Because of deforestation, only 6,2 million square kilometres of forest, out the 16 million that were there originally, have survived in Thailand.
Deforestation had an impact on the habitats of wild animals and plant species and also contributed to the climate change instead of containing it (15% of greenhouse gas emissions are because of deforestation).
The causes of deforestation are many so Thailand decided to act by using a new method. They decided using a technique named seed bombing or also aerial reforestation. This technique uses planes to dump trees and plants which end planted into the ground because of the speed and Earth’s gravity.
They use sharped cones made to bury themselves into the ground at the same depth as if they had been planted by hand. They also contain fertilizer and absorbent material to irrigate plants. Cones are metal containers but oxidize immediately once the tree’s roots joined the ground.
In July 2013, Thailand began the first five years project which uses seed bombing for forests’ regeneration. Locals seeds and plants such as phayung or kabok are used in Phitsanulok province. In 2017, Phitsanulok’s forest rebecame a nice and green forest.
The idea of seed bombing was born in Japan, previously named “tsuchi dango”. In the twentieth century, Masanobu Fukuoka popularized this idea. The oldest seed bombing has been done in Honolulu in order to reforest mountains.
Before 1999, seed bombing was not popular but become so when the American constructor Lockheed Martin. He decided to use C-130, a large transport aircraft normally used to dump anti-personnel landmines, to plant 900,000 trees per day.
Planes are useful to fight against forest fires or to dump military weapons… But why don’t we use war technologies to repair rather than destroy? To mend the damages of deforestation is indispensable. Since seed bombing has a success rate of 70%, it is the best arm to fight deforestation.
