Indonesia Announces End to “World’s Largest Deforestation Project”
The Government of Indonesia has announced that it will stop any further expansion of the Food and Energy Estates project in Papua and will shift all future development for the project for food and crops for bioenergy to degraded lands – a globally significant win for Indonesia’s nature, the climate, and local communities.
In twin announcements at the Indonesian Sustainability Forum in Jakarta, President Prabowo’s brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, in his role as Special Envoy for Climate and Energy and the President’s Special Envoy for Multilateralism & International Trade Mari Pangestu said that Indonesia would shift both the rice and sugarcane projects to degraded land.
Mighty Earth Founder and CEO Glenn Hurowitz commented:
“President Prabowo and the Indonesian government have made a globally significant decision for nature and climate today by ending deforestation for its food and energy development. This decision renews Indonesia’s leadership in showing how to expand agriculture while protecting nature. While Mighty Earth and partners will be monitoring implementation, we are hopeful about the potential of this decision to drive a continued shift to sustainable agriculture and nature protection.”
“This decision creates an opportunity for large-scale investments in achieving President Prabowo’s goal of restoring 12 million hectares of forest, peat, and other ecosystems. It’s a program of truly enormous significance that could provide habitat to endangered species and suck gigatons of carbon out of the atmosphere. We call on all friends of Indonesia to support this program. This decision means that Indonesia can fully achieve its potential to become a nature and climate superpower.”
01:14:00 – Rice Project Announcement by Pak Hashim, Special Envoy of the President for Energy and Climate Change.
03:19:00 – Rice and Energy Project Announcement by Ibu Mari Pangestu, Special Envoy of the President for Multilateralism & International Trade.
