A man tries to put out a forest fire in west Aceh, Indonesia, July 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Junaidi)
JAKARTA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has extended a moratorium for anther two years on issuing new licenses to land designed as forest and peatland, the presidential office said on Tuesday.
The move is partly aimed at protecting eco-system, restoring peatland after forest fires, and reducing emissions resulted from forest fires during deforestation.
President Joko Widodo has inked a presidential instruction on the extension of the moratorium.
"I instruct to continue moratorium on awarding a new license for land designed as primary forest and peatland located in conservation forest, protected forest, and productive forest," the statement said.
The moratorium covers an area of over 66 million hectares across the vast archipelagic country.
Indonesia has often witnessed forest fires during dry season, which are frequently resulted from land clearing for new plantations.
Choking smoke haze from Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo islands has often sent smoke to neighboring ASEAN countries. Enditem
