Jakarta, Oct. 24 -- Indonesia's Forestry Ministry is using an early warning system to identify deforestation in unlicensed forest utilization areas as part of efforts to curb illegal timber production.

"We have an early warning system that tracks when and where forest clearing occurs, and we update it every two weeks," said Agus Budi Santosa, Director of Forest Resources Inventory and Monitoring at the ministry, during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday.

He said coordination is being carried out between the Directorate General of Forestry Planning and the Directorate General of Sustainable Forest Management (PHL) in monitoring areas managed under Forest Utilization Business Permits (PBPH), particularly those involving wood and deriva...