Papua Island Has the Largest Forest Cover in Indonesia

Indonesia's largest forest area is located on the island of Papua. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Papua Island had a forest cover area of 34.4 million hectares in 2020.

The forest cover area on Papua Island in 2020 increased by 0.24% compared to 2016. At that time, the forest cover area of Papua Island was 33.9 million hectares.

Kalimantan Island ranked second with a forest cover area of 27.1 million hectares in 2020, an increase of 0.17% compared to 2016. Meanwhile, the forest cover area on Sumatra Island was 13.9 million hectares, an increase of 0.37%.

The forest cover area on Sulawesi Island was 9.2 million hectares last year, a decrease of 0.02% from 2016. Then, Maluku had a forest cover area of 5.09 million hectares, an increase of 0.01%.

Java Island had a forest cover area of 2.7 million hectares in 2020, a decrease of 0.27%. Bali and Nusa Tenggara have the smallest forest cover area, at 2.7 million hectares in 2020, a decrease of 0.1%.

Quoting BPS, the decrease in forest cover is due to a reduction in forest cover area related to natural events, deforestation, or reclassification.

Indonesia's total forest cover area in 2020 was 95.2 million hectares. This represents a 0.42% increase from 2016, when it was 94.4 million hectares.