Jakarta (ANTARA News) - World environment organization Greenpeace urged the forestry ministry to stop issuing permits for the conversion of peat land in peat swampy ecosystem which is prone to forest fires.

The rally, held by Greenpeace activists in front of the forestry ministry building here on Thursday morning, was highlighted with "artificial haze" and the unfurling of banners saying "Stop forest conversion".

Hapsoro, the rally`s coordinator, said his side only urged Forestry Minister MS Kaban to immediately stop all kinds of land clearings in the forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, cutting off the chain of forest fires and haze which can threaten the health of millions of people.

"We also call for an investigation of big companies allegedly responsible for forest fires," he said, adding that so far the forestry ministry was seen as having failed to exercise functional control in a transparent manner because not all land owners received a sanction for forest fires they had caused.

This was the second rally the Greenpeace activists had done in their demand for a meeting with Minister MS Kaban. At present, they still could not meet the minister even after sending an official request for a meeting with the minister.

Indonesia is viewed as having vast forests in the Asian and Pacific region. At least 11 percent of the world`s forests is found in this region.

Based on official figures from the forestry ministry, the forest destruction rate in Indonesia has reached 2.8 million hectares per year.

In the meantime, the result of a World Bank research conducted in 1999 showed that some of forests in Sumatra had disappeared in 2005 and 2010.

In addition to large scale tree fellings and illegal logging, forest destruction was also caused by forest fires.