Conservation Strategy of Native Seedlings in Kalimantan to Achieve Sustainable Forests in Indonesia

Abstract

Recently, the attention of the global community is increasing to the phenomenon of climate change. Climate change could influence the imbalance of the forest ecosystem. Likely floods, forest fires, pests, and disease outbreaks are the important factors that can decrease forest productivity as a reciprocal relationship between forest disturbance and deforestation. The development of plantation forests and natural forest nurseries is one solution to maintain forest resources by reducing deforestation rates and conserving biodiversity. In this study, to conserve native trees of Kalimantan, we explored natural seedlings in their habitats as part of sustainable forest management. The study was conducted at IUPHHK-HTI PT Korintiga Hutani (PT KTH) from 2019 to date. Seedling explorations were carried out in Bukit Panjang and Sungai Inaf Besar. The collection method used wild seedlings (soil aggregate was still compacted in the roots). Furthermore, wild seedlings were grown in a polybag (23 × 15 cm) and stored in shading areas. Then, for acclimatization, it was transplanted to a natural forest nursery. These results suggest that the nursery has collected 9 families, 10 genus, 13 species, and 9791 individuals with 2680 individuals, represent the majority of dominance. As much of 600 seedlings of Dipterocarpaceae were planted at the river border in PT KTH.