An article by Nadya Natahadibrata, The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia has the fastest rate of deforestation in the past 12 years, according to a new global map on deforestation.

A team of researchers from 15 universities — led by the University of Maryland and assisted by Google and NASA — has created the first high-resolution global map on Google Earth that maps forest cover.

In a study that was published in the journal Science on Thursday, the researchers reported a global loss of 2.3 million square kilometers of forest between 2000 and 2012 and a gain of 800,000 square kilometers of new forest, with an increase of 2,101 square kilometers of forest loss each year.

Indonesia, according to the study, has experienced the highest rate of deforestation between 2000 and 2012, from around 10,000 square kilometers per year between 2000 and 2003 to around 20,000 square kilometers of deforestation per year between 2011 and 2012.

During the latest period, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono actually initiated the forest clearance moratorium to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and rate of deforestation.

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