SHAH ALAM (March 12): An effective forest restoration project requires a good supply of high-quality seeds, which is a challenge in many countries currently, including Malaysia, said speakers at the launch of the Seed to Tree project at the Elmina Rainforest Knowledge Centre on Tuesday.

The Seed to Tree project is implemented by the Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre (TRCRC) and Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT (Alliance), and funded by the UK Mission to Asean.

“With fragmented forests, the pollinators are no longer there, the viability of the seeds is also deteriorating. There are a lot of issues that do not seem apparent to the untrained eye. [There are] so many challenges for restoration, and this is not only for Malaysia,” said TRCRC executive director Dzaeman Dzulkifli at the event.

“We’re part of a network of restoration practitioners that see some of these problems happening, and the standards are not there. A lot of times, people look at tree planting as a tree for a tree, but not really for the functioning of the species and diversity.”

This includes a lack of inquiry into the origins of the seeds and whether the planting effort is promoting a monoculture.

“Indigenous knowledge is often the last to be tapped on, and I think it should be the other way around. They should be a source of knowledge and long-term partnerships,” Dzaeman added.

Therefore, a key component of the Seed to Tree project involves working with local indigenous communities to collect native tree seeds from forests, and connecting them with potential buyers. They will be able to use MyFarmTrees, a monitoring, reporting and verification tool, to document seed collection and provide traceability.

The project also aims to develop a restoration and conservation planning toolkit that actors can use to select and plant appropriate species and seeds for various sites, which also considers current and future climate conditions.

This will address the challenges that many forest restoration project developers face. Lack of seeds delays projects, increases costs and undermines restoration objectives as they have to use fewer species than planned, said Seed to Tree project lead Riina Jalonen during her presentation.

The event was officiated by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Secretary General Datuk Dr Ching Thoo Kim and attended by Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Catherine West MP and Acting British High Commissioner to Malaysia David Wallace.

In his opening speech, Ching said the Climate Change Bill, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament during the next session in the middle of the year, will include a chapter on adaptation and nature-based solutions.

He added that Malaysia’s 100 million trees funding initiative from 2021 to 2025 has achieved the target a year before the deadline.

“By March 2024, we have planted more than 100 million trees, and we are going to continue until the year 2025 by planting another 20 million trees,” he said.

In the upcoming COP30 to be held in Brazil, the Malaysian government, as chair of Asean, hopes to bring the region’s voice to the conference.

“We must get at least 10 Asean countries to agree… If we have five or six Asean countries going to Belem and making our voices heard, that is something we want to do very much,” said the secretary general.

Since the inception of the Seed to Tree project last July, it has engaged with 21 non-state actors, 60 indigenous representatives and 11 government agencies. A milestone has been the identification and compilation of 364 native tree species, sourced from stakeholder databases and direct consultations with the Jahai, Temiar and other indigenous communities.

“Not only does this project address the complex nature of our response to climate change and restoring nature and biodiversity, it also values the crucial role our indigenous people play,” said West during her speech.