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RI FIRST LADY WINS UNEP AWARD
Jakarta, Antara News, 31 May 2008
First Lady Kristiani Herrawati Bambang Yudhoyono has won a United Nations Environment Program (Unep) award for her efforts in encouraging Indonesian women to plant 1 million trees simultaneously across the country.
"The Unep award for the First Lady was given to me as environment minister and I will pass it on to her at the World Environment Day commemoration on June 5," Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said here on Friday.
Witoelar said the Unep award to the first lady, popularly known as Ani Yudhoyono, was a token of high appreciation for her success in mobilizing Indonesian women to plant 10 million trees across the country.
The initiative to set up the Indonesian women`s movement to simultaneously grow millions of trees on December 1, 2007 was deemed by UNEP as a significant achievement in environmental preservation.
"The movement was highly appreciated by Unep," Witoelar said, adding that besides the first lady, Forestry Minister MS Kaban had also been cited for his program to grow 79 million trees in Indonesia.
Witoelar said that in addition to Indonesia, 9 other countries were also appreciated by Unep for their initiative to grow millions of trees in an effort to overcome the effects of climate change.
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