landscape architecture department: Rainforest Journeys

Traditional boat transporting students down river

(by Renee Davies & Students)

This years Pacific Regional Studies course took a group of students deep into the precious and diminishing rainforests of Sarawak, Malaysia to spend a week with one of the last nomadic tribes living in the rainforest – the Penan.

The journey tested students and staff physically and mentally but provided a unique cultural immersion experience and an opportunity to explore and appreciate the inter-relationships between the indigenous Penan people and their environment, and gave insights about relationships between landscape and culture.

Trekking from village to village and talking to the local Penan people showed that that there is considerable concern amongst them about their future. Concern over their rainforest that is being cut into from all sides, concern over what this was doing to their rivers and concern over the many dams being built which are flooding vast areas of land and causing the relocation of many indigenous people. The Penan were keen to tell their story and to let the world know that their environment and way of life was being threatened.

In the words of Vanya, one the students, “Our trip raised questions of cultural sustainability and importance of preserving cultural diversity and recognising indigenous values. We were also reminded of the importance of protecting ecological diversity and educating others about the importance and value of conservation. The trip encouraged us to reconsider our own values and beliefs and whether we would be willing to work on projects that are known to cause massive environmental and cultural damage”.

A SCALA seminar - Revealing the Rainforest - by the students and staff discussing the trip, cultural landscape and rainforest conservation issues will be held on 21^st August at Unitec.

The following are some images from the trip.