VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The rampant illegal logging spread in various regions in Indonesia has made the Ministry of Environment and Forestry work hard to combat the crime. According to Indonesian Minister of Enviroment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar in a special interview with Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta on Tuesday (20/3), her ministry has repeatedly dealt with illegal loggers and dragged them to court to account for their violation.

“ We work also very hard on this illegal logging, within three years we have been having more than 144 times operation to combat this illegal loggers. And there has been cases are prepared for bringing them up to the court, more about 174 documented and prepared to the court and about more than 60 cases are being in the preparation,” Siti Nurbaya said.

Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar added that in addition to illegal logging cases, the narrowing of forest areas in Indonesia is also caused by several other factors, such as the massive population increase in various regions. Therefore, it will continue to make various efforts, including developing special institutions related to forest ecosystems such as Forest Management Unit. Based on record of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, at least 1.1 million hectares or 2% of Indonesia's forests shrinking every year. The Data also mentioned that from 130 million hectares of Indonesia's remaining forests, 42 million hectares of which has been cleared or damaged. Forest destruction which increasingly severe cause disruption of forest ecosystems and surrounding environments. (VOI/Trs.Rezha/NT)