Sabah INFAPRO Rainforest IFM

34years of restoration

2M+trees planted

11,800+hectares rehabilitated

Malaysia

map with highlighted Southeast Asia region showing surrounding continents in muted tones with a center focus marker

Lush tropical landscape with tall, slender trees rising above dense green undergrowth, a cloudy sky overhead and distant forested hills fading into the horizon.

Group of people standing and kneeling in a dense tropical forest, surrounded by tall trees, green foliage, and leafy undergrowth.

What over 30 years of rainforest restoration makes possible

In Sabah, rainforest trees can rise more than 70 meters above the forest floor. Their canopies shelter orangutans, gibbons and hornbills; fruiting trees feed wildlife; and immense dipterocarps help hold one of the planet’s richest living systems together.

Selective logging in the 1980s removed many valuable mature trees and damaged the forest around them. With fewer seed trees and dense climbers suppressing both young regeneration and parts of the remaining mature forest, recovery was slow. Since 1992, local teams have been rebuilding the forest through enrichment planting and careful management of natural regeneration.

Today, the restored landscape adjoins the Danum Valley conservation area, expanding connected habitat used by Bornean pygmy elephants, orangutans and rhinoceros hornbills. INFAPRO offers something rare: a decades-long view of how damaged tropical forest, carbon stocks and wildlife habitat can recover together.

Why carbon finance is critical

Rainforest restoration needs patient funding measured in decades, not planting seasons.

Carbon finance supports nurseries, seed and wilding collection, enrichment planting, climber cutting and early maintenance during the years when restored forest is most vulnerable.

Revenue also sustains permanent monitoring plots, carbon measurement, ecological research and the local field teams whose knowledge accumulates from year to year.

Long-term finance helps protect restored areas from renewed logging and maintains the conditions required for native forest structure and wildlife habitat to return. For buyers seeking nature-based removals, the project offers the opportunity to support one of the world's longest-running tropical rainforest restoration programs while protecting and restoring critical forest habitat.

Support this project

From challenge to measurable impact

Two people in a dense jungle measure a tree: one points with a measuring tape while the other steadies the tree with a strap, both wearing backpacks.

Challenge

Selective logging removed many of the largest dipterocarps and damaged surrounding forest structure. Heavy machinery and canopy opening altered local conditions, while the loss of mature seed trees reduced the forest’s ability to regenerate naturally. Young native trees faced intense competition from vines, shrubs and fast-growing vegetation, while climbers also affected parts of the remaining mature forest, slowing wider ecosystem recovery. Without intervention, valuable native species could remain scarce and the forest’s recovery uneven.

Solution

INFAPRO combines enrichment planting with assisted natural regeneration. Local teams collect seeds and wildings, raise indigenous dipterocarps and forest fruit trees in nurseries, and plant them into degraded areas where natural recovery needs help. New trees are maintained through critical early years using practices including ring weeding, climber cutting and row slashing. The approach has evolved over successive planting contracts as field teams learned what works across different forest conditions. Permanent plots track survival, growth and biomass. Long-term research in forest dynamics, biodiversity and hydrology turns field evidence into practical restoration guidance.

Impact

More than 11,864 hectares rehabilitated and two million trees planted. Growing trees rebuild biomass and remove carbon, while a richer mix of native species restores forest structure. Fruit trees help return food resources for wildlife. Connected forest beside Danum Valley expands habitat used by orangutans, red langurs, Bornean pygmy elephants and rhinoceros hornbills. The impact is ecological and institutional. Decades of local employment, research and operational learning have created a restoration model with relevance far beyond the project boundary.

Challenge: Selective logging removed many of the largest dipterocarps and damaged surrounding forest structure. Heavy machinery and canopy opening altered local conditions, while the loss of mature seed trees reduced the forest’s ability to regenerate naturally. Young native trees faced intense competition from vines, shrubs and fast-growing vegetation, while climbers also affected parts of the remaining mature forest, slowing wider ecosystem recovery. Without intervention, valuable native species could remain scarce and the forest’s recovery uneven.
Solution: INFAPRO combines enrichment planting with assisted natural regeneration. Local teams collect seeds and wildings, raise indigenous dipterocarps and forest fruit trees in nurseries, and plant them into degraded areas where natural recovery needs help. New trees are maintained through critical early years using practices including ring weeding, climber cutting and row slashing. The approach has evolved over successive planting contracts as field teams learned what works across different forest conditions. Permanent plots track survival, growth and biomass. Long-term research in forest dynamics, biodiversity and hydrology turns field evidence into practical restoration guidance.
Impact: More than 11,864 hectares rehabilitated and two million trees planted. Growing trees rebuild biomass and remove carbon, while a richer mix of native species restores forest structure. Fruit trees help return food resources for wildlife. Connected forest beside Danum Valley expands habitat used by orangutans, red langurs, Bornean pygmy elephants and rhinoceros hornbills. The impact is ecological and institutional. Decades of local employment, research and operational learning have created a restoration model with relevance far beyond the project boundary.

One project. A multitude of outcomes.

30+ years of restoration

Continuous work since 1992 provides an unusually long record of tropical forest recovery.

2 million+ trees planted

Native dipterocarps, pioneer species and fruit trees rebuild forest structure.

11,864+ hectares rehabilitated

A major area of degraded logged rainforest has received active restoration treatment.

Connected wildlife habitat

The project adjoins the Danum Valley landscape used by iconic Bornean wildlife.

Research informing practice

Permanent plots and long-term studies support adaptive restoration and carbon monitoring.

Multi-colored moth with iridescent green and turquoise wing patterns on a black body, red head, perched on a green bamboo-like stem in a lush leafy background.

Rusted corrugated metal shed with a slanted roof, a vertical vent pipe pierced by a thick wooden beam, and a dusty rural landscape with fields in the distance.

Two hikers measure a tall tree with a measuring tape in dense jungle; one wears a cap and red backpack, the other adjusts vines and uses a yellow strap.

A small brown crab on sandy, damp ground near scattered dried leaves and twigs, with textured granulated sand covering parts of its shell.

A small, long-tailed bird with brown and blue feathers perched on a textured tree branch, dark mask around the eyes, and a blurred green forest background.

orangutan mother cradling and grooming a young orangutan, both with reddish-brown fur, in a lush green forest setting with blurred foliage in the background

Wildlife Returning to the Rainforest

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Name

Lush green trees and foliage fill a sunny forested landscape, with a dirt path and a small metal-roofed shelter visible in the lower right, distant misty hills in background.

Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Dense close-up of dark green glossy leaves with prominent veins, some new light-green shoots, creating a rich, shadowed foliage texture.

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Supporting long-term nursery, field, monitoring and research employment. Nursery production, planting, maintenance, monitoring and research have created long-term roles and specialist restoration knowledge.

Soft orange and pink sunset sky with hazy clouds near the horizon.

SDG 13: Climate Action

Removing carbon through measured forest regrowth. Permanent plots and field measurements track biomass recovery in forest restored since 1992.

Aerial view of a dense forest with a mix of green and yellow foliage, including a few lighter, bare trees scattered among the verdant canopy.

SDG 15: Life on Land

Restoring native rainforest and expanding connected wildlife habitat. Native dipterocarps and forest fruit trees rebuild habitat connected to the Danum Valley conservation landscape.

A hand points toward scattered dark brown nuts or seeds spilling from a frayed brown burlap sack onto a concrete surface outdoors, with green grass nearby.

Closer to the project.
More confidence in the impact.

More than three decades of implementation have created established nursery, planting and maintenance protocols rather than a plan that exists only on paper.

Permanent plots and project-specific field measurements support carbon accounting, while long-term ecological research provides evidence of how the forest is developing. Experienced partners and connection to the wider Danum Valley research landscape strengthen that knowledge base.

Project partners: Face the Future and Sabah Foundation
Registry: Verra VCS
Project ID: VCS 672
Monitoring: Permanent plots, field measurement and long-term ecological research