Mitigation: Lessons Learnt from Botanical Gardens in Indonesia

Abstract

Construction of Botanical Garden (BG) in Indonesia is taking place rapidly. Construction of BG is listed in the second National Medium-Term Development Plan 2010-2014 which is stipulated through the Presidential Regulation No. 5 of 2010, as one of the 9th National Priority activities concerning Environment and Disaster Management. These provisions have positioned BG in an effort to rescue, study and use Indonesian plants as increasingly strategic. The target of Indonesian BG in 2020 is to be able to collect 75% of Indonesian plants. Botanical Garden not only have important roles in the fields of conservation, research, environmental education and tourism, but also made significant contributions to environmental services. The construction of BGs in various regions in Indonesia has an important role in assisting to realise the government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 26%, conserving and utilising local potential flora, providing natural laboratories for research, education and tourism purposes, and supporting the implementation of green open space programmes. Based on the Presidential Regulation No. 93 of 2011 concerning BG, BG was stated as ex-situ plant conservation areas that played roles in reducing the rate of degradation of plant diversity, so that it was crucial to develop BG. Botanical garden must be built in a planned, coordinated manner and meet the standards of building of a BG. Management of BG involved the maintenance and utilisation of BG, plant collections and supporting infrastructures.[1] Botanical garden served to help reforest the city with various types of species as the lungs of cities that produced oxygen, prevented erosion, and drought, as well as educative recreational sites. Disaster mitigation associated with BG denotes that the construction of BG in various parts of Indonesia is an effort to reduce the risk of disasters such as floods, droughts, air pollution, and loss of diversity of germplasm, and public awareness in the face of disaster threats. Stakeholders involved in the construction of BG are Indonesia Institute of Sciences/LIPI, local government, schools, universities, and non-governmental organisations. Public awareness in facing the threat of disasters through BG could be done through developing and implementing an environmental education of BG.