Indonesia & Bali Tourism New

Indonesia, which has been losing its forests at a rapid pace in recent years, has launched a campaign to plant 79 million trees ahead of next month’s UN climate change conference in Bali.

“We have been negligent in the past, now we have to get our act together,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said to state news agency Antara, adding he had planted saplings on the outskirts of Jakarta.

The drive is part of a global campaign to plant one billion trees launched at UN climate change talks in Nairobi last year. (more…)

Indonesia, which is losing its forests at a faster rate than any other country, launched a campaign on Wednesday to plant 79 million trees before it hosts a critical conference next month on climate change. Environmental groups have called the planting program well intended but say it will mean little if the government does not immediately impose a moratorium on deforestation.

Around 300 football fields worth of trees are destroyed every hour in the archipelago due to illegal logging, mining, and slash-and-burn land clearing for highly profitable palm oil plantations. (more…)

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Jepara

Putri Yuanita was impatient for her turn to dive in the Karimunjawa waters, 98 kilometers north of Jepara, Central Java.

From her position on the deck of a Karimunjawa fishing boat — locally called a sopek — she could watch her peers emerging on the surface. Each of them was equipped with the standard mask, regulator, oxygen tube and pair of fins. Some wore diving suits while others were only in their shorts or pants, but all carried waterproof white boards. (more…)