President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono highlighted the importance of the tree-planting movement in tackling the impact of climate change.

'€œWhy do we have to keep planting trees? They prevent landslides and flooding as well as providing larger amounts of oxygen and thus reducing global warming,'€ he said during a tree-planting ceremony in Pare-Pare, South Sulawesi, on Thursday morning, as quoted by Antara.

Speaking to students attending the event, President Yudhoyono said planting and protecting trees would safeguard the availability of food and underground water reserves.

'€œLandslides could be prevented and this would be good not only for our lives but also for the future of Indonesia,'€ said Yudhoyono, who marked the event by planting an Aju Pallapi tree.

Earlier, the World Bank (WB) highlighted its support for the development of low-carbon cities deemed crucial to the anticipation of climate-change impacts that could involve flash floods and other natural disasters currently affecting countries around the world.

'€œDeveloping a low-carbon city is very important,'€ said WB president Jim Yong-kim.

He said that if cities in countries across the world took steps toward low-carbon development, the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions in the atmosphere would reduce by up to 10 gigatons, or equal to 30 percent of the current world emissions.

He said if the world failed to take such a tough measure from now on, the warming planet would reduce prosperity for millions of people and block global development for the next several decades.

It is reported that the WB is now focusing on several issues, such as developing low-carbon cities, initiating climate-friendly agriculture and accelerating energy efficiency and renewable energy investments. (ebf)

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