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  • August 2012: Kelabit Native family household, who have Penan neighbours. The writing is on the wall when they hang up Penan blowpipes and other traditional native paraphenalia, on their lounge wall. Decades ago these blowpipes would have been used for hunting, even by the Kelabit natives. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Kelabit native people facing threats to lose their traditional lands, ancestral burial grounds, culture and habitat, once a hydro-electric dam project floods their lands. The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu. 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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    104_borneo_1F2C1556.JPG
  • Native men in pool room café on the side of the road. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    088_borneo_1F2C1209.JPG
  • 1989: Semi-nomadic Penan native, Banai Tebai, smokes a cigarette inside a 'sulap' settlement made from bamboo, wood and rattan. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo365.jpg
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Native leaders including Peter Kallang (white hat) from "Save Rivers" in longboat on Baram river. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • August 2012: Kelabit native, Headman/Chief Jangin Taibilung of both Long Napir and Long Seboyan communities. He is one of the old survivors, many of the other respected elders and fighters for the forest have since passed away. Long Seboyan, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo <br />
<br />
Kelabit native people facing a mounting threat to lose their traditional lands, ancestral burial grounds, culture and habitat, once the hydro-electric dam project floods their lands. Limbang, Sarawak Borneo..The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu. 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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    114_borneo_1F2C1661.JPG
  • Penan watching television in wood and brick built municipal longhouse. Kelabit native people facing a mounting threat to lose their traditional lands, ancestral burial grounds, culture and habitat, once the hydro-electric dam project floods their lands. Limbang, Sarawak Borneo..The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu...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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    109_borneo_1F2C1644.JPG
  • August 2012: Kelabit native, Fredrick Ngareng, in his mid-forties, with single bore shotgun and a Honda 50cc motorbike, at home with fishing nets behind. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Kelabit native people facing a mounting threat to lose their traditional lands, ancestral burial grounds, culture and habitat, once the hydro-electric dam project floods their lands. The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu. 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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    105_borneo_1F2C1566.JPG
  • Electricity pylons carry electricity from Bakun Dam towards Bintulu. Bangladeshi workers repairing pylons as natives aren't used to heights. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    033_borneo_1F2C0183.JPG
  • 1989: Old Penan native, Sinan, wearing a Pepsi T-shirt. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo363.jpg
  • 1991: Kenyah native people. Lun wearing traditional brass earrings with many children, at a blockade protest site across a logging road. In 1991/2, the Long Geng and Long Lewan communities made a continuous human blockade for two years, rotating people every two weeks, blocking logging in their traditional lands. Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo354.jpg
  • Kenyah native people blockading a logging road, which they manned for two years continuously against logging companies. Several groups of people rotated every few weeks. They were also supported by people from Long Geng. Near Long Lewan, Sarawak, Borneo 1991<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo349.jpg
  • Twenty three years ago: Seventeen year old Den Along (LHS) daughter of Along Sega the renowned resistance fighter, with her daughter Senorita, 1yr old (child in the middle). They are indigenous Penan native people, living as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers. Long Tegang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 1989<br />
<br />
<br />
PENAN SULAP, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Penan family in sulap settlement. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo333.jpg
  • 1989: Penan native woman and her child, families of Along Sega and Awing Banai,  in sulap structure made from bamboo, wood and rattan. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo320.jpg
  • 1989: Kelabit native, Jangin Taibilung, rainforest defender and activist living at Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo278.jpg
  • 1991: Kenyah native headman/chief, Nelson, pulls his longboat upriver through rapids as he approaches Long Geng. Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo258.jpg
  • 1989: Kelabit native and hunter, Fredrick Ngareng, in his early twenties, with shotgun sitting by the Limbang river. Near Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo253.jpg
  • 1989: Kelabit native, Fredrick Ngareng, in his early twenties, with shotgun and a Honda 50cc motorbike. Behind him is logging with caterpillar and logging camp. Near Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo251.jpg
  • 1989: Nomadic Penan native with blowpipe, wispy beard and mustache. Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo178.jpg
  • 1991: Kenyah native woman, Gin, with distended earlobes, elongated to wear traditional earrings. Long Geng, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo. <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo166.jpg
  • 1989: Semi-nomadic Penan native, Banai Tebai, smokes a cigarette inside a 'sulap' settlement made from bamboo, wood and rattan. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo365.jpg
  • 1989: Semi-nomadic Penan native, Baru at his home, a traditional Penan 'sulap' settlement made from bamboo, wood and rattan. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo356.jpg
  • 1989: Inside Kelabit native longhouse. Children near doorway with Christian religious and save the rainforest material. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo337.jpg
  • 1989: 17+yr old Den Along (LHS) daughter of Along Sega, with her daughter Senorita, 1yr old (child in the arms of her cousin). They are indigenous Penan native people, living as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers. Long Tedan, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 1989<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo332.jpg
  • 1991: A Kenyah native woman collects plants in the rainforest for medicinal and nutritious values. The rainforest has an abundant resource of tasty ecological and renewable vegetation. Near Long Geng, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo141.jpg
  • 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
    116_borneo_1F2C2362.JPG
  • Night scenes. Logging carries on unabated 24hrs a day. Heavy trucks removing their huge cargos of logs from the rainforest. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    015_borneo_1F2C9760.JPG
  • Vast red tracts of land, long dusty roads, scar the green rainforest, carrying a constant cargo of logging trucks moving down, whilst construction machinery moves upwards for the Murum Dam project. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological
    12_ngd_010_borneo_1F2C9695.JPG
  • Kenyah elderly couple from Long Lawan in floating longhouse on the Bakun Dam reservoir. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    04_ngd_081_borneo_1F2C0343.JPG
  • August 2012: Penan natives watch as their homes are threatened yet again by so-called development. Petronas Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline is being excavated across the Borneo rainforest ravaging native areas. Close to Long Adang, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
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. <br />
<br />
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 e
    158_borneo_1F2C2569.JPG
  • August 2012: Kenyah native people from the communities of Long Lewan standing on a road near their home. They are a community still standing firm against widespread deforestation. Logging companies have to negotiate with them for access and pay to extract timber. The people shown here participated on the actual human blockades during two years continuously from 1991 through 1992. The adults in the front row were children two decades ago. Long Lewan, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
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Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Some of this community lives at Long Lewan. The Bakun hydro-electric dam covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses. 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. 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
    086_borneo_1F2C1054.JPG
  • Petrified trees and floating logs on the Bakun Dam reservoir. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    073_borneo_1F2C9627.JPG
  • Kenyah boys sitting on ballustrade look towards new concrete longhouse at Sungai Asap. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    065_borneo_1F2C9827.JPG
  • Lun with pictures of herself and her deceased husband. We had walked to the blockades together twenty years ago. Sungai Asap Longhouse community where Long Geng Kenyah community was forcibly resettled after their homes where flooded by the Bakun Dam. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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, an
    060_borneo_1F2C9417.JPG
  • August 2012: A Kenyah native woman with a chainsaw and her four-wheel vehicle behind, returns from her palm oil small-holding, which helps her family to pay the rent. They were evicted from Long Geng when it was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Now they live in Sungai Asap, a small town outside the rainforest. Sungai Asap, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Sungai Asap is home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012. The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated. 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
    041_borneo_1F2C9363.JPG
  • The Bakun Dam with overflow and power turbine installation. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    032_borneo_1F2C9544.JPG
  • The Bakun Dam with overflow and power turbine installation. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    029_borneo_1F2C9512.JPG
  • Apocalyptic scenes. Vast red tracts of land, long dusty roads, scar the green rainforest, carrying a constant cargo of logging trucks moving down, whilst construction machinery moves upwards for the Murum Dam project. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irr
    001_borneo_1F2C9723.JPG
  • 1989: Semi-nomadic Penan natives, Baru and his family, sit in a temporary 'sulap' structure having traditional food, including sago which is eaten as a paste, using bamboo forks. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo304.jpg
  • 1991: Kenyah natives, women and children. She is weaving a traditional rattan sack from rainforest materials, on longhouse verandah. Long Geng, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo294.jpg
  • Concrete replaces wood. Sungai Asap Longhouse community where Long Geng Kenyah community was forcibly resettled after their homes where flooded by the Bakun Dam. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    07_ngd_044_borneo_1F2C9316.JPG
  • Logging carries on unabated 24hrs a day. Heavy trucks removing their huge cargos of logs from the rainforest. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    03_ngd_008_borneo_1F2C1237.JPG
  • Vast red tracts of land, long dusty roads, scar the green rainforest, carrying a constant cargo of logging trucks moving down, whilst construction machinery moves upwards for the Murum Dam project. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological
    02_ngd_003_borneo_1F2C0057.JPG
  • Apocalyptic scenes. Vast red tracts of land, long dusty roads, scar the green rainforest, carrying a constant cargo of logging trucks moving down, whilst construction machinery moves upwards for the Murum Dam project. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses<br />
<br />
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
    01_ngd_039_borneo_1F2C9714.JPG
  • Primary rainforest during a storm. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    163_borneo_1F2C9213.JPG
  • Sungai Asap Longhouse community where Long Geng Kenyah community was forcibly resettled after their homes where flooded by the Bakun Dam. Sungai Asap, Belaga, Sarawak 2012<br />
<br />
Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1991-2012. <br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage.
    053_borneo_1F2C9282.JPG
  • Oil palm plantations have replaced lands of once pristine primary rainforest, a place where no animal or bird is seen or heard. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    019_borneo_1F2C0115.JPG
  • Night scenes. Logging carries on unabated 24hrs a day. Heavy trucks removing their huge cargos of logs from the rainforest. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    014_borneo_1F2C9761.JPG
  • Logging carries on unabated 24hrs a day. Heavy trucks removing their huge cargos of logs from the rainforest. Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan and floating longhouses on the Bakun reservoir. Bakun Belaga region, Sarawak Borneo 2012..Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991-2012. ..The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss of their longhouses..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    012_borneo_1F2C0004.JPG
  • August 2012: Once upon a time this was pristine primary rainforest. Now it has been destroyed by road building schemes for dam construction, logging and palm oil plantations. Road leading towards Bakun and Murum dam construction areas, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Home of the Kenyah native people who once lived in Long Geng, which was flooded by the Bakun Dam. Their community is now dispersed between Sungai Asap, Long Lewan.<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later in 2012.<br />
<br />
The Bakun hydro-electric dam, which covers 700km². Construction of the dam required the relocation of more than 9,000 native residents, mainly Kayan and Kenyah indigenous peoples who lived in the flooded area. Many Sarawak natives have been relocated to a longhouse settlement named Sungai Asap in Bakun. Most of them were subsistence farmers. Each family were promised only 3 acres of land, insufficient to survive, and many families still have not been compensated for the loss. 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 irreparable ecological
    004_borneo_1F2C1259.JPG
  • 1991: Semi-nomadic Penan in traditional 'sulap' temporary settlement. A woman tends to the fires whilst her son watches, wearing a Saddam Hussein T-shirt. Many Christian and Muslims tried to convert the Dayak tribes, who are mainly Christian and Animist. The Muslims don't have much luck because the natives like to eat wild boar pig-meat. Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo358.jpg
  • 1991: Kenyah natives living in traditional longhouse, eating on the floor. Abu and his family. Long Geng, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo306.jpg
  • 1989: Penan natives. Baru (LHS), Banai Tebai (2nd LHS) and Rasa (RHS) and extended family. Living a semi-nomadic lifestyle.Their 'sulap' temporary settlement, made from wood, bamboo and rattan is behind. Long Tedang, Sarawak, Borneo.<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo161.jpg
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Prayers at Baram blockade site. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Night blockades. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Saddam Housain T-shirt, Penan indigenous family in native sulap house. Near long Lewan, Belaga distict, Sarawak Borneo 1991<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    Sarawak Borneo028.JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Community leaders at site of Baram dam. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Baram resistance meeting at night. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Two years of blockades. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Demonstration at blockade site. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Children in local school. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Slash and burn cultivation by native peoples to plant subsistence crops, mainly wild mountain rice. Unfortunately the Sarawak government mostly doesn't recognise pristine rainforest as ancestral lands; it is only when the settlers cut down the forest for farming, that it is recognised as their own native lands. Limbang, Sarawak, Malaysia 2015<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • August 2012: Penan native, Baru, now sedentary. Living in a wood house, traditional native Dayak structure, but not anymore the Penan sulap as he did two decades ago. This is his last home, he will not be able to move again. there is not enough forest left for him and his community. Long Gita, Belaga district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
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 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 irreparable ecological damage to that region..
    149_borneo_1F2C2234.JPG
  • August 2012: Kelabit native family with guests. Now eating at a table, something unheard of decades ago. Sinang's family in their newly built home. However their community is threatened by a Mega hydro-electric dam project which will totally flood their valley, leaving them homless. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu. 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
    100_borneo_1F2C1371.JPG
  • Penan indigenous family with STIHL chainsaw in native sulap house. Near long Lewan, Belaga distict, Sarawak Borneo 1991<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    Sarawak Borneo007.JPG
  • Native slash and burn farming and tropical rainforest, Kenyah and Kelabit land. Near long Lewan, Belaga distict, Sarawak Borneo 1991<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    Sarawak Borneo002.JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Blockade and international protest at Baram Dam site. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Community leaders at site of Baram dam. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Baram resistance meeting at night. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Blockades against the Baram Dam have been a huge success, after years of campaigning and protest, the  Baram Dam in Sarawak has now been shelved. Baram Sarawak 2015<br />
<br />
The first of 12 mega-dam projects, was the Bakun Dam, which produced a reservoir of 700 sqkm, the size of Singapore, whose flooding began in 2010 and displaced around 10,000 Kenyah people, in Rajang and Belaga. The second phase at Murum would displace a further 24,000 native people, and Baram some 30,000. This huge development program has been overseen by Sarawak's former Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now under investigation by Malaysian authorities for corruption, and who has amassed a personal fortune of more than 35 billion US dollars. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Slash and burn cultivation by native peoples to plant subsistence crops, mainly wild mountain rice. Unfortunately the Sarawak government mostly doesn't recognise pristine rainforest as ancestral lands; it is only when the settlers cut down the forest for farming, that it is recognised as their own native lands. Limbang, Sarawak, Malaysia 2015<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Penan watch as their homes are threatened yet again by so-called development. Petronas pipeline ravaging the landscape near long Adang. 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. What will the future hold for them? 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. ..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 e
    157_borneo_1F2C2602.JPG
  • Twenty three years later: Forty year old Den Along (RHS) daughter of Along Sega, with her daughter Senorita (LHS), who is now 24 yrs old, and Senorita's two year old son Dimas. They are indigenous Penan native people, who were once nomadic hunter gatherers and are now settled. Long Gita, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo 2012<br />
<br />
Nomadic decades ago, they have since 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. What will the future hold for them? 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. ..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.
    144_borneo_1F2C2155.JPG
  • Baru's family at Long Gita. 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. What will the future hold for them? 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. ..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region...
    131_borneo_1F2C1922.JPG
  • August 2012: Penan native, Maleng, holds a picture of his brother Sinan, who is deceased. This is the first photograph he ever had of his brother. Long Napir, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo<br />
<br />
The Limbang valley including Long Napir, a cluster of four settlements of Penan and Kelabit people, is threatened by a new hydro-electric project which will flood the entire area, displacing thousands of native people. The Murum Hydro-electric project already underway affecting the Rejang region, will displace over 24,000 Dayak native residents, destroying their longhouses and forest habitat. The dam site is located on the Murum River, in the uppermost part of the Rajang River basin, 200 km from Bintulu. 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 irreparable ecological damage to that region.
    110_borneo_1F2C1475.JPG
  • Primary rainforest. 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. What will the future hold for them? 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. ..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 irreparable ecological damage to that region...
    098_borneo_1F2C2633.JPG
  • LOGGING, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo334.jpg
  • DAYAK DANCE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayak, 'Kenyah', dances brave warrior dance on longhouse  verandah. Chasing away  evil spirits and recounting courageous hunting expeditions, 1991 <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo299.jpg
  • LOGGING & INDIGENOUS DAYAKS, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Along Sega (lhs) Penan. Activisits fighting for landrights issues in the face of commercial logging, Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo277.jpg
  • DAYAK LONGBOATS, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo256.jpg
  • NOMADIC PENAN, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Nomadic Penan cooking with sago flour. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo247.jpg
  • PENAN, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia. Penan skinning wild animal.Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo184.jpg
  • PENAN, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Penan with blowpipe, hunting animals in forest canopy, 1991<br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo177.jpg
  • PENAN, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Penan with blowpipe. Beard and moustache.Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo169.jpg
  • DAYAK, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia. Dayak, 'Kenyah', woman and child in papoose. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo157.jpg
  • MEDICINAL HERBS AND PLANTS, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo144.jpg
  • MEDICINAL HERBS AND PLANTS, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo143.jpg
  • LOGGING, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo080.jpg
  • SLASH AND BURN FARMING, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo075.jpg
  • LOGGING, TIMBERYARD, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo065.jpg
  • Ground level view across thousands of hectares of palm oil plantations. This was originally unspoilt primary rainforest. Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia 2015<br />
<br />
These regions were were part of the world's oldest rainforest, which dates back 160 million years. The indigenous native communities’ survival depends on sustainable development of primary rainforest, a biodiversity resource, with countless insects, an array of birds and endangered species, which support one of the most diverse tropical ecosystems in the world. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • Ground level view across thousands of hectares of palm oil plantations. This was originally unspoilt primary rainforest. Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia 2015<br />
<br />
These regions were were part of the world's oldest rainforest, which dates back 160 million years. The indigenous native communities’ survival depends on sustainable development of primary rainforest, a biodiversity resource, with countless insects, an array of birds and endangered species, which support one of the most diverse tropical ecosystems in the world. <br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • The family of Along Saga, a hard fighting resistance fighter who died a decade before. The Penan native people are learning to live a sedentary lifestyle which includes living in wooden houses, farming and fishing. They were traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers. These days they have become forcibly settled as their hunting grounds have been largely destroyed by logging concessions and palm-oil plantations. Limbang Sarawak Malaysia 2015<br />
<br />
There are only a few, difficult to find, scarce communities of semi-nomadic Penan nowadays, who live like of those of old, hidden away deep in the tropical forest, hunter-gathering, wearing loin cloth ‘chawats’, hunting wild boar with blowpipes and poison arrows, and extracting sago-root flour, their staple carbohydrate, by hand.<br />
<br />
Borneo native peoples and their rainforest habitat revisited two decades later: 1989/1991 and 2012/2014/2015. <br />
<br />
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 irreparable ecological damage to that region
    borneo_revisited_nigel_dickinson_201...JPG
  • DAYAK FISHING, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayak with catfish fished from the  river. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo371.jpg
  • 1989: Penan family in sulap. Kayan and his family repairing fishing nets. Long Tedang, Limbang district, Sarawak, Borneo <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo366.jpg
  • NOMADIC PENAN, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Old man and youth, tradition and modern. Cigarette smoking. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo364.jpg
  • LOGGING DAYAK BLOCKADE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayaks blockading logging road. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo362.jpg
  • LOGGING DAYAK BLOCKADE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Night-time, sitting around oil burner. Kenyah and Penan blockading logging road, 1991 <br />
<br />
Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo355.jpg
  • LOGGING DAYAK BLOCKADE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayaks blockading logging road. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo353.jpg
  • LOGGING DAYAK BLOCKADE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayaks blockading logging road. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo350.jpg
  • LOGGING DAYAK BLOCKADE, MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Borneo, South East Asia.  Dayaks blockading logging road. Tropical rainforest and one of the world's richest, oldest eco-systems, flora and fauna, under threat from development, logging and deforestation. Home to indigenous Dayak native tribal peoples, farming by slash and burn cultivation, fishing and hunting wild boar. Home to the Penan, traditional nomadic hunter-gatherers, of whom only one thousand survive, eating roots, and hunting wild animals with blowpipes. Animists, Christians, they still practice traditional medicine from herbs and plants. Native people have mounted protests and blockades against logging concessions, many have been arrested and imprisoned.
    sarawak_borneo348.jpg
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Nigel Dickinson

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