REHABILITATION OF THE RAJA MUSA FOREST RESERVE

Reviving A Green Lung The Raja Musa Peat Swamp Forest Reserve The Raja Musa Forest Reserve covers 23,000 ha and is part of the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest. Unfortunately, over the past ten years more than 500 ha of the reserve has been illegally cleared and burnt for farming activities and has caused major environmental hazards such as haze. Clearing and fires have also released thousands of tones of greenhouses gases, which contribute to climate change. This forest reserve is located near Batang Berjuntai/Berjuntai Bestari in the northern region of the Selangor State, Malaysia. Download the map of how to get there. The government of Selangor has recognized this forest reserve as an important site for the conservation of forest and peatland resources, and has initiated a large scale programme for the clearance of illegal settlers from 500 ha of forest reserve and restoring the forest. The first community based peat forest rehabilitation programme is currently being jointly implemented in the Raja Musa Forest Reserve by the Selangor State Forestry Department and Global Environment Centre, in collaboration with other NGOs and community groups. This is one of the largest forest rehabilitation projects in Malaysia. More than 2000 volunteers have helped to plant Mahang seedlings, an indigenous peat swamp forest species which is very fast growing. They are suitable for planting in areas which have been clear felled or burnt. The first objective of the replanting is to rapidly create forest cover which further prevents encroachment into the forest, thus reducing the risk of fire. Take a look at the entire tree planting process >>   Grow a Peat Forest GEC is working with the Forestry department and the Sai Council to rehabilitate the area. The Sai Council has successfully mastered the Marcotting method and seedling availability is no longer an issue. As such, we will be organising tree plantings regularly until December 2010. A lot of man-power is required to ensure we can plant all the seedlings, so if you or your organisation is interested in helping out on any of the Saturdays, please contact us. GEC is also desperately trying to raise sufficient funds to support part of the activities and provide a better experience for volunteers. Organisations and individuals can support the tree planting activities through the following means: Sponsoring food/drinks for volunteers Providing transport for volunteers to the site and back Providing transport (lorry) to collect the marcots and bring it to the planting site Making a monetary donation to the Forest Care Fund to support the tree planting activities If you are interested in any of these options, please contact the Outreach and Partnerships Programme! The planting dates for 2010 are as follows: August: 15 and 28 September: 18* and 25 October: 9 and 23 November: 13 and 27 December: 4 and 18 *Hari Raya falls on September 11 so we are postponing the date to the 18th Photos (from top right): Volunteers planting a seedling The Mahang seedling (species that is planted at the site) The method of Macotting allows us to harvest large amounts of seedlings (marcots) from adult trees. The marcots are a minimum of 4 feet tall, which increases their survival rate once planted. The degraded landscape of the Raja Musa PSF.		GEC would like to thank the following organisations for their time and contributions to this project: CIMB Foundation Novozymes Maxis Toyota Eco Rangers CEMEX Bridgestone Maybank2U Eco Warriors Selangor State Forestry Department Sathya Sai Baba Central Council of Malaysia                 And the following Schools and Universities for their active participation in our tree plantings: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Universiti Putra Malaysia UNISEL Garden International School International School Kuala Lumpur Taylor's University College Sunway University College Masterskill University College of Health Sciences Universiti Tun Abdul Razak Universiti Malaya UNITEN TAR College Megatech Institute