A 4 hour car drive away from the South Sumatran city of Palembang lies an immense, well-kept Eucalyptus Pellita forest. It takes an hour-long plane ride from Jakarta, followed by another four-hour commute by car, to reach it. The forest—which is roughly 1.4 times the size of Tokyo—wasn’t always this lush and healthy.
It was only five years ago when PT. Musi Hutan Persada (MHP)—the company that owns the forest area—planted Acacia trees on the land.
Unfortunately, the trees were badly damaged by a disease, which was beyond the company’s control. The forest was dead: MHP and PT. TEL, a paper pulp factory that was relying on MHP’s log supply, sustained heavy losses.
To make up for the loss, MHP decided to replace the Acacias with the more durable Eucalyptus Pellita, which was also well-suited for MHP’s soil. But growing thousands of new trees was not an easy task. For starters, different species of trees require different afforestation (the planting of trees or sowing of seeds) techniques and processes. And of course, they would need the manpower to regrow a forest from scratch.
In 2012, Marubeni sent a representative to survey the area and collect information. What followed was a partnership that would convert the once dead land into a lush forest. Since then, 11 Marubeni expats have spent tireless hours laboring in the forest with the local staff.
Building a forest from scratch is no easy feat. Seed growing methods, tree spacing guidelines, fertilizer placement, and proper weed disposal are all crucial to the forest’s success.
It’s also not easy to care for these trees. The men on the forest grounds wake up at first light to trek deep into the mountains. When night falls, they sleep in campsites in the woods. There is limited internet connection. Encounters with large lizards, cobras, and wild boar are part of their everyday life.
“I think that if you actually go to the work sites yourself, you’ll always find something to fix or something that needs fixing. So, I think that we have to always be looking to improve the plantation in our daily pursuit of quality and quantity.”
And yet, the men find themselves beaming with pride with what they accomplish daily. The workers consist of a diverse group of people, coming from different countries, speaking different languages. They have different religious backgrounds and different beliefs. Yet, they are in a constant state of collaboration, sharing ideas on how to better meet their objectives. They monitor the forest for disease outbreak and find ways to improve their operations.
For five years, the men on the ground have slowly—but steadily—achieved their goal, as MHP shipped out its first few Eucalyptus Pellita trees last year.
With such strong work ethic and tireless collaboration, it won’t be long before MHP builds the forest of their dreams.
“My current mission is for my generation to lead this company in the right direction through our hard work, sweating in the back country.”