This year, Trees4Trees commemorates its 16th year reforestation journey, marking a significant milestone in its environmental preservation efforts. Celebrating this occasion, Trees4Trees organized the Planting Festival throughout June, which took place in three distinct locations within its operation areas. They included the industrial area of GIIC Bekasi, the coastal area of Mangunharjo Semarang, and Tunjungseto Village in Kebumen.
Bringing together diverse communities, company partners, government representatives, and students as tree-planting volunteers, this event also aimed at celebrating World Environmental Day and World Ocean Day that fell close to Trees4Trees anniversary on June 11th.
“By involving various communities and our green partners, this initiative seeks to enhance the integration of our tree-planting efforts with Trees4Trees’ stakeholders,” said Pandu Budi Wahono, Trees4Trees Program Manager. Additionally, he stated that the festival was conducted in various landscapes, focusing on improving urban, rural, and coastal areas.
Creating Urban Forest within GIIC Industrial Area
Starting the Planting Festival series, Trees4Trees collaborated with the GIIC Industrial Area to plant 1,000 trees, coinciding with the World Environment Day, June 5th. Around 80 participants from various companies and government representatives joined the event to help create urban forest amidst the bustling Jakarta buffer zone and expect benefits of carbon sequestration from industrial activities.
“Previously, we planted 25,000 trees here with support from some companies as our green partners. Today, Trees4Trees is contributing an additional 1,000 trees to further green this area,” said Pandu.
Dani Ramdan, the Regent of Bekasi Regency was also attended the event. He thanked Trees4Trees and the companies committed to environmental preservation by joining this initiative. He said, the effort goes beyond improving the industrial area; it helps the planet globally. “The trees we plant here have a global impact. The effects of global warming are real, and we experience extreme weather ourselves. Hopefully, this tree planting will help address these issues,” he said.
Helping Coastal Area Restoration in Mangunharjo Semarang
On June 11th, the festival continued by planting 2,000 mangroves and 100 Australian pines to help restore the coastal area of Mangunharjo in Semarang. Around 100 participants came together as tree-planting volunteers. “We invited our green partners to experience tree planting firsthand. We also engaged fifteen communities from twelve universities in Semarang. We’re grateful for their willingness to join us for the future of our planet,” said Erni Setyaningrum, Trees4Trees Office Manager.
Collaborating with Mangunharjo Mangrove Lestari farmer group, the event aimed to help local communities combat coastal erosion, tidal flood, and to protect local fishponds. “We see that many areas here are losing their mangrove ecological habitats and functions. We intentionally aim to green this coastal area by planting mangroves and Australian pine together. It is part of our contribution for coastal ecosystem restoration,” Adi Gani, Trees4Trees Project Manager revealed.
Sururi, the farmer group leader and a recipient of the prestigious Kalpataru Award from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for his dedication to coastal ecosystem improvement, thanked Trees4Trees for helping them in greening the coastal area. “We hope this effort will continue by planting more trees. Also in other places as well,” he said. Sururi believes that this way, other coastal communities in Central Java can experience the benefits.
Soil and Water Conservation for Tunjungseto Village’s Tourist Destinations
Tunjungseto Village in Kebumen is one of the areas where Trees4Trees focuses its reforestation efforts. The village is currently developing two promising tourist destinations: Bukit Kedoya and Tratag waterfall, a main source of local irrigation. As part of the festival series, Trees4Trees supported the village by planting 1,000 trees on June 15th.
“This initiative supports these potential tourist destinations development and promotes environmental preservation, especially soil and water conservation,” said Pandu.
The tree-planting event involved the local environment community of Tunjungseto, 30 elementary school students, three youth communities from different universities, company partners, and government representatives. “We planted 200 fruit trees, including avocado, durian, nutmeg, and mangosteen in Bukit Kedoya to provide shade. The next day, we planted 800 sugar palm trees around Tratag waterfall to enhance water sources,” said Mar’atun Chasanah, Trees4Trees Kebumen Unit Manager.
Mar’atun explained that sugar palms are highly effective for water conservation due to the root system which holds a great amount of water. She also emphasized that involving youth and local communities expects to raise awareness among younger generations about the importance of planting trees.
As we celebrate 16 years of our reforestation journey, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers involved. Our gratitude goes to youth communities, companies, governments, and schools who participated in our events and planted trees with dedication. Furthermore, we deeply grateful to the incredible supports of local communities, collaborators, media, and our generous sponsors—BJB, Bank Mandiri, Pinnacle Outdoors, Basilia Group, Cosi Outdoors, and Delta Mas.
We also extend our gratitude to all our sponsors and individual donors. Your support over the past 16 years creates great impacts on the environment and the local communities.
Let’s continue to green the world and make our planet a better place to live! You can plant and donate trees with Trees4Trees to create a greater impact on the environment and the local communities!
