Antara 5 May 10;
Bogor, W Java (ANTARA News) - Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said on Tuesday the government is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent through a one-billion-tree planting campaign.
The trees would be planted on 1.6 million hectares of land nationwide, he said.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself wants 1 billion trees planted across Indonesia in 2010. The move is aimed at achieving the government`s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 26 percent," he said.
Gusti said his office would always monitor the realization of the program in each region until the number of trees planted reached one billion.
He called on regional governments to ensure the success of the program by launching one-man-one-tree campaigns. If a province had a population of 50 million there would be 50 million new trees.
"We will monitor the program and record any tree-planting activities in regions to see if the number of new trees has reached 1 billion," he said.
He said the campaigns were effective to cut greenhouse gas emissions because trees functions as emission absorbents.
The current increase in greenhouse gas emissions was contributed not only by greenhouse effect but also by deforestation, he said. (*)
Government allocates Rp 600b to forest rehabilitation
The Jakarta Post 5 May 10;
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Wednesday the government had allocated Rp 600 billion (US$66million) in budget to forest rehabilitation program by planting a total of 1 billion tree seeds across the country in the upcoming one year.
“We are obliged to rehabilitate forest days and nights if necessary,” Zulkifli said during his work trip to Pasuruan, East Java, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Zulkifli said the government would work with residents around the forest to carry out the rehabilitation
program. Each group of residents responsible for the rehabilition program would receive a minimum fund of Rp 50 million, he added.
