Replanting Rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia

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.

Cinta Raja III is one of the restoration sites we support in Sumatra's Leuser Ecosystem. It has been under the care of the restoration team since 2018 and is flourishing. Just a few years ago, Cinta Raja was bare and quiet, with a few stumps of oil palm trees and some tough grasses pushing through the depleted soil, but recently, Restoration Manager Rio Ardi spotted a female orangutan and her baby at the site, enjoying some fruit in one of the trees above him as he walked through one of the replanted areas.

The arrival of these orangutans is testament to the amazing work the restoration team does to restore orangutan habitat. It is also testament to the incredible support we get from donors like you, without whom we couldn’t keep these projects running.

I hope the video at the link below makes you as happy as it made us!

Thank you for your continued support.

Links:

• Watch the video