One year after cessation of logging in Ulu Segama Malua, timber is still being trucked out of this area under cover of darkness. Late in 2008 it was common to pass 30 or more fully laden logging trucks during the 2-3 hour journey to Danum Valley Field Centre or Borneo Rainforest Lodge. I interpreted this glut as the last binge before the forests in this part of the Yayasan Sabah concession are converted to more sustainable use such as eco-tourism, scientific research or ecosystem services. Now thankfully most tourism...

At last I get around to reading Biomimicry and it has helped me to understand the balance between the natural and the man-made. Browsing Mongabay the other day I came upon this article which discussed the conflict between environmentalists and the timber industry in Tasmania. The piece was structured around the views of those who see tasmanian forests as an exploitative resource, those that think it should remain untouched and a minority who think it could be both. This got me wondering where I would place myself on this...

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and carbon credits sound like a good idea but I’m not sure how much they benefit rainforest conservation. Behind my suspicion lies a concept that I have been aware of for a while but only recently learned that it has a name – ‘additionality’. It’s a new jargon term which hasn’t yet made it into the dictionary. In understanding what it means I was lucky to meet a chap called Mike Packer who patiently and concisely explained things to me. Mike is the founder of a company called...

I have learned from several sources that the buffer zone to Maliau Basin is to be logged again. It's unclear as to the extent of the logging but I've been told that it will affect the area around the access road, between the gate and the studies centre. The Maliau Basin Conservation Area Management Plan allows for the buffer zone to be logged once more using reduced impact logging (RIL). So far Yayasan Sabah (YS) have only formally implemented RIL on one small experimental plot near Danum Valley Conservation Area. In the early...

As a sometime environmentalist I often find myself joining email campaigns of the ‘save the whales’ variety, targeting careless corporations and evil industrialists. The Ecological Internet 'Forest Liars' campaign that I signed this morning was different though. It included in its many targets; household eco-warrior names such as WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth. Although I moderated the tone of the pre-composed text, I still felt slightly uncomfortable hitting the ‘send’ button. This...