Brent R. Loken
Other projects
30 Jan 2012
Protecting the Biodiversity of Wehea Forest in Borneo through Research, Education and Conservation
Integrated Conservation’s program in Wehea aims to protect one of the most important forest areas in East Kalimantan and to empower the indigenous Wehea Dayak to sustainably manage their forest. This is accomplished through a multi-pronged conservation program that works to develop economic opportunities, foster good governance, promote education and training, and acquire scientific data to effectively manage Wehea Forest.
Clouded leopard in camera trap.
ICON’s project in Wehea is helping to protect the biodiversity and culture of Wehea by using an integrated and multi-pronged approach to realize our conservation objectives. ICON’s project will achieve:
Checking camera traps.©Integrated Conservation.
Economic Development - ICON is working with the Wehea Dayak to foster economic opportunities arising from the protection of Wehea Forest, including the development of an agroforestry cooperative and eco-tourism and research programs. Together, these programs will generate revenue to hire more rangers, provide better food and medicine to the rangers, buy necessary equipment for patrols and ensure the Wehea conservation program is not dependent on outside funding sources.
Good Governance - The Wehea Dayak are responsible for protecting one of the most important forests in East Kalimantan, however, the local community has not received any formal training in managing this forest. ICON’s program in Wehea supports development of multilevel governance by providing basic training in computer and data analysis, management, budgeting, writing proposals, and reliable communication to support the Wehea Dayak as they strive to independently manage their forest.
Environmental Education- This project will provide environmental education to youth from the local Wehea Dayak community through four rediscovery programs in 2013 and development of an environmental education center in the village. In addition, ICON is working with a local logging company on the development of an environmental education centre for youth from villages near Wehea.
Data to Manage Wehea Forest - This project will provide important data on the Bornean clouded leopard, the least known of the big cats. The endangered Bornean clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi ssp. borneensis) is one of Integrated Conservation’s flagship species and this research project is part a multi-year research program and conservation plan for protecting clouded leopards and other species in and around Wehea Forest. Research will take place in an active logging concession bordering Wehea to help better understand the influence of logging activities on the clouded leopard and if areas that utilize Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) have less impact on this top predator. In addition, camera traps will be placed in remote mountainous primary forested areas to determine possible habitat preferences.