A nationwide program for planting and preserving trees has been facilitated by the Indonesian Women's Alliance and will enable women from all over Indonesia to demonstrate their support for the global fight against climate change and to take genuine, practical action to prevent global warming.
More than 750 Indonesian women will participate in signing the Declaration of Planting and Preserving Trees, on November 28 in Jakarta. This declaration will be followed by the planting of 10 million trees all over Indonesia, between December 1 – 22 2007.
Those signing the Declaration will represent a range of Women's Associations, including the Indonesian Woman’s Alliance for Sustainable Development (IWASD), Kongres Wanita Indonesia (KOWANI) and Solidaritas Istri Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu (SIKIB).
Mrs. Ani Yudhoyono - the wife of the President of the Republic of Indonesia – will also host a side event at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, from December 3-4. Mrs Yudhoyono will use this event to promote the Declaration and to encourage Indonesian women to show their support by planting and preserving trees in their own gardens or throughout their neighbourhoods.
This ambitious, nationwide program has been facilitated by IWASD and will enable women from all over Indonesia to demonstrate their support for the global fight against climate change and to take genuine, practical action to prevent global warming.
As well as helping to address climate change by sequestering carbon emissions, these 10 million trees will also deliver other environmental benefits such as protecting biodiversity and stabilising erosion.
About 40 of CIFOR and ICRAF’s female staff in Bogor office will take part in this event, which is in line with the organisation’s ongoing commitment to “walk the talk”, through the popular Greening CIFOR-ICRAF initiative.
“It’s great that through this amazing programme CIFOR and ICRAF’s female staff are able to contribute to climate change adaptation,” said Dina Satrio, who is actively involved in the Greening CIFOR-ICRAF Committee.
“It’s easy to look at issues like climate change and think ‘what can I possibly do?’” she said. “But the only way we’ll ever be able to tackle it is if we all dig in. It may not seem like much to plant a few trees, but it all adds up!”
In recent years CIFOR has significantly increased its research on climate change, and there are now two main strands. The first explores ways in which governments and communities can adapt to climate change, while the second strand looks at how forests and trees can be used to reduce atmospheric carbon, and at the same time improve the livelihoods of the rural poor.
Recently CIFOR extended its focus to include its own institutional operations and encourage more green procedures and practices in its offices. Based around an action plan of Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Redesign, Refactory, Replace, Recovery, eco-friendly initiatives include Bike 2 Work, paper recycling and reducing energy and water consumption. CIFOR is also investing funds in carbon-offset schemes in relation to staff plane travel.
For more information, or to get involved in the planting activities: