Sarawak rainforest and its indigenous peoples

Twenty three years later: Penan natives, Baru standing with the brother of Banai Tebai. They lived twenty years ago in Long Tegan, but since the area was so thoroughly deforested, they moved upriver and now live in Long Gita. In a permanent traditional native design hardwood house on stilts. Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012

Nomadic decades ago, now settled, far from their original hunter-gatherer grounds.

The huge Petronas Sabah-Sarawak pipeline is being built across the Borneo rainforest through native areas. Petronas is the government cash cow which funds about 45% of its budget. New roads are being built, though much of the transport follows the existing roads and infrastructure created by logging. Whilst the government heralds the project as a source of jobs for local people, it is unlikely to bring much but wanton damage to rainforest habitat and paving the way for further deforestation by oil palm plantations. ..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..Sarawak's primary rainforests have been systematically logged over decades, threatening the sustainable lifestyle of its indigenous peoples who relied on nomadic hunter-gathering and rotational slash & burn cultivation of small areas of forest to survive. Now only a few areas of pristine rainforest remain; for the Dayaks and Penan this spells disaster, a rapidly disappearing way of life, forced re-settlement, many becoming wage-slaves. Large and medium size tree trunks have been sawn down and dragged out by bulldozers, leaving destruction in their midst, and for the most part a primary rainforest ecosystem beyond repair. Nowadays palm oil plantations and hydro-electric dam projects cover hundreds of thousands of hectares of what was the world's oldest rainforest ecosystem which had some of the highest rates of flora and fauna endemism, species found there and nowhere else on Earth, and this deforestation has done ir

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Image Size: 5760x3840 / 3.6MB; https://nigeldickinson.photoshelter.com/p/terms-conditions; https://nigeldickinson.photoshelter.com/contact; sarawak malaysia deforestation rainforest rain forest dam hydro-electric hydro electric forestry tree wood timber oil palm development habitat environment tribes indigenous land human rights biodiversity people kenyah kelabit penan iban dayak native survival hunter gatherer farmer destroyed destruction modern hardwood pipeline Bakun Murum Long Napir Limbang Belaga Rejang Baram Kuching sustainable sustainability threatened
Contained in galleries: Borneo Revisited Selection, Sarawak: Borneo revisited 1989-2015, Sarawak 'Then' 1989-91 and 'Now' 2012-2015

Twenty three years later: Penan natives, Baru standing with the brother of Banai Tebai. They lived twenty years ago in Long Tegan, but since the area was so thoroughly deforested, they moved upriver and now live in Long Gita. In a permanent traditional native design hardwood house on stilts. Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Nomadic decades ago, now settled, far from their original hunter-gatherer grounds.<br />
<br />
The huge Petronas Sabah-Sarawak pipeline is being built across the Borneo rainforest through native areas. Petronas is the government cash cow which funds about 45% of its budget. New roads are being built, though much of the transport follows the existing roads and infrastructure created by logging. Whilst the government heralds the project as a source of jobs for local people, it is unlikely to bring much but wanton damage to rainforest habitat and paving the way for further deforestation by oil palm plantations. ..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..Sarawak's primary rainforests have been systematically logged over decades, threatening the sustainable lifestyle of its indigenous peoples who relied on nomadic hunter-gathering and rotational slash & burn cultivation of small areas of forest to survive. Now only a few areas of pristine rainforest remain; for the Dayaks and Penan this spells disaster, a rapidly disappearing way of life, forced re-settlement, many becoming wage-slaves. Large and medium size tree trunks have been sawn down and dragged out by bulldozers, leaving destruction in their midst, and for the most part a primary rainforest ecosystem beyond repair. Nowadays palm oil plantations and hydro-electric dam projects cover hundreds of thousands of hectares of what was the world's oldest rainforest ecosystem which had some of the highest rates of flora and fauna endemism, species found there and nowhere else on Earth, and this deforestation has done ir