PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAMBI – Indonesian conservation communities, as represented by Konservasi Indonesia Warsi (KKI Warsi), have raised concerns about the diminishing forests in Jambi. There is a growing fear of potential disasters such as floods and landslides, exacerbated by uncontrolled natural resource exploitation and the impacts of climate change.
Adi Junedi, the Director of KKI Warsi, highlighted the consequences of the shrinking forest canopy during a press conference held on Thursday (4/1/24). He expressed the belief that the combination of reduced forest coverage and illicit extraction of natural resources is contributing to the occurrence of floods and landslides in various regions.
In 2023, KKI Warsi analyzed data from satellite images, for instance, Sentinel 2, Google Earth, Spot 6, and SAS Planet. They revealed that deforestation in land function, open area that were monitored laid on about 160.105 hectares, the largest parts were in agricultural plantation areas that laid on about 51.904 hectares, then restoration areas about 41.116 hectares, and industrial plant forest about 16.255 hectares. Deforestation was assumed to happen in national parks about 13.097 hectares and protected forests about 1.725 hectares.
Besides, forest transformation in Jambi for about 50 years, as GIS KKI Warsi team analyzed, revealed that the loss would be more than 2,5 million hectares. In 1973, forest canopy in the province laid on about 3,4 million hectares, but in 2023, the rests were laying on about 922.891 hectares. This showed the forest losses reached up to 73 percent.
Rudi Syaf, Senior Advisor of KKI Warsi related the losses of forest happened namely from the forest conversion to be palm oil plantations.
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Though some forest areas got concession permits, known as Izin Usaha Pemanfaatan Hutan (IUPHHA and IUPHHTI) published by the Laws of Forests, and palm oil moratorium has been running since 2011, there are challenges to cultivate the forests.
He also told additional threat from gold mining around riverside. This caused sedimentation and the rivers got shallow. Satellite images showed 48.140 hectares of open areas were suspected to be gold mining areas in 2023 and 46.256 hectares could be illegal.
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Coal mining in Jambi also raised worry because 16.414 hectares were open areas to be mining ones in 2023. 10.287 hectares were having no license. Besides deforestation, coal transportation which there is no regulation still could cause ecologic issue and serious safety and forced the local authority to forbid coal transportation in public ways since on 3 January 2024.
While Jambi is struggling for the environmental impacts from deforestation, uncontrolled natural resource extraction, and transportation challenges, it needs urgent action to solve ecologic crisis which is complex in the province. (T2)
