Indonesia’s tree planting shows commitment to tackling climate change ahead of Bali meeting

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has commended the Indonesian government for its initiative launched yesterday to plant 80 million trees across the country.

Dr Meine van Noordwijk, Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator for ICRAF, said that the international community should be congratulating Indonesia on positive steps such as this, rather than always focusing on negative aspects of the country’s environmental record.

“The fact that yesterday’s ceremony to kick-start the tree planting campaign was led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shows Indonesia’s willingness to deal with climate change issues is coming from the highest level,” Dr van Noordwijk said.

“With the Bali climate change meeting next month, this initiative should be seen as Indonesia showing the world it is taking deforestation and climate change seriously.”

An estimated 10,000 people are expected to attend the United Nations climate change meeting in Bali next week and this tree planting effort will surpass off-setting the carbon footprint of all delegates.

Dr van Noordwijk joined in the tree planting ceremony yesterday along with colleague Dr. Niken Sakunataladewi, also from ICRAF. They planted a local mango, Kemang as well as Eucalyptus deglupta, a native to eastern Indonesia.

Of particular interest to the World Agroforestry Centre was that people were keen to take home with them productive trees such as Durian and other fruit trees.

“It was terrific to see the interest shown by all participants as well as the focus on taking care of the trees once they had been planted.

For more information , visit the World Agroforestry centre website