That said, in a blogsite dedicated to critical enquiry and debate about conservation science, you could have been a little more rigorous in your assessment of the state of knowledge regarding rainforest restoration.
You say:

…”as it turns out, no one really knows how to restore rain forests properly. Sure, planting trees happens a lot, but the random, willy-nilly, unquantified ways in which it is done means that no one can tell you what the biggest biodiversity bang for your buck is, or even if it can compete on the carbon sequestration front.”

In fact, in north Queensland, there has been over 15 years of research dedicated to these sorts of questions, specifically in relation to optimal restoration techniques, socio-economics of revegetation, and carbon and biodiversity outcomes of different types of reforestation. The research has been funded by the Rainforest CRC and now MTSRF, and it has resulted in considerable advances in our knowledge of this field. Research findings have been published in scientific and management journals, in books, and discussed in workshops, field days and conferences. There has been high levels of engagement with the regional NRM organisation and restoration practitioners.

So again, good luck in your project, which has the potential to provide new knowledge in the field of rainforest restoration. However, there is no need to suggest the field was empty (an intellectual ‘terra nullius’) until this project.

Regards
John Kanowski

This post was mentioned on Twitter by conservbytes: How to restore a tropical rain forest: http://wp.me/phhT4-N1…

Marty