Nursery workers are loading tree seedlings in Ciminyak nursery to be distributed to various planting areas in West Bandung regency. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis.
The New Year is about to come! 2022 is an amazing year, and now Trees4Trees is continuing its journey of planting trees to green the world. The Trees4Trees 2022 planting season currently is underway, and more trees will be planted.
We’re thankful for those who support our green journey to make environmental improvements and help local communities through planting trees. Because of incredible support from sponsors and stakeholders, we hit some new milestones in 2022.
Trees4trees 2022 Reforestation journey
2023 will be even better, we’ll be planting a lot more trees in the coming year and helping more communities to get started in smallholder forestry. We’re going to continue our green story in 2023.
this moment is also a good oportunity to reset our habits that support a sustainable life. By changing some habits to be more eco-friendly, we are doing good to the earth and helping to save lives in the future.
Happy New Year! We wish you a greater and greener year to come. Keep spreading kindness to our earth by planting trees with Trees4Trees. You can also gift trees as New Year’s presents.
(Above) The latest batch of seedlings sets off from Trees4Trees’ new nursery in Ciminyak – part of our program to plant 10 million trees in the Citarum watershed by 2025. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis.
In 2018, the Citarum became famous for all the wrong reasons, when an environmental survey and medias reported it as the ‘World’s Dirtiest River’. In response, the Indonesian government decided it was high time to implement a comprehensive renewal program for the region. Now, with the help of Trees4Trees, the Citarum is ready to be reborn.
Working closely with the Government of Indonesia and One Tree Planted, and with funding from AstraZeneca, Trees4Trees has started an ambitious reforestation program in the Citarum watershed. A key part of our 2022 planting season, the project will plant a minimum of 10 million trees by 2025.
But how can trees help clean the world’s dirtiest river? What is being done to tackle the problem? And what is the bigger picture for environmental recovery in the region? Trees4Trees has the answers.
Five Facts: A Closer Look at the World’s Most Infamous River
The Citarum is the longest river in West Java, stretching 185 miles (297 km)
It runs from Bandung, via Jakarta, to the Java Sea
It provides electricity to most of Java and Bali
Pollution comes from household, livestock, industry, agriculture, and fisheries waste
The river contains dangerously high levels of lead, aluminum, manganese and iron
What are the Impacts of all this Pollution?
On People and On Nature
Studies by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry have revealed that pollution in the Citarum not only affects the river – the damage also extends to the surrounding landscape. This area, known as the Citarum watershed, supports hundreds of thousands of livelihoods.
Restoring the Citarum Watershed
The Citarum watershed covers degraded areas of 77,024 hectares in West Java with various problems like erosionand sedimentation occurring, dry soil, clean water shortages, and more. Over the years, the Indonesian government has been working to restore critically degraded lands in this region, which have been in steady decline.
“The Citarum watershed is a priority area in Indonesia for recovery,” explains Muhammad Silmi, from the West Java Forestry Service. “The collaboration of government with various elements in society is very helpful in accelerating the recovery effort,” he added.
Muhammad Simi (right), a West Java Forestry Service representative, at Trees4Trees’ Ciminyak nursery in West Java. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis.
Taking a Root-and-Branch Approach to Pollution
So how can trees help with this recovery? In the short term, the reintroduction of forests along the banks of the Citarum River can help to increase water retention and reduce surface runoff during the heavy rains that hit West Java during the monsoon. This can dramatically reduce the amount of trash flowing into the river.
Looking to the future, a sturdy network of tree roots can also help bind soils together, preventing erosion and returning valuable nutrients to the earth. Healthy trees also store carbon, provide shelter for wildlife, and offer livelihood opportunities to local people.
‘A Green Movement’: The Trees4Trees Planting Program
The cleaning and greening process has already begun. With funding from AstraZeneca, and support from One Tree Planted, we are engaging more than 38,000 farmers in an area spanning 22,000 hectares of the Citarum watershed. Here, we aim to plant 12 million trees in the next three years, with a minimum of 10 million expected to survive past project completion in 2025.
“Trees4Trees will plant more than 10 million trees in the Citarum Basin by 2025”
Since 2020, we have already planted 1.2 million trees in tributary watersheds such as Ciwidey, Cisangkuy, and Cirasea. By focusing on private land, the program complements similar government schemes already underway in national forests.
“With the (Trees4Trees) program, we can collaborate and involve West Bandung residents to make a green movement for Citarum rehabilitation,” says Sanawinarti, a representative of the West Bandung Regency Environmental Service. “We are really thankful to this program,” she added.
On December 6, Trees4Trees held an opening ceremony for the 2022 planting season at Ciminyak Nursery in West Bandung. The event was attended by representatives from Astra Zeneca Indonesia, the West Java Provincial Forestry Service, the Bandung and West Bandung Regency Environmental Service, and regents (Bupati) representative from both regions. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis.
Turning Over a New Leaf: The 2022 Planting Season
On November 24, Trees4Trees kicked off the 2022 planting season in the Citarum river watershed. Since then, more than 1.7 million seedlings have been distributed in the project areas.
In December, we also celebrated the official opening of a new Trees4Trees nursery: the Ciminyak Nursery in Cililin Regency, West Bandung, which became our second nursery in the Bandung area (the other being Arjasari).
Muhammad Rizki Fauzan from AstraZeneca inspects the latest crop of seedlings at our Ciminyak nursery. Capable of producing around 2.3 million seedlings per year, the site will play a major role in supporting the Citarum watershed reforestation program. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis.
“We hope these seedlings will grow well,” said Muhammad Rizki Fauzan, a representative from AstraZeneca Indonesia in a statement during the opening ceremony. “AstraZeneca also hopes that Trees4Trees will continue collaborating with locals and the Forestry Service in the Citarum rehabilitation effort,” he added.
With the support of local farmers, growers, communities, and government officials, Trees4Trees will continue working to rehabilitate the Citarum watershed. Through collaboration and commitment, we will keep striving to reach our target of 10 million trees by 2025. For now, the future’s looking greener already.
Writer: V. Arnila Wulandani. Editor: Christopher Alexander.
Putting Down Roots–Since November, Trees4Trees 2022 has been hard at work as part of the annual planting season. The distribution of seedlings officially kicked off on November 24, 2022, and will continue through February 2023; a range of activities are currently underway, including community engagement, farmer mentoring, and monitoring of results. As of middle December 2022, a total of 1.2 million tree seedlings have been distributed to various locations in Central and West Java by Trees4Trees; by the end of the season, this number is expected to reach 3.5 million.
Responding to the Needs of Local Communities
During the current planting season, Trees4Trees aims to plant 31 different types of tree seedling in a total of more than 16,000 sites. These locations will include a combination of farmers’ fields and public facilities, along with critical wildlife areas such as riverbanks, the outskirts of villages, and around natural springs. The involvement of local people is seen as crucial to the success of this program.
“In the tree-planting process, Trees4Trees always listens and sees the local communities’, especially farmers’ as partners,” explained Tomi Bustomi, Trees4Trees’ West Java Regional Manager. Tomi and his team have tailored the program to the needs of farmers and the unique environmental conditions in each area. “Through the program, we bring real benefits to local communities and help to renew the environment,” he added.
Among the many tree species requested so far by farmers, jabon, sengon, and eucalyptus have proven to be the most popular. Meanwhile, arabica coffee is the most requested multi-purpose plant species, due to coffee being one of Indonesia’s top commodity products, especially in West Java. As a result of the Trees4Trees initiative, farmers in the region will be able to plant new seedlings and get a great benefit from their coffee crops.
Farmers in Central Java and West Java have been able to boost their livelihoods, thanks to the seedlings provided by Trees4Trees. More than half a million seedlings have been distributed so far, in over 16,000 different locations. Photo: Trees4Trees
In Kebumen, Central Java, the seedlings most commonly requested are kaliandra and indigofera. Both plants can used as fodder, while also improving the conditions of dry soil. Several types of plants, like aren and gayam, help to replenish natural springs and can be distributed in arid areas that are vulnerable to water shortages.
Branching Out into New Planting Areas
This year, Trees4Trees is expanding its reach to include new tree-planting areas. In West Java, the Citarum watershed rehabilitation planting zone has been expanded to include three areas around the Ciminyak river and Citarik river sub-watershed regions; both of which are tributaries to the Citarum river. The two new planting sites contain a large number of critically degraded areas, as well as land prone to landslides and drought.
Meanwhile, in Central Java, the existing mangrove planting area has been successfully broadened to incorporate several villages along the shores of Pati district; a total of 43,500 mangrove seedlings have also been successfully planted around the coastal villages of Kalikalong, Bakalan, and Alasdowo. This program of mangrove planting activities will be expanded to include around six more villages, where new growth will help prevent coastal erosion on the north coast of Java and protect fishponds owned by locals.
Mangrove planting activities underway in Central Java, where Trees4Trees has been working with local communities to combat coastal erosion. Photo: Trees4Trees/Haryadi
A series of mangrove planting activities have also been extended to the other side of Central Java, specifically in the village of Ujunggalang in Kampung Laut District, Cilacap. Here, a total of 3,500 mangrove trees were recently planted in a 1-hectare area, with more trees expected to be planted soon. The main aim here is to prevent coastal erosion and restore the original mangrove forests.
As part of Trees4Trees’ commitment to transparency and our responsibility to our sponsors and partners, we use web-based GEKO (Green Earth Kontrol Organizer) technology1 and mobile application to log and monitor our tree planting activities. This includes farmer and land data collection, seedling distribution, planting, and monitoring of work flows.
Modern technology like the GEKO application (above) is helping Trees4Trees coordinate its planting efforts and communicate progress to stakeholders throughout Indonesia. Photo: Trees4Trees/Kemas Duga Muis
“Through this application, Trees4Trees is ensuring that data from tree planting process can be recorded properly and in a structured way,” said Bayu, who is Trees4Trees’ IT Manager. His goal is to facilitate improved team performance in the field, while also communicating reliable and instructive data to sponsors as part of an ongoing process of digitalization and transparency. As he explains, “in the future Trees4Trees will be an organization that is increasingly trusted by all parties in environmental conservation activities through planting trees.”
As part of this process, in 2022 Trees4Trees expanded the functionality of the GEKO app to include farmer training, seedling distribution control, division of workload for each nursery, and the delivery of organically raised seedlings and organic fertilizers to farmers.
Green Impacts, Rooted in Local Communities
Throughout the 2022 planting season, Trees4Trees is striving to achieve lasting green impacts and support environmental renewal on a broader scale. To achieve sustainable results, we’re committed to engaging and involving local communities in all planting areas, while also communicating the results of these activities to our network of partners.
Whether making environmental improvements in the Citarum basin, tackling coastal erosion on the coasts of Central Java, securing the availability of spring water or providing seedlings to farmers, the planting season is already making a tangible difference. From coast to coast in Java, Trees4Trees is planting the seeds of a greener future in Indonesia.
Writer: V. Arnila Wulandani. Editor: Christopher Alexander
1The GEKO app is a tool for forestry planning and operational control, purpose-build and developed in-house by the Trees4Trees technology team. It is available in the Google Play Store, but currently only accessible for internal use.
Planting trees is important because most of the villagers in Kenteng Village, Central Java, work as farmers. They grow food crops such as corn, cassava, and rhizomes such as ginger and turmeric to meet their daily needs. However, the selling price of food crops is not competitive in the market. One kilogram of cassava, for example, is sold at a price of about 1,500 rupiahs (around US$0.10).
This condition forces farmers to do side jobs to fulfill their needs. Besides farming, most farmers also raise goats to support their families. Recently, many farmers even also make woven crafts from pandan leaves as their side job because the produce from farming is not enough to make a living.
The villagers are hoping that they can plant trees that can improve their livelihood and rehabilitate their environment at the same time.
Planting tree to rehabilitate the environment
The soil structure in the village is prone to landslides. But when the dry season comes, drought and clean water shortages threatened this village. In response to this, Faris, Kebumen Trees4Trees Unit Manager is conducting a tree-planting program in Kenteng Village in the 2022 planting season which starts in November.
Faris revealed that the large number of critically degraded lands and environmental problems that exist in this village were the main motivations to do the tree-planting program in this area.
“Trees4Trees is supporting the village by planting trees in an area of approximately 10 hectares. We intend to plant teak around the village because of the dry soil characteristic. It is most suitable for teak because it doesn’t need a lot of water to grow. Besides, there are also quite a lot of teak trees successfully grown in this area,” said Faris.
The condition of the soil in the village, which is seasonally arid and prone to landslides and drought, makes the life of the people in the village even more difficult. Once these conditions occur, they will disrupt the activity in the village. Farmers must stop their farming activities because collecting water has become the most urgentthing to do.
Ginardi, the secretary of Kenteng Village revealed that villagers’ biggest hope is they can plant trees that are more valuable than the food crops they are currently growing and can help their environment.
“We are hoping to be able to plant trees that can maintain the water availability and prevent landslides as well as increase the income of villagers. So, the result of the trees can improve the livelihood of villagers. The result of fruits or other valuable trees like petai or jengkol certainly will greatly benefit the villagers,” Ginardi said.
Planting fodder trees which fertilize the dry soil
Apart from relying on agricultural produce, villagers also depend on goats as livestock for their livelihood. Unfortunately, they often have difficulties finding fodder. When the dry season comes, they have to go farther to find it.
“Most of the farmers here raise goats as their investment. Currently, they feed their livestock with cassava leaves. But it is still not enough. They have to go some distance away to find more grasses and leaves for their livestock. It takes so much time. So, if we plant trees that are also can be used as animal feed, it will certainly help the villagers,” said Rokhimin, the farmer community leader of Kenteng Village.
He said that most of the villagers are now interested to plant trees that also can be used as animal feed. Considering the needs of villagers, Faris said that Trees4Trees will plant kaliandra and indigofera trees in Kenteng village beside teak and fruit tree. He said that both trees are also qualified for environmental improvement.
“Both are not only beneficial as fodder but also improve soil fertility. The village has much barren and fallow land. By planting kaliandra and indigofera, their fallen leaves can amend the topsoil and will increase soil fertility,” he said.
To help the villagers to plant trees in the village, Trees4Trees is inviting you to take part in #GivingTuesdayForTree campaign and DONATING TREES for Kenteng village until November 29, 2022. You can donate trees through GIVING TUESDAY
This November, the world celebrates World Tree Day on November 21st to commemorate the great service of trees for all living beings on earth.
As we know, trees have a significant role in supporting life on earth. Trees not only provide water, home, food, and oxygen which are essential things to live. More broadly, trees have made a great contribution combating climate change. With their ability to sequester and store carbon dioxide, trees keep the stability of the world’s climate. Without trees, probably the earth will only be a lifeless planet.
Several species of that have immense abilities to sequester a vast amount of carbon dioxide and make a major contribution to life on earth. Some of the tree also can be found in Indonesia. Let us find out what trees absorb the most carbon dioxide!
Trembesi Tree (Samanea saman)
Local people call this tree species Ki Hujan or pohon hujan which means rain tree. The trembesi tree has an exceptionally large canopy like a giant umbrella. The width of each tree canopy can reach 30 meters. It originates from South America but then spread over tropical countries, including Indonesia.
Trembesi is more popular as a rain tree due to the water drips from the leaves. In their natural habitat, trembesi tree act as shade tree. Compared to other tree species, a Trembesi tree could absorb a vaster amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), reaching 28,5 tons per year.
The cassia tree is included in leguminous species. They have beautiful colored flowers such as pink, peach, mauve, and orange. Therefore, they are widely used as ornamental garden trees. Cassia trees can reach 15 meters in height. Several types of cassia trees are also often to be used for reforestation and to combat desertification. Each cassia tree has the ability to absorb at least 5,3 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Beringin or Banyan Tree (Ficus benjamina)
Beringin or banyan tree, synonymous as a haunted tree which has a great benefit for environment. Photo: Wikipedia.
Although in Indonesia it is known as a haunted tree and synonymous with mystical things, the beringin or banyan tree has extraordinary benefits for the environment. The tree has a high ability to absorb and store water. They also have hanging roots from the branches as their respiration system. The height of a banyan tree can reach 15 to 25 meters and its age can reach hundred years. In absorbing carbon dioxide, one banyan tree can absorb around 540 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Trees Matoa (Pometia pinnata)
Matoa tree or pometia pinnata, Papuan tree which absorbs a lot of CO2. Photo: Wikipedia.
The matoa tree originates from Papua. The tree can be found in almost all of the lowlands on Papua island. However, this tree species has spread to other areas such as Sulawesi, Maluku, to Java. The height of a Matoa tree is 18 meters on average but can reach up to 50 meters. Matoa fruit has a round oval shape and it has sweet taste. Each matoa tree can absorb around 330 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Mahoni or Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)
Mahogany tree. Photo: Wikipedia.
The origin of mahogany trees is from Central America and South America. The tree can reach 35 meters in height with a diameter of up to 125 centimeters. The mahogany trees act as shade trees in their natural habitat. However, they are also well-known for their good ability in storing groundwater. Mahogany trees can absorb up to 296 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
Training participants learnt organic farming materials during the training session. Photo: Trees4Trees/Yulianisa Dessenita
Encouraging the planting season begins, Trees4Trees holds a Training of the Trainer (TOT). It is part of a series of tree planting programs. This year, Trees4Trees held the training from October 10 to 26, 2022 in all sites. The training itself aims to provide field coordinators with practical knowledge related to tree-planting.
Through the training session, Trees4Trees’ training team train all field coordinators to mastering various materials related to organic farming. They are including planting patterns, fertilization, and planting techniques. After the training is completed, field coordinators then will transfer the knowledge to the farmers who are involved in the planting program with Trees4Trees. The training for farmers is conducted during the planting socialization stage, just after Trees4Trees distributes tree seedlings to farmers.
Tailored to the needs of farmers
The field coordinator will deliver the materials to farmers in each village. They will provide material through training according to the materials requested by the farmers.
“When it comes to the initial stage of the program, field coordinators have asked the farmers about what kind of training they would like to get. Once we know what kind of training they want to improve, we structure the training materials into tutorials. So, the training we provide basically will be tailored to the needs of farmers,” said Tedi Purnama, Trees4Trees Training Officer who was also a trainer of TOT training.
Tomi Bustomi, Trees4Trees West Java Regional Manager also said that one of the advantages of the Trees4Trees’ tree planting program is that it involves local farmers in planting trees and always considers the needs of farmers.
“We always listen to the needs of the farmers. Not only for trees we distribute, but also training we provide. Our programs always tailor to the needs of farmers. Therefore, what we provide will bring real benefits to them,” Tomi added.
Encouraging using organic waste and other organic materials that are easy to find
This year Trees4Trees delivers seven training materials through TOT. One of them is mandatory material. It is a timber and multipurpose tree species planting pattern. The other materials include how to make organic liquid fertilizers, organic congested fertilizers, organic pesticides, seedlings propagation techniques, and fruit cultivation techniques. Trees4Trees dedicates the training in fruit cultivation to farmers who are willing to increase their fruit production on a business scale.
According to Tedi, before he delivers the material to the trainee, all materials have been tested first. “We made the simulation first to know the efficiency. Including the ingredients and cost estimation. We make sure that the ingredients and materials we use as references are the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient materials. We designed it in such a way that farmers can easily produce by themselves,” said Tedi.
For example, to make organic fertilizers, field coordinators were trained to use organic waste and other organic materials that are cheap and easy to find, such as eggs, expired milk, rotten fruits, moss, and animal dung.
Encourage farmers to do organic farming
Through this training, it is expected that field coordinators are able to understand all training materials. Afterwards they can deliver the training materials to farmers as well as reinforce and encouraging them to do organic farming.
“The purpose of TOT is to provide another perspective on cultivation patterns to farmers in 180 villages in Central Java and West Java as our partners. In West Java especially, most farmers still use chemicals in agriculture. Trees4Trees wants to encouraging all farmers to cultivate plants withorganicfarming techniques that are environmentally friendly. And the field coordinator will be the first who provides information and answers when farmers ask questionsabouthow to implement an organic farming,” said Tedi.
