Land reclamation using clay and sand materials has been used to increa
se land area in Singapore. Although some of these areas are put to imm
ediate use, others are ear-marked for future development. In the latte
r instances, in the interim period, afforestation measures involving s
ome treatment of the land have been adopted. This paper discusses the
process of afforestation at two sites with different but poor soils an
d the performance of the different species of trees planted (which are
now 12 years old). The benefits of such an afforestation exercise are
convincing and a similar but less expensive process could be adopted
to afforest reclaimed lands or rehabilitate derelict lands in developi
ng countries to provide wood for fuel or other purposes.