KEY POINTS:
Six years ago the area around Samboja in Borneo was like much of the world's tropical rainforest: denuded. The trees had been cut for timber, the land burned, and in place of what should have been some of the richest biodiversity on the planet were thousands of hectares of grass.
But from this ruined landscape a fresh forest has been grown, teeming with insects, birds and animals, and cooled by the return of moist clouds and rain. It is a feat that offers hope for disappearing and ruined rainforests around the world.
The secret was to use more than 1300 species of local trees and a fertiliser made with cow urine, says Dr Willie Smits, the Indonesian forestry expert who led the replanting.
"The place became the scene of an ecological miracle, a fairytale come true," says Smits, who has written a book about the project.
Rainforests are home to half the world's 10 million species of plants, animals and insects, store more carbon than the Earth's atmosphere, clean air and water, and regulate temperatures and rains.
The United Nations estimates that every day more than 14,000ha of primary rainforest are cut down - a figure campaigners warn is "conservative".
The area around the small town of Samboja was like a "moonscape" when Smits first visited it nearly a decade ago. The rainforest had been cut and burned and the land was covered with grasses. Without the forest, the rains disappeared and temperatures rose. Streams dried up, harvests failed, fires broke out, jobs disappeared and ill health soared.
"The only thing I saw was this huge sea of yellow, waving grass; there was wind, but there was no rustling of leaves," Smits said. "There were no birds, not even insects, nothing but this damned grass."
Smits raised money to buy 2025ha and six years ago set about planting seeds collected from more than 1300 species of tree, more even than would have lived in the original forest. These were planted with a "micro-biological agent" made from sugar, excrement, food waste, sawdust and cow urine.
Already Smits and his team from the Borneo Orang-utan Survival Foundation claim the forest is "mature", with trees up to 35m high. Cloud cover has increased by 12 per cent, rainfall by a quarter, and temperatures have dropped 3-5C, helping people and wildlife to thrive, says Smits.
Nine species of primate have also returned, including orang-utans.
"If you walk there now, 116 bird species have found a place to live, there are more than 30 types of mammals, insects are there. The whole system is coming to life. I knew what I was trying to do, but the force of nature has totally surprised me."
People have benefited from being given land around the forest to plant crops, providing food and income.
"It was the poorest district in the area, now it's above average," said Smits. "It can be done anywhere. The principles are that you must have scientifically sound approaches, work with local trees, and you have to have the respect of local people - that's the key."
- OBSERVER
