Reforestation and Afforestation

(Southeast Asia)

Reforestation and afforestation efforts in Southeast the type of tree cover, or the diversity of reestablished
Asia have relied on the use of a small number of non- trees. Forest restoration is a related term that often con-
native tree species, often planted as monocultures, with notes an attempt to return the forest’s original structure,
little participation by local communities. The situation function, and composition to the degraded land. Forest
is changing, however, as regional institutions have restoration is also sometimes used as a general term that
developed more ecologically and socially sustainable includes tree planting, as well as less active methods to
approaches to restore forest cover, and market-based speed up natural succession (like assisted natural regen-
funding mechanisms are beginning to finance these eration; see below).
efforts in the region.

M ost countries in Southeast Asia have experienced

widespread deforestation and forest degradation
over the last century due to unsustainable forestry prac-
Conventional Approaches
Reforestation and afforestation has a long history in
tices, conversion to agriculture, mining, urbanization, Southeast Asia, having been initiated by colonial and, in
infrastructure development, and fi re. Th is dramatic some cases, precolonial governments. Usually these early
transformation in the region’s vegetative cover has impacted programs were small in scale and aimed at restoring
not only the availability of timber and non-timber forest denuded areas and increasing supplies of premium timber
products, but has also had a correspondingly large effect species. Since the 1950s and 1960s, reforestation and
on the ecosystem’s ability to sequester carbon, maintain afforestation have taken on much greater importance as
the hydrological cycle, minimize soil erosion, and pre- the high levels of forest exploitation have resulted in huge
serve biodiversity. Most countries in the region now have areas of degraded lands. Government forestry depart-
large areas of degraded land, which governments are ments and large industrial corporations have typically
targeting for return to productivity through reforestation taken the lead in these efforts. Th roughout the region,
and afforestation. these reforestation and afforestation programs have
While the exact definitions of reforestation and affor- tended to rely on the large-scale planting of a small num-
estation vary from source to source, both processes can ber of species, including Acacia mangium, Gmelina arborea
generally be understood as the practice of planting trees (beechwood), Eucalyptus spp., Swietenia macrophylla
in areas that are considered degraded or otherwise of low (mahogany), and Tectona grandis (teak), which are non-
productivity. Reforestation is typically differentiated from native in part, if not all, of the region and are planted as
afforestation by virtue of the fact that it involves returning monocultures (i.e., as the sole crop). These species are
tree cover to land that was formerly forested. Afforestation, favored by foresters, because they have well-established
on the other hand, involves planting trees on land that markets, good survivorship in open areas, and because they
either never was forested, or that has been deforested or are easy to propagate and manage. Local community mem-
under an alternative land use for a long period of time. bers, if involved at all in these reforestation and afforesta-
Successful reforestation and afforestation are marked by tion efforts, have often been employed as hired laborers
reestablished tree cover, without consideration given to with little stake in the program. Funds available through

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 REFORESTATION AND AFFORESTATION (SOUTHEAST ASIA) • 313

government initiatives have generally been allocated to economically and ecologically important species was
meeting the goal of planting large numbers of trees, but considered necessary in the Philippines, where the rural
little effort has been put on maintaining those trees, with population density is very high, as a way for local
the result that few survive. The exact impact of these pro- communities to gain multiple economic benefits while
grams remains largely unknown due to the lack of any restoring forest cover to the land. A number of organiza-
long-term, systematic monitoring. tions in the Philippines have adopted RF, leading to a
diversification of approaches aimed at using native species
to address an array of management objectives, including
New Approaches timber production, biodiversity conservation, watershed
rehabilitation, slope stabilization, urban beautification,
There are currently a number of programs underway and others. RF is now being widely promoted in the
working to restore forest cover that are both more eco- Philippines and is also being disseminated to Cambodia,
logically and more socially sustainable than previous Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and southern China.
approaches. The United Nations Food and Agricultural ANR, FSM, and RF are some of the best-known
Organization, for example, is promoting an approach alternative approaches to reforestation and afforestation
known as assisted natural regeneration (ANR) in the in Southeast Asia because information about them is
Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. widely disseminated through publications and trainings.
ANR consists of a series of techniques to reduce the labor There are many similarities between these approaches: all
and cost associated with nursery establishment and tree three involve collaboration with local communities and
planting by facilitating the growth of the small, woody rely on natural succession to develop more diverse forests
seedlings that are typically found even on extremely that provide a greater variety of environmental services
degraded sites. ANR techniques revolve around working and are more resilient to disturbance than are the con-
with local communities to protect these seedlings from ventional methods. There are also other approaches to
disturbances, such as animal grazing and fi re, to reduce reforestation and afforestation being used in Southeast
competition from weeds, and to promote their growth Asia that have not been institutionalized in the same
through fertilizing and mulching. The resulting forest, kind of way. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation,
which is usually dominated by fast-growing, pioneer spe- for example, conducted significant experimentation on
cies, can be planted with shade-demanding tree species, forest restoration at the 1,800-hectare Samboja Lestari
if there are no nearby forest patches that can provide site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, for which it has
seedlings through natural dispersion methods (e.g., dis- received significant international attention, even if it did
persal by wind, birds, or bats). not develop its own “brand” of reforestation. This project
The Forest Research Restoration Unit (FORRU) at was particularly noteworthy because it involved the
Chiang Mai University in Thailand is promoting a tech- planting of large numbers of indigenous plants.
nique known as the framework species method (FSM).
This approach, which was initially developed in Australia,
has been successfully adapted to the ecological conditions Local Communities
of northern Thailand. FSM relies on the planting of
moderately high densities of thirty or so native species of The meaningful involvement of local communities in
trees that have been chosen for their high survivorship, reforestation and afforestation efforts in Southeast Asia is
ability to shade out grasses by quickly achieving canopy being facilitated by a broad paradigm shift away from
closure, and attractiveness to wildlife, which, in turn, centralized government control of forestlands (which are
brings in seeds of additional tree species. This influential often highly degraded and in need of reforestation) to one
approach, which is being disseminated to southern in which rural communities are given a direct stake in
Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and how those lands are managed. This trend toward decen-
elsewhere, is particularly relevant in national parks and tralization has occurred due to the recognition that state
other areas where there are nearby remnant patches of agencies are not able to adequately control access to the
forest and where restoration for biodiversity conservation huge areas of forestland that they claim authority over,
is the primary objective. while rural and indigenous communities have a greater
In the Philippines, a reforestation approach, known as stake and ability to see that those resources are managed
rainforestation or rainforestation farming (RF), was sustainably. Decentralization or cooperative management
developed by Visayas State University and the German agreements have also become more appealing to govern-
Agency for International Cooperation (GTZ) as an ment forestry departments since most of the valuable
agroforestry system that integrates the use of annual timber resources have often already been extracted.
crops, fruit trees, and native timber trees. The mixing of While the nature and extent of decentralization varies

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314 • THE BERKSHIRE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SUSTAINABILITY: CHINA, INDIA, AND EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY

from country to country, reforestation and afforestation part of the voluntary carbon market, with projects currently
projects typically require that institutional arrangements in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Cambodia. The volun-
be established between the different stakeholders (i.e., tary carbon market differs from the CDM in that it is not
those people who have a stake in an enterprise) to deter- tied to any regulations, but rather is primarily driven by
mine who will contribute labor to the project, how ben- peoples’ and companies’ desires to offset their own emis-
efits will be divided, and how confl icts can be managed. sions, and by corporate social responsibility campaigns.
Community members are then often involved in all Under these two programs, as well as the Reducing
stages of reforestation and afforestation programs includ- Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
ing planning, species selection, seed collection, nursery (REDD1) mechanism, which is still under development,
establishment, planting (or assisted natural regeneration), reforestation and afforestation project proponents are
maintenance, and monitoring. required to put in place stringent carbon accounting, moni-
toring, reporting, and verification systems, which help insure
that reforestation projects achieve their greenhouse gas
New Sources of Funding reduction goals. Many of reforestation and afforesta-
tion projects also seek validation under the
Reforestation and afforestation programs in Climate, Community, and Biodiversity
the past have been largely financed Alliance (CCBA) standards, which are
through government budgetary designed to ensure that carbon proj-
allocations, reforestation funds ects also have significant commu-
collected from concessionaires, nity and biodiversity benefits.
corporate investment, and PES programs are also
bilateral and multilateral being developed to provide
grants and loans. In recent funding for the pursuit of
years, however, new funding other environmental advan-
mechanisms, known broadly tages resulting from the
as payments for ecosystem presence of forests, includ-
services (PES), have been ing a greater abundance
developed that financially link of water and increased bio-
the people who protect and/or diversity. Payments for
restore forests with various watershed-related services
stakeholders who receive focus on the role played by
direct economic benefits forests in mitigating the
from the forested areas. severity of flooding and
These PES programs hold drought, and in ensuring
the potential to significantly the quantity and quality
increase the amount of of water resources. In
regional, national, and interna- various locations through-
tional funds available for refores- out Southeast Asia, for
tation and afforestation initiatives. example, upland farmers are
The most developed of the PES paid to protect and restore forest-
programs revolve around the role of forests in sequester- lands in order to secure water supply for the downstream
ing carbon as a way to mitigate climate change. There are production of hydroelectric and geothermal power, for
currently two different types of carbon markets through irrigation, and for direct human consumption. Biodiversity
which carbon credits from reforestation and afforestation markets are also now being looked at as vehicles for com-
projects can be traded. The Kyoto Protocol’s clean devel- panies or individuals to fund the protection and restoration
opment mechanism (CDM), which is part of the so-called of important wildlife habitat areas, sometimes as required
regulatory market, includes afforestation and reforesta- by regulations to mitigate habitat loss elsewhere.
tion as a way for developed countries with greenhouse gas
emissions targets to offset their emissions by paying for
projects in countries of the developing world, which have Future Outlook
no such targets. To date, most reforestation and afforesta-
tion projects in the region have been developed in China Conservation initiatives in Southeast Asia continue to be
and India, but there is one such project in Vietnam as well. dominated by efforts to protect large tracts of primary
Reforestation and afforestation also constitute a significant forest, but reforestation and afforestation of degraded land

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 REFORESTATION AND AFFORESTATION (SOUTHEAST ASIA) • 315

are gaining increasing attention as the natural forests of FURTHER READING

the region continue to dwindle in scale and the demand Alexander, Sasha, et al. (2011). Opportunities and challenges for eco-
for the goods and services provided by the forests increase. logical restoration within REDD1. Restoration Ecology, 19 (6),
Climate change in particular has added a new impetus for 683–689.
governments to restore their forests. While conventional Corlett, Richard T. (2009). The ecology of tropical East Asia . London:
Oxford University Press.
patterns of government-led reforestation, which prioritize Diaz, David; Hamilton, Katherine; & Johnson, Evan. (2011). State of
the usage of non-native species in relatively homogenous the forest carbon markets 2011: From canopy to currency. Washington,
plantings and allow for a minimal role by local communi- DC: Ecosystem Marketplace.
ties, remain the dominant approach throughout much of Forest Restoration Research Unit. (2005). How to plant a forest:
Principles and practice of restoring tropical forests. Thailand: Chiang
the region, the situation is changing, as nongovernmental Mai University. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.forru.
organizations, scientists, and concerned citizens have org/PDF_Files/htpaf book/htpaf book.pdf
begun to question why such approaches are used, espe- Friday, Kathleen S.; Drilling, M. Elmo; & Garrity, Dennis, P. (1999).
cially when more socially and ecologically sustainable Imperata grassland rehabilitation using agroforestry and assisted natural
regeneration. Bogor, Indonesia: International Centre for Research
practices are available. Capacity building and training are in Agroforestry, Southeast Asian Regional Research Programme.
being used to disseminate these new approaches to a vari- Lamb, David. (2011). Regreening the barren hills: Tropical forest restora-
ety of practitioners in the field while networks are being tion in the Asia-Pacific region . Dordrecht, The Netherlands:
developed to help address the other constraints to field Springer.
Madsen, Becca; Carroll, Nathaniel; Kandy, Daniel; & Bennett,
implementation. It is imperative that these efforts con- Genevieve. (2010). State of biodiversity markets: Off sets and com-
tinue to be scaled up, though, because as things currently pensation programs worldwide . Washington, DC: Ecosystem
stand, deforestation is still outpacing reforestation and Marketplace.
afforestation efforts in most countries of the region. Milan, Pacencia. (2009). Rainforestation farming: A farmer’s guide to
sustainable forest biodiversity management (2nd ed.). Baybay, Leyte,
Philippines: Visayas State University. Retrieved April 3, 2012,
J. David NEIDEL from http://w w w.rainforestation.ph/resources/pdf/howto/
Milan_2009_Rainforestation_Farming.pdf
National University of Singapore
Schulte, Andreas. (2002). Rainforestation farming: Option for rural
development and biodiversity conservation in the humid tropics of
See also Agriculture (China and Southeast Asia); Southeast Asia. Aachen, Germany: Shaker Verlag, GmbH.
Agriculture (South Asia); Biodiversity Conservation Stanton, Tracy; Echavarria, Marta; Hamilton, Katherine; & Ott
Legislation (China); Endangered Species; Great Green Caroline. (2010). State of watershed payments: An emerging market-
place. Washington, DC: Ecosystem Marketplace.
Wall (China); Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs); TED: Ideas worth spreading. (2009). TED talks: Willie Smits restores
Public-Private Partnerships; Rural Development; a rainforest. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.ted.com/
Southeast Asia talks/lang/en/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html

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