We've built a brand spanking new Members site just for you!

 

www.heartofborneo.ning.com

Click the link and sign up if you want to be a part of our ACTIVE community. That means if you want to get INVOLVED, and do more than just like our Facebook page and read our Tweets. Whether it's raising money, visiting schools, creating resources, adding to our knowledge base, planning an expedition, or joining us out in the field.

You've all seen the poster we're talking about when we say WE NEED YOU! So if you're keen to be a Rainforest Guardian, join us and get stuck in!

Wondering what this is all about? Well it's all about YOU, and here's a brief introduction to why

The Heart of Borneo Project was officially registered as a charity around 18 months ago, but it came to life much earlier than that. Back then, when we were pursuing an idea, learning, and growing this concept, we were a community of passionate young people, supported by some passionate older people. We were all very different, with varying skills, ambitions, goals, and even motivations for being involved.

But we all shared something, and whatever that was it brought us together and we worked tirelessly to plan and execute one of the most ambitious and successful rainforest expeditions of recent times. Since then, our network shrunk a bit and for a year now, as a small core team of mostly volunteers, we have been quietly working away, designing some really interesting projects, doing some very creative thinking, getting down to the bones of the issues in Borneo and how we can have the greatest impact.

Abraham Lincoln has many great sayings, but one I am particularly fond of is this:

“If I had eight hours to cut down a tree I would spend six of them sharpening my axe.”

That's kind of what we've been doing - sharpening our (metaphorical!) axes. Working, with our limited resources, to figure out the best way to harness our limited resources to their fullest potential. We don't have an office, we have one full time member of staff (me), so we don't have much time, we don't have much money, or a large pre-existing network to really promote ourselves.

So what do we have?

Well, we have great ideas and the skills to deliver them. We have an infinite amount of energy and enthusiasm. We are able to really inspire people and get them excited about what we can achieve and what they can achieve with us. We have a few hundred people watching and waiting for us to give them something to work on. And we have a genuine desire to collaborate, to share resources and ideas.

So that's where you come in. Do you know how powerful a poster can be? We started off with one poster design that recruited 400 people to the cause. What about a video or animation? What if thousands of indigenous people could learn about REDD+ from that video? Maybe YOU could be the person that creates that impact.

How about contacts and networks? It's hard to say how valuable any of the people YOU know might be to us and our work. Maybe they are a teacher who can help us develop educational resources, or a really effective campaigner who can give talks in their local area. Perhaps they have a daughter who works in the TV and becomes interested in reporting our work. Or maybe your uncle is a Dayak campaigning for his forest to be protected, and we are able to help.

And what about fundraising? Much as we have tried to keep the bills down (see above!), we can't exist without financial support, and with more we can do more. Could YOU run a marathon? Host an event? Run a bake sale? Organise an auction?

We aspire to be an inclusive, open platform for engagement and action. Whether you are a scientist looking to contribute to our research, a creative who can produce something for one of our campaigns, a student looking for a live project to work on instead of something made up, a networker who wants to promote us and our work, or simply someone who cares and wants to raise some money and awareness - we need you.

And then, 'we' will become 'you', and together we will work to protect these incredible, threatened ecosystems for all the beautiful and varied plants, animals and people who live in and off them, now and into the future.

 

So there is the idea - now how do you use it?

 

Well, it's a souped up, members only version of Facebook. You have a profile so everyone knows who you are and what you do. You can browse all the other members too of course. You can write blogs, join in and start discussions on any topic of interest, share photos and videos, and create little communities within this community by forming groups.

So look for inspiration on how to raise funds. Start a conversation on what type of hammock is best for the rainforest. Debate how we should be using our website better, and help us find people to do that! You could begin planning your own expedition into Borneo with people you connect with, and then look for advice on how to make it happen.

It's a free, open space. Let's see what you do with it!

 

www.heartofborneo.ning.com

 

Although known to science for 138 years, almost nothing is actually known about the bay cat (Pardofelis badia). This reddish-brown wild feline, endemic to the island of Borneo, has entirely eluded researchers and conservationists. The first photo of the cat wasn't taken until 1998 and the first video was shot just two years ago, but basic information remains lacking. A new camera trap study, however, in the Kelabit Highlands of the Malaysian state of Sarawak has added to the little knowledge we have by photographing a bay cat at never before seen altitudes.

It's taken us a while but we have at last managed to get an area up and running to publish and share news, updates, and blogs on our site.

There will be thin pickings here to begin with, but this area will become one of the most important resources on our site as we begin to create and curate content.

We'll start by migrating the Murung Raya Expedition blogs across from our old site. Once that's done we'll start posting our own updates and announcements here, as well as writing about issues and events related to the Heart of Borneo.

Our team members and volunteers will have their own blogs, and everything will be categorised, so you can keep an eye out for the people you like to read, or the areas you are most interested in. You will also be able to subscribe to the whole blog, or to the people or categories you care about.

Of course comments will be open as well, and we look forward to creating a vibrant community of people interested in rainforest exploration and conservation.

Lastly, as well as sharing relevant content from some great sites like Mongabay, we hope to be able to pull together a lot of the updates from expedition teams, research sites, community groups and NGOs working in Borneo.

This is the beginning of the Borneo Hub that we are trying to build. If you'd like to know more, just get in touch!

A protest in which 28 Indonesian sewed their mouths shut has led to an inquiry into a logging concession on Padang Island. The Ministry of Forestry has formed a mediation team to look into the controversial concession, reports Kompas. Around a hundred natives of Padang Island rallied for weeks against the logging concession held by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), which covers 37 percent of the island's total land.

Indigenous groups struggle to preserve ancestral land in heart of Borneo as mining and oil companies creep in. For indigenous groups in Indonesia, ...

Twenty-eight Indonesians have taken the extreme measure of sewing their mouths shut in a protest turned hunger-strike against a forest concession on Padang Island, reports the Jakarta Globe. Around a hundred protesters, mostly natives of Padang Island, have camped outside the Indonesian Senate building since December 19th to protest a logging concession held by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) on their island, which lies off the east coast of Sumatra.

2011 was designated as "Year of the Forests" by the United Nations. While there was relatively little progress on intergovernmental forest protection programs during the year, a lot happened elsewhere. Below is a look at some of the biggest tropical forest-related news stories for 2011. We at mongabay readily acknowledge there were a number of important temperate and boreal forest developments, including Britain's decision not to privatize its forests and the severe drought in Texas, but this article will cover only tropical forest news.

A forgotten video from the Murung Raya Expedition shows Dale Mortiboys explaining the adaptations that make Pit Vipers such phenomenal predators.

[vimeo 24277069 w=501 h=341]

Explorer Magazine in Hungary has voted the Murung Raya Expedition the 'Expedition of the Year'

We are very proud to be recognised in this way, especially in a country other than our own. This award demonstrates the success of the expedition in reaching a truly international audience. The magazine will be running a special feature on our expedition in its next edition.

[scribd id=51986092 key=key-p174cctzrv7fe0os2gk mode=list]