Desert or Paradise by Sepp Holzer

Author:Sepp Holzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Permanent Publications
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

A jungle is a dense, self-sustaining habitat with great biodiversity and an amazing capacity to hold water

3 Afforestation with Nature

Next Steps in Healing the Landscape, Understanding Symbioses in the Rainforest

The first step in healing the landscape and achieving a holistic cultivation is to restore the hydrological balance. This is followed by the introduction of sustainable vegetation, consisting of mixed forest, fruit trees, edible landscapes and gardens and good agricultural practice.

This chapter explains the importance and situation of our forests. I will explain my method of using polycultures in reforestation. Each landscape needs its own unique, sustainable vegetation. When the forest dies a whole damaging chain reaction starts: with less rain, the earth heats up and changes the climate, new wind flows develop and storms are the result (see here).

A rethinking in forestry is necessary everywhere I have been in Russia, Spain, Portugal, Africa and Brazil. The primeval forests give the best example of how to reforest an area. The jungle is a dense, self-sustaining habitat with great biodiversity and an amazing capacity to hold and store water.

The tropical rainforest in particular boasts an unbelievable biodiversity. It is estimated that there are 1.7 million plant and animal species in the rainforest, half of them undiscovered. On 1km2 alone you could find a thousand different plant species. Each individual element in this jungle is connected with the others, all animals, plants and the body of the earth communicate and exchange information. There is an unlimited sum of interactions and symbiotic effects taking place in these forests. This makes the rainforest so incredibly fertile.

I can imitate this by creating mixed forests with conifers, deciduous and fruit trees, soft fruit and undersown crops. I have learned and experienced this way of farming in the forests of Colombia, Costa Rica, Thailand and elsewhere.

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