by Cecelia B. Sman. Posted on July 2, 2011, Saturday
TOP OF THE WORLD: (from right) Osborne, Rian and Alan at the sunmit of Mount Murud.MIRI: Trekforce, a UK based environmental conservation and community development volunteer organisation – recently completed a major conservation project in Bario, Pa’ Umor and Pa’ Main in the Kelabit highlands.
Their effort reinforced research conducted by other agencies in the documentation and preservation of unique cultural heritage around the areas.
Their focus on these three places is because they are generally believed to have the most number of culture sites not only in the state but probably in the country as well.
Among the agencies and institutions involved in similar initiatives in the past are Sarawak Museum, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), International Tropical Timber Organisations (ITT0) and researchers such as Sarah Hitchner and a Pa’ Umor native Professor Poline Balang of Unimas.
Expedition leader and country co-ordinator David Osborne, 30, (known locally as ‘Os’) along with Al Davies, 31 (an English jungle survival expert) and Rian John Pasan, 40, (a Kelabit guide and expedition leader) had so far ran six successful expeditions in the highlands since 2009.
Their project this time around involved 51 self-funded volunteers from the UK, Europe, Canada and the US, aged between 18 and 30 years. They are mostly students who had just completed their secondary school education before entering university or college.
Osborne said the three key aims of the expeditions were to (a) help protect and conserve tropical rainforest ecosystems, (b) help local people with vital community development projects in remote rural areas and (c) help the volunteers learn vital life skills such as team-work, initiatives and self-sufficiency during the physically and mentally-demanding two-month expedition.
Thus far 105 cultural sites in Bario, Pa’ Umor and Pa’ Main have been cleared and protected.
“Once the cultural sites in these areas are marked and boundaries cut, the next phase of this long-term project will begin.
“Once the cultural sites in these areas are marked and boundaries cut, the next phase of this long-term project will begin.
“This involves the development of a network of trails, bridges and shelters to provide an infrastructure framework for sustainable ecotourism and the research of the cultural sites,” Os told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said the boundaries highlighted these areas as protected in order to prevent encroachment by logging operators.
Trekforce had also created a network of jungle trails stretching for miles throughout the primary and secondary rainforests (connecting to existing trails with many of the cultural sites), numerous bridges across difficult river passes and two major camp sites – Hornbill and Silverleaf.
Osborne said Trekforce would work closely with the Rurum Kelabit Sarawak Association (RKS) and Poline to document the project, and at the same time apply to the government to gazette the cultural heritage site as most were outside the community reserve.
“The benefits of this project are myriad. The protection and preservation of the Kelabit cultural sites will allow future generations to visit the fascinating sites, as well as allowing further anthropological and scientific research into their nature and origins.”
The Trekforce volunteers, apart from working on the cultural site and rainforest protection project, had also worked closely with RKS and the community of Pa’ Umor to carry out a wide range of community development projects such as teaching English and other subjects at SK Bario and Pa’Dalih.
So far, Trekforce groups have twice trekked from Bario to the summit of the famous Batu Lawi (2,050 m); trekked from Bario to Long Lellang and conquered Sarawak’s highest peak Mount Murud (2,424m) on an epic eight-day trek.
Trekforce is already planning two expeditions for next year, as well as running a ‘Trainee Expedition Leader’ course and UK school biology trip.
“There is a great deal more that can be done both on this project and by spreading our expeditions into new areas” said Osborne as he contemplates returning for a further year in Sarawak to reinforce the existing network of jungle trails connecting with the cultural sites. The new proposed areas for conservation are in Long Lellang and Pa’ Dalih.
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