"Instead of just talking, it is important to implement a programme. Indonesia chooses to take actions, instead of just talking," Yudhoyono said.Cengkareng, Banten (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated the Indonesian Tree Planting Day and the National Tree Planting Month 2012 at the Urban Forest (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport) on Wednesday.
"Instead of just talking, it is important to implement a programme. Indonesia chooses to take actions, instead of just talking," Yudhoyono said.
The Kyoto Protocol could not force every nation to abide by its principles. The Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in 2009 failed to come up with a binding agreement on how we can protect the environment.
Indonesia, on the other hand, has no intention of giving up. Regardless of the deadlock at an international level, Indonesia has voluntarily offered to reduce carbon emissions in the country by up to 24 percent by 2020.
Indonesia is working closely with Sweden to preserve the environment through the `Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Plus' programme.
Since 2010, Indonesia has been planting one billion trees annually. The country has also prohibited the conversion of peat land.
The head of state has instructed schools to include courses on environmental conservation into the curriculum.
Indonesia's Forestry Minister said that more than one billion trees are planted every year. In 2010, the country planted 1.3 billion trees and this figure increased to 1.5 billion in 2011. For this year, as of October 2012, a total of 737 million trees have been planted.
Indonesia has managed to reduce the deforestation rate from 3.5 million hectares per year to 450,000 hectares per year.
In the tree planting event, President Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono and his spouse, and a number of ministers planted several trees at the Urban Forest.
All over Indonesia, people planted trees to commemorate the event.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
