Forest resources and forestry in Indonesia

Abstract

Forests serve as a dwelling place and source of livelihood for the people of Indonesia. This paper analyzed the forest resources and forestry in Indonesia. The forest area in Indonesia amounts to 137,090,468.18 ha consisting of 133,694,685.18 ha as terrestrial forest area and 3,395,783 ha as water area. Hard work by the Ministry of Forestry has succeeded in suppressing the average rate of forest degradation. For the purpose of enlarging the log production from natural production forest through the silvicultural system of TPTI (Indonesian Planting and Selection Cutting), an Intensive Silvicultural System has been introduced at 25 forest concessions with the total area of about 52,300 ha. On the other hand, owing to its geographical position in the Equator region between the Asian and Australian continents, Indonesian tropical forest possesses high biodiversity. Finally, to guarantee the local community’s active participation in the sustainable forest management practice, the government has empowered the local communities that live within and surrounding the forest area through various programs, such as establishing community forest, village forest, conservation forest, production center of non-wood forest products, community-based forest management and an improvement program with forest concession companies. The government also introduced the General Service Agency for financial support for communities that want to establish a forest plantation.