Growing a ‘Green Paradise’, Close to Home

Name: Growing a ‘Green Paradise’, Close to Home
Uploaded: 2021-02-08T03:43:09Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: His love for trees motivated Hazman Fillin Yusron Atsani (22) to start a “micro forest park”. In addition to planting trees, he also keeps a record of the forest biodiversity and introduces them to the people around him.

His love for trees motivated Hazman Fillin Yusron Atsani (22) to start a “micro forest park”. In addition to planting trees, he also keeps a record of the forest biodiversity and introduces them to the people around him.

Vina Oktavia

· 6 minutes read

The two acacia trees that Hazman planted nine years ago are now fully grown. The trees have a diameter of 45 centimeters and lush canopies that offer shade to anyone who stops beneath them.

On the conservation trees live several cicadas. The small insects emit a loud sound, as if they were cheerfully welcoming the arrival of the rainy season. Butterflies and dragonflies are also seen, perched on nearby shrubs. Towards evening, it was the turn of various songbirds to perch on the trees’ branches.

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In the center of the mini forest stands a bamboo hut measuring 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters. The lush greenery makes any visitor to the hut feel as though they are in the middle of a forest. This is where Hazman often spends his time learning and discussing about conservation.

The young man began cultivating the micro forest when the area surrounding his hometown of Serbajadi village in Natar district, South Lampung regency, Lampung province, grew increasingly arid. Over the last five years, the village land has attracted a lot of attention from property developers.

The area is considered strategic because it borders the provincial capital of Bandar Lampung. Land prices have also increased, from just Rp 500,000 per square meter to Rp 1.5 million to Rp 2 million per square meter.

Within a short time, a number of residents were tempted to sell their land to developers for transforming into commercial and residential areas. The land, previously planted with various types of trees, has now been turned into a housing complex.

Hazman was determined to protect the 170 square meters of land belonging to his family. "This land also received an offered from a developer who was interested in buying it, but we refused [to sell]," said Hazman on Sunday (31/1/2021).

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Since he was a child, Hazman has been planting seedlings of various types of trees on his family’s land. He also enjoyed exploring the forests and climbing mountains. His love for nature drove Hazman to study biology at the Open University’s mathematics and natural sciences faculty.

Collecting data

Since 2018, he has started working seriously to identify the various flora and fauna that grow in his “micro forest park”. His survey has identified at least 14 types of pohon kera (breadfruit trees of the genus Artocarpus), 11 species of flowering shrubs and 8 species of vines that grow there.

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The tree species he has identified include white teak (Gmelina arborea), small leaf acacia (Acacia auriculiformis), large leaf acacia (Acacia mangium), moringa (Moringa oleifera), teak (Tectona grandis) and bayur (Pterospermum diversifolium).

Meanwhile, the flowering shrubs include srigunggu (bleeding heart, Clerodendron serratum), cente (West Indian lantana, Lantana camara), orok-orok (smooth rattlebox, Crotalaria pallida) and pecut kuda (blue snake weed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis). The climbing vines include rambusa (stinking passionflower, Passiflora foetida) and gembolo (air potato, Dioscorea bulbifera).

As for fauna, he has identified at least 11 types of birds that commonly visit the mini forest, including the Javan myna (Acridotheres javanicus), bubut besar (greater coucal, Centropus cinensis), ciblek (bar-winged prinia, Prinia familiaris) and the Sunda pygmy woodpecker (Dendrocopos moluccensis). In addition 11 other animal species frequent the area, including the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator), the large treeshrew (Tupaia tana) and the plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus).

Along with digitalizing the data, Hazman also attached labels to the stems of the plants that bear their biological names. His objective is so that the mini forest becomes a place of environmental education for the surrounding community. At first, his neighbors found it strange that Hazman spent all day studying or just relaxing in the hut among the copse. However, a number of his 20-something peers grew interested in coming to the mountain in the micro forest park.

By doing activities under the trees, I want to show that it is actually [us] humans who need the forests.

Instead of just hanging out over coffee, the youths discussed biodiversity and conservation. The youths said they were happy to come there because the air was cool and the atmosphere was calm, just like being in the middle of a forest.

Hazman used the opportunity to indirectly show his friends how important forests were to human life. "By doing activities under the trees, I want to show that it is actually [us] humans who need the forests," he said.

For the last two years, Hazman has also been inviting the neighborhood children to learn about biodiversity. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, he also frequently invited several kindergarten teachers to bring their students on a field trip to the micro forest park.

Hazman teaches the children about biodiversity. Apart from recognizing the different shapes of leaves, the children can also look at the various types of trees firsthand and learn their Latin names from the signs Hazman installed.

Even better, the children can enjoy doing activities under the cool shade of the trees. It is hoped that this will help grow the children’s love for nature and inspire them to care for and protect the forest.

Sadly, the children’s learning activities must be stopped temporarily due to the Covid-19 health emergency. Even so, Hazman is determined to continue to gather more children to learn about the importance of forests.