Archive for the ‘Volunteer Programme’ Category
Once again, I find myself in the unenviable position of having to apologise for the long silence. I know I have neglected to keep you up to date with all that is going on in orangutan-land. If I have an excuse it is only that I have been struggling to keep up myself. June has looked like this:
(Supply boat after it was refloated, repaired and painted) First week: Five straight days in the field investigating a case of illegal farming inside the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, which is when I managed to get Jak hopelessly lost (or vice-versa as I still maintain!) followed by a meeting with the mangers of one of the palm-oil plantations which border the Reserve. After that, we continued onto Sukamara, the next district capital, where we are establishing an office.
Second week: To Jakarta where Astri, I and representatives of seven other projects attended a coordination meeting with the European Commission Delegation prior to the opening of the Indonesia Environment Week exhibition. If nothing else, the meeting made us proud our little project is holding its own at the sharp end. I also met with the director of a company which conducts bio-carbon surveys. Many people are talking about trying to protect forests through carbon-offsets, or Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects, but very little is actually happening on the ground. That is a ring into which we want to throw our hat – Belantikan is a stand-out candidate for protection. For a taste of what this involves have a look at http://www.climate-standards.org/ and follow the links to “Climate, Community & Biodiversity Project Design Standards, Draft Second Edition”. Finally, I met with the coordinators of the cross border, USAID funded project we are working on. Third week: Should have been back in the office attending to paperwork, but it did not turn out that way! Our supply boat was battered in heavy seas, made it to the Buluh Besar guard post then promptly sank. Our supervisor, Teguh, was apologetic but he really needn’t have been: clearly not his fault. I also went back to Lamandau to check on progress at the new release camp which the volunteers are building. Then, last weekend, I went up to Pondok Ambung to have a few days with the crocodile researcher.
In between there was the usual mix of staff management issues (how do you budget for out-of-the-blue double digit inflation?); an audit; a volunteer with a horribly infected leg derived from over-zealous scratching of mosquito bites and my Indonesian counter-part saying he can’t continue to work in Borneo with his wife – who is expecting their first child – still in Java. He has been like a second limb to me, and his departure is big blow.
I am sure like many other people reading this blog, my problem is trying to juggle too many balls at the same time. A problem which is made worse by my being a mere male who is genetically incapable of multi-tasking! The up-side, however, is that I did manage to sneak up to Camp Leakey to see Uning the daughter of one of my favourite orangutans, Unyuk. Uning has just had her first baby. It was great to see them.
Many thanks, Orangutan Foundation
Stephen has been in Tanjung Puting National Park over the weekend visiting Pondok Ambung Research Station and Camp Leakey so we can look forward to hearing some interesting stories on his return! I have been reading through the past comments and noticed there are a few about volunteering or working with orangutans that haven’t had a response. The Orangutan Foundation run a Volunteer Programme which is based in and around TPNP and the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve - click on the the Volunteer Programme category to read about it in this blog. Anyone interested in volunteering or supporting our work by joining one of the trips (Study Tours, Photographic Trip) that the Foundation runs should visit our website (link on the sidebar) or contact the UK office (info@orangutan.org.uk). On behalf of the UK office thank you for your interest and support, Cathy Orangutan Foundation
Committed, enthusiastic, slightly nutty (it helps!) and hard working - our volunteers. Another year’s volunteer programme has ended and again it has proved to be invaluable to our field operations. The programme has been running successfully for seven years. Each year, between April and November, we have up to four teams coming out to work with us in the field. Volunteers pay £600 for six weeks which covers all their living expenses but also importantly pays for all the construction and material used during the programme. All of the money received from the volunteer programme stays in the field. For the past few years, the main target area of the programme has been the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Projects have included the construction of guard posts, building release sites for ex-captive orangutans, marking out boundaries and assisting with reforestation programmes. In 2008 we hope to build two new orangutan sites in Lamandau in order to relieve pressure at the OCCQ. All of the teams in 2008 will be concentrating on constructing one of the release sites and we hope to raise funds for the construction of the other site. Vicky Dauncey, the volunteer co-ordinator for this year has sent us a taster of what the last two teams got up to….
Map - to help to get your bearings! Team 3 - Our focus on this team was to construct a guard post in Sungai Mangkung, Lamandau. We experienced a lot of rain!!
By the second week there was no dry land except the pondok and the building site but the upside to this meant it was cooler in the day and so it made the physical work less demanding. Morale stayed high during our work in Lamandau despite the flooding (in the last few days the water entered the pondok!).
Volunteers and Orangutan Foundation staff at Sungai Mangkung, Lamandau Eventually we were forced to leave without finishing the post. This meant that we had a few days, on the beach, at Tanjung Keluang, planting saplings and cleaning the area of rubbish. This was funded by the Forestry Department and we worked with two forestry department staff whilst we were there. Living (sleeping in hammocks) and working at Tanjung Keluang was an incredible experience and one I hope the volunteers will not forget. Team 4 - The first week was spent in Sungai Buluh Kecil, TPNP. Re-planting an area destroyed by fire. First we had to check an area that had been previously planted and replace dead saplings. This was particularly physically tough as the terrain is swamp. After six days the volunteers were exhausted and, although proud of their work, they were happy to leave!
Sungai Buluh Kecil, TPNP Two rest days were spent in PKB and during this time we visited the OCCQ. The OCCQ really brings home the importance of building the guard posts and release camps in Lamandau and really helps to motivate the volunteers. After the rest we went to Lamandau to finish the guard post at Sungai Mangkung, that was started by team 3. In comparison to the first week this seemed like light work and it helped that we were working in a beautiful location and that the water had receded! Pak Sariamat, Pak Matjuri, Ibu Opit are long standing staff members and highly valued on the volunteer programme. Thank you for your continued hard work. If the Volunteer Programme interests you please visit the Orangutan Foundation website www.orangutan.org.uk
After my last post about releasing Kath and Jutak into wild I thought it would be appropriate to tell you more about our work in the Lamandau reserve. Seeing orangutans being released back to the wild is incredibly rewarding and one of the most satisfifying parts of the job but it also comes with a huge responsibility. We have to make sure that we can provide long-term protection to the forests, and this is where the challenge really begins!
New guard post in Lamandau built by participants from our volunteer programme The Lamandau Ecosystem Conservation Partnership (LECP) is an exciting new partnership for the Orangutan Foundation. It has been funded by the EC to maintain functioning tropical forest ecosystems in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, which support sustainable rural development. The Partnership comprises the local Ministry of Forestry for Central Kalimantan, Yayorin and the Orangutan Foundation. Our focus is the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. It is important not only because it is an area of high biodiversity and a release site for orangutans but also because of its economic importance for local people. Local communities have the right to the sustainable use of non timber products.
Rattan - non timber product We believe that in order to provide real protection for Lamandau we must work with local communities. We and our partners are working to achieve the following: -Improving the protection of the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve from illegal activities. -Improving the education and awareness of communities around the reserve on the importance of conserving forests. -Facilitating efforts to increase the economy of communities around the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve in a sustainable manner. -Reforestation of Lamandau Wildlife Reserve to improve its capacity as a conservation area. Last week LECP participated in the Development Exhibition that was held by Regional Government Kotawaringin Barat, Central Kalimantan. This exhibition was held in order to celebrate the 48th anniversary of Kotawaringin Barat. LECP with dozens of organizations and institutions had exhibition stands.
Regent Kotawaringin Barat being shown our stand Regent Kotawaringin Barat, Mr Ujang Iskandar, officially opened the exhibition. He stopped by at the LECP stand and observed some of LECP activities that were displayed on the walls of the stand. Regent KoBar was very pleased with what has been done by LECP, especially when we gave him the picture of his house, which was taken from a helicopter while we were doing an air survey!
Children taking part in our environmental quiz During the exhibition, we organised a quiz and played some movies with an environmental theme. We had 100’s of visitors participating but the children were the really excited ones because we gave away prizes if they answered the quiz questions correctly. We hoped, by taking part in this exhibition, the LECP project will be known by Kotawaringin Barat community. By learning about us they will hopefully like the work that we are doing, and afterwards support all of our activities!! We really appreciate that Wildlifedirect has given us this opportunity to raise awareness about the orangutan, its rainforest habitat and our about work. Thank you Faye B and Sheryl B for supporting our work with your generous donations. We are making a difference with your help!! |
|
