Tropical deforestation has become an extremely important global environmental issue. Concern about this issue has led to a reforestation programme for deforested sites as a top priority of the Indonesian government. The government has stepped up its effort to revegetate about 13.2 million hectares of critically deforested sites. This target, however, is difficult to achieve due to several major constraints, all related to unfavourable environmental conditions Adverse edaphic factors (poor and acidic soils), climatic factors (high level of solar radiation and temperature), and biological factors (aggressive competition from the predominant Imperata grass, the prevalence of fire, and low soil microbial activities) combine to cause a low rate of seedling survival and poor growth of reforestation species.
To improve the chances of successful tree establishment in such adverse conditions, several research studies are being carried out on a variety of reforestation technologies. These include studies on site preparation, species and provenance trials, production of high-quality planting stock, soil amendments, micropropagation, and the application of beneficial microorganisms, such as mycorrhizae and Rhizobium.
This paper attempts to review and discuss the present and future status of this reforestation research in Indonesia.
Key words: deforestation, reforestation technology, planting stock production, beneficial microorganism.
Correspondence: Yadi Setiadi, Faculty of forestry, Bogor Agriculture University, P.O. Box 169, Campus IPB, Darmaga, Bogor, Indonesia
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