UNDER A CLOUD Doubts linger over Indonesia's deforestation data

In 2023, Indonesia lost an area of primary forest cover four times the size of Singapore, says a leading monitoring outfit. The Indonesian government says it is half that. Who is right? The Straits Times investigates.

- David Fogarty Climate Change Editor and Linda Yulisman

If there is one thing that worries Indonesia's neighbours, it is choking haze. The felling of forests and slash-andburn agriculture are often associated with fires and toxic clouds of smoke.

Deforestation has fallen in recent years due to greater efforts to curb fires and impose limits on plantation expansion.

A closely watched benchmark of progress is Indonesia's annual deforestation figures. And for some groups, doubts remain over the accuracy of the numbers.

Conservation groups say Indonesia's methods of calculating deforestation are not capturing the full picture and that the real deforestation numbers are higher.

They point to annual figures from Global Forest Watch (GFW), an online forest monitoring programme that analyses global tree cover loss, that are typically higher.

Accurate figures are needed to understand what is driving deforestation in Indonesia and curbing the risk of fires as farmers and companies sometimes burn the land to clear it.

And the figures are needed to track the land use policies of the incoming administration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who takes office on Oct 20.

While deforestation might have slowed owing to domestic and international pressure, millions of hectares are still at risk of being cleared within existing legal concessions, says Greenpeace Indonesia. It is calling for much greater transparency in land use data and the methodologies used by the Indonesian government for good reason.

Indonesia has the third-largest expanse of tropical rainforests, large tracts of mangroves and millions of hectares of peatlands, which can burn for months when cleared and drained. These treasure troves of biodiversity also store billions of tonnes of carbon and are vital in fighting climate change.