Just a few days after it was signed, Indonesia put the Glasgow Forest Agreement into perspective.

It was "inappropriate and unfair" to force Indonesia to completely stop deforestation by 2030, wrote Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, according to press reports on Friday on social media.

The economy is a priority for Indonesia.

"The massive development in the era of President Jokowi must not be stopped in the name of carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation," wrote the minister.

She used the nickname of Indonesia's President Joko Widodo.

The minister said that if deforestation were stopped completely, even the construction of roads in forest areas would no longer be possible.

Till Fähnders

Political Correspondent for Southeast Asia.

  • Follow I follow

The agreement states that the signatories want to work to "stop and reverse" the loss of forest land by 2030.

It was closed on Monday at the world climate summit in Glasgow by 110 countries, which together make up more than 85 percent of the world's forest area.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had spoken of a “milestone”, since wooded countries such as Indonesia had also participated.

Different interpretations of the agreement

Obviously there are differences in the interpretation. For example, Indonesia criticizes statements by the British Environment Minister Zac Goldsmith that the agreement "ends deforestation by 2030". That is not in the text, said Indonesia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar. He described the statement as "possibly unintentional, but clearly wrong and misleading".

Indonesia has set itself the goal of achieving a state of forest management known as a “carbon net sink” by 2030.

This means that the sector should then absorb more CO2 emissions than it produces.

Indonesian environmentalists criticized the government on Friday for distancing itself from the agreement so soon after it was agreed.

Indonesia is the country with the third largest area of ​​tropical rainforest in the world.

Huge forest areas are often illegally cleared for the plantations of the palm oil and paper industries.