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September 18th, 2007 Peatland Scientists and Policy Makers tackle problems of Tropical Peatland conservation and carbon-climate interactions at International Symposium in Yogyakarta, Indonesia Problems of fire, mitigation, restoration and wise use of tropical peatland were addressed at the International Symposium and Workshop on “Carbon-Climate-Human Interactions on Tropical Peatlands” held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 27-29 August 2007. These meetings were attended by over 200 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam and 13 other countries, including scientists, politicians, legislators, land managers, representatives of national and local government, NGOs and community groups, and the private sector. The symposium consisted of seven technical sessions dealing with the following important issues concerning tropical peatlands and peat: 1. Evolution, extent and natural resource functions; 2. Biodiversity and biological, chemical and physical characteristics; 3. Restoration and water management; 4. Carbon dynamics; 5. Socio-economics and land management; 6. Fire: detection, impacts, awareness and control; 7. Carbon payments, avoided deforestation and cultivation of plantation crops. The workshop commenced with a ‘Stakeholder Forum’ at which views were expressed by representatives of regional governments, agro-industries, researchers, and others on current and pressing issues related to tropical peatland utilization, particularly in the context of climate change and biodiversity conservation. These major issues were analysed and discussed in greater depth in four breakout sessions that prepared outline actions plans and contributed towards the symposium/workshop statement. Uniquely all parties recognized each others needs with regard to peatland management and during the meeting they worked together to develop appropriate strategies and action plans to address current issues facing the tropical peatland resource. Download the full text of the Yogyakarta Statement here September 3rd, 2007 Snapshots from Setia Alam by Rosalie Dench The first week of August saw our volunteers completing the habitat measurements on the phenology plots, and taking the opportunity to shadow the behaviour research. Each volunteer spent a morning with the gibbon team, locating a family of gibbons from their singing, and following them for as long as possible; and all but one of the volunteers were able to join the behaviour team following an orang-utan for half a day. As they left for Pangkalan Bun to visit Tanjung Puting National Park, the volunteers of the second group were on their way to Indonesia. Having spent a few days in Palangka Raya and said our goodbyes to the first group, we came to camp to introduce the new vols to the jungle! Work was a little disrupted in the middle of the month as Angela, who used to run the education programme, got married to her fiancé Upik in Palangka Raya! The wedding took place over two days. On the 12th was the cultural Adat ceremony, where the families staged an improvised play in which Upik’s parents brought him to Angela’s parents house, having seen in a dream that their future daughter-in-law lives there. There was a traditional dance at the gates of the house, firstly the men of each family fighting to clear a path between the two families, and then the ladies dancing to welcome the groom’s family. The families then sat down to discuss the contract forming between them, and many gifts were exchanged, including rice from each of their houses that was mixed in one bowl to represent the mixing of the two families. Finally, the dancing ladies returned to find which girl in the house was the one from Upik’s parents dream. After twice selecting a girl from the audience and presenting her to Upik, only to have him refuse her, the ladies went into the room where Angela was hiding, and brought her out to him. Upik said she was indeed the right girl, and a red scarf was put round their shoulders together as a sign of their unity. Each person who had been involved in the ceremony blessed them with scented water and flowers. Early morning on the 15th was the muslim wedding ceremony, attended by family and close friends, in which the couple made their vows and signed their marriage certificates. Breakfast was followed by the wedding reception; over a thousand invitations had been distributed, and hundreds of people, including our volunteers and many familiar faces, came to offer their congratulations, meet the families, listen to the live music and enjoy some lunch in the marquees outside the house. As few of Angie’s family were able to come over for the wedding, we took the part of her immediate family and greeted the visitors as they arrived and left the wedding. It was a lovely afternoon, even if we were a little tired by the end! In the evening, after mandis and siestas, Upik and Angie exchanged rings and cut their wedding cake, and the party went on until the early hours. Back in the jungle, the volunteers have made good progress with the regeneration plots, and did a four-day quadrangulation survey for gibbons in the central posts of the grid. On the introductory morning, as we were preparing to return to camp after practicing the quadrangulation method, an adolescent female orangutan, who we think was Feb, appeared moving towards us parallel to the transect. We all sat down and she slowly made her way up to us; stopped suspended across the transect, directly above our heads for a couple of minutes; and then carried on her way on the other side of the transect! It was a charming encounter, particularly as the first sighting of a wild orangutan for our volunteers. In the last part of the month we had a large group of visitors to camp in advance of the conference in Yogyakarta, including the Finnish Ambassador, members of the International Peat Society, and Sue Page and Jack Rieley. We then said our goodbyes to Laura and Simon as they left camp to return to England. We are now preparing to go into town for the long weekend at the start of September, and planning the river trip we will be embarking on next month. ~~ Rosalie ~~
October 20th, 2004 Indonesian Government commits to saving the Sebangau - 2004
*Photograph request*
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