Based in the lush tropical rainforest of Maliau Basin, Sabah, the ‘Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems’ (SAFE) Project is one of the world’s largest ecological experiment in terms of size and breadth of ecological processes. Taking advantage of a planned conversion of forest to oil palm, the study is designed to understand how forest ecosystems are affected by human pressure, and examines what happens when a forest is logged and then fragmented.

The SAFE Project involves distinguished researchers from Imperial, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. It is supported by the UK Royal Society’s South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP) and a generous donation of 30 million Malaysian ringgit (about £6.1 million) from the Sime Darby Foundation in Malaysia.

The potential impact of the SAFE Project is global and far-reaching. The findings of this study are helping scientists to design landscapes that maintain agricultural production at least cost to biodiversity.

In the news

• Blood, sweat and fears: the research scientists in Borneo's rainforests- The Guardian, 2012
• Meeting the royals in Malaysia- Imperial News, 2012
• Forest loggers join world's biggest ecology experiment - New Scientist, 2011