mercredi 20 mars 2019

Exciting Forest Ecology Field Course in Borneo this summer with Borneo Nature Foundation

My name is Jennifer Brousseau and I am from the Borneo Nature Foundation, a non-for-profit research and conservation organisation working in Indonesian Borneo. We are running a Forest Ecology Field School this year from the 30th June - 27th July and we are looking for enthusiastic individuals to join us for four weeks in the Bornean rainforest learning the basics of ecology research and how to protect the rainforest. I have attached a flyer along with this email, including the link to follow to find out more information about this course. If you have any further questions about the course, please email join@borneonature.org

Here is an important message to share from one of the directors of the Rungan Forest Ecology course, primatologist and orangutan researcher, Dr. Wendy Erb:

Hi there!

I’m Dr. Wendy Erb, one of the lead instructors for the IFR Rungan Forest Ecology field school with the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF), and I am contacting to explain a bit more about this exciting field school opportunity over the summer! We are currently offering a discount of $300 off the tuition if you sign-up before March 15th!
The Rungan Forest Ecology course takes place at the Mungku Baru Education Forest, a 5,000-hectare forest managed by the local Muhammadiyah Palangka Raya University and Mungku Baru community. This area comprises peat swamp and dry lowland rainforest that provides critical habitat for one of the largest populations of orangutans outside of protected areas. BNF is working hard to build a foundation for forest and biodiversity conservation in this important ecosystem, and we are looking for motivated students to help us at this critical initial research stage to secure long-term protection for this area.
During the course, students will learn about the unique biodiversity in this threatened ecosystem as well as the culture and livelihoods of the indigenous Dayak Ngaju people that live alongside and depend on the forests. Not only will students learn from Indonesian and international research specialists from a wide range of fields, but they will also live and work alongside members of the local community. As an anthropologist who has been studying Indonesia’s wild primates and working with indigenous communities since 2005, I will share my knowledge and experience adopting an interdisciplinary approach that is needed for effective and ethical conservation solutions for endangered primates and local people. Students will learn the theory and practice of biodiversity survey techniques, including acoustic monitoring and camera trapping, and help us work to identify and catalog important – and potentially undescribed – species in this relatively unexplored and threatened area of Borneo. You will join me in searching for and following orangutans, gibbons, and leaf monkeys, as we start the work of habituating Rungan’s primates to the presence of researchers, the foundation of the long-term primate behavior research program I aim to establish here. With support from Dr. Van Veen and I, students will conduct a brief research project, which might focus on gibbon calling behavior, small mammal abundance and distribution, ethnobotany, and much more!
These are just a few of the many activities students will participate in during their four-week Rungan Forest Ecology course with BNF. During the course, students will acquire in-depth knowledge of diverse natural and social science methods to deepen their understanding of effective conservation research and equip students with the tools to initiate their own future studies or initiatives. We hope will join our team to learn together and help study one of the last remaining unprotected forests in Borneo. Our team would be happy to answer any questions you may have about the course or the region, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Dr. Wendy Erb