Remaining Forest Cover Area within Oil Palm Plantations in 10 Provinces

By 2018, the area of forest cover within palm oil plantations in 10 provinces totaled 3.02 million hectares. Previously, in 2001, the forest cover area reached 5.4 million hectares. The average annual decrease in forest cover was 3 percent. This reduction in forest cover resulted in a 2.3 million hectare increase in the area of palm oil plantations.

Based on data compiled by Madani, Papua had the largest area of forest cover within palm oil concessions in 2018, reaching 1.2 million hectares. West Papua followed in second place with 389,000 hectares. However, the largest loss of forest cover within palm oil concessions occurred in Riau province, amounting to 366,000 hectares, or 9.3 percent of its 2001 area of 453,000 hectares.

Through the Palm Oil Moratorium Presidential Instruction issued in 2018, President Joko Widodo instructed the Minister of Environment and Forestry to identify palm oil plantations, particularly those suspected of being located within forest areas, and to re-determine areas originating from forest areas in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.