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BNI strengthens partnership with Megamendung Organic Forest as part of Earth Day
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(JP/Anggara Mahendra / Adi / 20)
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T Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (stock code BBNI) participate in the commemoration of Earth Day on Friday by continuing its partnership with Megamendung Organic Forest.
The move is in line with a Financial Services Authority (OJK) program that encourages bank industry stakeholders to implement sustainable financial policies to support a green economy.
BNI continues its collaboration with the management of Megamendung Organic Forest for land expansion, river formations, as well as strengthening the capacity of the Megamendung Organic Forest Farmers Group to develop ecotourism.
The company encourages users of geotagging in the forest in the hopes to increase GPS data that includes latitude and longitude information in a digital photo.
The manager of Megamendung Organic Forest, Yuhan Subrata, said Earth Day was the right moment to remind people of the importance of protecting the environment
Moreover, Indonesia is still prone to natural disasters, which can be detrimental in the country’s mountainous areas and have an impact on Jakarta through extreme flooding.
Yuhan appreciates BNI for its ongoing support of Megamendung Organic Forest and the two parties’ continued collaboration in land development funds, river formation, as well as strengthening the capacity of the Megamendung Organic Forest Farmers Group to develop ecotourism.
Other than cultivating a better green ecosystem, Yuhan is optimistic that Megamendung Organic Forest could attract more visitors and create new economic areas to help sustain tourism, as well as the economic progress of the community.
"We believe environmental sustainability can be in line with the welfare of the community. BNI has never stopped supporting us to make this happen," he added.
BNI corporate secretary Mucharom said the commitment to helping Megamendung Organic Forest has been in place since 2018. The company fully believes it can implement innovations in terms of forest management so that more progress can be made.
He underlined that BNI’s support of Megamendung Organic Forest was in line with the government’s efforts to control climate change, as declared at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Summit in 2021 (COP26).
“BNI does not lag behind in implementing the principles of sustainable finance with the three pillars of Sustainable Development Goals [SDG], namely the economic, social and environmental pillars, both in terms of business and empowerment programs," he said.
Mucharom added that the bank encouraged the public to protect the environment while optimizing economic potential through ecotourism.
"We hope that with this commitment to forest empowerment, we can all be more sustainable, and communities can optimize their economic potential.”
Previously, as a pioneer in green banking, BNI collaborated with the KJA Foundation to form rehabilitation programs in the coastal area of Anyet Breach, Banten, and upstream of the Citarum River basin, West Java, through nursery development initiatives, planting and caring for trees.
Furthermore, the partnership program used the corporate social responsibility (CSR) mechanism in the form of a nursery for 100,000 trees in the Anyer Beach area and 200,000 trees in the upstream area of the Citarum River basin.
BNI has also provided assistance by providing 15,000 tree seedlings, building a nursery center and planting trees with Geo-tagging to track their growth.
The assistance of BNI is planted in the dozens of trees that have grown in Megamendung Organic Forest, which spans 22 hectares. At its 75th anniversary celebration in July 2021, BNI also mobilized all BNI Hi-Movers to plant 7,500 trees simultaneously.
Currently, BNI hopes to promote the natural beauty of Megamendung Organic Forest as the core of ecotourism. This is in line with the current high public interest in visiting nature-based tourist sites.
"This pandemic has changed people's tourism preferences to be greener. This will be a very good potential for communities around organic forests to develop tourism and other interesting small businesses," he said.
Furthermore, Mucharom said the empowerment program would continue to develop micro business in the future. BNI has several competitive subsidized and non-subsidized programs that aim to bolster the economic growth of communities.
"If there are interesting handicraft products from Megamendung Organic Forest, of course, we as a global bank will help find their export potential," Mucharom said.
