LEAP News 2007 vol. 2

August 3rd, 2007

“We have the heart, knowledge, money, and sense to optimize our social and ecological fabric.” From Paul Hawken in his new book, Blessed Unrest, comes a message that LEAP is embracing as we realize that even while our work tends to dig up despair and reveals ever more work to be done, in weaving together the projects, people and ideas that “provoke sustainable ecological co-existence”, there is hope through which we can come together and make a difference on this planet we call home.

We hope that by spiraling through and sharing these stories of the people, land, and animals whose very survival is tied up with our own, you may be inspired as we are to take conscious action in your own life at this very crucial time here on earth. We encourage you to embrace any despair that you may feel and integrate the strength of those emotions into the very next thing that you do.

From all of us at LEAP

Only five more months! This December, the state government will ban logging and pave the way for sustainable forest management and conservation in the Ulu Segama Malua region of Borneo. Considered the “Orangutan Heartland,” this bio-diverse region is home to one of the largest unfragmented populations of orangutans in the world — around 3,000 — as well as sun bears, gibbons, wild buffalo, Borneo pygmy elephants, and Sumatran rhinos. This courageous move encompasses two critical forest reserves (a total combined area of 240,000 hectares or over half a million acres).

LEAP executive director Cynthia Ong recently served as a “Nest Recorder” of Orangutan habitat on two helicopter flights over the Ulu Segama Malua area. She joined Hutan, the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD), and Sabah Wildlife Departments (SWD). Together, they surveyed the west Ulu Segama area - the area with the highest density of Orangutans (about 2,000 of the estimated 3,000 population in this area).

They also flew over North Ulu Segama to look at the forest condition, which is very badly degraded with mostly grassland (weeds) and patches of forest with pioneer species. The Orangutan population of 300 to 400 is suspected to have declined based on the nest density data. Hutan, SFD, SWD, and WWF Malaysia mounted a ground survey in June to get more accurate data on Orangutan distribution, food sources and general conditions. A proposed fruit-tree planting project is now in discussion. This sub-population of orangutans is isolated from the main population by palm oil plantations to the north and the Ulu Segama River to the south. It does not contribute to the viability of the larger orangutan group, but it is considered the most endangered population in the Ulu Segama Malua area.

Click here to view photos of the flight!

Wong Siew Te is the world’s leading scientist and expert on the Malayan sun bear, an endangered tropical rainforest mammal. As part of the Oakland Zoo’s monthly lecture series, LEAP will be giving a presentation on December 12 on sun bear conservation in Sabah. The proceeds will go towards future sun bear conservation—please be sure to mark your calendars now! Join us if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area on December 12.

In related news, sun bears in the zoo in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, will sleep better soon, thanks to new hanging baskets, which mimic their natural sleeping conditions.

Click here to make a direct donation to sun bear research and protection through LEAP’s donation page. 100% of your donations go directly to the project.

Look for a new and improved Web site for Wong Siew Te, his team, and their efforts to save the sun bear, when www.sunbear.org goes live in the next few months.

Model Ecologically Sustainable Community Tourism

The MESCOT Initiative was started in 1996 by a group of about 30 visionary and dedicated individuals from the different villages of Batu Puteh to create an alternative means of income generation for the people of the area, while also protecting the last remaining vestige of rainforest and traditional indigenous cultural heritage.

The MESCOT forest restoration crew just completed a massive planting of 20,000 seedlings in the Supu Forest Reserve, which involved hacking down ten-foot high reeds with machetes. The area they planted is a six-hectare area [approx. 13 acres], which is a critical pygmy elephant migration corridor. MESCOT is on the verge of planting 30,000 more trees by year’s end. Local women will also spend the next six months weeding until the seedlings are strong and able to survive independently.

The news from Tungog Lake continues to inspire us! Crews of about 20 men from MESCOT successfully cleared the lake of an acute infestation of Salvinia Molesta, an invasive non-native water plant that almost killed the 19-hectare lake (almost 50 acres). The men are working on and off on maintaining the lake, and will eventually let the lake exist as free of human interference as possible. The effects are already starting to show, with fish, birds, and otters returning in larger and larger numbers.

With the resuscitation of Tungog Lake and the surrounding forest, the local population now has a “product” to sell to support their economy. Eco-tourists from around the world will be coming by the end of the year to a gorgeous new facility: the Mescot Tungog Rainforest Eco-Camp.

Start planning your trip now! You’ll have a unique opportunity to see some of the most exciting and endangered species in the world — species like orangutans, pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, and an array of birdlife. Eco-tourist guests will also have the opportunity to lend a hand with local lake and forest restoration projects.

The facilities will be comfortable, with a main lodge for reception, social activities and community gatherings; six chalets; a long house for communal living; and a state-of-the-art, environmentally sound septic system!

Click here for the latest images of the programs at MESCOT.

Project Women Empowerment Trees

On July 18, over 100 women (and five brave husbands supporting them!) met in the district of Pitas, Borneo, for the next, exciting phase of Project Women Empowerment Trees. As one of the women village elders prayed, they planted the first of what will be thousands of trees — trees that will yield fruit, medicine and herbs and other economic products. They then prepared the earth and polybags, and, at last, received truckloads of seedlings from the Sabah Forestry Department. Photo shows project leader Raini Mapura with the first tree planted.

In indigenous communities such as Pitas, many men have left to work in the cities, and women currently have little means of employment. However, in Pitas, ten women leaders led the construction of ten nurseries and watering ponds in ten local villages. These women are all paid a salary now, and LEAP’s partner PACOS (Partners for Community Organizations) helped them open their very first bank accounts!

Satellite images will help them determine which areas are best for planting commercially beneficial trees and which watershed areas are better planted as wild canopy. The women chose a mango tree in their first, ceremonial planting, which will bear fruit for years to come. This is all part of the long-term goal of empowering the women, children, and the elderly who live on the land.

Click here for the latest images from PWET.

Projek Gaharu Malaysia

From Wikipedia: “Agarwood [known in Malay as Gaharu] is the resinous heartwood from Aquilaria trees, large evergreens native to southeast Asia. The trees occasionally become infected with a parasite mould and begin to produce an aromatic resin in response to this attack. As the fungus grows, the tree produces a very rich, dark resin within the heartwood. It is this precious resinous wood that is treasured around the world. The resin is valued in many cultures for its distinctive fragrance, thus it is used for incense and perfumes. One of the reasons for the relative rarity and high cost of agarwood is the depletion of the wild resource.”

One goal of groups like LEAP is to create an alternative means of income for indigenous communities through joint projects between villages and government institutions. LEAP continues to work with scientists Dr. Robert Blanchette and Joel Jurgens from the University of Minnesota, and the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to conduct trials and train Malaysian scientists in a patented Gaharu (Agarwood) cultivation technology. This three-year project began in March 2007 when Dr. Bob and Joel came and treated trees in three sites in Malaysia. March 2008 will see a continuation of the process with a second treatment.

Dr. Blanchette says “We have been perfecting the DNA extraction and DNA fingerprinting analysis for Aquilaria with great success and are now able to make an identification of the species from any leaves or wood sample. We need as many known samples of Aquilaria species as possible to get a library of sequences that can be used for future identifications. We have been successful [in extracting] DNA from leaves that are dried – even old ones have worked!”

LEAP and Hutan will be at the Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco, October 5-7, hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Network. Hutan, a grassroots non-profit organization, has been working to develop and implement innovative solutions to conserve the orang-utan in Sabah. If you are in the Bay Area please come by and say hi! Click here for further information.

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We at LEAP are proud of our partners and the people who are a part of our growing community. As these projects continue to unfold and transform we feel honored to be witness to the amazing network of people and ideas who are dedicated to co-creating new and sustainable possibilities for our planet. Thank you for joining us in this journey and may our paths cross again soon.

 
We’d like to thank our funders, Alexander Abraham Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, Arcus Foundation, American Forests, and the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as the individual donors whose generous support enables us to continue our bridging work between the global North and South. We also welcome our expanding Borneo staff on the ground in Sabah, who are writing proposals, collaborating with project partners and keeping operations running smoothly, especially while Cynthia is in the States. Administration and Finance Director, Winnie Long, and project consultants, Sylvia Yorath and Heather Pierson join us with years of experience and a wonderful knowledge base. A special thanks to Dan Weeks for his volunteer time in helping to write this newsletter!

Entry Filed under: LEAP News