First, a quick bit of background: Kalimantan is the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo (both Malaysia and Brunei also control part of Borneo). It is the third largest island in the world and home to amazing biodiversity, but sadly also home to a lot of deforestation, especially as oil palm production grows (Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil (over half of global production) and Sumatra and Kalimantan are the two biggest producing islands). Borneo is one of only two places in the world where orangutans exist -- we tried to arrange a trip to Kalimantan to see orangutans with Kalani, but it was so difficult to figure out transportation (the island is enormous!) that we ended up going to Sumatra instead. Because Jakarta is so impossibly crowded and polluted (not to mention sinking!), last year, the Indonesian government made plans to move the capital city from Java to East Kalimantan, where a new city (to be called Nusantara) will be built. I won't dwell on the current forest that will need to be cut or indigenous tribes that will need to be displaced in this blog. But it's worth reading about. Finally, Borneo is home to the (very cool) peat swamp forest ecosystem. Recognition is finally being made of the importance of these forests and attempts to un-drain them are currently underway in several areas.
Indonesia's forests are so important, globally, and Kalimantan has 32 million of those forests. It's under threat of deforestation (both through conversion to agriculture and human settlement and also through pretty serious forest fire regimes). But after watching the enthusiasm of these students I am so much more hopeful for the future of Indonesia's forests. Surely nothing is going to stop this group from making a difference in the world. I couldn't bring myself to truncate the video, so all 4+ minutes of it are below. But just watching the first 30 seconds or so gives an idea of the energy at this rally.
We came back to campus for our big talks (with all students in the audience, although the freshmen in their yellow jackets are the most visible). I spoke about meliponiculture (keeping stingless bees) and Tim talked about historical social issues in Indonesia and on Borneo. Again, it was pretty amazing to talk to that many people. Talks went well and we met all sorts of really interesting people afterward.