Indonesia has criticized the terms of a global deal to end deforestation by 2030, signalling that the country may not abide by it. Indonesia's environment minister has dismissed as "inappropriate and unfair" a global plan to end deforestation by 2030, days after her country, home to a third of the world's rainforests, joined 127 other nations in making the deforestation pledge. Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the authorities could not "promise what we can't do". Despite President Joko Widodo signing the forest deal, she said development remained Indonesia's top priority. The agreement late on Monday at the COP26 climate talks was at odds with Indonesia's development plans and the global goals should be fine-tuned, said Nurbaya, who attended the summit in Glasgow. "Forcing Indonesia to (reach) zero deforestation in 2030 is clearly inappropriate and unfair," she said on Twitter on Wednesday. "The massive development of President Jokowi's era must not stop in the name of carbon emissions or in the name of deforestation," she said, referring to Indonesian leader, Joko Widodo by his nickname. Her comments so soon after the pledge underline the challenges ahead over global deforestation goals, with just three countries -- Indonesia, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- collectively accounting for 85% of the world's forests. In a Facebook post (in Indonesian), Nurbaya argued that the country's vast natural resources must be used for the benefit of its people. She cited the need to cut down forests to make way for new roads. "The massive development of President Jokowi's era must not stop in the name of carbon emissions or in the name of deforestation," she said, referring to Widodo by his nickname. "Indonesia's natural wealth, including forests, must be managed for its use according to sustainable principles, besides being fair," she said. Meanwhile, Indonesia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar said that describing the deal as a zero-deforestation pledge was "false and misleading". Indonesia's vast forests are still shrinking, despite a marked slowdown in the deforestation rate in recent years. According to the Global Forest Watch monitoring website, in 2001 the country had nearly 94 million hectares of primary forest -- defined as tropical forest that has not been completely cleared and regrown in recent history. That area had decreased by at least 10% by 2020. — Agencies
