By: Natalia Trita Agnika

earthhour.kitabisa.com

This year's EARTH HOUR movement again invites the public to take action against climate change. With the theme "Shine a Light on Climate Action", the public is asked to provide enlightenment and solutions to various problems due to climate change. Real action that starts from ourselves can bring change, just like candlelight that gives light in the darkness.

At the 8th EARTH HOUR celebration in Indonesia this year, four conservation program initiatives from the EARTH HOUR community in four cities were carried out to green Indonesia's forests. Starting from reforestation in spring areas that have important functions for soil buffers and water absorbers to planting in mangrove forests that have a variety of ecological and economic benefits.

The public can support the four conservation activities through a crowdfunding program at earthhour.kitabisa.com. Thus, many parties can donate money jointly (collect money) to fund forest conservation programs that are being worked on by EARTH HOUR activist communities in various regions, namely Surabaya, Malang, Balikpapan, and Denpasar.

The East Java regional EARTH Hour community realized this year's EH global theme into "Shine a Light on Greener East Java." They want to focus their actions to fight climate change by making the East Java area greener. Earth Hour activists in Surabaya, for example, held a program to green mangroves on the coast of Surabaya. They have planted around 2000 mangrove seedlings since 2015. The mangrove conservation effort was carried out because of the development that leads to the coast and industrial waste disposal flows into the mangrove forest area.

Still in the spirit of greening, EH activists in Batu City, Malang planted trees. The activity was carried out around the spring area. This is done considering that the Batu City area is one of the keys to preserving water sources because of its location on the slopes of the mountains. In the last ten years, Batu City has lost half of its original springs and the remaining springs have decreased in discharge. Through the "Dok Junrejo Water Source Conservation" program, EH Batu City invites the public to participate in the conservation of Batu City's water sources. This activity also provides economic benefits to the surrounding community if the planted trees grow well and bear fruit.

EH Balikpapan also saves mangroves through the #SatriaMangrove program that has been carried out since 2014. Through this program, they hope that the public will have a sense of belonging to mangroves so that they will help maintain, care for, and preserve the existence of mangroves that have been planted in the Manggar watershed, Balikpapan. In the past, many migrants who lived there opened fish ponds by cutting down the mangrove trees there. Over time, the ponds were no longer productive and were abandoned. The empty pond areas were reforested with mangrove adoption.

A similar action was carried out by the EH Denpasar community. In 2016, EH Denpasar again fostered public love for the existence of mangroves through the Mangrove for Love program. The program, which began in February 2015, is carried out through nursery activities, maintenance, cleaning from plastic waste, education, and seeking economic benefits from mangrove forests without reducing its area.

The four actions to green the forest have provided light for environmental sustainability. Let us share the light by providing support through earthhour.kitabisa.com.

Let's shine a light on forest! INI AKSIKU!