Borneo: An Immersive Conservation Experience

This capstone is designed to use a singular example in order to frame the broader issue of conservation and climate change.  In particular, the experience is designed to take place in the Danau Girang Field Centre, a research facility run cooperatively by the Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University of Wales (http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/danau-girang-field-centre).  The Centre is quite remote and in a patch of isolated rainforest, located in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah (North Borneo), Malaysia. It has several experimental forestry plantations, as well as several villages (“kampung”) nearby.  During the two weeks in country at the Centre, the students are anticipated to be engaged in activities in support of the Centre’s goals, most particularly survey and inventory of the environmental resources on the site. The nature of these activities is such that we anticipate at present some 80 to 100 hours of service (8–10 h/day over 10 days).  The students will reside on site in the Centre’s dormitory facility, which will contribute to the immersive nature of the capstone.