For every dollar you donate to CHT via www.art-of-conservation.org/donate,World Rainforest Fund will match! Thank you to World Rainforest Fund for giving us this great opportunity. We need your help to reach our goal of 5,000 dollars, doubling our proceeds to CHT for a grand total of 10,000 U.S. dollars. CHT Conservation and Health Awareness programs have reached over 200 school children in 2014 and they would like the funding to reach many more students in need this year! You can follow CHT work on AoC’s blog and the CHT Facebook page.
Also checks marked “CHT” can be made out to “Art of Conservation, Inc.” and mailed to our U.S. Headquarters:
2118 High Street
Des Moines, IA
50312
For any questions please email info@art-of-conservation.org. And please consider forwarding this email to your family, friends and colleagues! Thank you very much! Murakoze Cyane!
Two full days of travel and three plane rides later I arrive late Tuesday June 4th in Kigali, Rwanda with Art of Conservation (AoC) board member/photographer, Cheryl Stockton and wildlife photographer friend/colleague, Andrew Walmsley. The first thing I notice off the plane is that distinct musky yet floral smell of Africa! It’s nice to be back to East Africa after two years. We travel by car up and around in mountains about an hour to Musanze welcomed by new friends, including four friendly dogs at The Garden House, a friend’s bed and breakfast nearby Art of Conservation. On our beds are beautiful paper maché gorilla masks made by the Rwandan AoC team and our full exciting itinerary for the month ahead.
The following morning after a proper African breakfast, Julie starts out our trip and adventure in Rwanda by picking us up and taking us to the Art of Conservation compound just a few streets away. Again we receive a warm welcome by Julie’s dogs, new friends, neighbors and staff. The tour is impressive, including a beautiful flower and vegetable garden with giant corn stalks, composting site, rain water collection tank, array of recycled bird feeders and birdhouses, art studio and several common areas filled with beautiful artwork.
Art of Conservation garden.
Bird houses in the works being painted and varnished by AoC staff and friends.
We make introductions. I share Ghirardelli chocolates from San Francisco and Cheryl “I Love NY” shirts for the staff. We instantly adore our smiling kind new friends.
Olivier, Cheryl, Eusebe, Valerie, Eric and Innocent full of smiles.
Eric, Valerie and myself enjoying San Francisco Ghiradelli chocolates.
We unpack and layout our photography gear organizing lenses and learning all about our new toys, which some of us particularly myself, are yet to play with. Nikon, Canon, Apple and GoPro equipment overflow the table and we immediately start flicking through manuals and dialing in settings ready for our early morning trek to the mountain gorillas.
Do you think we have enough equipment?
Thursday morning we are up before sunrise ready to hike up Volcanoes National Park. Cheryl, Julie and myself trek to the furthest gorilla family, Susa, which has three silverbacks. My previous experience of tracking gorillas for three months in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda proved useful in preparing me for the day ahead but I still found the trek not to be all that easy. The high-altitude was very noticeable especially since we had limited time to acclimatize. However, we made it to the group without any trouble and I managed to handle Andrew’s special 300mm f2.8 lens for the hour-long session. You can tell by my shots and GoPro filming comments that the equipment was heavy! I was still able to get some great shots and had a wonderful time. It was one of the best gorilla treks I have experienced, particularly because I could share the experience with new friends and colleagues.
In the forest with Julie.
Rwandan gorillas are much furrier than the Ugandan population because of the higher elevation and cooler climate.
We had a grand time and our guide “D” joined us in our celebration dinner at Muhabura Restaurant. Julie always likes to celebrate after a good day of gorilla trekking and we are full of laughs. Each day I feel luckier to work with such inspiring, talented, hard working and fun colleagues.
Friday we get right into meetings and prepare for week two classes. I’ve noticed pretty much everyday at AoC we find ourselves singing, dancing and acting! I’m learning so many new things here in Rwanda. We also paint birdhouses with Eric and Eusebe and end the evening with a party in AoC’s garden and bungalow. Julie’s friend Alberto cooks us up a feast and Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) friends and colleagues join us to make another great close to the night.
Let the work begin.
Saturday we all meet at the tennis courts. One of AoC’s most significant programs is the Ibirunga Tennis and Running Club. Olivier was recently nominated president and Valerie treasurer. AoC murals, plants and flowers decorate the grounds. The nets look like they have had their run and I am happy to know that by the end of the month through a USTA grant the club will have two brand new nets!
Julie runs tennis drills and exercise with the children. I pick up a racquet after several years.
Cheryl cools us down leading us in a yoga session and then I get to play a good high-energy game of tennis with Johnny, one of the best tennis players in the community.
These kids fill you with joy and energy!
After a great workout I quickly take a shower and we head off to find our Batwa friend or as Rwandans now call her – “marginalized indigenous woman.” However, the dramatic driving adventure in search of Marie Rose is unsuccessful and instead we follow Art of Conservation’s dear friend and partner Cecil to her village for dancing. We bring sacks for rice, beans and a jerry can of banana beer. Cecil is a very special woman that Art of Conservation has been working with for years and is famous throughout Rwanda. To learn more about her Saving the Forests Briquette Initiative read here.
Sunday we are still full of energy editing photos, working and preparing for the remaining few weeks. Monday is our first day of classes at one of our two local schools and the fun has just begun!
Art of Conservation is preparing for our 2013 children’s performances with music written and recorded by musicians Kaiser Cartel. Courtney Kaiser-Sandler and Benjamin Cartel remixed our Mu Birunga conservation song. They sing in both English and Kinyarwanda. Courtney’s students at Interlochen Center for the Arts are singing too. Preparations are underway with costumes and set design. Please watch our video!
Joe Lamb, founder of the Borneo Project, is a writer, activist, and arborist living in Berkeley, California. His poetry and essays have appeared in Earth Island Journal, The Sun, Caliban, Wind, and other magazines.
Joe Lamb with director of the Borneo Project, Brihannala Morgan. Photo courtesy of the Borneo Project.
Joe has degrees in biology, ecology, and film. He has taught biology and ecology in the United States and in Mexico. He worked as a field organizer on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and as a film distributor for The Video Project. In 1991, under the auspices of Earth Island Institute, Joe founded the Borneo Project, a nonprofit that helps the indigenous peoples of Borneo secure land rights and protect their forest. Honored by the Goldman Foundation as an “environmental hero,” Joe was featured in the San Francisco public television program, “Green Means.” For over 20 years the Borneo Project has helped indigenous peoples map their lands, bring their case to the court of public opinion, and press for the preservation of their forests through legal action. Learn more about the Borneo Project at www.borneoproject.org.
Joe Lamb will be attending and presenting work at the Third Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City on February 1st 2013 (Series 3). The festival runs from January 30th to February 2nd. He will be showing the film Mapping Their Future and discussing indigenous rights issues in Borneo as well as holding a Q & A following the Southeast Asia film series. Mapping Their Future, produced by Chris Franklin, explores the remarkable collaboration between indigenous peoples and a group of dedicated volunteers, both committed to keep Bornean forest standing and to protect their ancestral way of life. In the 80’s and 90’s more timber was removed from Borneo than from all of Africa and South America combined. This tragic loss of habitat, with its attendant loss of wildlife, has gone largely unrecognized in the United States. In 1991, the Borneo Project was founded to draw attention to the forgotten rainforest, and to help the indigenous peoples who have been fighting to keep their forest home.
Joe Lamb allowed Wildlife Conservation Film Festivals to sit down with him and ask him about the Borneo Project, indigenous rights and deforestation issues in Borneo, and much more.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOE MCLEOD LAMB
Allison Hanes: What brought you to Borneo? What is special about this region and why is it important to you? Can you tell us how you came to found The Borneo Project?
Joe Lamb: I have a deeply held belief that preserving the rainforest is a moral necessity and that future generations will hold us accountable for all the species driven extinct on our watch. The mass extinction caused by humans that is currently underway is a crime against nature. It is also a crime against the future of humanity. Borneo ranks among the most species-rich places on the planet; yet the destruction of its forests has gone largely unnoticed in the United States. Lisa Curran observed that more timber came out of Borneo in the 80’s and 90’s than out of all of Africa and South America combined, yet Borneo remains off the radar of most people, including many environmentalists.
Logging camp in Borneo. Photo courtesy of Joe Lamb.
I created the Borneo Project to draw attention to the forgotten rainforest. It began as a citizen diplomacy project, drawing inspiration, in part, from the citizen to citizen peace work that, according to documents since unearthed in the Soviet archives, proved instrumental in ending the Cold War.
I went to Borneo with a friend, met with Friends of the Earth Malaysia, and then travelled up-river to the village of Uma Bawang to propose that Berkeley and Uma Bawang become sister cities. I had the backing of Loni Hancock, the Mayor of Berkeley at the time, and then-Berkeley City Council member Nancy Skinner. Villagers from Uma Bawang were, at great personal risk, blockading the logging roads illegally constructed on their land. Many of the villagers were thrown in jail, and the village endured significant hardship. A couple of decades ago the government of Malaysia tried to repress the indigenous rights movement by restricting the flow of information. They placed Harrison Ngau, a spokesman for indigenous rights and the first Goldman Award winner from Asia, under house arrest; they confiscated the passport from Jok Jau Evong, the leader of the Uma Bawang Residents Association, to prevent him from attending the UN Conference celebrating the Year of Indigenous Peoples; and they restricted travel by foreigners into areas where longhouses were protesting against logging. We travelled up-river by pretending to be tourists headed to Gulung Mulu, a national park, but went instead to Uma Bawang.
The sister city relationship was created to publicize the blockades, to give the indigenous rights movement political cover, and to provide ongoing moral support. Berkeley has a tradition of forming sister cities to advance the common good. An earlier sister city association between Berkeley and a township in apartheid South Africa prevented that township from being bulldozed.
The villagers in Uma Bawang loved the idea; we celebrated by drinking way too much borak and dancing the hornbill and warrior dances until three in the morning. Final approval from the Berkeley City Council for the sister city was not given the exuberant response it enjoyed in Borneo. Support was strong enough to pass, but not universal. One dissenting council member unfolded a National Geographic map of Borneo, held it up for the audience, and said that he couldn’t find Uma Bawang on the map; his implication being that Uma Bawang’s absence on the map made it unworthy to be a sister community with Berkeley. Buried in the unconscious assumptions underneath his observation is an all-too-common belief that indigenous peoples, people who are not “on our maps”, who are out of our frames of references, people who come from oral traditions, are somehow inferior to people who make maps and write laws. Unfortunately, this belief has a long and tragic history. For the 300 million indigenous peoples alive today, what is even more unfortunate is that racism against indigenous peoples is still so common.
It wasn’t long before the project grew beyond its origin as a sister city. It attracted volunteers with expertise in South Asia, some of who, ironically, had expertise in community based mapping. You want maps? We’ll give you maps. If the developed world only respects people who are on the map, we’d help teach indigenous peoples how to make their own maps. Organized largely by Martha Belcher, and using the mapping expertise of Dan Scollon and Judith Mayer, a delegation of volunteers from the project returned to Uma Bawang and hosted a two week training teaching villagers from many long houses, and some nomadic Penan, how to map their ancestral lands. The Borneo Project has grown from those two roots: citizen diplomacy and community mapping.
Indigenous peoples mapping their ancestral lands. Photo courtesy of the Borneo Project.
Allison Hanes:Do you have any interesting stories about your time in Borneo?
Joe Lamb: Eight years ago I returned to our sister city with my wife, Anna, and my two-year-old daughter, Carson. The village insisted that Anna and I get remarried Kayan style, so we had a two-pig wedding complete with a ritualistic house made from black tobacco rolled in leaves. Carson survived the mosquitos, loved riding in long boats, and developed a taste for stewed python. Showing her the reforestation project gave me great satisfaction.
Two-pig wedding at Uma Bawang Keluan 2004. Photo courtesy of Joe Lamb.
The morning after our big wedding bash we got up before dawn, eight of us piled into a pickup, and bounced and slid our way down logging roads to the Baram River for a rendezvous with a long boat to take us downstream to Long Lama. Trouble was that the long boat driver had been at the party, too. The rendezvous spot was in a logging camp where they staged timber to be towed away in giant rafts. With no long boat in site, we were stuck in a clear cut where the only shade was the veranda of the loggers’ shack. Our guides, exhausted from a night of partying, were not shy about making themselves comfortable on the loggers’ porch, and were soon asleep. I, however, was somewhat nervous about invading the loggers territory; they were, after all, loggers and I was a foreigner and an environmentalist. Carson, being too young to care about categories like logger and environmentalist, soon discovered the kids in the logging camp and came back with new friends holding a newborn puppy. Carson provided an entry into the loggers’ world, and those categories seemed quite beside the point. Stories trump categories, and everybody had a story. Luckily for us, Jessica Lawrence, who was then ED of the Borneo Project and traveling with us, speaks fluent Bahasa. The loggers came from Indonesia, probably illegally, to Malaysia because they couldn’t find work at home. It’s an old story, one you can hear many places on the planet, but you hear it differently when it’s 100º, and your sitting with your two-year-old daughter, grateful for the puppy in her lap, and grateful for the shade.
Carson Lamb as eco diplomat at Uma Bawang Keluan 2004. Photo courtesy of Joe Lamb.
Allison Hanes: What are the films you are presenting at NYWCFF? Can you tell us a little bit about them?
Joe Lamb: Mapping Their Future is a 22 minute film about indigenous peoples in Borneo learning how to map their ancestral lands in order to protect them from logging and from oil palm plantations.
Indigenous mapping project in Borneo. Photo courtesy of the Borneo Project.
Allison Hanes:Is this the debut?
Joe Lamb: The film was made in 2003. This will be its East Coast premiere.
Allison Hanes:Why did you choose this film? What does it mean to you?
Joe Lamb: I chose this film because wildlife conservation and the rights of indigenous peoples are intimately linked. Recent scientific studies, including the work of Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, shows that one of the best ways to protect habitat, and therefore protect wildlife, is to leave wild lands under the protection of its indigenous peoples.
Allison Hanes: What impact do you hope these films will have in Borneo and globally?
Joe Lamb: We live in a unique time, not just in human history, but in the geologic history of the planet. Many scientists now proclaim the dawning of a new geologic era, the Anthropocene, the age of humans. For the first time in the history of the Earth, the actions of human beings are shaping the physical and biological reality of the planet. Problem is, we may not be up to the task. Climate change is the most obvious example of our shortcomings; but the acidification of the oceans, and the massive increase in species extinctions are also evidence that we were probably better off when nature was in charge of the environment. Civilization, after all, evolved in the Holocene, when the temperature of the air, the acidity of the oceans, and the distribution and abundance of animals was largely controlled by nature. From a Darwinian perspective, humans have done remarkably well for themselves; there are now seven billion of us, and we have muddled our way from caves, to wattle and dab, to megalopoli. But now our material success threatens the life support systems of the planet itself.
My hope is that these films help spark a great awakening in human consciousness, similar to what happened when we ended slavery, or when women demanded the right to vote, and that we accept our moral responsibility to protect the other species on the planet. I know that sounds a little grandiose, but that belief comes from a movement I participated in 30 years ago, The Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. Back then the greatest threat to life on Earth was the very real possibility of nuclear war. In the 1980’s a global movement emerged to limit, and later eliminate, nuclear weapons. One of the tools of the Freeze Campaign was a rather clunky film called The Last Epidemic, made by my friend Ian Thierman. Using found footage and interviews, it catalogued what would happen if a nuclear bomb exploded over San Francisco.
The Last Epidemic went the 1980’s equivalent of viral: shown in schools and churches around the country, and on the floor of the Senate. It helped spark a massive movement to prevent nuclear war. When the Soviet Union fell, and they opened the Soviet archives to foreign academics, it was discovered that the soft landing to the Cold War came about, not because of Reagan’s military buildup, as is often cited as the cause, but because the peace movement pushed Reagan to abandon his militaristic stance and helped Gorbachev convince wary generals that peace was possible. Films, combined with activism, can spark social change.
My hope is that securing human rights for indigenous peoples is recognized as a necessary and critical part of the struggle to preserve wildlife.
Allison Hanes: How powerful or influential do you think social media/internet, television and film are to global biodiversity conservation? How have you seen media, and especially digital media, impact conservation biology over your career?
Joe Lamb: Media, and social media, are critical to biodiversity conservation. Much of the impulse to preserve our fellow creatures comes from what Professor E. O. Wilson calls “biophilia,” the innate love of the other creatures. Media of animals in their natural habitat allows people to form psychological relationships with those creatures, to see them as the distant relatives that they are. At my umbrella organization, Earth Island Institute, the film, “Free Willy,” has had a dramatic impact on the conservation of marine mammals, as has “The Cove.” In my opinion, National Geographic deserves great kudos for bringing the lives of wild creatures into the homes of people around the world. Hard not to fall in love with polar bear cubs, or penguins, or most creatures when you see them up close and personal.
Allison Hanes:How important do you see community-based conservation playing into wildlife conservation? Do you see a future for public engagement via community involvement, local economic drivers, “Ecotourism,” etc?
Joe Lamb: Given that there are 300 million indigenous people on the planet today, and roughly 1 billion rural poor, we have no choice but to make community-based conservation a central part of wildlife conservation. Increasing climate change will stress land-based peoples, and if we fail to help them manage and restore their lands, wildlife will suffer. It’s a huge task, but one we can’t avoid. Because of climate change and ocean acidification, the whole world is getting a crash course in bio-geochemical cycles that we didn’t sign up for. We also need a crash course in indigenous cultures. There is a lot out there that the developed world, or what Doug Tompkins calls the “overdeveloped world,” needs to learn from indigenous peoples.
Allison Hanes:What specific conservation/ environmental issues do you think most urgently need our attention? What issues are closest to your heart?
Joe Lamb: I believe we need to set fundamental goals. All projects should be judged by whether they protect species diversity, respect the human rights of all peoples, and do not threaten the life sustaining systems on which all life depends.
Allison Hanes:What scientists and conservationists have been inspirational for you? Are you aware of any particular work happening now that is especially inspiring to you?
Joe Lamb: Adrian Banie Lasimbang, Baru Bian, Harrison Ngau and many other indigenous rights activists in Borneo are high on my list. Elinor Ostrom, Rhett Butler, E.O. Wilson, Jose Fragoso, David Brower, William Laurance. Rachel Carson (my daughter, who was born on Earth Day, was named in her honor), Alfred Wallace, Bill McKibben, Niko Tinbergen, Nancy Peluso, James Hansen, John Harte, Charles Darwin, Giordano Bruno, Jane Goodall, Marc Bekoff, and I could keep going.
I draw great inspiration from 350.org because they have a movement that transcends the traditional boundaries of nationality, ethnicity, and religion to find a common unifying goal in protecting the climate.
I also draw inspiration from Rhett Butler’s work at Mongabay because he provides clear, insightful, and engaging reporting about critical issues that get little attention.
Idle no more. I continually draw inspiration from the many indigenous organizations around the world that work to protect their lands.
Cynthia Ong’s work at LEAP Spiral, helped stop the construction of a coal fired power on the Sabah coastline: very inspirational.
Allison Hanes:How do you feel wildlife documentaries and film made more accessible to the public can affect wildlife conservation? Where would you like to see this festival progressing in order to best support conservation of biodiversity over the next decade?
Joe Lamb: Putting them on the web and providing links to high school teachers around the world could spread the word. Hold the festival in countries where you want to highlight conservation struggles.
Allison Hanes:What achievements of The Borneo Project are you most proud of?
Joe Lamb: That the mapping took off, and the people in Borneo were soon teaching each other. The measure of its success was that longhouses used maps they made themselves to stave off monoculture plantations and illegal logging. I’m also proud that we are still alive and kicking at 21 years old.
Indigenous mapping workshop in Borneo. Photo courtesy of Joe Lamb.
Allison Hanes:What do you envision for The Borneo Project over the next decade?
Joe Lamb: Over the next decade the Borneo Project will work on educating Americans about the human rights struggle of indigenous peoples and on finding new ways to help indigenous peoples protect their forests against oil palm plantations, coal mines, and mega dams.
Allison Hanes:Do you have specific goals at the moment professionally and personally? What’s next on your agenda?
Joe Lamb: Educating Americans about SCORE, the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, a plan that includes coal mining and the construction of many mega dams which, if built, will destroy many acres of rainforest and displace thousands of indigenous people.
Allison Hanes:Would you like to add anything to this interview? Do you have any final comments you would like to share?
Joe Lamb: The next 20 years could well determine the fate of the climate. Yes we can stop anthropogenic climate change, and yes we can stop the human caused extinction of other life forms. These goals transcend the yes-we-can category; they belong in the category of Yes-We-Must.
November 2012: Faced with declining wild ape populations and dwindling forests, the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) set law enforcement, habitat protection and political advocacy among its top priorities and emerged with renewed energy and urgency following the 2nd GRASP Council that was held 6-8 November at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The GRASP Council is comprised of over 80 nations, conservation organizations, United Nations agencies, research institutions and private supporters committed to the long-term survival of great apes in Africa and Asia.
The GRASP Council adopted the GRASP Priority Plan 2013-2016, which includes addressing disease threats, conflict-sensitive conservation, and Green Economy as other areas of focus.
“Great apes face an uncertain future, and it will take the collective effort of GRASP to ensure their long-term survival,” said GRASP coordinator Doug Cress. “These priorities get to the very heart of the issues that have pushed chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans so much closer to extinction. But GRASP’s partners are committed to halting the downward spiral and reversing the population and habitat losses.”
The GRASP Council also adopted a revised Global Strategy for the Conservation of Great Apes and their Habitat, and approved revised Rules for the Management of GRASP that will make the partnership more streamlined and effective.
“It is extremely important that we find a way to counter habitat loss, hunting and other forms of illegal killing of great apes.” said Serge Wich, chairman of the GRASP Scientific Commission. “As it is, less than half of the great apes in Africa and Asia even live in protected areas. Most survive in degraded areas or secondary forests that leave them very vulnerable. Hunting and other forms of great ape killing are also widespread and need to be addressed as well. The other main threat to great apes is disease.”
Wild ape populations have been devastated by widespread habitat loss as a result of deforestation, mining, illegal logging, human encroachment, and conversion for agricultural development. A report issued at the 2nd GRASP Council indicated that great apes lose an average of 1.2% percent of their suitable habitat each year.
Illegal trade has also severely impacted great apes, resulting in the illicit traffic of hundreds from Africa and Asia each year into the pet trade. Preliminary results from a GRASP survey of illegal trade found that 576 orphaned great apes reached a sanctuary or rehabilitation center from 2005 to 2011, a number compounded by the fact that many apes are often killed to secure a single infant.
The lack of law enforcement and judicial rigor – only a tiny percentage of those arrivals resulted in an arrest, let alone a conviction – exacerbates the problem.
“The illegal trade of great apes is not rooted in poverty, but rather in corruption and power,” said Ofir Drori, founder of the Last Great Ape Organization (LAGA), who called for deterrent convictions in both range States and implicated non-range States.
The GRASP Council also elected a new GRASP Executive Committee, and agreed to stage council meetings on a biennial basis.
The 2nd GRASP Council featured daily plenary sessions devoted to key issues regarding great ape conservation, including “Great Apes & Illegal Trade,” “Great Apes & Green Economy,” and “Great Apes & technology.”
GRASP was established in 2001 to respond to the conservation crisis facing great apes and lift the threat of imminent extinction by focusing on international policy, funding, research, and media. For information on GRASP, please visit www.un-grasp.org.
Following a lesson on proper hand washing and an introduction to mountain gorillas, the CHT team and students from Kagano Primary school pose for a photo. © Conservation Heritage – Turambe
Art of Conservation garden.
Bird houses in the works being painted and varnished by AoC staff and friends.
Olivier, Cheryl, Eusebe, Valerie, Eric and Innocent full of smiles.
Eric, Valerie and myself enjoying San Francisco Ghiradelli chocolates.
Do you think we have enough equipment?
Rwandan gorillas are much furrier than the Ugandan population because of the higher elevation and cooler climate.
Let the work begin.
Cheryl cools us down leading us in a yoga session and then I get to play a good high-energy game of tennis with Johnny, one of the best tennis players in the community.
These kids fill you with joy and energy!
Allison Hanes 