Lombok, Indonesia – Invest Islands, Lombok’s leading real estate company, is helping to restore nature and preserve the environment in Indonesia with a major tree-planting project in Lombok, as part of the company’s long-standing and deep-rooted commitment to sustainability.
Held on 28th November 2022, Indonesian Tree Planting Day is a nationwide initiative that aims to reverse the effects of deforestation across this vast archipelago. Forest clearance for infrastructure development, industry and agriculture has led to the loss of 18 percent* of Indonesia’s tree coverage since 2000. To tackle this, the Indonesian government launched the “One Man One Tree” (OMOT) policy, which encourages every Indonesian person to plant at least one tree.
As a proud guardian of native flora and fauna, Invest Islands will come together with schoolchildren in southern Lombok, close to The Mandala Eco-Village and Gran Meliá Lombok, to plant 1,000 trees in and around Torok Bay. It will also teach the children about the importance of nature and the impact of deforestation. This follows the planting of 18,000 trees all across the island since 2020, in partnership with local organisations and educational institutions in areas including Torok, Montong Ajan and Tumpak Village.
This activity forms part of Invest Islands’ widespread education and development programs, which are helping to build a brighter future for young people in Lombok. The company will soon launch the Mandala Foundation and Mandala Learning Center, through which it will aim to improve basic literacy among children in local villages. It is also planning to set up a Lombok Youth Leadership Program, which will help disadvantaged youths to reach their potential, and a new Hospitality Academy that will give villagers the skills they need to gain employment in the tourism and hotel sectors. Looking ahead, the planned Mandala Sustainability Academy will help to implement solutions to ecological and social challenges.
The Mandala Foundation’s long-term goal is to establish the Mandala Ecovillage School, an internationally-oriented school that will allow local students to be joined by young people from all around the world. Invest Islands is also funding courses for underprivileged children to achieve scholarships at a tourism college in Lombok, with the objective of preparing students for a professional career in the tourism industry on the island, rather than going to Bali or Jakarta.
Since it was created, the Invest Islands Foundation has developed a holistic series of initiatives covering education, employment, permaculture, waste management and more, that will help to realise its vision of conserving the environment, increasing prosperity, driving positive social change, and ultimately, creating a better world.
Already this year, the foundation has completed a “Hunger Prevention Program,” which provided financial support to 300 orphaned or neglected children, and the “Fostering Multistakeholder Alliance for Pro Poor and Gender Sensitive Low Carbon Development and Climate Resilience Program,” which benefited 150 people. Both these initiatives were funded by the Islami Relief Indonesia Foundation. It also launched the “Free Cataract Surgery Program,” which was funded by Fred Hollow Foundation in collaboration with the Rumah Sakit Mata NTB eye hospital and provided critical eyecare to 100 visually-impaired people in rural communities.
“At Invest Islands, we understand that we have a responsibility to improve the lives of people in the destinations in which we operate. Our business has a symbiotic relationship with our communities; only by empowering local people and preserving the environment can we drive long-term prosperity. We created the Mandala Foundation and Invest Islands Foundation to ensure that every aspect of our development is geared towards delivering widespread social benefits. As we grow, our communities grow, and planting of 1,000 new trees in Lombok will help the entire island to flourish,” said Jack Brown, CEO & co-founder of Invest Islands.
