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May 2010

A new face at Harapan Rainforest

Worm Sorensen It’s dawn. The frogs fall silent while gibbons tell everybody about their territories and the sunrise. The night-shift is over and the day-shift begins.
I have now been at Harapan Rainforest for more than a month as Senior Technical Adviser, bringing the experience gained in 12 years of conservation work in Indonesia.
Most of my career has been managing pristine habitats protected from clearance, like national parks. However, Harapan Rainforest is about bringing damaged habitat “back to what it was”.  For me, that is really exciting.

Raising the roof at Harapan Rainforest!

 

New office buidling I’ve arrived into camp after a break to see some building work - an office and 11 new rooms to house staff. This is welcome as we are now in desperate need of more office space and accommodation.
The new buildings are traditional in design; wooden with very tall metal roofs to keep the inside cool. They are an example of recycling at its best - originally built in the city of Palembang over 40 years ago, they have been taken down and transported to our camp over 200km away. They are now being put back together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Time for talk at Tiger Junction

We are currently holding discussions with one of the indigenous community groups living within Harapan Rainforest, at a place called Simpang Macan (Tiger Junction).
This group of 27 families is based at Simpang Macan, but moves into the forest in search of fruit, rattan, fish and game from time-to-time throughout the year. They already have their own system of forest protection laws and sanctions that forbid activities such as tubo (fishing by poisoning rivers), which attracts a fine of up to 4 goats.