Preventing Floods, Ridwan Kamil: 56 Million Trees Have Been Planted In West Java Over The Last 3 Years

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil meets flood victims in Ciwalen, Garut, Thursday, July 21. (ANTARA/Purnama Ferry)

GARUT - Governor of West Java (West Java) Ridwan Kamil revealed that 56 million trees have been planted by his party over a period of three years in order to preserve the environment and prevent flooding.

"West Java in three years has planted more than 56 million trees, and is committed to overcoming things like this, so we will continue to do it," said the Governor, who is familiarly called Kang Emil when visiting flood-affected areas in Sukasuka Village, Banyuresmi District, Garut Regency, West Java, Thursday, July 21.

He said, the West Java Provincial Government has been taking steps to anticipate various threats of natural disasters, one of which is planting trees in various areas, including planting mangroves in the northern region.

He invited the community to work together with the government to green areas that look dry or lack trees by planting trees immediately.

If people find there is dry land, Kang Emil asks to immediately report it to the West Java Provincial Government so that further tree planting will be carried out.

"If we find that there are areas that may be denuded, then we can plant so on to make collaborations, so this environment is not only a state matter but everyone's business," said the former mayor of Bandung, as reported by Antara.

In line with the efforts of the West Java Provincial Government, Perhutani Garut has also planted trees in the Garut area which was previously declared as critical land.

Head of the Corporate Communications Section at Perhutani Garut, Ade Syahdan, said the forest area in Garut Regency was recorded at 85 thousand hectares, based on a 2016 report about 10 thousand hectares in critical condition.

Furthermore, in 2017, Ade said, Perhutani Garut carried out planting to restore forest conditions by planting trees on an area of 2,000 hectares, then in 2019 planting trees on an area of 8,000 hectares.

"So we have planted trees on previously critical 10 thousand hectares of land," he said.

He conveyed that Perhutani Garut continues to monitor and care for trees that have been planted in forest areas so that their existence grows well.

The condition of the tree that has been planted, he said, has grown big and is starting to grow thick again so that currently there is no more critical land in the Perhutani Garut area.

According to him, the condition of the forest land, which has been planted with many trees, is quite helpful in absorbing water discharge, as evidenced by the high intensity of rain that caused flooding in Garut on Friday, June 15, no landslides or erosion were found in the upstream.

"I think that planting trees in 10 thousand hectares is enough to help absorb water discharge when it rains, and now even from the high intensity of rain that caused yesterday's flooding, the results in the field are no erosion," he said.