Irawaty Wardany, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia's women have stepped up to the plate in the fight against climate change with a group of seven all-female organizations from across the archipelago promising to see 10-million trees planted in a day.
The seven groups that are set to work together to encourage women nationally to plant and care for the trees includes the Indonesian Women Congress (KOWANI), the Association of Military Officers' Wives (Dharma Pertiwi) and the Solidarity Forum for the Wives of Indonesian United Cabinet Officials (SIKIB).
A group spokeswoman said they would aim to plant the 10 million seedlings on December 1.
"The earth is in danger," KOWANI's Linda Agum Gumelar said.
"We need to start a joint action to respond to this problem."
Murniati Widodo AS, chairwoman of SIKIB, said all the seeds would be provided by the Forestry Ministry and forestry agencies free of charge.
She said they would hold a national conference on environmental conservation from November 26 to 28 in Jakarta.
"The three-day conference aims at improving women's outlook (around) the adaptation and mitigation efforts of the effect of the climate change," Murniati said.
"Women have huge (potential).
"Imagine if all women were involved in planting trees and taking care of them."
Erna Witoelar, the UN Special Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia Pacific, said women were among the victims of natural disasters caused by climate change.
"This program will change the paradigm that reforestation is only a matter of planting trees," she said.
She said the 10-million tree planting project was a small part off the government's campaign to plant two billion trees within the next five years.
"But the most important thing is that we know our faults and how to fix them," Erna said.
"We all know that climate change is unavoidable but we can at least reduce its impact."
Erna said it was "high time for women to show their plus points, especially regarding their patience in growing and taking care of their children".
"This aspect of women's patience and (ability to) care needs to be exploited," she said.
The results of the program would be presented before the Climate Change Conference in Bali in December.
Other groups involved include the Association of Civil Servants' Wives (Dharma Wanita Persatuan), the Association of Police Officers' Wives (Bhayangkari), the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) and Women Alliance for Sustainable Development (APPB).
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