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

399If forest reserves are ever to play a role in forest plantation establishmentthis issue needs to be reviewed.The leasing period over land requested by commercial organizationsvaries. In order to attract their interest in forest plantations, land should bemade available for leasing ranging from a period of at least four rotations to 99years. The intention is to have tenureship long enough to assure that sufficientreturns are obtained for the investments ploughed in.Another concern that is slowing down the commercial sectors’participation in forest plantation investments, either as joint venture partners oroutright investments, is the issue of claims for customary rights by nativesresiding in affected logged over forest lands where plantations are to beestablished. In Sabah for example, although these lands belong to the State andare untitled, under the provision of the Land Ordinance a native can claimcustomary rights on them as long as he or she has been living in it for at least 3years. Such issues need to be resolved before investors would consider investingin forest plantations.c. Species SelectionA review of about 45 reforestation projects in the Tropics revealed that about95% of all projects utilized exotics in their reforestation program. Sixty percentof all projects carried out their species trials in parallel with their project activities.About 60% of the projects received additional information during their life spanthat resulted in new species selection (Abod 1995)For plantations, although indigenous species are available, a greater preferenceis given for the selection of exotic species. The reasons for this are:· there is generally a lack of adequate knowledge of the propagationand silvicultural management of indigenous species· there is generally a plentiful supply of seeds of the exotic species· the exotic species are handled more easily and· the exotics are fast growing and high yieldingThere is a great challenge ahead to carry out adequate studies on the indigenousspecies and to assess their viability for forest plantations.In Malaysia, in 1982, under the Compensatory Plantation Project fastgrowing hardwood timber species such as Acacia mangium, Gmelina arborea,Paraserianthes falcataria and Eucalyptus camaldulensis were introduced.However, due to difficulty in procuring planting material, the majority of theareas were planted mainly with Acacia mangium, whose seeds were readilyavailable. That species has not performed as initially expected. Growth hasremained below expectation, and many of the trees appeared to be susceptible