Indonesia is planning to reclaim over a million hectares of what it deems illegal palm oil plantations, a move aimed at improving the industry’s reputation in global markets and increasing state revenue, Bloomberg reports.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), which leads a forestry task force established earlier this year by President Prabowo Subianto, announced on Wednesday that it has identified approximately 1.2 million hectares of illegal plantations to be returned to the management of the forestry ministry.
As the world’s largest palm oil producer, Indonesia has been working since 2019 to crack down on plantations lacking proper permits or operating in designated forest areas. These efforts seek to increase state revenues and combat allegations that the industry’s expansion has led to deforestation and endangered wildlife.
The AGO also announced the transfer of 217,000 hectares of illegal plantations, currently held by 109 companies on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, to state-owned PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara. This marks the second such transfer this month, following a recent allocation of approximately 220,000 hectares of distressed palm oil plantations to the same company.
Indonesia currently has over 16 million hectares of land dedicated to palm oil plantations, with the government estimating that around three million hectares are operating illegally.
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