I read about Borneo and the Penan cultures who have inhabited Borneo since 350 BCE. The link to the website is www.borneoproject.org which was in the Best Indigenous Cultures webpage. The Penan culture stood out to me when trying to decide because I loved the Borneo Planet Earth special they did and how they were worried about the species and cultures survival in the series. The Penan Culture has been based on rain forest survival and included plants, trees, fish, birds, and animals for their way of life traditionally. They have been driven further to the interior of Borneo due to logging, and farming. The government apparently recognizes the culture as having indigenous rights to survival from the resources of their native's lands, but must be recognized by maps, zoning and paperwork declaring this. The problem is the people are not able to access these resources to file or claim their land tenure. The government from bribes and other means of extortion allow companies to harvest and over farm lands where no representation can be produced for land control and rights. The people are being pushed aside and their means of life stolen. The Penan culture has nowhere to go, and have resorted to violence, protest, and blockades to entry of their last remaining rainforest resources and natural systems. The Penan culture has a right to life and I hope the world and their government will recognize this and save what's left of their once pristine rain forest and the animals that live among them!
The Penan culture has a strong means to communicate outside their home and culture. The Penan people have recently been protesting to humanitarian groups for an effort to save themselves and their remaining ecosystem and animal diversity for the future of their existence for their way of life. The website talks about shopping smart to avoid exploitation goods produced in Borneo to reduce the economic drive to exploit natural systems for more resource. Some organizations involved with saving the Penan and their forests are Berkley, Earth Island Institute, and the Penan people. The Penan people have sought outside influence to communicate more effectively with their governments and the corporations exploiting their resources to stop harvesting and deforestation or land for goods and farming crop production. The people are currently protesting destructive damn building projects going on right now. The Borneo steering committees have formed and stepped in to control all outside influence and financial help for these causes to be appropriately allocated in efforts to make a difference. A recent article published by Bloomberg talks about the corruption and cronyism and displacement of Borneo people and their resources. The communication efforts are showing signs of effective change and influence. I hope these forests and their inhabitants both animals and people can be saved and restored for the world to enjoy. For more information please goto their website and read about their plans and current actions to save Borneo and the Penan culture.
