The Magelang government made efforts to maintain good environmental quality by planting trees in Wates Village, North Magelang Sub-district, on Friday.
Mayor of Magelang Muchamad Nur Aziz planted trees symbolically followed by Deputy Mayor of Magelang, M. Mansyur, members of the Magelang Regional House of Representatives, and officials from regional leadership coordination forum.
“Trees are very important, (such as) for preventing landslides (and) for absorbing carbon. We are grateful that Magelang City is cool and beautiful, so it must be maintained properly,” he affirmed.
This activity could also serve as a means of community empowerment since the trees planted were situated around fish ponds that could potentially become educational tourism spots in future.
However, everyone’s contribution in realizing this is deemed crucial.
He noted that the Magelang government had disbursed Rp30 million per neighbourhood (RT) per year for community empowerment in accordance with each area’s prospects.
Head of the Environment Agency, O. T. Rostrianto, remarked that the tree planting event was held to commemorate the 2022 Million Trees Movement that was usually celebrated annually on January 10.
The movement was initiated due to the decline in environmental quality, climate change, and current global warming.
He called on people to preserve trees since they play an important role in the lives of humans and other species as a whole.
Trees help to mitigate or reduce the impact of environmental and climate damage, absorb carbon dioxide to reduce air pollution, and also provide nutrition to people and other species.
Rostrianto remarked that trees help to fulfill the groundwater requirements for drinking, sanitation and irrigation, prevent erosion and landslides, as well as protect the biodiversity.
Source: Antara News