Seeds of change
On a grass verge by a road dissecting miles of rice fields in Central Java province, a group of volunteers with ‘Aisyiyah, Indonesia’s oldest Islamic women’s movement, walk along a row of mahogany, sengon, and teak trees they recently planted.
A group of women forest rangers patrol in the forest of Bener Meriah, Aceh Province, Indonesia, on November 25, 2020. Photo: VCG
A short drive away, Ismokoweni, who leads ‘Aisyiyah’s local environmental chapter and goes by one name, picks her way past painted gravestones towards an area of damaged forest where the group has also planted seedlings.