Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that the rate of deforestation in the country has been reduced to 300,000 hectares per year from 3 million hectares per annum 10 years ago.

“We have gone past the critical stage and we are now entering a recovery process,” Zulkifli said as quoted by kompas.com.

In an effort to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, a presidential decree in May 2011 ordered a two-year suspension on new concession permits on primary forests and peatland.

Data from Greenpeace published in 2011 estimated that 4.9 million hectares of primary forests and peatland, out of a total 71.01 million hectares covered by the moratorium, would have been lost to palm-oil industries, coal mines and other forest conversions by the end of May this year.