An assortment of rainforest tree seeds collected during a recent masting (ie, mass flowering). The collection was organised by natural farming and sustainable living centre SEEDS Malaysia. — LEONG HON YUEN
Creative designers and goat farmers Abdul Razak Abdul Aziz, 60, and his wife Intan Zarinah, 59, established the Social Eco Enterprise Development for Sustainability (SEEDS Malaysia), a natural farming and sustainable living centre in Klang, Selangor, in 2017.
“We’ve always felt connected with trees and nature,” recalls Abdul Razak.
Citizen conservationists
Crown shyness, a unique phenomenon formed by 'Dryobalanops aromatica' trees. — FRIM
FRIM DG Dr Ismail Parlan in the oldest part of FRIM's planted forest. Walking its grounds today, you would never guess that it used to be land damaged by agriculture and mining a century ago. — LIM CHUNG LU/FRIM
FRIM's Nashatul Zaimah observing a germinated seed of the endangered keruing cogan ('Dipterocarpus rigidus'). — LIM CHUNG LU/FRIM
Angela Hijjas holding a 'Horsfieldia superba', a species endemic to Peninsular Malaysia, that fruited last year. — LEONG HON YUEN
Angela with her first tree, a meranti tembaga ('Shorea leprosula'), now 20m in height and more than 2m in circumference. — LEONG HON YUEN
The Genting Tea Estate Bungalow is set within 38ha of planted rainforests and 100-year-old secondary forests in the middle of Titiwangsa Mountain Range. — LEONG HON YUEN
Abdul Razak and Intan have always felt connected with trees and nature. — LEONG HON YUEN
Barlow has planted endemic Malaysian species as a source of seeds for those wishing or needing to reafforest land with indigenous tree species. — LEONG HON YUEN
Part of the grounds at Rimbun Dahan. If you plan on growing rainforest trees, keep at least 10m between the trees and your house, says Angela Hijjas, speaking with the hard-won experience of broken roofs and windscreens before she realised this. — LEONG HON YUEN
Starting the seeds off in river sand for better drainage, Angela Hijjas patiently waits for seeds to germinate. — LEONG HON YUEN
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