The Baram Heritage Survey is no ordinary scientific study. Instead of sending in grad students, the team from the Borneo Project have hired indigenous village-based field technicians to collect comprehensive wildlife, land use and social data for the very first time. Why indigenous communities? Well they know the context, language, and what every sign and sound they come across means, and  have what no university can teach: intergenerational ecological knowledge. The Borneo Project, SAVE Rivers and Keruan Organisation have now launched the Baram Heritage Survey Atlases, the culmination of more than two years of work conducted by Penan and Kenyah communities in the Baram River Basin. The 90-page atlases document how important the forests are for community life and reveal an incredible abundance of rare, threatened, and endangered species that thrive in Indigenous-managed territories. We find out more from Jettie Word, the Director of The Borneo Project, and Fiona McAlpine, the Project manager for the Baram Heritage Survey.

Image credit: Borneo Project

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