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27
June

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VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry has registered a decline in deforested area in Indonesia in 2021–2022.

Acting Director General of Forestry Planning and Environmental Management at the ministry Ruandha A. Sugardiman said that during the period, the area under deforested land was 104 thousand hectares.

At a media briefing here on Monday, he informed that the figure was obtained based on the gross deforestation area of 119.4 thousand hectares minus the reforestation area of 15.4 thousand hectares.

According to him, the figure for deforestation in 2021–2022 was 8.4 percent lower compared to the figure for 2020–2021.

He further said that in 2020–2021, the deforested area reached 113.5 thousand hectares. The figure was obtained based on a gross deforestation area of 139.1 thousand hectares minus the reforestation area of 25.6 thousand hectares.

"The decline in Indonesian forests is relatively low and tends to be stable," he observed.

Based on the gross deforestation data from 2021–2022, deforestation mainly occurred in secondary forests.

Deforestation occurred in an area of 106.4 thousand hectares or 89.1 percent of the secondary forest area, of which 70.9 percent or 75.4 thousand hectares were inside forest areas.

Regarding the conditions of land and tree cover in Indonesia, he noted changes in forest cover from time to time.

According to him, changes in land and forest cover are caused by, among other things, the conversion of land for non-forestry sector development, logging, and forest fires, as well as forest rehabilitation activities.

"To find out the existence and extent of land cover, both forested and non-forested lands, we conduct forest and deforestation monitoring every year," he informed.

The monitoring is carried out over 187 million hectares of land area in Indonesia, both inside forest areas and outside them.

The result of the monitoring in 2022 showed that there were 96 million hectares of forested land, accounting for 51.2 percent of Indonesia's total land area.

The monitoring result also showed that 88.3 million hectares or 92 percent of forested land is located inside the forest area.

The ministry's Director of Inventory and Monitoring of Forest Resources Belinda A. Margono said the results of forest and deforestation monitoring in Indonesia can be viewed and downloaded from the website http://sigap.menlhk.go.id and https://nfms.menlhk.go.id/.  (Antaranews)

26
June

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North Korea held mass rallies in Pyongyang where people shouted slogans vowing a "war of revenge" to destroy the United States, as it marked the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, state media reported on Monday.

About 120,000 working people and students took part in the rallies held across the capital on Sunday, state news agency KCNA reported.

Photos released by state media showed a stadium crowded with people holding placards reading "The whole U.S. mainland is within our shooting range" and "The imperialist U.S. is the destroyer of peace."

 

Sunday's anniversary came amid concerns Pyongyang could soon conduct another launch of its first military spy satellite to boost monitoring of U.S. military activities after its first attempt ended in failure on May 31.

North Korea now had "the strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists" and the "avengers on this land are burning with the indomitable will to revenge the enemy," KCNA said.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has been testing various weapons including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tension with the South and the South's main ally, the United States.

In a separate foreign ministry report, North Korea said the U.S. was "making desperate efforts to ignite a nuclear war," accusing Washington of sending strategic assets to the region.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. (Reuters)

26
June

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Pakistan and several African nations called for more protections for migrants at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday following the shipwreck off the Greek coast.

At least 82 people died and hundreds more are feared dead in the June 12-13 shipwreck along the world's most deadly migration route from Libya to Italy.

Pakistan, which had 350 of its nationals aboard the ship that capsized and sank, said the incident was a "grim reminder of the protection gaps".

 

"The human cost of such a status quo is unacceptable," Pakistan's deputy permanent ambassador, Zaman Mehdi, told the 47-member council in unusually frank comments. "Gaps in responsibility sharing, arrangements for the safe and timely search and rescue, disembarkation of all people rescued at sea and accountability must be plugged in the spirit of solidarity."

The envoy for Gambia, a country from which many migrants depart on perilous journeys towards Europe, said that the issue required "urgent attention".

Felipe Gonzalez Morales, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Migration, called on states to end the criminalisation of irregular migrants and find regular pathways for them.

He also reiterated a call made by hundreds of NGOs for the rights body to create a new international investigative body looking at human rights abuses committed against migrants. The idea is being discussed as part of the ongoing council session in Geneva. (Reuters)

26
June

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The Philippines on Monday said it had signed four loan agreements with the World Bank totalling $1.14 billion, including $750 million of budgetary support for policy reforms to boost environmental protection and climate resilience.

The agreements also include $276 million of funding support for two projects aimed at developing the agriculture and fisheries sectors, and $110 million financing for improving education quality, according to the Philippines' finance department.

The Southeast Asian country is looking to transform its long-neglected farm sector into an engine of growth.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who is also the agriculture minister, has vowed to undertake reforms to improve productivity of the sector, which in recent years accounted for about a tenth of gross domestic product. (Reuters)