The Friendship Forest Project enables the citizens from Japan to come over to Sarawak to foster closer friendship and better understanding with the local people in Sarawak. It also allows citizens of Japan to appreciate the forests of Sarawak, learn about the disturbances to the natural forests, to participate in their restoration and understand the forest management that is being practised in the State. At the moment there are three Friendship Forest Projects:

• Yokohama-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project at Kubah National Park
• Hiroshima-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project at Balai Ringin Protected Forest
• Oita-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project at Sampadi Forest Reserve

Yokohama-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project
A proposal to establish the Yokohama-Sarawak Friendship Forest (25 hectares) was submitted to the Forest Department of Sarawak by the Executive Director of the International Tropical Timber Organization based in Yokohama on behalf of the people of the city of Yokohoma. The proposal was supported and approved by the Forest Department as it complements the on-going Reforestation and Rehabilitation program in the State. An area affected by shifting cultivation in the Kubah National Park (located near Gunung Selang Forest Reserve) in the Kuching Division was allocated for this project. In August 1996, the planting program was implemented with thirty-one volunteers from Yokohama and some 50 officers of the Forest Department involved. The interest for participation from the residents of Yokohama in the project was so keen that balloting had to be carried out to select participants to come to Sarawak. An area of 4.5 hectares was planted with tree species including Shorea macrophylla, Dryobalanops beccarii, Azadirachta excelsa and Calophyllum teysmanii. Five hectares each were planted by the volunteers in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Hiroshima-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project
In the case of the Hiroshima - Sarawak Friendship Forest Project, a proposal was submitted by the Director of the Japan - Malaysia Association to the Forest Department of Sarawak for the establishment of this forest in a shifting cultivation area. An area of 300 hectares in the Balai Ringin Protected Forest was allocated for the project. The first planting was carried out in October 1995 involving 41 volunteers from Hiroshima and some 80 people from the local area. An area of fourteen hectares was planted. The second planting was carried out in September 1996 with 40 volunteers from Hiroshima and about 100 local people taking part. Another sixty-six hectares were then established. The species planted was predominantly Shorea macrophylla but other Shorea species, other dipterocarps, and Calophyllum spp. were also included. The line-planting method was used, with lines cut 5m apart and the seedlings planted at 5m interval along the lines. No burning was carried out. Further planting was carried out in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Oita-Sarawak Friendship Forest Project
Beside the two projects mentioned above, there is a third project called the Oita-Sarawak Friendship Forest, involving students and teachers from the Mie Agriculture High School. An area of 6.9 hectares in the Kuching Division was allocated for this project. This area will be planted over a period of 5 years (1996-2000). In 1996, 1.6 hectares were planted with Shorea macrophylla while in 1997 and 1998 1.1 and 1.2 ha respectively were planted. Another 1.3 ha were planted in August 1999.

The Friendship Forest Project is a new form of tourism. It is expected that other cities in Japan, and hopefully other countries, will follow the lead of the cities of Hiroshima and Yokohama, and assist the Forest Department of Sarawak to rehabilitate shifting cultivation areas. Such efforts are especially significant in reforesting small areas deforested by shifting cultivation within the permanent forest estate and totally protected areas which would not be of economic size for big-scale operators for plantation forest establishment.