Surabaya declares new greening program

SURABAYA: The Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar is planning to proclaim a "One Soul, One Tree" program in Surabaya on Saturday. Surabaya government spokesman, Juli Subianto, said on Friday the program was aimed at improving the quality of Surabaya's environment.

The program was announced to the public after Surabaya mayor Bambang DH issued an instruction recently that every person applying for a birth certificate or to become a Surabaya resident would be obliged to plant one tree before their application would be accepted. To ensure that people actually planted the tree, he or she has to enclose a letter from their local neighborhood head stating that they had done so.

Besides the One Soul One Tree Program, the Surabaya city government has planted some 893,000 trees across the city since January this year. Currently, the city has 26,43 hectares of green area, while ideally it should have 32,637 hectares. -- Antara