In 2012,  Belinda Margono calculates, Indonesia lost 840,000 hectares of its primary forest, compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil, despite its forest being roughly a quarter the size of the Amazon. This, says Margano, was the most lost by any country...

Indonesia lost 840,000 hectares of forest in 2012 compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil, despite its forest being a quarter the size of the Amazon rainforest. 

Primary forest losses totalled 6.02m hectates between 2000 and 2012, increasing by around 47,600 hectares a year over this time. Because previous estimates of forest loss have included the clearing of pulp plantations and oil palm estates the real loss of primary forest has until now been obscured says Belinda Margono in the paper in the journal Nature Climate Change published on June 29th 2014. In 2012, she calculates, Indonesia lost 840,000 hectares of its primary forest, compared to 460,000 hectares in Brazil, despite its forest being roughly a quarter the size of the Amazon. This, says Margano, was the most lost by any country. For more here...

Abstract of the Study

Primary forest cover loss in Indonesia over 2000–2012

Extensive clearing of Indonesian primary forests results in increased greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. However, there is no consensus on the areal extent and temporal trends of primary forest clearing in Indonesia. Here we report a spatially and temporally explicit quantification of Indonesian primary forest loss, which totalled over 6.02 Mha from 2000 to 2012 and increased on average by 47,600 ha per year. By 2012, annual primary forest loss in Indonesia was estimated to be higher than in Brazil (0.84 Mha and 0.46 Mha, respectively). Proportional loss of primary forests in wetland landforms increased and almost all clearing of primary forests occurred within degraded types, meaning logging preceded conversion processes. Loss within official forest land uses that restrict or prohibit clearing totalled 40% of all loss within national forest land. The increasing loss of Indonesian primary forests has significant implications for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation efforts.    For more here...

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In Press (in French only)

 

L'Indonésie dépasse le Brésil dans l'inquiétante déforestation – Lapresse.ca

 

L'Indonésie dépasse le Brésil dans l'inquiétante déforestation – 7sur7.be 

 

Déforestation : l'Indonésie a fait pire que le Brésil - Le Monde 

 

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"Le morcellement des grandes forêts tropicales est inéluctable" – Le Monde - lors que les Nations unies ont décrété 2011 Année internationale de la forêt, Alain Billand, du Cirad, rappelle, dans un entretien au Monde.fr, que 13 millions d'hectares de forêts disparaissent chaque année, principalement à cause de l'agriculture.