Probably inspired by the way they pay fees in Brazil, if you happen to reside in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, you might have to go searching for a place to plant a tree, before you go around looking for a bride to get married to.

With the pollution of the city reaching an all-time high and much of Indonesian forests being cleared away for commercial purposes, the government had no other option but to introduce this unique new law. From now on, you need to plant a tree to get a marriage certificate or even a birth certificate in the city, which is an ingenious way to ensure that more and more people will get involved in the government’s reforestation program.

Each year, East Kalimantan, a part of Indonesia clears from 865,000 to 1.24 million acres of forest land and only replants 30% of it. This leaves a huge void which is increasingly being felt due to growing pollution in the country. The collection of tropical islands still has large land under forest cover, but the rate at which that land is disappearing is alarming.

Papua Province, Indonesia's Pristine Forest

Papua Province, Indonesia

Could that be the reason why Indonesia made it to the 2008 Guinness World Records as fastest forest destroyer on the planet? By “forcing” the citizens of Jakarta to plant trees, this may be a much needed boost.

Sounds like an easy way to save forests and a way of giving something back to Mother Nature. I’d love to see it turned into law, worldwide. What do you think?

Source: Reuters
Images courtesy of stefanottomanski and Greenpeace Southeast Asia

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