JAKARTA — Indonesia’s deforestation is once again rising after several years of decline, with 2024 marking the highest rate since 2021. The data also show that the vast majority of forest loss is legal, a stark difference from previous periods dominated by illegal deforestation. The country lost 261,575 hectares (646,366 acres) of forests, an area four times the size of Jakarta. That’s up 1.6% from 2023, according to data from environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, which has been monitoring the country’s forest cover for years. “While it’s only 4,000 hectares [nearly 10,000 acres] of increase [in forest loss], it’s still a worrying trend,” Auriga Nusantara director Timer Manurung told Mongabay. “At a time when natural forests [in Indonesia] keep shrinking, this number is still significant.” This increase after years of declining deforestation shows how the government has failed to protect the country’s remaining forests, estimated at less than 90 million hectares (222 million acres), according to official data, Timer said. While the government has issued a number of forest protection policies, they’re aimed mainly at restricting the issuance of new concessions for plantations and other commercial activities that involve clearing forests. But there’s no policy to protect the remaining stands of forest that lie within existing concessions that have already been granted by the government, Timer said. In fact, the government incentivizes companies to clear forests within their concessions once they have the permits to do so, and punishes them for not doing so fast enough by rescinding the concessions and…This article was originally published on Mongabay