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HAKA: Aceh Loses 8,906 Hectares of Forest Cover in One Year

Banda Aceh — The Aceh Forest, Nature, and Environment Foundation (HAkA) noted that throughout 2023, Aceh lost 8,906 hectares of forest cover or equivalent to 1.5 times the area of ​​Lake Lut Tawar, Takengon.

"So 8,906 hectares is equivalent to 1.5 times the area of ​​Lake Lut Tawar. That's just one year," said HAkA GIS Manager, Lukmanul Hakim in a discussion of the Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) of Banda Aceh City entitled "Deforestation of Aceh's Forests and Its Solutions" at the AJI Banda Aceh Secretariat, Thursday (29/2).

According to Lukman, of the 8,906 hectares of forest cover lost, 4,502 hectares were in the Lauser ecosystem area (KEL). While the rest is outside the KEL, which is around 4,854 hectares.

"According to our data, the remaining forest cover area in 2023 will be 2.94 million hectares, but we are sure that the remaining forest area in Aceh is greater than this," he said.

Lukman explained that the forests in Aceh are currently still considered better when compared to the other nine provinces in Sumatra. Nationally, Aceh is even ranked ninth in terms of the highest forest cover percentage in Indonesia.

"55 percent of our forests are still larger than the average forest area in Indonesia. Indonesia's national average is 51 percent, so we are still above the national average," he said.

According to Lukman, in terms of trends, deforestation in Aceh has actually continued to decline. Based on HAkA data, in 2015 the deforestation rate was still around 21 thousand hectares. Then it dropped steadily to 15 thousand hectares in the period from 2018 to 2020.

"Meanwhile, in the last three years it has also been stable at three thousand hectares," he said.

He said, during 2023 there were three districts with the highest deforestation, namely South Aceh 1,854 hectares, Subulussalam 911 hectares, and North Aceh 866 hectares. If the accumulation of 2017-2023, Central Aceh had the highest deforestation compared to other regions.

Lukman added, from 2019 to 2022, Aceh became the province with the best forest cover in Sumatra. However, Aceh is also number one in terms of the most disasters in Sumatra.

"So the forest is also the best in Sumatra, the disaster is also number one. This is contradictory," he said.

Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Aceh BKSDA Forest Police, Rahmat, said that one of the impacts of deforestation is the narrowing of wildlife habitat.

He said that Aceh has four key animals, namely elephants, orangutans, tigers, and rhinos. According to him, rhinos are the most worrying animals in Aceh.

"There is habitat fragmentation so that the space for animals to move or roam is reduced," he said.

Editor: Boy Nashruddin

Sources

Hutan Aceh
Hutan Aceh

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