Disaster Strikes When Reforestation Cannot Keep Up With Deforestation Rates

Forest recovery is not keeping pace with the exploitation of nature that has been carried out. The rate of deforestation is progressing faster than reforestation efforts. Nevertheless, reforestation is not the primary solution; rather, halting deforestation is the most crucial key to the issue of diminishing forests in Indonesia.

The impact of hydrometeorological disasters in the northern region of Sumatra, which has yet to be optimally addressed, reveals latent problems regarding deforestation and land degradation in the area. This is in line with the statement from geological expert from Gadjah Mada University, Dwikorita Karnawati, who noted that if the causes of the disaster were purely natural factors, the disaster would not be as severe. This implies that factors other than natural ones are exacerbating the occurrence of disasters in Sumatra.

As one of the regions rich in forest resources, Sumatra has become a target for massive forest exploitation. According to data from the Ministry of Forestry 2025, the net deforestation rate in Sumatra reached 78,030.6 hectares. This figure is the result of the reduction in the area of deforestation compared to the area of reforestation.

This indicates that deforestation is greater than the area of forest resulting from reforestation. In other words, forest exploitation in Sumatra has far exceeded efforts to restore the forest's functions to their original state. This situation then raises a larger question: has the forest in Indonesia indeed ceased to receive attention other than being exploited to support the economy of certain parties?

According to data from the Ministry of Forestry, to date, the net deforestation rate still shows a positive value, meaning that the area of deforestation is still greater than reforestation. In fact, the net deforestation rate tends to increase. For example, during the period from 2019 to 2022, the average net deforestation area during that period reached 113,400 hectares per year. However, in the period of 2023-2024, the average net deforestation area increased to 148,300 hectares per year.

The increase in net deforestation figures indicates several things. Among them, it reflects that the area of deforestation is increasing while the area of reforestation is decreasing, or both are increasing, but the gap between the areas of deforestation and reforestation is becoming more disproportionate. On the other hand, this condition also implies that the rate of reforestation is still lagging behind the increasingly massive area of deforestation.

Trends show that reforestation efforts follow deforestation. Based on data collected from the 2020-2024 Deforestation Book, increases and decreases in reforestation area follow trends in gross deforestation area.

For example, in the period from 2020 to 2021, the area of gross deforestation reached 139,100 hectares, while reforestation occurred over an area of 25,600 hectares. Compared to the area of deforestation, the reforested land constitutes only 18.4 percent. This proportion merely illustrates the comparison of efforts to restore critical forest land in relation to deforestation. It does not imply that reforestation also takes place on land that has experienced deforestation.

The area of deforestation and reforestation had decreased in the subsequent period. In the years 2021-2022, gross deforestation occurred on 119,400 hectares of land, while only 15,400 hectares of land were reforested. The proportion of reforested land is merely 12.9 percent of the deforested land.

In the subsequent period, deforestation and reforestation increased, as did the proportion of reforestation to deforestation. For instance, in 2024, the area of gross deforestation reached 216,200 hectares, while the area of reforestation amounted to 40,800 hectares or 18.9 percent.

Although the area of reforestation continues to increase, this growth tends to align with the extent of deforestation. On the other hand, the net area of deforestation continues to rise, indicating that the increase in reforestation has a limited significant impact on the recovery of critical forest land.

This condition indicates that reforestation efforts have become a somewhat superficial and reactive measure in response to the extensive areas of forest that have become critical. In reality, the area designated for reforestation is not comparable to the vast expanse of land that has already undergone deforestation.

Reforestation takes years, while deforestation can be accomplished in an instant. Not all critically endangered land can be reforested. Reforestation sites are carefully selected, as are suitable plant seeds. Furthermore, the process of cultivating and caring for the plants takes time. All of these processes require consistent funding and maintenance.

Furthermore, the report, titled "Towards Sustainable Reforestation: Inspiration from Best Practices in China, Brazil, South Korea, and Costa Rica," also identifies obstacles to Indonesia's reforestation process as weak inter-agency coordination and overlapping policies. Furthermore, a lack of community support for reforestation implementation is also a barrier to restoring critical forest land.

Indonesia has a relatively vast potential for reforestation land. A study titled "Reforestation Opportunities in Indonesia: Mitigating Climate Change and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals" has mapped areas that have the potential to become reforestation sites.

At least in a realistic scenario, Indonesia has the potential for reforestation on an area of 1.7 million hectares. This realistic scenario refers to the assumption that reforestation will be carried out on critical land and unused land, such as scrubland and barren land. The majority, approximately 80 percent of this land, is located in state forest areas, while the remainder is in other designated areas. The islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan are the two regions with the greatest reforestation potential due to the abundance of critical land there.

With such vast land potential, reforestation efforts could actually compensate for the shrinking forest area due to deforestation. The key lies in the commitment to restoring critical forest land through firm policies and consistent funding.

Nevertheless, reforestation is not the primary solution to this issue. This is because reforestation is a reactive solution to the phenomenon of deforestation. This effort arises alongside the increasing extent of deforestation. If not approached with caution, reforestation may instead become a "tool" to perpetuate deforestation.

What is needed now are preventative efforts to restore Indonesia's forests by suppressing and halting deforestation. This aligns with the late Pope Francis's call in his encyclical Laudato Si, which calls for an "ecological conversion" to be the foundation for preserving Indonesia's forests.

This means that responsibility and a strong inner spirit in maintaining the balance between nature and humanity are the foundation for preventing future environmental crises. We must ensure that hydrometeorological disasters exacerbated by forest and land destruction, as in Sumatra, never happen again. (KOMPAS LITBANG)