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Korindo Foundation Helps Raise Environmental Awareness through Tree Planting

By 20 September 2023October 9th, 2024Group News3 min read

Photo: SD Negeri Pancoran 01, a public elementary school in Pancoran Urban Village, becomes one of the sites where greening takes place

JAKARTA – Trees have an important position in the lives of humankind. They are effective air purifiers and improve our cardiovascular health by getting rid of stress. These creatures have such a huge role in the survival of all living beings that November 28 is now designated National Tree Planting Day.

On this special day last year, Korindo Foundation donated 400 saplings that were a mix of Madagascar almond, Bougenville, and magenta cherry varieties to plant along protocol roads and elementary school yards in Pancoran Urban Village.

“So the Foundation sent us some tree saplings, there were shade trees, fruit-bearing trees, decorative trees… and their arrival happened to coincide with what we’re planning to do here [in Pancoran],” said Pancoran urban village head Isno Usnodo in an interview at his office.

Now, the young trees have made their surroundings much greener and the air much better. As is widely known, the air quality has been very bad lately in Jakarta.

According to air quality monitoring site IQAir, the city’s air quality index is at 141, which translates to “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. With increasingly worrying levels of pollution, many locals have complained of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) that are marked by sore throat and coughs.

Such impacts have also been felt by the younger population. This is most true for elementary kids, who have to head to school early in the morning. Alya, a student in South Jakarta, told the PR team about her cough and shortness of breath. “Recently, I’ve been coughing a lot and having trouble breathing.”

However, Alya and her best friends, Sekar and Nauli, also know tree planting can beat pollution. “Trees make the environment green, produce fruit, and release oxygen,” said Nauli.

Having this knowledge motivates them to help their parents tend to their plants. “Once, I planted a tree with my dad in the yard. I did the digging and preparing [the sapling], poured the fertilizer, then watered the tree, so it could grow bigger,” Sekar said.

Environmental awareness must be built from a young age and in a holistic manner. Children are like blank pages; fill them up with good lessons and they will grow up doing something useful for their environment. Teaching them how to keep their neighborhood clean and green is crucial given tree planting is environmentally beneficial and possesses an ecological function.

“Korindo [Foundation] has provided us with hundreds of trees for greening. These include Madagascar almonds, which have both ecological and social functions. Thanks to these trees, street vendors no longer crowd the roads. Congestion risks are also minimized,” Usnodo said. (PR)