KINTAMANI ~ Wooded areas of Kintamani, Bangli, are decreasing in size due to illegal logging, an official said.

According to the head of Bangli’s Agriculture, Gardening and Forestry Department, I Wayan Sukartana, the forest is now 9,341 hectares in total, including 6,239 hectares of protected forest, 453 hectares of productive forest and 2,649 hectares for tourism.

According to Sukartana, the area of the forest is now much smaller than it should be.

“There is no room to expand the remaining forested area,” he said.

However, he said to help the area thrive, the department would try to improve irrigation in the area by developing a 29,000-hectare area of protected land.

He said it was difficult to solve forestry problems in the area, because local people used the illegally cleared areas to support themselves and their families.