Sarawak rainforest and its indigenous peoples

August 2012: 40+yrs old Den Along (LHS) daughter of Along Sega, with her daughter Senorita (2nd from right), 24 yrs old, and Senorita's 2 yr old son Dimas (RHS), and his cousin Yorni (2nd from LHS). They are indigenous Penan native people, who were once nomadic hunter gatherers and are now sedentary. Long Gita, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012

Penan indigenous native people, nomadic decades ago, have been forced to move up-river, to settled accomodation, far from their original hunter-gatherer grounds. The sound of chainsaws is not too distant, oil palm plantations are looming and the pipeline is right next door. Long Adang and Long Gita, Limbang Sarawak, Borneo..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. 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

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Copyright: Nigel Dickinson
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Contained in galleries: Sarawak 'Then' 1989-91 and 'Now' 2012-2015

August 2012: 40+yrs old Den Along (LHS) daughter of Along Sega, with her daughter Senorita (2nd from right), 24 yrs old, and Senorita's 2 yr old son Dimas (RHS), and his cousin Yorni (2nd from LHS). They are indigenous Penan native people, who were once nomadic hunter gatherers and are now sedentary. Long Gita, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012<br />
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Penan indigenous native people, nomadic decades ago, have been forced to move up-river, to settled accomodation, far from their original hunter-gatherer grounds. The sound of chainsaws is not too distant, oil palm plantations are looming and the pipeline is right next door. Long Adang and Long Gita, Limbang Sarawak, Borneo..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. 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