Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry aims to restore 15,000 hectares of degraded ecosystems this year, prioritizing oil-palm-encroached areas in Riau’s Tesso Nilo National Park alongside critical peatlands and coastal mangroves, officials announced Monday.”We have several degraded ecosystems that must be returned to forest, including mangroves and areas damaged by illegal encroachment,” said Satyawan Pudyatmoko, Director General of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation (KSDAE), speaking in Jakarta.The 2026 drive forms part of a broader conservation roadmap to rehabilitate approximately 1.27 million hectares of protected areas nationwide. On a national scale, the government aims to restore 12.7 million hectares of degraded land both inside and outside state forest zones by 2030.The initiative spans 47 technical implementation units across the country, with Tesso Nilo National Park serving as the primary focus. Large-scale illegal conversions into oil palm plantations have severely fragmented wildlife habitats and disrupted local ecosystem functions within the park.Satyawan emphasized that field-level restoration will accompany legal enforcement and state asset recovery against illegal land grabs.”The largest focus area is Tesso Nilo,” Satyawan added. “Tesso Nilo has extensive oil palm plantations that we must convert back into forest” to safeguard regional biodiversity.