Indonesian president calls for mass tree planting

Yahoo News 5 Jun 08;

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono marked World Environment Day on Thursday with a call for citizens to make a bigger effort to plant trees across the massive archipelago.

Indonesia planted some 79 million trees in a day-long event ahead of a global climate change conference on the resort island of Bali in December, but Yudhoyono said the nation had to do more.

With soaring food prices adding to concerns over climate change, he said people should consider planting fruit-bearing trees.

"Let's continue to plant more trees," he said in a speech to commemorate World Environment Day.

"I have ordered the forestry minister to lead this movement and to choose coconut and breadfruit," he said.

But the president failed to mention some of the most glaring environmental issues facing his country, such as illegal logging, the fight to protect endangered species and the wholesale destruction of forests for plantations.

Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil which is enjoying a boom on the back of strong global demand and tight supply, driving a massive expansion in the amount of forested land being converted to plantations.

Pressure groups including Greenpeace have called for a moratorium on new plantations in Indonesia to prevent an environmental crisis.

The government however announced last month it was looking at its vast easternmost provinces in Papua to expand its palm oil industry.

Meanwhile one of the biggest populations of wild orangutans on Borneo will be extinct in three years without drastic measures to stop the unchecked spread of plantations, conservationists say.

More than 30,000 wild orangutans live in the forests of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, or more than half the entire orangutan population of Borneo island, which is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Experts believe the overall extinction rate of Borneo orangutans is nine percent per year, but in Central Kalimantan they are disappearing even faster due to plantation expansion and the destruction of habitat.

The destruction of Indonesia's forests is seen as a major contributor to global warming and climate change.

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on June 5 since 1972, is the initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme.

President calls for concrete actions to save environment
Antara 5 Jun 08;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for concrete actions to save the environment in the face of the global warming and climate change phenomena that were degrading the environment.

Nobody should wait to do something to save the environment, Yudhoyono said at a function to mark National Environment Day 2008 at the State Palace here on Thursday.

"Climate change and global warming are real. Let us stop arguing about these issues, let us take concrete actions," the President said at the event which was also attended by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.

Among the concrete actions people could take were preserving forests and land by planting trees, especially coconut and breadfruit trees, he said.

"My message to the forestry minister is, please plant coconut and breadfruit trees because breadfruit trees can retain water. So, God Willing, there will no more flooding," Yudhoyono said.

The second example of concrete actions was energy saving for the benefit of the environment and the economy, he said.

"The third step is clean up the sewage system. If the sewage system is clean, the environment will be healthy. Besides, it will prevent flooding," he said.

The President also urged the people and the regional administrations to promote healthy, clean and estethic life styles.

In remarks addressed to regional administration chiefs, the president said the quality of the environment in their respective jurisdiction was one of the indicators of their success or failure in running their administrations.

Yudhoyono cited four factors affecting environmental preservation, namely government policies, education, behavior and life style as well as technology.

On the occasion, Indonesian First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and Forestry Minister MS Kaban, received a "Certificate of Global Leadership", an award from the United Nations, for promoting the planting of millions of trees in Indonesia as part of the Billion Tree Planting Campaign spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agro-forestry Center (ICRAF).

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also presented `Kalpataru` (Tree of Life) awards to nine people and three NGOs who have been helping the country`s environmental preservation, and `Adipura` Awards to a number of cities for keeping up high cleanliness standards. (*)