Mt. Gede gets 1,700 more trees
Written by Writer on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Mt. Gede gets 1,700 more trees
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 10/23/2008 10:57 AM | City
More than 1,700 trees “adopted” by Jakartans will be planted at Mt. Gede, in Cianjur, West Java at the end of this month, to help prevent flooding in the capital.
Some of the new trees will be planted to replace dozens of seedlings that died because they were planted in the wrong season.
The adopt-a-tree program, organized by Jakarta-based Green Radio, in collaboration with Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park (TNGP), planted 200 seedlings in the dry season last July. It has been reported that at least 40 percent of those seedlings failed to survive.
Green Radio has been organizing the tree adoption program since April 2008, calling on listeners to donate Rp 108,000 (US$10) to cover the cost of one tree and its maintenance for three years. In exchange, the adopter will get his or her name on the tree.
After three years it is expected a tree will be able to survive naturally.
“This month we planted more adopted trees in the area,” Santoso, the Green Radio director, said recently.
He said this time he was optimistic that the trees would survive because it is now the rainy season.
Green Radio has set a goal to plant 4,000 trees in a 10-hectare plot in the park.
The station chose the TNGP because many parts of the park are in poor condition and still need trees, following its conversion from production forest to conservation forest.
“Also it is close to Jakarta and so people who adopt the trees can visit them easily,” said Santoso.
The trees that will be planted are varieties native to TNGP and include the rasamala (Altinigia excelsat), suren (Toona sinensis), and puspa (Schima walichii).
Bambang Sukamanato, head of TNGP, said the adopted trees would be taken care of by 43 farmer families who live in the forest. Some of the money from the adopters will be spent to support them, he added.
More than 1,700 trees have been adopted by Jakartans this second time around and are ready to be planted. One adopter is celebrity Zora Vidyanata, the 2002 Putri Indonesia finalist.
“I adopted the trees because I am a victim of regular flooding in Jakarta,” said Zola. “By adopting trees, I hope the city would be free from floods every year.” (naf)
