2017/06/27

Initiatives at PT. RIKEN INDONESIA

Dadan from PT. RIKEN INDONESIA participated in the mangrove planting at Bekasi Bay organized by MM 2100 Industrial Town.
This is the first time we participated in the event. As part of the planting, we donated 1,000 mangrove trees.

 

 

Dadan Iskandar
Personnel Department, PT. RIKEN INDONESIAIt took me four hours by car and one and a half hours by boat from the office in MM 2100 Industrial Town to reach Pantai Bahagia, the village where the planting was to take place.

When I was crossing the river on a boat, I was able to see how people lived in the area around the river. Many people still lead difficult lives, using the river’s water for bathing, washing, and sanitation. In addition, the place in this village which used to be a mangrove forest was turned into a breeding facility for prawns. This damaged the forest’s function as a water catchment area, and became a cause of flooding. As a result, many people left the village, causing the village to sink further into poverty.

When I reached the village, the villages and LSM*2 taught me how to plant the mangrove trees, and told me where the saplings were. To get to the spot for planting, I had to pass through wetlands with marshes almost half a meter deep. It was tiring. Finally reaching the spot for planting, the participants managed to plant 14,150 mangrove trees with the help of the villagers. MM 2100 Industrial Town told us that the mangrove trees we planted have grown to 5 cm above the water line.

This was my first time planting mangrove trees. It was an enjoyable experience for me, and I felt honored to do my part for environmental conservation to maintain economic balance.

*1 MM 2100 Industrial Town: Located in the Bekasi area, this is the nearest industrial town to Jakarta.
*2 LSM: Abbreviation for Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat, a non-government organization in Indonesia.