Holcim develops Educational Forest in West Java

Holcim has developed an old quarry site into an Educational Forest with the help of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). The Holcim Educational Forest (HEF) covers some 60 hectares in Cibadak, Sukabumi, West Java. Work began on the site in 2011 when Holcim began to convert the Cibadak quarry into a protected forest area to help sustain local communities, tourism and studies at all levels of education.

Holcim describes on its website how an interdepartmental team began work rehabilitating the land by breaking up boulders, backfilling and levelling land and planting a cover crop to add soil fertility and prevent erosion. The team worked with the local community to plant trees that could provide fuel, timber and rubber for income. Experts from IPB were brought in from the beginning to discuss the idea of the land becoming a Holcim Educational Forest. Now, under a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations, the forest will be jointly managed by Holcim and IPB’s School of Forestry.

Edited from various sources by Katherine Guenioui

Sources:

• Holcim
• The Jakarta Post

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/01122014/holcim-develops-educational-forest-in-west-java-932/