President Jokowi Declares National Movement to Save Wildlife

President Jokowi symbolically releases turtles at the cost of Karya Island, Thousand Islands Regency, Thursday (14/4)

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo on Thursday (14/4) launched “The National Movement to Save Wildlife” in Karya Island, Pulau Panggang Sub-district, Kepulauan Seribu Utara District, Thousand Islands Regency, North Jakarta.

In his remarks at the launching ceremony, the President said that Indonesia is a country rich in biodiversity and is also known as the lung of the world.

Therefore, the President added, the world’s hopes and future depends on Indonesia’s preservation of nature.

President Jokowi also said that the preservation of nature was not merely about planting trees, but should be seen as a preservation of the whole ecosystem, including all the species of plants and wildlife.

“The national movement to save wildlife is Indonesia’s answer to the world’s demands to be the lung of the world,” Jokowi said adding that there are currently 93 species of birds that are parts of the 236 species of protected animals in Indonesia.

The National Movement to Save Wildlife was marked by the release of 200 Hawksbill turtle hatchlings, four adult Hawksbill turtles, four brahminy kites, as well as 400 spotted doves, yellow-vented bulbuls and sooty-headed bulbuls.

“All the birds that will be released have undergone the preservation procedures including health check by veterinarians,” President Jokowi said.

During the launching of the movement, President Jokowi also oversaw the transplanting of 1,000 specimens of corals and sea grass by the people and the restoration of mangrove forests through the planting of 5,000 mangrove seedlings.

Commenting on the replanting, the President reminded that that it must be announced as it is on the ground.

“If we plant only 5,000 seeds, just say 5,000 seeds. We don’t have to say that we plant 1 million seeds. Who will count 1 million seeds? 5.000 seeds may be planted here, 5,000 may be planted in East Java, or 2,000 may be planted in Papua but we do really plant them, we do really take care of them, and they do really grow. We must not make a ‘bombastic’ plan,” President Jokowi said.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also stressed that the key to the success of a national movement is in the commitment, the hard work and the sustainability of the movements.

“It will be pointless if we launch or declare a national movement, but it will be just only a temporary euphoria. Don’t be like that,” he said.

Thus, President Jokowi called on all ministries and institutions not to have ‘ceremonial’ movements anymore or national movements that are only a temporary euphoria’.

“National movement has to be sustainable and the result has to be measured. You must not only report the output of activities,” the President said, adding that he no longer wants to receive reports on for example 1,000 seminars or 200 dissemination activities that have been done.

“From now on, we have to really implement everything that we have planned,” he said.

According to the President, what he wants to see is the impacts of the movement, including how many species of plants that we have discovered, the number of wild animals that are rescued, how many percent we can reduce pollution index, and other concrete results.

President Jokowi further said that he has talked to Minister of the Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya about preparing a moratorium on the issuance of new permits for oil palm plantations and mining operations.

“We are preparing a moratorium on palm oil and on mining areas,” President Jokowi said.

Also attending the event were Minister of the Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki, Commander of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) General Gatot Nurmantyo, Chief of the Indonesian National Police General Badrodin Haiti, and Deputy Governor of Djarot Syaiful Hidayat. (RAH/ES) (Naster/YM/EP)