Our Initiatives

Grassroots, bottom-up, participatory... whatever you call it, we believe in getting feet on the ground in areas that need it most, working with local people, and sharing the experience as widely as possible.

Murung Raya Expedition 2010/11

It’s easy to imagine that the entire world has been mapped already, and that there’s nothing left to discover. Well think again. The forest covered mountains of Borneo’s interior are almost completely unknown to science, and yet they're under threat.

Just reaching some of these places takes enormous effort and skill, while spending long enough there to properly research and document them can be a logisitical challenge of military proportions. That's why they remain unstudied, but as Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees recently put it, if we don't make the effort, "we are in danger of destroying the book of life before we've read it".

Gunung Bondang Expedition 2011

123 new species have been discovered in the Heart of Borneo Rainforest since the year 2007 alone. It is one of, if not the most biodiverse place on the planet, we know virtually nothing about it, and yet it is being cut down at an incredible rate. Research is not just about cataloguing what’s there before its gone, but about providing evidence for why a place should be protected.

By creating sound scientific data in areas where none currently exist, we are not only contributing to our understanding of the natural world and our relationship with it, but creating evidence to support the protection of these areas into the future.

The Longhouse Project

People and the environment are inextricably linked. Despite our technological developments, humanity is as dependent as ever on the environment, but now more than ever the future of the enviornment rests on our actions and decisions.

This relationship is clear in the remote communities of Borneo, where unsustainable practices can have immediate impacts on the people who rely on the forest for clean water, food and resources. So we are developing capacity building programs wIth the help and support of local people and NGOs in the remote areas where we work, to promote local empowerment, sustainable livlihoods, income diversification, skills training and education.

We also believe in young people, and so we provide opportunities for emerging researchers, conversationists and campaigners in Indonesia and abroad to gain experience in the field, and to develop their skills and understanding.

Remote Community Conservation Training

We love technology. Specifically we love communications technology such as the internet and satellite terminals. We can be sitting at under the stars at Camp Foyle, hundreds of miles away from the nearest telephone cable, listening to the cicadas buzzing away and happily squatting mosquitoes, whilst having a live video conference with a zoo in Berlin, a Museum in London, or a school in Hong Kong.

It’s all about interactivity and imagination. We aim to use this technology to bring the world with us on our expeditions, so that we’re not just telling you about it and showing you pictures and video, but are allowing you to experience it with us, by asking us questions and following us in ‘real time’.