Enviro News Asia, New York – The Indonesian government has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening sustainable forest governance by using President Prabowo Subianto’s Asta Cita vision as the foundation of national forestry policy. This was conveyed by the Director General of Sustainable Forest Management at the Ministry of Forestry, Laksmi Wijayanti, during a general discussion session at the 20th United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday, May 6, 2025, local time.
“Since October 2024, Indonesia’s development direction has been guided by President Prabowo Subianto’s Asta Cita vision, which emphasizes accelerating poverty eradication, improving the quality of human resources, and achieving high, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth,” said Director General Yanti in her speech, as conveyed in an official release by the Ministry of Forestry on Tuesday, May 6, 2024.
As part of implementing this vision, Indonesia continues to strengthen its forestry policies to address sustainability challenges. These include promoting sustainable forest management that supports food and energy security, transitioning from timber-based forest management to a community-centered, ecosystem-based approach through the concept of multi-purpose forestry, and preventing forest fires and biodiversity loss.
Director General Yanti also stressed the importance of forest and land rehabilitation, strengthening social forestry, and recognizing customary forests to balance economic, social, and environmental interests. “These efforts demonstrate Indonesia’s long-term commitment to sustainable forest governance through policy reform, strong law enforcement, and inclusive stakeholder engagement,” she said.
Indonesia also views sustainable forest governance as a strategy to drive economic growth and poverty reduction, including through the promotion of international trade in forest products such as timber, bamboo, and rattan, aligned with environmental sustainability principles.
These efforts also reinforce the implementation of the Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink 2030 program, which serves as Indonesia’s roadmap toward net-zero emissions in the forestry and land use sector. Director General Yanti noted that the success of this program is reflected in Indonesia’s lowest deforestation rate in decades during the 2021–2022 period.
“Sustainable forest management supported by result-based payment schemes for emission reduction has proven to have a tangible impact on achieving the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030,” she added. (*)
