Our work in Borneo

Sarawak, Borneo is the location of a new and exciting environmental and community development project for Moving Mountains. We are working in partnership with five indigenous Penan communities through KOPPES, a villages cooperative which we have helped  the communities to establish. We are working together to protect and enrich the rainforest and to assist the Penan communities in a process of long-term, sustainable community development.

You can now help us to help the Penan people by offsetting the carbon emissions from your personal or company flights with a donation to our work here, click here to find out more and try out our Carbon Calculator.

Project Background

The indigenous, nomadic Penan have lived in harmony with the Sarawak rainforest for centuries. Over the previous decades they have seen the rainforest come under increasingly severe threat and in many areas have seen it decimated by mass logging and palm oil plantations. The Penan communities are involved in a long-term process of non-violent resistance against this deforestation, trying to protect the forest, their human rights and their traditional lands and way of life from the logging companies.

Moving Mountains and Planting Trees!

Moving Mountains is committed to assisting the communities and working with them on sustainable community development to help protect the rainforest and to provide a viable alternative model to the deforestation carried out by logging companies. We are working with the communities in five main areas:

• Planting 10,000 hardwood trees per year: We are replanting trees in areas of the Sarawak rainforest which have been previously damaged by extreme weather phenomena or cleared by logging operations. All of the trees we are planting are indigenous species, native to the forest (Kapor, Meranti and a smaller number of other Shorea species). As well as helping to gradually restore the forest, this work also provides a small but sufficient, sustainable source of wood for the Penan to use, assisting them in their efforts to protect and preserve the existing magnificent ancient forest. The planting of trees is undertaken by members of the Penan communities who receive a fair income for this work which benefits both the forest and the communities.
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  Building and running tree nurseries: We also pay members of the communities to collect saplings and seeds from the forest and to plant them in the nurseries we have funded and set-up in partnership with the communities. Local people have also been trained and are paid to manage the tree nurseries and to monitor and ensure that the young trees grow correctly and flourish, ready for replanting. All of this work utilises the deep knowledge and connection which the Penan have with the rainforest and ensures that we replant only native tree species and maintain the original integrity of the forest. This work also provides an income for the people, supporting them in their efforts to resist the logging companies and protect their traditional land in the forest. 
• Building a visitors centre in the forest: We are also supporting the Penan communities in their efforts to develop a community eco-tourism initiative. We have assisted them in forming a cooperative to manage this work in an equitable way which benefits the whole community. By allowing a small and sustainable number of visitors to experience their communities and the forest environment, learn about the project and spend time in their beautiful home deep in the rainforest, the Penan are able to gain an alternative income source whilst helping to protect the forest and maintain their traditional way of life.
• Ethnobotany Programme: The rainforest we are helping to protect is one of the most richly biodiverse areas in the world, home to a huge array of flora and fauna. Through this programme we aim to catalogue hundreds of species of plants and trees, harness the traditional knowledge of the Penan in the use of these native plants and trees, and help to establish the outstanding value of the area in terms of biodiversity and for future scientific investigation.
• Education courses: We have provided funding for members of the cooperative to undergo training courses in community eco-tourism and management to support this income generating initiative. We are also providing English classes for members of the cooperative to allow them to cater for the restricted number of foreign visitors who they hope to attract to the area.

History

Moving Mountains started formulating plans to work in Borneo back in 2008, following a period of research and project identification in the region.

Following many meetings and project appraisals we established a strong link with Adventure Alternative’s in-country representative who is not only qualified to take the project forward but holds its purpose and aims close to his heart. Although not a local man he is widely respected amongst the communities we work with and is very experienced, the perfect person to help us to make a real and lasting difference on the ground.

Main Donor

This programme is funded by Moving Mountains Trust. Moving Mountains also offer our supporters, international volunteers and the general public the opportunity to offset the carbon emissions from your flights by making a donation to the tree planting programme. You can find out more here. All Adventure Alternative clients are also given the option of offsetting their flights.

Moving Mountains originally gained some superb financial support from the Itikadi Project through an extremely kind donation of £10,000. This money allowed the whole operation to be rolled out and work is successfully gathering pace with great results. Moving Mountains continues to fund the ongoing work in Borneo.

Continued Help

In the future we will be looking for other supporters and grants to continue our commitments in Borneo and to the Penan people. With so many of our planet's forests being destroyed by large corporations it is essential that we not only plant trees but also give support and a voice to the local people who can legally defend their homes and environment.

How Can You Help?

You can now offset the carbon emissions from your personal or company's flights through our work in Borneo. We use a widely recognised Carbon Calculator to make the necessary calculations, but unlike many offset schemes, we do not employ any intermediaries; your donation will go directly and entirely to our partners in Borneo, and will pay for the planting of enough trees in recently deforested areas to, over the course of their lifetimes, absorb the carbon dioxide equivalent to your personal contribution to your flight's emissions. Please click here to use our Carbon Calculator and find out more about this fantastic way to support our work.

Any fundraising or networking that you can do to support this cause is highly appreciated. You can also come out to Borneo and see / get involved with the work first hand through volunteering on a Penan Tree Nursery International Development Trip or by participating with your school, university sports club or group of friends in a BorneoCamp trip or as an individual or group in a Picnic with the Penan trip.

You'll not only assist with the development of the nursery but will also make friends with the local people and bring much needed tourist income to the region.

Latest Reports

• November 2011
  
• June 2010
• January 2010

Find Out More

- Read an interview with Moving Mountains founder and chairman Gavin Bate on our work in Borneo here.

- Read a personal blog account from a Picnic with the Penan trip member here with lots of interesting information and observations on Penan culture and history.

- Watch a video from extreme artist Philip Gray on his experience visiting the communities Moving Mountains works with here.

- Good background information on the Penan from the BBC's 'Tribe' programme website here

- Bruno Manser Fonds website here, a Swiss NGO working with the Penan and inspired by the work of activist and Penan advocate Bruno Manser. Lots of information and good links to other sources on the struggle of the Penan to protect the rainforest and their traditional lands and human rights.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting the work of Moving Mountains with and for the Penan communities in Borneo.