Greening campaign at Besakih temple

KARANGASEM (Jakarta Post): Top government officials joined villagers living near Bali's sacred Besakih Hindu temple in Karangasem, East Bali, on Tuesday to plant some 17,500 trees on the 15-hectare plot of land at the temple complex.

The activity, which involved State Minister for Culture and Tourism Jro Wacik, Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha and other prominent figures, was part of a national regreening program to plant 79 million trees across the country.

According to the Environmental Agency's Bali office, there is a total of around 55,313 hectares of critical land on the island.

The regreening campaign is aimed at rehabilitating critical land to prevent floods and landslides. Earlier this week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recognized Governor Beratha for his strong commitment to improving critical forests and lands on the island.

So far, the provincial government has rehabilitated around 28,000 hectares of land and forested areas.

Rehabilitation of the remaining 23,000 hectares of critical land on the island would be gradually carried out until the year 2011. -- JP