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Indonesia map from United States Central Intelligence Agency

Indonesia, which has been losing forests at a rapid pace in recent years, plans to plant 100 million trees across the country this year in an effort to limit deforestation, a forestry official said on Wednesday.

Indonesia has lost an estimated 70 percent of its original frontier forest, but it still has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres (91 million hectares), with a host of exotic plants and animals waiting to be discovered.

Panthera tigris sumatran subspecies The Sumatran Tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies only found in Indonesia Photo by Monika Betley, from Wikipedia

The richest forests are found in Borneo -- the world's third-largest island shared among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei -- which is home to about 2,000 types of trees, more than 350 species of birds and 210 mammal species.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said in a report that Indonesia was suffering the fastest forest loss in the world at almost 1.9 million hectares per year.

The nutmeg plant is native to Indonesia's Banda Islands. Once one of the world's most valuable commodities, It drew the first European colonial powers to Indonesia. Illustration of Myristica fragrans nutmeg by Franz Eugen Köhler, in Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen from Wikipedia

In 2007, Indonesia succeeded in planting more than 100 million trees, surpassing its planting target of 79 million, said forestry ministry spokesman Masyhud.

"The realisation of planting in 2007 shows that the public is enthusiastic ... we hope it can become the culture of the community," Masyhud said.

Indonesia plans to start planting on Nov 28 and continue through December to coincide with the rainy season or planting season, Masyhud said.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy is also among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peatland degradation, forest fires, according to a report sponsored by the World Bank and Britain's development arm.

Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Sanjeev Miglani

Reprinted with permission from Planet Ark. November 20, 2008 Reuters News Service