The Southeast Asian Youth Forester Meeting at Bogor Agricultural University

To commemorate the International Year of Forestry on 2011, students of Faculty of Forestry of Bogor Agricultural University held the Southeast Asian Youth Forester Meeting 2011 in the Toyib Hadiwijaya Auditorium, on 12 December 2011. The event that was designed to be a meeting forum for the youth foresters  in Southeast Asia was participated  by 19 delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. One of the 19 (nineteen)  delegates, was 12th year student of secondary school level.
 
"This international  event was designed by IFSA LC IPB and was held to celebrate the 2011 International Year of Forestry. Delegates from  Indonesia consisted of students of  Bogor Agricultural University, University of North Sumatra, Mangkurat Lampung University, and the University of Mataram. While delegates from abroad attended from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, "said Chairman of the Committee, Fahmi Satria, student of  Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism of Bogor Agricultural University.  Fahmi added, that event  was expected to be the flatform for youth foresters of Southeast Asia to share forestry innovations to improve the forestries in Southeast Asia.
 
By attending the event I was convinced that the University  has played important role in improving the forestry and ecosystems in the Region. In our country (Singapore) we are aware that the construction of modern buildings and the envirronment should go hand in hand, therefore, when we build a new building we should care also the environment. Formerly the building construction and ecosystem are separated, but now they are well-connected again,  "said Leshon Lee, the youngest delegate who is 15 years old, he has been active for environmental NGOs for 9 years.
 
Meanwhile, one of the delegates from Bogor Agricultural University,  Monica Ade Ayu Dewayani, student of the Department of Silviculture presented her  paper on the urban forest. "Urban forest is an area of forest land in urban areas. These areas are built for residential, industrial and office space,  and they potentially to be emmiter  a large amount of gas emissions. For example,  the highway is the a large emmiter of carbon emissions, therefore,  we should design urban forests in those areas as trees is the absorber effluent gas, "she said.
 
Itineraries of program planned for the 5-day event were paper  presentations from  delegations, the conducted tour to visit Gunung Walat, and visit  the pilot implementation of REDD in Gunung Walat, and cultural exchange. (Wied).