In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

232handle their own research and development and they are very active in tree breeding programs.Although there are many problems facing forest tree improvement activities in Indonesia, currentprogress is good and the prospects for further success seems promising.IntroductionBecause of its geographic location, size, and broad range of physiographicconditions, the natural resources of Indonesia have an unusually high level ofbiodiversity and Indonesia is one of the world’s Mega–Biodiversity countries.Indonesian species biodiversity encompasses a large variety of ecosystemsand it is very rich in genetic variation. Many types of forests cover the countryfrom coastal plain to the mountain top more than 3000 m above sea level.The total number of production forests is 64 million ha and most ofthese are natural tropical forests located outside of Java. All production forestson Java are plantations managed by Perum Perhutani (the state-owned forestcompany). Plantation forests in Java cover 2 million ha. In order to both savethe natural forest and to increase wood production to meet rising demand,Indonesia has planned a reforestation program through establishing the HTI(Industrial Plantation Forest) program covering an area about 6.2 million ha. Itis planned to establish 400,000 ha of plantations under HTI, annually. For thesuccess of the HTI program, Indonesia must use genetically improved seedand planting materials obtained through properly planned and executed treeimprovement activities.Tree improvement can be defined as the application of genetic principlesin silviculture to produce high quality forest products with increased economicvalue. According to Zobel and Talbert (1984) all beginning tree improvementprograms rely on, and consist, of the following:1. A determination of the species, or geographic sources within a species,that should be used in a given area.2. A determination of the amount, kind and causes of variability within thespecies.3. A packaging of the desired qualities into improved individual trees to developlines with combinations of desired characteristics.4. Mass-producing improved individuals for reforestation purposes.5. Developing and maintaining a genetic base population broad enough tocover needs in advanced generations of selection, breeding, and genetictransformation.Since 1976, Indonesia has had significant tree improvement programsfor some of its important commercial forest species, beginning with Pinusmerkusii. A large number of genetic plantations have been established for itand other species. The objectives of these studies are: