You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: Permaculture, orangutans and street theatre in Borneo, Kalimantan

in #introduceyourself8 years ago (edited)

Nice video, wow might be a nice place to visit. Looks like your doing a good job brining awareness to the logging I'm really happy you came here to promote your video. Is there more to see though?

Is there video footage of the logging, any active peaceful protesting being done in more direct interaction with the loggers, is the population able to defend themselves?

Sort:  

Thanks jamesc, we are trying our best with the knowledge and capacity that we have now. It is a lovely place to visit. Nonetheless there are still a lot of cleared forests, and a lot of development occurring. Regarding issues such as illegal logging, there aren't any protests occurring that i am aware of, however there were major protests around this time last year during the smoke season (result of slash and burn activities that saw the burning of the peatland forests). Most people around are poor and take what they need from the resources around them to simply survive. Our perspective is that we need to address the day to day needs of the locals as a strategy to combat conservation issues. At the end of the day, they are conducting these activities so they can eat, and feed their families/children. Same goes with burning land for palm oil production, illegal gold mining, etc. As well as trying to establish a permaculture demonstration site here that demonstrates alternative sustainable approaches to agriculture and land management (no burning methods, organic methods), we are also trying to support the existing and new sustainable enterprises that support jobs so that the community don't need to resort environmental destruction. For instance we are working with sustainable tourism groups in the region, we book people into their holiday tours, this not only provides significant jobs for many, but it also demonstrates the need to preserve the natural environment, showing how much of an asset it is when we conserve the environment rather than when we exploit it. But we are just beginning, we are a small team and there is much, much work to be done...