The SAFE Project is a long-term research project collaboration between YSD and South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP), an overseas research programme of the Royal Society (The UK and Commonwealth Academy of Science). SAFE is slated to be the world’s largest ecological experiment both in terms of size and breadth of ecological processes. The project will allow insights into the minimization of biodiversity impacts while maximizing ecosystem services.
The fully integrated research programme will focus on these key areas: animal and plant diversity, water and soils, carbon cycling, nutrient cycling and microclimate. The central element is the creation of clusters of forest patches of 1 hectare, 10 hectares and 100 hectares within an oil palm plantation that is currently being established by Yayasan Sabah. The research plots are to be established in the surrounding (new) oil palm plantation, in mature plantations, areas of logged forest in land belonging to Yayasan Sabah, and in undisturbed primary forest in Maliau Basin.
This project will make a major contribution to sustainable palm oil management and the conservation of biodiversity, while providing a major contribution to sustainable plantation management, the implementation of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) guidelines and the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
