Traditional Iban practices maintain forests and can deter illegal encroachment. Scientists are also documenting, via focus groups and participatory mapping, how indigenous communities use the forest and wildlife.Ĭollaborations with local communities are critical to long-term conservation success. This expansion allows more women and youth to participate, while providing insight into the impact of traditional practices on the presence of at-risk wildlife. In 2020, to facilitate the conservation of community-managed forests adjacent to the wildlife sanctuary, the research team expanded their survey to include more forests actively used by Iban farmers. Many forest stands within Iban territories are maintained as community fruit gardens, and research has shown that these forests serve as "hot spots" for wildlife. Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary is part of a 1.1 million hectare (2.7 million acre) transboundary area of contiguous primary forest, home to Sarawak's largest population of orangutans and bordered by a large indigenous Iban community. Since 2016, the Conservation Ecology Center team has collaborated with Sarawak Forestry Corporation to conduct camera trap studies and bi-monthly phenology surveys of important wildlife foods (fruits and seeds) within Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and the surrounding forest.
The project's aim is to promote the sustainability of Borneo’s forests by engaging communities in the conservation of their local wildlife through traditional practices merged with conservation goals. They are working directly with local communities and protected-area staff to generate data about clouded leopards, sun bears, orangutans, pangolins and other species. Researchers are gathering baseline data on at-risk species and working to improve ecological monitoring. Throughout Sarawak, forests bordering protected areas are threatened by illegal hunting, expanding industrial agriculture and logging.
Conservation Ecology Center scientists are examining how wildlife use habitats in remote communities bordering protected areas in Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo).
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