To commemorate Earth Day which was celebrated internationally on Monday, 22 April, our team in Indonesia ran a tree planting event in the village of Pematang Gadung with the theme United Action to Save the Earth for the Future.
The activity is aimed at revitalising the Deras River area which enters the Pematang Gadung Village Forest.
The area caught fire in 2015, leaving only grass and shrubs. In addition, the activity also aims to encourage the community in Pematang Gadung Village to care for and maintain the earth sustainably. It is also expected that the village government will be active and consistent in its efforts to preserve the natural environment in Pematang Gadung so that in future other environmental actions will be initiated independently by the regional government, so that the community will be motivated to protect and preserve the earth.
For this event, we collaborated with several parties such as the Ketapang Regional Government, the 1203 Kodapang District Military Command, Ketapang District Attorney, West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Ketapang I Section, Gunung Palung National Park Hall, Manggala Agni, Kasi Ekbang Subdistrict Matan Hilir South (MHS), non-commissioned officers, police MHS, Koramil MHS, Yayasan Palung, Tropenbos, Kesatuan Pengelola Hutan (KPH) Ketapang South, the village head of Pematang Gadung, the Chairman of the PKK Pematang Gadung, Village Chief, Pengurus Parks Read innovators, Chairman of RT, Religious Leaders Pematang Gadung, the Professor of MIS Darussalam, the Institute of Forest Management in Pematang Gadung Village, the Pongo Ranger Community, 7 MHS Junior high school students and elementary school students 4 MHS.
The event began with singing the song Indonesia Raya at the pier of Pematang Gadung Village, followed by opening remarks by the Village Head of Pematang Gadung, Sahdimin and Operations Manager of IAR Indonesia, Dr Adi Irawan, and ended with remarks by the Special Staff of the Ketapang Regent, Hernowo, who also opened the event.
To reach the location of the tree planting, the group used a speedboat to cross the river to camp Kepuluk Semai Kahiu, a tree nursery which we established in 2017. Since then, no less than 6000 tree seedlings have been planted on an area of 11 hectares. Before planting, participants were given information about the nursery, before walking to the planting area some 200 metres away. The planting activity started at 10:00 and closed at 12:00 when everyone participating went to lunch together.
The event was applauded by the Village Head of Pematang Gadung, Sahdimin.
In his remarks, he said he hoped that, as a result of the event, more people would care about nature. He also thanked all the guests for coming to Pematang Gadung.
IAR Indonesia Operational Manager, Dr Adi Irawan, also expressed his appreciation to the village parties who were willing to facilitate this activity. He hoped that the collaboration and cooperation would continue. “Let’s take this moment of Earth Day together to preserve the forest in Pematang Gadung Village. Not planting is not cool,” he said on this occasion.
Ketapang Regent, Martin Rantan, through his special staff member Hernowo, expressed his gratitude to all parties and all environmental activists who have assisted and increased the capacity of the community by managing the environment in Ketapang Regency. “I also invite people to protect the earth from harm by throwing rubbish in the right place, and separating and recycling organic waste into fertiliser. We must guard this earth because we don’t have another one, there is only one planet earth,” he said in his speech.