Bagan Lalang, 27 November 2010 – Standard Chartered Bank (Malaysia) Berhad and its technology arm, Group Technology & Operations (GTO) has pledged to plant 6,000 mangrove saplings under the environment campaign called ‘Green Fingers’. In today’s world when travel between state and countries cannot be avoided, Standard Chartered GTO employs innovative ways to offset the effects from their travel by supporting a variety of activities such as planting trees.

Taking root through a mangrove rehabilitation project at Kuala Sungai Sepang Forest Reserve located at the beautiful coastal beach in Bagan Lalang, Sepang, some 500 enthusiastic Green heroes comprising staff from Malaysia and Singapore, and their families, toiled under the Saturday afternoon sun to plant 2,000 saplings within half a day.

The exercise constitutes Phase 1 of the rehabilitation project, with another 4,000 saplings to be planted at later date. In collaboration with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) , Standard Chartered’s efforts contribute to rehabilitate areas previously degraded and to help to nurture the surrounding natural ecosystem.

“We are an organisation that has been part of Malaysia for 135 years as one of the first banks in the country, and Standard Chartered will continue to be very much a part of Malaysia’s future. Our staff is the key differentiator that drives the success of our community programmes, and it speaks volumes that our staff unite across borders to support our environment efforts in Malaysia,” said Osman Morad, Managing Director and CEO, Standard Chartered Bank (Malaysia) Berhad.

“Mangrove forests remain one of our most important coastal ecosystems. As a natural system, mangroves are pivotal in rendering coastline protection. One of the emerging lesson from 2004 tsunami disaster is that forest areas covered with mangroves and other suitable tree species are reported to be a vital buffer zones (barriers) preventing or at least reducing damages caused by tsunamis and high tidal waves. In pursuant to that incidence, the government of Malaysia has embarked on a special programme namely the Tree Planting Programme with Mangroves and Other Suitable Species along National Coastlines in 2005. As of September 2010, a total of 5.8 million mangroves covering an area of 2,120 hectares have been planted throughout the country.

Tree planting is still the most relevant method to offset carbon footprint and reduce biodiversity loss. Planting of trees is hugely beneficial to the world in the face of accelerating climate change. With this in mind, I would like to once again commend Standard Chartered for its keen understanding of national issues and its proactive efforts to encourage government and private sector partnerships. This is of course very much in line with our 26 Million Trees Planting Campaign launched by my ministry on 22 April 2010,” stressed by Dato’ Razani Ujang, Director General, Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM), who delivered speech and officiated the programme on behalf of Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Malaysia, the Honourable Tan Sri Panglima Datuk Seri Joseph Kurup.

“Our environment efforts are driven through relevance to make the most impact to the community. Green Fingers is designed to offset carbon emissions generated from work-related air travel. Over 45,000 trees have been planted internationally in 12 cities across 10 countries, and I am delighted that this number will increase by a further 6,000 trees through our contribution,” added Arif Siddiqui, Chief Information Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, and Head of GTO Malaysia.

This project is part of the Bank’s pledge to plant 11,000 trees across Malaysia under its GreenFingers project. GreenFingers was the first corporate-led environment programme to support Malaysia’s 26 Million Tree Campaign, which is also recognised under United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign. Since GreenFingers was launched in Malaysia in May, the Bank has planted 4,000 trees within three months.