Indonesia could take back 1.4mil hectares of land from oil palm planters

Prabianto Mukti Wibowo, forestry governance official at Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, said 5.8 million hectares of forest area has been licensed out for palmplantations but 1.4 million hectares of that has not yet been converted to plantations and still has good tree cover.

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government could take back 1.4 million hectares (3.5 million acres) of forest as part of its ban on land clearing for palm plantations, an official said on Thursday.

Last year President Joko Widodo issued a ban on new permits for palm plantations for three years, aiming to protect the country's forests. The order also gave the government authority to review existing licenses, and revoke them if the area has not yet been cleared.