The island of Borneo supports high levels of biodiversity including in its unique tropical forests. However, decades of selective logging have altered these ecosystems changing their structure and functioning. The remaining forest has also become reduced in extent, fragmented and isolated as large areas of selectively logged forest are converted to agriculture – mainly plantations of palm oil.

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is working with local and international partners to examine the recovery of forests in Borneo. Our work continues and builds on long-running collaborations and utilizes the exceptional portfolio of research sites facilitated by the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership including the Danum Valley ForestGEO plot, the SAFE project and Sabah Biodiversity Experiment.

Our research will evaluate the success of passive and active restoration techniques in restoring tropical forests and assess their condition relative to comparable old growth forest. We will do this using a combination of traditional field data collection and modern remote sensing techniques (including lidar and eco-acoustic approaches).