PLANT4BORNEOELEPHANTS

January 8, 2019

A word of explanation for this title: In August 2018, I was staying in the spacious visitors’ accommodation of a Tawau plantation whilst on a trip organised by IStopBorneoWildlife, a Sabah-based NGO. I was there as part of a conservation project developed between the plantation and the local NGO that has two aims: to promote wild elephant spotting for tourism and to create a wildlife corridor of forest trees to connect two neighbouring wildlife reserves.

Clouded Leopard Trafficking from Brunei 2016

December 13, 2018

I felt I should write this article after obtaining details of a court case involving a Bruneian citizen caught red-handed whilst smuggling a clouded leopard across his country’s border into Sarawak. Although it is now 2 years old, the story is still relevant as it reminds everyone that there are still people in Borneo willing to exploit rare and beautiful animals. Some details of this case have previously been reported in regional newspapers, for example in the The Borneo Post (17 October 2016).

Palm Oil in Sabah: boycott or embrace? A view from outside

September 30, 2018

Today’s political borders of Borneo were determined by negotiations between the British and Dutch in the early nineteenth century. By drawing a line eastwards from Singapore, these two colonial powers divided Borneo into two spheres of influence: north of the line, the British could exploit the lands that became today’s Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak, south of the line the Dutch could expand into what we now know as Kalimantan. At the same time, Britain acquired Peninsular Malaya, the Dutch acquire Sumatra and the other islands of what Alfred Russell Wallace called the ‘Malay Archipelago’.

Expedition to Danum Valley, Sabah.

January 14, 2018

We were five enthusiastic nature-loving ladies setting off on a jungle adventure in mid-October 2017. Some of our group were already experienced jungle adventurers, which gave the novices (like me) a sense of comfort and security, and an assurance that we would indeed survive the 5 days and 4 nights in the jungle.

In An English Country Garden,Sabah

November 24, 2017

The title of this article is inspired by the song ‘English Country Garden’, written by Jimmie Rodgers in 1962 although surprisingly he is not English but from the US.

I am writing this having recently returned from a six-week visit to Sabah where I had the pleasure of meeting people who are contributing significantly to conservation in East Malaysia. They are part of an important state-wide debate on how Sabah’s economic and social development can be successful whilst at the same time its incredible wildlife is protected.