... One tree is able to absorb 28 tons of CO2 gas and hold 100 liters of water a year...
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Can we imagine how a tree save our world? Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that tree plantation movement was important owing to the fact that one tree was able to absorb 28 tons of CO2 gas (carbon dioxide) per annum.

"One tree is able to absorb 28 tons of CO2 gas and hold 100 liters of water a year," the minister said in a function at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) here on Thursday.

The planting of trees is also crucial to human beings who breathe 10 tons of oxygen free of charge per annum and use about 10 liters of water a day, Minister Zulkifli said.

He said that each person should at least plant trees at a rate equal to the span of his or her life. "So, if a person has a span of life of 60 years, he or she had better plant at least 60 trees," he said.

The minister also asked the people to pay attention to the critical environment in their surroundings which were marked by the absence of birds, butterflies or fireflies which were used to be found around the house.

He said that these animals had high sensitivities to the various situations of living environment such as high conditions of pollution, water contamination and scarcity of threes.

Zulkifli said butterflies which had a life cycle of three weeks and fireflies which had a life cycle of three days, could only live in an environment which had a perfect ecosystem.

"They cannot live and will become extinct when there is a disturbance to the environment, no matter how small it is," the minister added.

Therefore, he tirelessly reminded the importance of tree planting movement in the frame work of preventing the emergence of critical environment and of creating the image of Indonesia Green. (A014)

Editor: Ade P Marboen
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