Indonesian forest loss surges by 66% in 2025, driven by Prabowo’s self-sufficiency drive: Report

JAKARTA – Forest loss in Indonesia surged by 66 per cent in 2025, hitting its highest rate in eight years as a result of weak environmental protections and an ambitious food and energy self-sufficiency drive, an environmental group said on March 31.

The archipelago, made up of thousands of islands, has some of the world’s thickest forests and most biodiverse regions, but it leans heavily on mining and oil palm plantations to support its US$1.4 trillion (S$1.8 trillion) economy, which is the biggest in South-east Asia.

Auriga Nusantara, a think-tank focusing on forestry and biodiversity in Indonesia, used high-quality satellite images combined with on-the-ground visits to 49,000ha of forest across sixteen provinces.

It found that a total of 433,751ha of forest was cleared in 2025, a dramatic jump from 261,575ha in 2024, said Mr Timer Manurung, Auriga’s chairman.

“The surge in deforestation in 2025 is truly distressing, taking Indonesia back to a time when... (it) was at its highest,” he said, noting that the highest rate of deforestation prior to 2025 was in 2016, when more than a million hectares were cleared.

Food and energy security goals driving forest loss

Mr Manurung identified President Prabowo Subianto’s food security programme as one of the main contributing factors. The programme aims to boost domestic output of key agricultural products like rice and reduce Indonesia’s dependence on imports.

The government allocated 20.6 million hectares of forest areas for food-, energy- and water-related programmes in 2025, 43 per cent of which was natural forest.

More than 78,000ha of the “food reserve forest” were cleared in 2025, an area the size of New York City, according to Auriga’s calculations.

As it cleared parts of the island of Borneo to make room for rice fields, Indonesia said in 2025 that it had achieved self-sufficiency in rice production.

“They are gambling, they are speculating... it’s peat land and not suitable for rice,” Mr Manurung said.

Mr Prabowo’s bioenergy push also had a heavy impact, with areas converted to industrial forest to produce biomass and another 37,910ha cleared inside Indonesia’s sprawling oil palm concessions.

An additional 41,162ha of forest were converted into coal, gold and nickel concessions, Mr Manurung said.

“The current presidency is continuing the pattern of former president Joko Widodo, which uses the so-called national strategic projects and Omnibus Law (Job Creation law) that weaken environmental protection,” he said.

Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry told Reuters that it would strengthen measures to control deforestation.

“The government continues to regularly evaluate all strategic programmes and ensure their implementation does not neglect forest protection,” it said in a statement.

Borneo, Sumatra and Papua hit the hardest

Among Indonesia’s islands, Borneo saw forests shrink the fastest in 2025, with Sumatra and Papua ranking second and third. East Kalimantan, the location of Indonesia’s planned new capital, was the hardest-hit province.

Three Sumatran provinces affected by floods and landslides in 2025 showed “dramatic increases in deforestation”, with Aceh rising by 426 per cent, North Sumatra by 281 per cent and West Sumatra by 1,034 per cent compared to 2024.

The government must improve regulation to ensure that natural forest is better protected and should also expand conservation areas outside forest estates, Mr Manurung said.

“This serves as a warning that must prompt corrective action, particularly as the upcoming dry season brought on by El Nino is likely to result in a high risk of forest and land fires,” he said. REUTERS