Workshop participants walk through a reforestation site planted by Uma Bawang villagers ten years before. These fast-growing illipe nut trees have multiple uses. The fruits are used for fishing and attract wild boar. Mature trees produce valuable hardwood. Photo: Borneo Project

Managing natural resources is nothing new for Borneo's forest-dwelling communities. However, the impacts of rapacious logging demand a more formalized and articulated approach to resource management if community resources are to be restored and protected over the long term. To address this issue, the Borneo Project facilitated a five-day training workshop in May exposing villagers to the concepts and practice of Community-based Resource Management (CRM).

In most cases, resource management plans and policies in Sarawak are generated by government officials who have no connection to the land and little, if any, respect for local practices. Instead, top-down resource management policies that cater to the needs of logging and plantation corporations often ignore legitimate land claims and run counter to local resource management needs. Sadly, rich indigenous knowledge is rarely considered when resource management policy decisions are made. The result has generated long-standing and sometimes violent conflicts between indigenous communities, the government and corporate interests, and has left Sarawak behind the rest of the world in terms of CRM.

Local participation in resource management decision-making, is the only hope for the conservation, restoration and preservation of Borneo's disappearing rainforests. To this end, the Borneo Project's CRM training program grows out of a larger strategy to help local communities develop resource management plans of their own. CRM plans, which integrate conservation strategies, business plans, watershed management and scientific monitoring, allow communities to present alternative visions of resource management to those promoted by the government, companies and other outsiders.

The May workshop, co-led by partner organizations Borneo Resources Institute and Sahabat Alam Malaysia, involved 55 participants from nine rural villages. Over the years, the villages have developed intricate systems to manage the rainforest. The workshop relied on the knowledge of villagers who have innovated various forms of CRM through local practice.

Site visits, facilitated discussions, information exchange and technical training sessions presented participants with ways in which CRM can be used as a tool to help communities assess, rehabilitate, conserve, cultivate and profit from natural resources. Over the five-day workshop, participants traveled to three different villages to learn from pilot CRM programs. These programs range from reforestation and rattan cultivation, to cash cropping, livestock rearing, handicraft enterprises and watershed protection. Bringing together leaders for this hands-on training allowed a valuable exchange of skills and successful practices.

To bridge the gap between community and government resource planners, the workshop included a field visit to the Forest Department's Research Center. For most participants, this was their first opportunity to speak with staff at the forest department. Likewise, this was the first time that government researchers had heard of the village-based resource management program. While this relationship has a long way to grow, the workshop offered an important starting point.

In addition to local information exchange, the workshop offered examples of successful CRM initiatives from other countries. Two villagers from Indonesian Borneo joined the group to explain a successful rattan cultivation initiative involving 35 communities in Kalimantan. The visitors led a technical seminar on cultivation techniques and discussed their marketing strategies. In addition, Borneo Project volunteer Diana Wu, presented a case study of sustainable community forestry in Mexico.

Based on feedback from the workshop, The Borneo Project's CRM program will expand in the following areas:

• Educational Exchanges: to promote the sharing of information among communities and expose CRM practitioners to a spectrum of tangible projects and opportunities.
  
• Technical Training: to transfer skills to CRM practitioners that add value to local CRM efforts and enhance traditional knowledge and practice.
  
• Research, Documentation & Advocacy: to expand the body of knowledge about CRM, highlight the best practices and build opportunities for project expansion and collaboration across sectors.
  
• Community Capacity Development: to bring tools and resources to communities that help ensure long-term and effective project implementation and management.
  

Over the past three decades, every rural community in Sarawak has experienced the impacts of forest and habitat loss due to logging and plantation development. Wild game is less abundant, fisheries damaged, water systems silted, valuable timber scarce and forest resources depleted. With training, resources and support from the government, Borneo's communities have the ability to reverse this trend and ensure a healthy and sustainable future for themselves and the forest.