Members in Action: Amarizni Mosyaftiani, Rimbun Landscape

Amarizni Mosyaftiani is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner-in-Training (CERPIT), Certified Landscape Architect, Researcher-in-Training (Landscape Architecture/Ecology) at the Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, and founder of Rimbun Landscape in Indonesia. 

How long have you been a member of SER? What’s your best experience with SER so far?

I have been a SER member for 4 years. My best experience with SER so far was joining the 9th World Conference on Ecological Restoration last year. Although I attended the conference virtually, I was still able to connect with restoration practitioners and learn ecosystem restoration practices from all over the world. I was also selected to become a volunteer, helping to run the field trips and the SER Asian Interest Network meeting. I felt so lucky to be chosen for this opportunity to work closely with SER officers and learn from them. 

Why did you join SER?

I wanted to join a Society that had a strong community of supportive members dedicated to recovering nature, where I could learn from experts. I knew that SER is a remarkable organization that seriously works in ecological restoration, and that I wanted to keep learning from the best experts and the best organization in this field, so I joined SER. 

What is your current occupation?

I am a Landscape Architect, running my own landscape company, Rimbun Landscape.  My company’s name ‘Rimbun’ means lush/dense/diverse vegetation, and I am passionate about helping people enhance greenspace and various ecosystems. It is still rare to find a landscape company that supports ecosystem restoration in Indonesia. I want to help make the field of ecosystem restoration more accessible and practical on multiple scales and educate people on how to contribute to creating a better environment. 

Site survey for riparian restoration research with my son (2017).

What do you find most rewarding about working for your organization? 

I can explore many possibilities for enhancing and restoring various ecosystems and passionately work in my expertise - from small scale to regional scale - for private, community, government, local, and global collaborations. 

What projects are you working on right now? 

Currently, I am working on multiple projects: Urban Forest Ecosystem Services Research Project, Honeybee Friendly Home Garden in Urban Community, and Ecosystem Based Development for Tourism Village. Fortunately, I have good teams that help me run all of these projects smoothly! These projects really inspire me to improve my skills and collaborate with many parties to achieve program success. Working on these projects also encourages me to intuitively apply the knowledge of ecology, landscape architecture, and ecosystem restoration in various contexts, while also adapting and enriching this knowledge with other sciences.

Doing field research for Urban Forest Ecosystem Services Collaboration Research Project in Jakarta, under project collaboration with USFS IP (2021).

What does ecological restoration mean to you?

Ecological Restoration for me is the answer I was looking for to address my concern about the problems in the area where I live.  Since my childhood, I have witnessed ecosystem changes and the instability of the ecological cycle in the region where I live, which undeniably had and continues to have negative consequences for people's lives, such as flooding, landslides, and land degradation. But many people still don't realize, don't know, or don't really care about fixing the root causes. I always imagined what I could contribute to solve these issues someday. After many years pursuing higher education, and after connecting with SER’s inspiring community of practitioners from around the world, I have more confidence to act, and can imagine more possibilities, opportunities, and solutions. 

Why would you encourage others, particularly young people, to get involved in this field?

The field of ecological restoration requires cooperation from a wide variety of communities to restore nature. Various techniques, approaches, and perseverance need to be considered and explored to achieve success. Encouraging others, especially younger people, to participate in ecological restoration and helping them gain the skills they need by inviting them to participate in projects, is essential to the growth and development of this field. 

What’s one thing - either industry-related or not - you learned in the last month?

Lately, I've been learning a lot about project management. Project management is helping me to learn to get used to making decisions effectively, thinking about the best and most appropriate steps to take, and collaborating with many people so that these projects can be completed successfully.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

I have been keeping stingless honeybees in my house since the beginning of 2020. There are 2 boxes of bees that I keep, and I have already been able to harvest honey. I find beekeeping very interesting, and as a landscape architect, it has inspired me to create bee-friendly garden designs and build a honeybee friendly garden.

Site inventory for urban forest enhancement planning in Subang, West Java (2021).

Site survey for Restoration Planning in Cianjur, West Java (2020).

Site survey for Restoration Planning in Cianjur, West Java (2020).

Observing and discovering the possibilities to rehabilitate coastal areas (2019).