto. This moratorium would expire at the end of May 2013.

"We agreed to continue this moratorium as it succesfully reduced deforestation rates, from 3,5 million hectares (ha) to 450 ha per year," Hasan said on Tuesday. He believed that it was important as Indonesian forest land comprises 60 percent of the country's land area. Hasan cautioned that 85 percent of supervisory authority owned by regional government, including the Governor and Regent.

Country Director of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to Indonesia, Beate Trankman said that UNDP had launched an index of forest governance in Indenesia. This report could be used for a reference mapping of Indonesian forest. The data could be translated into concrete actions by Indonesian government. "I hoped the moratorium could be extended to give time to organize and monitor the ability of forest," he said.

Indonesian rainforests are very wide. Anything happens here will affect the whole world. Indonesian rainforests are a biodiversity hotspot, rich in endemic species and vital in regulating the Earth's climate. 

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