SE Asian Reforestation - it's a family affair!

Elango Velautham (centre) with some of the seedling collection party from FRIM and UWC

Over the half term break a group of UWC parents and their kids went on an adventurous botanical expedition to Malaysia to collect endangered tree seedlings. The trip was part of the College's Rainforest Restoration Project which aims to reverse the disastrous biodiversity loss of tropical forest in our region.

The weekend expedition was led by Assistant Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Elango Velautham, one of the region's foremost experts in Tropical Forest Conservation. Elango's deep knowledge of tree species and close relationship with the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) allowed us to collect thousands of rare species of Dipterocarps. These are some of the world's largest trees which sadly continue to be removed by logging and plantation agriculture. Elango guided us into a partially protected area of forest in the Kluang area of Malaysia and we were lucky that there had been a recent masting by a large number of the Dipterocarps. These mass fruiting events are quite rare, but allow arborists to collect vast numbers of seeds and seedlings that would otherwise die (the trees deliberately produce thousands so that a tiny percentage might survive the tough competition for lights and nutrients).

The expert gets questioned....is this one rare too?

The seedlings were taken back to FRIM where they will be logged (as in recorded, not chopped down!) and planted either in Malaysian reserves or back here in Singapore as part of our project.
Not all will survive, but with luck and care this small group of parents and kids will have made genuine progress in the battle to conserve South East Asia's magnificent forest diversity.

We hope to run another trip for older students too, so if you are interested in joining us or want to know more about the project contact Nathan Hunt (nhu@uwcsea.edu.sg).

All photos from Julia Hunter-Anderson, Dover parent.

Despite her camouflage, we spotted this amazing Horned Frog (Megophrys nasuta)

Even fallen trees result in a lot of new life in this forest 

The Forest was dense but beautiful...we even found a cool spot to swim

This is why the Dipterocarps are endangered....Palm Oil plantations have spread right up to the forest edge 

With a lack of forest canopy, soil easily gets washed into the river...and out to the coral reefs. It's a sad sight after the beauty of the rainforest.