Penajam – PT Pertamina Hulu Kalimantan Timur (PHKT) planted 5,000 mangrove seedlings of the Avicennia and Soneratia types and cleaned the beach in the Corong Beach area, Tanjung Tengah Village, North Penajam Paser Regency (PPU), East Kalimantan (05/06/2023).

This activity was held in the context of World Environment Day and Road to IKN, which was initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) of the Republic of Indonesia.

PHKT Kalimantan Field Manager Suwantono Widji, often called Wawan, said that this planting was an effort to preserve the environment and biodiversity, especially the mangrove ecosystem. "As many as 5,000 mangrove seedlings were handed over to two Tourism Awareness Groups (Pokdarwis), namely Pokdarwis Tanjung Berseri, Kampung Baru Village and Pokdarwis Sinar Bahari, Tanjung Tengah Village, Penajam District," said Wawan.

According to him, the company sees Pokdarwis' high commitment to caring for and monitoring the seeds planted before, with high seed growth yields of up to 100%. Therefore, the collaboration between the company and community groups is expected to optimize efforts to preserve the environment and improve the community's economy by implementing community-based activities such as mangrove tours.

Wawan added that PHKT also carried out "Indonesia Coastal Clean Up (ICCU)" activities or beach clean-ups at the Corong Beach location, Tanjung Tengah. "Cleaning up Corong Beach was carried out along the coastline, namely with a distance of up to 1 km with participants from representatives of several Adiwiyata Schools at PPU who managed to collect up to 20 kilograms of residual waste and economic waste," said Wawan.

Meanwhile, North Penajam Paser Regent Ir. H. Hamdam appreciated PHKT's contribution to preserving mangrove ecosystems. "If the community always maintains environmental sustainability and carries out greening on an ongoing basis, it will increase land vegetation cover to help reduce carbon emissions and create a healthy and beautiful environment," said Hamdam.

Hamdam hopes that environmental preservation activities like this can continue to be encouraged in society so that awareness and love for the environment will grow.

PT Pertamina Hulu Kalimantan Timur (PHKT) is a subsidiary of PHI which manages upstream oil and gas operations and business according to ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) principles in the East Kalimantan & Attaka Work Area in East Kalimantan. PHKT and other PHI subsidiaries and affiliates run innovative Social and Environmental Responsibility programs in Economy, Education, Health, Environment, Infrastructure and Disaster Response to support sustainable community empowerment and achievement of Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). PHI is headquartered in Jakarta. Further information on PHI is available at https://phi.pertamina.com.