Botanical gardens offers new service

Botanical gardens offers new service

JAKARTA: The Bogor Botanical Gardens is offering a free pick- up and delivery service for students from selected schools.

The head of the Indonesian Conservation Center, Dedi Darnaedi, said that once a month the Bogor Botanical Gardens would provide the service for 32 students from four schools, from the elementary to high school level.

The program is the part of the Plant Conservation and Environmental Education Program 2003-2006, which was launched on Thursday.

The students will be picked up from their schools to learn about conservation at the gardens before heading to the Cibodas Botanical Gardens, where they will spend the night.

He estimated that the number of students involved in the program was only about 20 percent of the total number of students expected to visit the gardens.

According to a survey, he said, about 50 percent of students at 300 schools in Bogor have not visited the Bogor Botanical Gardens.

Dedi said the program was supported by UNESCO and HSBC, which is contributing Rp 40 million for the four-year program.--Antara