JAKARTA – The Indonesian government has stated that it is about to embark on a diplomatic mission for correction of the European Union’s (EU) global forest map, which was found inaccurate regarding Indonesia’s forests and deforestation.

Agus Justianto, Acting Director General of Sustainable Forest Management at the ministry of environment and forestry (KLHK) said that the diplomatic mission will be pursued by the Indonesian government through its embassy for EU in Brussels, Belgium. “The diplomatic mission will be pursued through bilateral and multilateral channels,” he told the press in Jakarta on Monday (29/04/2024).

The EU has launched its Global Forest Map  (GFM) 2020 as a reference for the implementation of its EU Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) on the European Union Forest Observatory (EUFO). “But we found that regarding Indonesian forests it’s not accurate,” he said.

According to him, the inaccuracy was found after comparing the GFM thematic maps and the thematic maps of SIMONTANA (Indonesia’s national forest monitoring system) made by the KLHK. “Indonesian forest cover is over-estimated in the EU’s map,” he said.

He said that those objects identified as forests by the EU’s GFM are actually not fully forests, but shrubs, agricultural areas, plantations, and other forms of land cover and bodies of water.

He cited the example of the EU’s GFM which shows forest cover on the body of water on Lake Rawa Pening, Central  Java. “Another example is it shows several roads in Jakarta as forest cover. It also wrongly shows forest cover on  oil palm plantations like the one in Aceh Tamiang. In other places, the EU map wrongly shows the rice fields, and coffee plantations in Bali as forest cover,” he said.

Agus said that KLHK had launched its diplomatic endeavour to establish a common understanding on forest and deforestation with the World Resources Institute (WRI), which published the map of Global Forest Watch (GFW). The GFW map has also become a reference for the EU’s GFM. (*)

Source: sawitku.id