Indonesia: Thousands of rare trees planted in North Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan The Jakarta Post 26 Apr 19;

The South Tapanuli regency administration in cooperation with PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE) have started growing thousands of rare trees around the PLTA Batang Toru hydropower plant in an effort to minimize the impact of climate change.

Light red meranti trees and dark red meranti trees were planted in Sipirok district, South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, to commemorate World Earth Day on April 22.

“Both rare species are endangered because of excessive exploitation by humans,” PT NSHE vice president of communication and social affairs Firman Taufick told The Jakarta Post recently.

Light red meranti and dark red meranti were near threatened and endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The tree-planting received a warm welcome from South Tapanuli Deputy Regent Eswin Siregar.

“This is important for the future of our children and grandchildren, especially because they are rare trees,” Eswin said, promising to develop the trees across the regency. (swa)