Enviro News Asia, Jakarta — The Ministry of Forestry, through the Directorate of Forest Resource Inventory and Monitoring (IPSDH), has enhanced the accuracy of national forest monitoring as part of efforts to establish a more effective Early Warning System for Deforestation Prevention.
Director of IPSDH, R. Agus Budi Santosa, explained that monitoring is conducted digitally using the National Forest Monitoring System (Simontana) application, which detects land cover changes every three months based on 23 land cover classes.
“The conversion from forest to non-forest is called gross deforestation. After accounting for replanting activities, we obtain net deforestation,” Agus said during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday, October 24, 2025.
The Simontana system has been recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as one of the statistically valid and reliable national forest monitoring systems, with an accuracy rate of 92 percent. The University of Maryland has also acknowledged Simontana as a comprehensive system aligned with international standards and principles for monitoring Indonesia’s forests.
This recognition confirms that Indonesia’s forestry data meets global standards in terms of methodology, accuracy, and transparency of spatial data, making the national monitoring results accountable and comparable to other international forest monitoring systems.
To further improve accuracy, starting January next year, the deforestation observation unit (Minimum Measurement Unit) will be reduced from 6.25 hectares to 1 hectare, allowing more detailed and precise detection of land cover changes.
Agus added that the Ministry of Forestry has begun utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support analysis, such as detecting vegetation reduction (devegetation) with 86 percent confidence and distinguishing forest and non-forest areas (deforestation) with 82 percent confidence.
“This AI technology will be integrated into the deforestation early warning system so that any changes in forest cover can be promptly addressed,” he explained.
These initiatives form part of Indonesia’s national commitment to sustainable forest management and the achievement of the FOLU Net Sink 2030 target. (*)
