Jakarta, July 1 -- Indonesia's Forestry Ministry will prioritize restoring degraded upstream forests and downstream areas near settlements to reduce flood and landslide risks following recent disasters in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.

Deputy Forestry Minister Rohmat Marzuki said on Wednesday that the designated red zones face the highest disaster risks and require immediate forest and land rehabilitation.

"These areas must become priority locations for forest and land rehabilitation because they face very high vulnerability," he said.

Marzuki said recent flash floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra underscored the urgency of strengthening disaster mitigation.

He said the disasters showed that tropical cy...