Creation of a nurse forest in Australia
Located in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales, the project aims to create a nurse forest on abandoned former pasture land. Led on the ground by the new generation of a farming community, embodied by Permaculture Design Action, the project pursues environmental and social objectives. On the one hand, it aims to develop local biodiversity by planting more than fifty species (mango, jackfruit, lemon caviar, macadamia, ficus, eucalyptus, Australian red cedar...), most of which are endemic. On the other hand, it will contribute to strengthening the intergenerational social link within a local farming community, through the plantations, long-term monitoring of the project and the training of groups from various backgrounds in agroecological techniques. The growing forest will be managed in agroforestry, initially by the local farming community. It will enable them to harvest its fruits and provide a protective cover for the underlying food crops, which will accompany the young trees during their first years of life. Ultimately, the aim is to obtain a real food forest, rich in fruit and biodiversity, and thus restore the land to its original nature as a forest ecosystem.
