JAKARTA — At the U.N. climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Indonesian government announced an ambitious plan to reforest 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of degraded land, an area 80 times the size of London.

The government framed the policy as a critical move to combat climate change, as Indonesia is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases from the land sector, mainly due to deforestation for agriculture.

But critics argue it’s a smoke screen to offset deforestation from a massive agricultural project, raising questions about its sincerity and feasibility.

Others warn the plan faces significant challenges, such as logistical hurdles.

The reforestation initiative comes as part of Indonesia’s efforts to achieve its FOLU Net Sink 2030 target, which aims to turn the country’s forests into a net absorber of carbon by 2030.

The reforestation initiative will help Indonesia achieve the target by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the country’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said.

Yet government officials admitted the program is also intended to offset deforestation caused by the controversial food estate program, a mega agricultural project targeting millions of hectares for cultivation. Critics argue that this dual approach means the reforestation initiative might be more about optics than impact, which will undermine the credibility of Indonesia’s climate commitments.

A climate solution or greenwashing?

The food estate program, which includes a plan to establish 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of sugarcane plantations in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, has received much backlash due to its potential impact on the country’s rainforests and biodiversity.

A new study by the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) estimated that the food estate program in Papua would emit 782.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂), nearly doubling Indonesia’s global carbon emission contribution.

The environmental and climate impact from the food estate project prompted heavy criticism at the COP29 climate conference from some parties, including delegates from other countries, according to Indonesia climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also the brother of President Prabowo Subianto.

“I already responded and I told [the critics] that our national food program is non-negotiable,” he said as quoted by Kompas daily during an event in Jakarta in December.

Hashim argued that the food estate program is necessary to make sure that Indonesia has enough food and doesn’t have to depend on imports from other countries.

And the reforestation project will offset the forest loss caused by the food estate program, he added.

“We will reduce the negative impact [of the food estate project] with new programs, one of them being the reforestation that we will do,” Hashim said as quoted by CNN Indonesia. “This [reforestation program] will be entrusted to the Ministry of Forestry so that we can be independent and fulfil our obligation to the world [in climate mitigation].”

Torry Kuswardono, director of the NGO Pikul Foundation, called the trade-off troubling. “There are always regions sacrificed in these kinds of policies,” he said during a recent discussion in Jakarta.

Nadia Hadad, executive director of the NGO Madani Berkelanjutan, meanwhile, warned that reforestation cannot compensate for the destruction of natural forests, especially now that Indonesia has already exceeded its deforestation quota under its 2030 targets.

“Ecosystem recovery takes a long time and often cannot restore original conditions, such as peatlands and mangroves,” Nadia said. “Relying on restoration and rehabilitation alone will make it more difficult to meet Indonesia’s climate commitments. So preventing [deforestation] must come first.”

Skepticism over feasibility

Experts are also skeptical about the logistical feasibility of reforesting 12.7 million hectares.

Hashim said restoring degraded lands into natural forests had proven to be possible in Indonesia, citing the case of Samboja Lestari, an orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center that doubles as a tropical rainforest reforestation project in the island of Borneo.

The 1,854-hectare (4,581-acre) Samboja Lestari site used to be deforested land covered in the highly fire-prone cogon grass and devoid of trees and wildlife. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) led a campaign to plant nearly 1,000 tree species to reforest the land, resulting in the growth of secondary forest and the return of 163 species of birds and other wildlife.

Forestry expert Pramono Dwi Susetyo highlighted the differences between small-scale projects like Samboja Lestari and the vast, topographically diverse lands targeted by the government.

Samboja Lestari has a topography that’s relatively easy to reforest, as it is located in an area that’s zoned for production with relatively flat land that’s easy to access, he said.

“It’s not the same as reforesting 12.7 million hectares in areas that are spread out with varied topographies, not only flat field, but also hills and mountains with low accessibility,” Pramono said in an op-ed.

Critics also point to Indonesia’s history of underfunded reforestation programs. The government has allocated just 950 billion rupiah ($59.3 million) for reforestation in 2025, enough to rehabilitate only 19,000 hectares (46,950 acres) — less than 0.2% of the target.

Putera Parthama, who used to serve as the head of a department in charge of reforestation at the Indonesian forestry ministry, said he hoped the new initiative could attract the much-needed funding for Indonesia’s reforestation bid.

“Hopefully this important breakthrough for the rehabilitation of critical land and forest in Indonesia could soon become reality,” he said in an op-ed.

Funding and implementation challenges

Hashim acknowledged the scale of the challenge and emphasized the need for foreign funding. The Bezos Earth Fund, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s environment ministry earlier this year, has expressed interest in supporting Indonesia’s climate goals, he said.

The Bezos Earth Fund, however, said it has not committed to any specific programs or funding in Indonesia.

Hashim also stated that Indonesia’s reforestation efforts would prioritize restoring natural forests rather than creating monoculture plantations, which have been criticized for their limited biodiversity and carbon-absorption capacity. “We will plant fruit trees to create habitats for wildlife,” he said.

Still, Pramono cautioned that the government’s monitoring period for new plantations is inadequate. Under existing reforestation programs, the government is allocating funds to monitor and maintain the work for just three years after the trees are planted. And the government measures the success of a reforestation program by the number of seeds planted, rather than how many trees survive to maturity, he said.

“Building a forest means not just planting seeds, but also monitor and nurture them until they turn to mature trees with the ages of at least 15-20,” Pramono said. “For the reforestation initiative to succeed, the government has to be able to fund the maintenance of the plants until they become mature.”

Navigating structural and legal barriers

The success of the initiative may also hinge on addressing structural challenges, such as enforcing rehabilitation obligations for companies with mining concessions.

In 2019, the government identified at least 400,000 hectares (988,000 acres) of mining concessions in forest areas that should be rehabilitated by companies.

Despite legal requirements, many companies neglect to restore degraded lands after completing their operations, according to Rajiv, a lawmaker overseeing environmental issues.

He, therefore, urged the government to take a tougher stance.

“We ask the minister [of forestry] to be brave. If they don’t carry out [rehabilitation], just revoke their permits so that we’re not perceived as playing around,” Rajiv said during a parliamentary hearing in November 2024, which was also attended by the forestry minister, Raja.

Responding to the call, Raja pledged to enforce stricter oversight and collaborate with law enforcement to ensure compliance.

“I firmly say that I’m brave [to force companies to rehabilitate their concessions],” he said. “There’s no problem. As long as the data is there, we will crack down on these unruly concession owners with the authority that we have and work together with the attorney general’s office and the police.”

Path forward

Pramono recommend that the government prioritize reforestation in protected and conservation areas, which account for 10.1 million hectares (25 million acres) of Indonesia’s degraded lands. These areas are critical for preserving water catchments and preventing disasters like floods and landslides, he said.

Transparency and community involvement are also crucial to avoid forced evictions, according to Dewi Sartika of the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA).

“Don’t let these locations [to be reforested] target settlements and villages which have been claimed one-sidedly [by the government] as forest areas,” she said.

To make sure that the new reforestation initiatives are carried out in areas that urgently need to be reforested and avoid displacement of Indigenous communities, the government needs to make a master plan with detailed maps of degraded lands in the country, said Syaharani, the head of the environmental management department at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL).

Raja said the government has drafted a master plan that identifies lands that are in critical condition and thus need to be prioritized for reforestation.

Based on the mapping process so far, 6.5 million hectares (16 million acres) of the degraded lands that will be reforested are located in forest areas, and the rest are outside forest areas, he said.

Raja added that degraded lands can also be reforested with food crops using a system called intercropping in order to enhance food security without further deforestation.

“With this map, we will discuss with the president and the minister of agriculture on how to achieve food sovereignty,” Raja said.

Banner image: The Pesalat Reforestation Project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, where thousands of seedlings have been planted to restore forests lost due to fire and logging. Image by World Resources Institute via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

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