Rainforest restoration is crucial in the fight to save the Sumatran orangutan, a species facing horrifying rates of habitat loss. So our partners, the OIC, are always keen to develop their techniques. Thanks to the support of Japan’s Nagao Natural Environmental Foundation (NEF), they have been learning about some of the very latest approaches.
Panut with a tree planted back in 2009
In March, NEF enabled OIC Founding Director Panut Hadisiswoyo and Restoration Manager Ahmad Azhari (Ari) to participate in forest restoration training conducted by the Forest Restoration Research Unit (FORRU) in Chiang Mai,Thailand. During the visit, Panut also gave a talk about the OIC at Chiang Mai University.
The main goal of the training was to introduce what’s called Accelerated Natural Regeneration (ANR) and Framework Species Methods (FSM) and to encourage collaboration between restoration projects within southeast Asia.
“ANR is defined as any actions to protect and encourage the growth of ‘natural regenerants’ to accelerate forest recovery for local livelihoods, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation,” explains Panut; ‘natural regenerants’ referring to trees that grow naturally, i.e. without being planted. “And FSM is a method of forest restoration involving the planting of 20-30 indigenous tree species which enhance natural forest regeneration and accelerate biodiversity recovery.”
The OIC rainforest restoration team.
Such species boost diversity by attracting wildlife that then disperse seeds from the natural forest. “Ultimately, this will result in a diverse, multi-layered, vegetative cover,” explains Panut. “This then helps many different wildlife species.”
The first step is for OIC to complete a site survey to work out the density of regenerants and what stops them growing. “We have already starting doing this in our restoration site in Marike,” explains Panut. “Then we need to plan how to make sure weeds don’t prevent these trees from growing, and decide whether supplementary tree planting would help.”
The team will monitor tree survival rates and wildlife returning to the restoration site and James Cornwell, a member of FORRU, will also visit this month. “James is an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development and will be observing how FORRU can help further our restoration activities,” says Panut. “He will also run a restoration workshop for all restoration team members during his visit.” We’ll keep you updated!
To find out how we’re working to restore and protect precious orangutan habitat please visit www.orangutans-sos.org/projects. Or buy a Restore Rainforest Gift Pack.
Orangutan spotted in the OIC rainforest restoration site, Besitang.
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