Recognizing the presence of four national forest parks in Sumatra island and the fast spread of invasive alien plant species within these parks, SEAMEO BIOTROP collaborated with the University of Jambi (UnJa) to conduct a training course on control and management of weeds and invasive species on 23-27 April 2018 held at UnJa Learning Center.

This training was aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of participants and strengthen networking among them on weed and invasive plant management in Sumatra. A total of 21 lecturers, researchers and field managers from five universities, two private companies and one government research institution from four provinces of Sumatra joined the training.

The training consisted of classroom discussions and practical sessions on the following topics: 1) the concept of weeds and invasive plant species; 2) invasion process; 3) CBD-Convention on Biological Diversity, 4) the concept of plant classification, morphology and identification; 5) risk analysis; 6) control of weeds and invasive plant species; and 7) establishing weed and IAS herbarium and database. A field work was also conducted at Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin Forest Park and PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) VI on vegetation analysis and IAS control and restoration approaches, respectively. On the last day of the training, the participants developed two research project concept notes for possible collaborative implementation between and among their institutions together with SEAMEO BIOTROP.

The training resource persons were Dr Sri Sudarmiyati Tjitrosoedirdjo, Dr Soekisman Tjitrosoedirdjo, Dr Jess Fernandez and Mr Saiful Bachri from SEAMEO BIOTROP, and Dr Bambang Irawan from UnJA. A staff of PTPN VI, namely Mr Adrimas Kawal, also shared the institution’s experience in managing the weeds and invasive plant species.