The Complexities and Rewards of Rainforest Reforestation
- Jay Alexander
- Apr 8, 2024
- 3 min read
Heading to Sabah, Borneo to meet with APE Malaysia I knew I was going to learn something and I was eager to share it with the masses (or whoever in the field of conservation is interested). But I also thought I already knew plenty and had it all almost figured out. Yes I had passed through reforestation sites; some healthy and natural-looking, as well as others that were practically farm row monocultures planted by soulless commercial mining and logging concessions. I’d watched videos, read things here and there, and had my share of conversations about the topic. And I planted trees and took part in an arborist certification course back in Los Angeles urban setting many moons ago. But I was never officially part of any reforestation projects or saw any of these projects from start to fruition. So my two basic conclusions were all it takes is money, and a strategy of planting trees in clusters and snap your fingers, it will be done. But it is not always that easy. And no one method is 100% effective or efficient 100% of the time.
Environmental factors are the key determinant of the strategy one must apply for native restoration/reforestation. First off: the soil. How nutrient rich is the soil? A significantly nutrient rich soil can start showing tangible secondary forest results within 7 years. An extremely nutrient deficient soil with slow growing species can take up 40 years for the same results. Besides the important nutrients (which I will save for future posts), how much existing top soil and/or hummus plays a key role, as well as whether it is a hard clay, the type of clay (utisol or oxisol), if it is all sand, if it is a mud swamp, and if there are any significant contaminants. Secondly: the species that you are using to reforest the area and if there are any non-native invasive species fiercely competing for that spot.
In the budding corridors along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia these factors come into play. Yes, there is hard-packed clay like most lowland rainforests but there are also areas of swap. But the areas of marsh contain another challenge: invasive, non-native grass species that grow very tall and they are not consumed by any of the animals including the elephants. Elephants consume native grasses which do not grow too tall and replenish very quick, thus ensuring a cohesive balance. But the non-native grasses (likely introduced through agriculture) have no animal to check them, and ultimately end growing so tall that they strangle the seedlings and prevent them from continuing on the path to maturity. In this environment it was too difficult to keep track of semi random planted clusters. That is why for the purposes of maintenance efficiency, APE Malaysia switched to line planting in these zones and their success rate dramatically shot up. Now as I walked around in their test site I was seeing small to medium size trees develop a canopy. And as a result the grass was getting shorter. Soon more native bushes and herbaceous plants will return to this site as canopy begins to close.
But we must not forget another key component in any reforestation project: the people. Working with the local community is extremely important. Not only providing jobs to incentivize keeping the forest standing, but also creating educated individuals that return back to the community, in effect becoming ambassadors for the for the forest. With these people from the Sukau village, APE Malaysia is also utilizing a unique strategy by making smaller, scalable nurseries. Their largest nursery, which holds 3,000 seedlings, is still actually fairly small compared large-scale commercial nurseries and only takes up a corner of the backyard of the team leader’s house. It is not sprawling and overwhelming, in fact it is very achievable. And because of this, smaller nurseries are springing up among the locals of the community. To complete the process APE Malaysia buys these saplings from the community and everyone benefits as the healthy water-saving, oxygen producing, carbon-storing, beautiful biodiversity-providing forest returns. The new challenge is to teach people about the germination process, rather than collect naturally germinated seeds from the forest, which disrupts the natural cycle. But it is all a process that takes time.
Ultimately small independent nurseries are a scalable strategy and the future of area wide reforestation. Especially if you want to involve the community in a more intimate and insightful way while economically motivating them. And of course one must be willing to adjust their game plan based on the conditions of the environment. From this visit with APE Malaysia, I gained a whole new level insight and inspiration that I hope to implement with my own projects in the future.
For more detailed info:
Watch our APE Malaysia video here: https://youtu.be/-j4n-DYYeU4?si=zipTqxgugwp_sBL9
Visit APE Malaysia
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