Jakarta, June 17 -- The Environment Ministry is involving indigenous communities in efforts to address land degradation by learning from their traditional environmental management practices and applying them to help keep Indonesia's natural environment green and sustainable.

The ministry's Deputy for Pollution and Environmental Degradation Control, Rasio Ridho Sani, conveyed the statement on Wednesday during the Commemoration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which observed annually on June 17.

"We are currently taking steps as instructed by the minister. The minister has reminded us all of the ongoing land degradation," Sani noted.

He said the minister is pursuing several measures to restore the environment throu...