Still young: A young trembesi tree grows along the northern coastal highway, with the Java Sea in the background.

Following the completion of the trembesi (rain) tree planting program along the 1,350-kilometer Merak-Banyuwangi route on Java’s north coastal (Pantura) route under its Djarum Tree For Life (DTFL) program in December last year, the Djarum Foundation has continued the initiative by planting similar trees along the 296-km outer ring road on Madura.

The ceremony marking the trembesi tree planting under DTFL program in Madura was held in Pamekasan regency on June 1, attended by local regent Achmad Syafii Yasin and local legislature chief Halili Yasin. Top singers Fatin Shidqia and Indah Nevertari also enlivened the event.

Fatin said that she personally supported the planting of trembesi because “in this increasingly modern era in which the air is increasingly polluted, the trees are highly needed to absorb the carbon dioxide”.

“In the absence [of trees] whose function is to absorb the carbon dioxide, the air quality will, without doubt, deteriorate,” she noted.

“I am pleased to be able to participate in the trembesi tree planting. Apart from absorbing carbon dioxide, trembesi trees can also serve as shade, which is good for greening,” Nevertari added.

The trembesi tree planting program in Madura kicked off in early 2016, with Bangkalan regency the first targeted area, followed by Pamekasan regency. To date, as many as 4,750,000 trembesi trees have been planted and are ready to cool the arid route.

As many as 20,000 trembesi trees are expected to be planted along the 296-km outer ring road of Madura in 2017, covering Sumenep, Sampang and Bangkalan regencies. The trees are expected to absorb more than 500.000 tons of CO2 each year.

Beneficial gift: Singer Fatin Shidqia hands over a trembesi seedling to a local representative at the launch in Madura.(JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)

The reason for choosing the outer ring road in Madura as the target of the DTFL was that the island shares similar characteristics with the north coast route in Java, namely hot and barren with high pollution.

As Bogor Agriculture Institute Forestry School lecturer Endes N. Dahlan has said, trembesi trees provide a breakthrough in global climate change mitigation, thanks to their amazingly high carbon dioxide absorption. With its 15-meter diameter crown, the tree is able to absorb 28.5 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

The Djarum Foundation-initiated DTFL program started with the planting of trembesi trees along the Pantura route in 2010 and was completed in 2015. As many as 41,758 trees were planted on a route spanning from Merak in Banten province to Banyuwangi in East Java. They are now growing and well maintained.

First initiated in Kudus, Central Java, the DTFL initiative has greened part of Java, with the planting of more than 2 million of trembesi seeds since 1979.

Water for growth: Fatin Shidqia symbolically waters a rain plant, locally known as trembesi, witnessed by local subdistrict heads that have received seedling.(Courtesy of Djarum Foundation)

Fun time: Fatin entertains guests following the tree-planting.(Courtesy of Djarum Foundation)

Shady sidewalk: Six-year-old trembesi trees in Kudus, Semarang, provide shade along the highway.(Courtesy of Djarum Foundation)

Artist’s involvement: Indah Nevertari plants a trembesi.(Courtesy of Djarum Foundation)

A must-activity: Djarum Foundation waters trembesi trees along the northern coastal highway (Pantura) as part of its regular maintenance program.(Courtesy of Djarum Foundation)