Ecosystem Restoration Indonesia Project #5255

Replanting Rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia

by Sumatran Orangutan Society

Project Report | Jan 26, 2022
Dealing with unexpected tree-planting problems.

By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager

At the sites being rewilded in Sumatra, staff and volunteers use eco-polybags to house seeds and seedlings as they grow in the tree nurseries. In the past, they used plastic polybags, which protected the seedlings but created a lot of waste, which of course was not biodegradabale.

While eco-polybags made from banana trunk fibres are biodegradable and enable the new trees' roots to breathe, humidity and heat at the planting sites makes the eco-polybags start to break down much quicker than the team would ideally want. For fast-growing seedlings, it's not too much of a problem, as within a few months the seedlings can be moved out of the nursery environment and planted out in the site, where the eco-polybag degrading won't cause their roots to rot. However, it's important to grow a mix of species - including slow-growing trees, which stay in the nursery for much longer. If the eco-polybags start breaking down while in the nursery when the roots are not surrounded by the complex soil of the larger site, it can be disastrous for the delicate seedlings.

To address this problem, staff are now replacing the eco-polybags for slow-growing seedlings every three months while they're in the tree nursery. This has the added bonus of providing more work for the women's groups who are paid to make the eco-polybags. Many of the women are now using eco-polybags in their own vegetable gardens as well.

As always, thank you for your support.

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Sep 28, 2021
Why do we prepare extra seedlings for every site?

By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager

May 25, 2021
What is Assisted Natural Regeneration?

By Lucy Radford | Engagement Manager

Beautiful forest in Sumatra

The reforestation projects SOS supports in Sumatra all use assisted natural regeneration to restore areas of land that have been degraded. But how does this look in practice, and what are the benefits?

Fully natural regeneration is often suggested as an alternative to more labour-intensive restoration methods. For example, if we decided to use this method, after buying any piece of land we would simply fund some fences or patrols to protect it but otherwise leave it alone to recover over time. While this would undoubtedly cost less money than assisted natural regeneration, the reality is that nature cannot be separated from people, and so involvement of and benefit to local communities is vital in ensuring that a restored forest remains protected long-term. Additionally, a lot of seed dispersal relies on animals and birds which may have long ago disappeared from a degraded area, so natural regeneration doesn’t always happen as quickly as it would if these species were present.

The aim of restoring forest is to restore a complex ecosystem with diverse plants and animals and natural ecological processes. Simply planting a large number of fast-growing trees to quickly turn an area green does not achieve this aim, and there have been cases where tree-planting is used as a ‘quick fix’ for carbon-offsetting without consideration of long-term sustainability or even the effectiveness of this method of carbon-offsetting.

Restoration Manager Rio working with local people

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