Planting Trees for Anticipating Climate Change: Public Enthusiasm versus Public Space Availability

Tony Djogo 

Over the past few months after the Bali conferences, there have been discourses, analyses, and heated debates about actions about planting trees. These efforts were sparsely and fragmentally implemented, and it is difficult to see how they could be collectively combined and assessed whether it would bring about substantial influences or impacts either in the short- or long-term perspectives. Could it be implemented by households, community groups, business companies, political parties, schools, government institutions, religious organizations, and so on with significant impacts? 

Too many campaigns have been launched with limited translation into action. There were more policy debates, academic research, analysis, and discourses rather than applications, and there was a big analysis but short of actions. I participated in several discussions about planting trees. One of the groups I participated in is a religious-based informal group who are concerned with or would like to respond to the climate change problems through small-scale home-based or group-based action in planting trees.  

There is great enthusiasm among the members of the group but the key question or problem is where to plant the seedlings of trees they have collected, purchased, or obtained from self-developed nursery from their backyards? The other groups are NGO- based organizations and some government organization networks or meetings who have been talking so much about climate change or global warming and carbon issues and actions conceptually but did not have clear domain to accommodate their ideas and actions to be implemented. They developed campaign or outreach materials but it was difficult to find the way their ideas could be adopted. Planting trees is not new in Indonesia or elsewhere on this planet, whether there are problems with climate changes or not. 

Government of Indonesia has begun with reforestation (reboisasi) and regreening (penghijauan) programs and project for more than thirty years ago. There are also local, genuine, or traditional initiatives for planting trees either on private or public spaces. 

Do we have enough public space? 

Planting trees or shrubs species needs sufficient space either the public or private spaces. Planting trees needs incentives or should encourage people that there are benefits either tangible or non-tangible with impacts or gains in the short, medium, and long terms. 

I visited several big cities in several countries. I strolled along some main roads or business centers in Chicago, Denver or New York, London and Jakarta, there are limited areas with trees planted along the roadside or in front of government and business offices. But, in those cities there are parks with beautiful trees and shrub species planted for ornamental and recreational purposes rather than for carbon sink. Of course, they were designed and planted a long time before the climate and global warming issues have been seriously taken into consideration by any people and government around the globe. 

I found that Indonesia, especially Jakarta is not too bad. There are plenty of trees planted along the roadsides. Look at Eastern Jakarta where many of the roadsides were planted with trees and shrubs species, or along the way to the airport, Jagorawi etc. 

Makassar is a bad example of city development with the spatial planning that did not consider “the green space.” The current governor has been so seriously proposed his policy called “go green policy.” But where are the places where people could plant trees? Most of the city spaces have been occupied by shops, business centers including ruko or rukan, the combination of either residence and shops or residence and office. In front of most of the business centers there were no trees but concrete blocks. Only the Government Offices with spacious lands such as the Governor Office, University of Hasanuddin or Balai Diklat Kehutanan (Regional Forestry education and Training Center) have been well designed and planted with trees and shrub species. Government policies on obligation for the local government to have “urban or city or town forest” (Hutan Kota) could be applauded as an important and good policy.  

But many of the big cities including Jakarta and Surabaya do not have enough spaces for implementing this kind of program or project. Will the government purchase land for developing Hutan Kota? How big is the minimum size of the forest and how much money is required to buy the land but also where to develop the urban forests? 

Jagorawi Highway: A Good Example 

I must say that I admire the way (design, trees selections, planting and maintenance of trees planted along Jagorawi turnpike (toll road). There was a good planning and action to plant various trees and shrubs species either local or exotic ones since its construction begun in mid-1970-s. I have noticed that the tree species planted along both sides of Jagorawi toll road have been well selected. 

Many of the trees and shrubs species are similar to those I have studied in mid 1980s until the end of the 1990s in West Timor and Flores islands or those observed in several cities in Indonesia. There are good combinations and multistoried arrangements of the local and exotic trees and shrub species. I noted many species I recognize such as mahogany (Swietenia mahogany), cinnamon (cinnamomum zeylanicum), Acacia mangium, Leucaena leucocephala, several species of banyan trees, hibiscus, Melia azedarach (or mindi), several other species of acacia such as Acacia auriculiformis, Acacia oraria, Jati Putih or Jati Afrika (Gmelina arborea), Saga (Adenanthera pavonia), Pterocarpus indicus, bungur (Lagerstroemia spp); Gliricidia sepium, Tanjung (Mimusops elengi); Mengkudu (Morinda citrifolia Linn); Bauhinia spp; Bamboo, Morus alba. Kapok (Ceiba petandra) and some trees or fruit crops planted by local people before such as banana, jack fruits, coconut. Etc. 

The trees have been well planted and maintained and  demonstrate some good views on the composition of the trees and dominated by the local or native species. However, the trees planted along the roadsides have not well represented the native of local tree species of Indonesia. The idea was that not everybody who live in Jakarta or who visit Jakarta particularly those who are interested in the trees and shrub species from academic or personal interests on the “green issues” have the chance to visit other provinces in Indonesia with rich biodiversity of trees and shrub species.  

Students who live in Jakarta, Bogor or Bandung may be not well come across or have never seen Meranti (Shorea spp), Ulin (Eusideroxylon zwageri) or ironwood, Matoa (Pommetia acuminate), Sandalwood (Santalum album) and many other native or typical species of Indonesia. The new programs or projects for planting trees and shrub species may also need to take into account the endangered trees and shrubs species of Indonesia. 

The Space We Need  

Whatever the good idea or best scientific justification for planting trees in urban or rural areas, primarily around the settlements, business and government facilities in the towns and cities, the key issue is the availability of space. Many people or groups of people wanted to grow trees but there were not enough places to grow the trees. Most of the parks, gardens or backyards have been planted with trees or ornamental plants. There are discussions to intensify the panting in the home garden or parking lots of the mosques, churches, vihara or schools and other public places but there are not enough spaces.

Where to grow the trees? Our forest in Indonesia have been badly damaged and there is huge opportunity to plan there but in fact government programs and projects on GERHAN (National Movement for Forest and Land Rehabilitation), Reboisasi (reforestation) and Penghijauan (greening or regreening) failed. Forest rehabilitation or reclamation could not keep in pace with the speed of the deforestation.. and seems impossible. What should we do? It is not easy but we have to do something. 

Many of the areas that should have been protected for water catchments area or green areas as well as the agricultural fields have been transformed into real estate, business centers or government offices. In rural areas, fewer and less people are interested in planting trees if there are no clear incentives they may gain from this endeavor. I see many villages or hamlets around Jakarta, Bogor, or Bandung where the people are living in densely populated homes with very limited place for planting trees and shrubs. 

On the contrary the real estate’s such as Cibubur, Bintaro or Sentul City offer marvelous views with great landscape design where the lands previously own and occupied by the local people for agricultural field has been transformed into beautiful human-made ecosystem. People living in elite of the city or satellite city areas enjoy more fresh air and spacious public places than people living in the rural areas.

This article was written when I was living in  Cibinong, Bogor