Restoring degraded forests with tree-planting

Villagers in Kinabatangan grow seedlings for a tree-planting project. Photos: Nestle

Planting trees is certainly not an easy job. I learnt this in probably the hardest, most hands-on way possible – during a tree-planting session on a blisteringly hot day on the banks of the Kinabatangan River, Sabah.

I picked up my shovel and stabbed it into a stubborn patch of soil. How do the members of Komuniti Anak Pokok Kina­batangan (KAPOK) make it look so easy? “Mudah saja,” a smiling woman half my size said. “Just use your shovel to make a circle in the ground. This will loosen the soil, and you can then move it away.”