"We hope that the planting and preservation initiatives will restore these critical forest areas," said Wawan Gunawan, Head of the Banten DLH, during the closure of illegal gold mining pits in the Mount Halimun Salak National Park conservation forest area in Lebak on Friday.
The 200,000 hectares of damaged critical forest areas in Banten comprise critical and very critical areas, some of which are located within conservation forest areas and some outside productive forest areas.
The local government regularly plants diverse tree species in degraded forests, aiming for 1,000 trees annually, including mahogany, breadfruit, rain trees, puspa, albasia, and bamboo.
Trees are also planted along riverbanks to help reduce landslide risks.
"We are continuing our reforestation efforts through this tree-planting initiative," he said.
According to him, forest damage is caused by various factors, including illegal logging and illegal mining, including illegal mining in conservation forest areas. Furthermore, land conversion to residential, plantation, and agricultural uses is also occurring.
Therefore, the regional government is collaborating with relevant agencies to regulate and enforce forest areas to prevent damage because forest damage threatens the ecological environment, as well as the social and economic well-being of the local communities.
More seriously, forest damage can lead to natural disasters, such as those that occurred in North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Aceh.
Therefore, his office supports the collaboration involving 10 ministerial institutions through the Forest Area Regulation Task Force (PKH) to implement President Prabowo Subianto's directive.
"We strongly support the PKH Task Force in preserving and reforesting forests to prevent further encroachment and destruction by forestry criminals," he said.
Febby Rizky Pratama, Secretary of the Lebak Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), stated that his agency is collaborating with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to conduct a planting campaign on critical land to preserve the natural environment and prevent disasters.
The Lebak BPBD, along with the BNPB, recently planted 14,500 sturdy, productive shade tree seedlings such as breadfruit, mahogany, mango, avocado, sengon, rain tree, jackfruit, guava, jabon, and durian.
The planting took place in the Cisimeut River Basin (DAS), a sub-river of the Ciujung RIver Basin, which is highly vulnerable to flooding.
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Translator: Mansyur Suryana, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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