Dry season spells death for conserved trees, flowers

Theresia Sufa and Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Bogor, Jakarta

Climate change may have taken its toll on the Bogor Botanical Gardens, with treasured trees and flowers at risk of dying due to drought, an official said.

Head of the gardens' management team Irawati said that plant collections have been affected by warmer temperatures in Bogor as a result of climate change.

"This is the first time in our history that we have been forced to water our collections due to fewer downpours," Irawati said at the gardens' 190th anniversary celebrations on the weekend.

The anniversary was attended by State Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman and chairwoman of the Indonesian Botanical Garden Foundation Megawati Soekarnoputri.

As part of the conservation efforts, Irawati said the gardens has offered its collection of rare plants to the Bogor administration to be planted outside the complex to save them from extinction.

"The gardens is almost full. We're also developing an eco-park in the Cibinong Science Center to accommodate some of our collections," Irawati said.

There are currently 2,000 flowers and trees planted in the 32-hectare eco-park in Cibinong.

Minister Kusmayanto said the Bogor Botanical Gardens played an important role in conserving flowers and trees from other countries.

The complex contains collections of thousands of types of flowers and trees from around the world, including the sakura or cherry blossom tree from Japan and the kimilsungia flower from Korea.

Climate change has been a hot topic around the world due to its impacts on the environment. It has slashed rainfall in many regions and has subsequently caused droughts.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said that climate change had hit several areas in the country.

The environment ministry said that huge floods in February which inundated more than half of Greater Jakarta were a strong indication of the affects of climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world's top authority on the issue, said that Indonesia had experienced rising temperatures of between 0.2 and 1 degree Celsius per year.

Environmental guru Emil Salim warned that global warming could threaten the country's agricultural production.

"Climate change has frightened those involved in our agricultural sector," Emil, who is also environmental advisor to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said during a seminar on the impacts of climate change on the agriculture sector.

Emil said that an increase in temperature of one degree Celsius could boost the intensity of droughts and floods as well as cause cyclones. He said the condition would then reduce the availably of surface and river water.

"The impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector are very harsh in equator countries like Indonesia," Emil said.