I N D O N E S I A

As part of a United Nations campaign to plant a billion trees around the world, Indonesia has announced plans to plant 79 million trees, in anticipation of a conference on global climate change in December. There are 79,000 governmental units in Indonesia and each is responsible for planting 1,000 trees. T his announcement has triggered my interest in Indonesia, an independent country that is difficult to comprehend geographically. The nation is comprised of 17,508 islands, but only about 6,000 are inhabited.
The population is over 234 million.The nation is centered on the equator, and the overall area of this country of islands is about the same as that of the United States. Australia is to the south and Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines to the north. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. It is now the most populous Muslim-majority nation, although officially it is not an Islamic state. It is a republic, with an elected parliament and president. Its website is www.embassyofindonesia.org