CENTRAL BANGKA -- PT Timah together with the Bangka Belitung Regional Police held eucalyptus tree planting on critical land located in the Depati Amir Pangkalpinang Airport area, Pangkalan Baru, Central Bangka, Friday (8/3/2024).
A total of 1,800 eucalyptus trees were planted on 2 hectares of land, where previously this area had been encroached on by mining without permission so that it was included in the critical land category.
The eucalyptus tree planting was also attended by the Bangka Belitung Regional Police Chief Inspector General Tornagogo Sihombing, the Director of Finance and Risk Management of PT Timah Fina Eliani, the Head of the Environment and Forestry Service of Bangka Belitung Province Fery Afriyanto and stakeholders who also planted eucalyptus trees.
Director of Finance and Risk Management of PT Timah Fina Eliani said, that PT Timah as a tin mining company that represents the country continues to be committed to carrying out sustainable environmental management, one of which is by supporting greening programs.
"PT Timah supports the reforestation carried out in Bangka Belitung and the company also consistently carries out reclamation on PT Timah's Tin Mining Business License," he said.
He said, PT Timah also supports reforestation activities carried out by stakeholders to restore environmental conditions in Babel.
"PT Timah also collaborates and supports reforestation in Bangka Belitung which is carried out by stakeholders according to the company's capabilities," he said.
Meanwhile, Bangka Belitung Regional Police Chief, Inspector General Tornagogo, said that his party together with police officers in seven districts/cities in Babel routinely planted trees on critical land to improve the environmental ecosystem.
Inspector General Pol Tornagogo Sihombing said that the land planted with eucalyptus trees was a former mining area without a permit that had been left as it was. In fact, the location is very close to Depati Amir Pangkalpinang Airport.
The trees that have been planted will later be managed by farmer groups and will be assisted by the Environment and Forestry Service so that they are maintained.
"Today we, together with PT Timah and the Regional Police and stakeholders, are again planting 1,800 eucalyptus trees on a land area of ??2 hectares and this is close to the airport," he said
He said that his party would continue to promote tree planting on critical and coastal land, as has been done in the area of ??the Bangka Belitung Province UMKM Service and the Bangka Belitung Province BLK.
"We will continue to intensively carry out planting whenever possible on land that is deforested because of the actions of environmental crime perpetrators. I say that environmental crime perpetrators when there is a land with trees, they continue to dig it up for any purpose, let alone mineral interests, which is not under the regulations according to I was very irresponsible and it was illegal," he explained.
He also warned that miners without permits should no longer dig up land that has already been planted with trees. They will take action if that happens again.
"No one else should dig up what we plant. Because I see there is a threat like that and the state must be present to control it. We represent the state to guard that," he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Bangka Belitung Province Environment and Forestry Service, Fery Afriyanto, said that critical land in Babel reached 167,065 hectares.
He said that the Bangka Belitung Provincial Government is also aggressively implementing tree planting through the Semarak Babel movement, where this year the target is to plant one million trees to improve the environmental quality index in Babel.
"Critical forests in Babylon are caused by various factors, 70 percent of which are due to mining activities, others due to encroachment activities, plantations, settlements, infrastructure, and others," he said.
His party also encourages mining companies that have mining business permits to manage ex-mining land by carrying out reclamation. (*)
