Expert exchange between German and Indonesian forestry professionals on reforestation and reforestation
As part of a nine-day information and study trip in August and September 2018, a group of Indone-sian foresters visited forest-relevant institutions in northern and eastern Germany. This technical exchange took place as part of a strategic partnership between the German Forest Society and the FOR-CES and Climate Change Program (FORCLIME) of the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ). Within the Forest Expert Program initiated by the Federal Ministry of Agricul-ture, the German Forest Society had prepared and organized the trip.
Participants in the delegation were the heads of several Indonesian forestry offices, co-workers of provincial forestry administrations and representatives of several departments of the National For-estry Ministry in Jakarta.
In line with the increasingly important thematic focus on reforestation in Indonesia, the forest-based starting point in Germany was first presented during a visit to the Alfred Toepfer Academy for Nature Conservation of the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Environment (Schneverdingen) and the historical background of extensive reforestation in the Lüneburg Heath was highlighted ,
Since construction and processes in German forestry offices are also of particular interest, the par-ticipants were then able to gain an idea of the structures of a public-law forestry enterprise and the organization and working methods of one of its sub-plants using the example of the Sellorm forest office.
The next step was the legal framework for the production of forest reproductive material as well as the harvesting, processing and storage of seeds of Central European tree species. The Forest Seed Advice Center Oerrel provided first-hand information on this topic, and technical measures in deal-ing with forest seed were also demonstrated in practice.
In the further course of the study tour, the colleagues from Indonesia were given the opportunity to inform themselves on framework conditions and rational working techniques in the production of high-quality forest plants in two leading private tree nurseries.
Towards the end of the excursion program, they devoted themselves to afforestation of marginal sites. In view of the upcoming rehabilitation of extensive mining areas in various provinces of Indo-nesia, this topic is of particular relevance and met with great interest accordingly. In particular, the reforestation of former lignite opencast mining areas in the state-forest enterprise Sachsenforst, Forstbezirk Leipzig, was presented in theory and practice and discussed extensively.
In concluding the impressions and experiences, the visitors were particularly impressed by the pro-fessional identification of German foresters. In addition, it had been noticed that forestry offices in Germany are equipped with very far-reaching competences in comparison to Indonesian depart-ments and that they have considerable scope for decision-making. It had also become clear, espe-cially in the Lower Saxon Forestry Offices, that the reconstruction of diverse and stable forests sometimes requires a long breath and can take advantage of several generations of foresters and foresters. And in connection with the visit of the tree nurseries, not only the considerable capaci-ties of these companies, but above all the trusting cooperation between the public and the private sector were impressive.
Last but not least, the colleagues from South East Asia perceived the Deutscher Forstverein as a competent contact for all questions of forestry in Germany, whose managing director insisted on accompanying the group over long stretches of the visit program and personally informing about important connections. The FORCLIME project would like to thank you for the good cooperation and will continue the cooperation.
Lutz Hofheinz
FORCLIME Forests and Climate Change Programme (TC)