Jakarta – More than 25 percent of the natural forests in Papua have been sold in concessions to timber firms exporting to Japan, the US, the European Union and China, said the director of Greenpeace in Southeast Asia, Emmy Hafild, on Wednesday.

She said the government needed to immediately make moratorium deals with timber companies in a bid to stop or at least slow deforestation in the resource-rich province.

Data from the Forestry Ministry shows the government has sold 11.6 million hectares of forest in Papua to 65 firms.