Land use mapping exercise along Kemena River – Tubau – lower Jelalong  [Jason Hon]

Land use mapping exercise along Kemena River – Tubau – lower Jelalong Jason Hon(WWF Malaysia) Materials Satellite Images  High resolution multi-spectral and panchromatic satellite images were obtained from Digital Globe http://www.digitalglobe.com. The images were obtained in two batches, under delivery orders 052896239040_01 (inclusive of Product 01 and 02) and 052927222010_01 (Product 01) (Appendix 1 & 2). In this report, these images are conveniently referred to its geographical area based on prominent features. Hence, the western portion is coded as TubauImage (named after Tubau Bazaar), whereas the eastern portion is coded as JelalongImage (named after Jelalong River) (Figure 1). TubauImage was captured between 5 to 13 August 2012 and JelalongImage on […]

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Ethnoscape of Riverine Society in Bintulu Division [Yumi Kato, et al.]

Ethnoscape of Riverine Society in Bintulu Division Yumi Kato(The Hakubi Project /Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University) Hiromitsu Samejima (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University) Ryoji Soda(Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences, Osaka City University) Motomitsu Uchibori (Faculty of Liberal Arts, The Open University of Japan) Katsumi Okuno(College of Liberal Arts, J.F.Oberlin University) Noboru Ishikawa (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University) Introduction  The study site of this project is the riverine areas of the Kemena and Tatau Rivers in the Bintulu Division. This article provides an overview of the ethnic groups living along those rivers. However, the details of these people, their backgrounds, and their inter-ethnic […]

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The Edible Birds’ Nest Commodity Chain between Sarawak and East Asia [Daniel Chew]

The Edible Birds’ Nest Commodity Chain between Sarawak and East Asia Daniel Chew (University of Malaysia Sarawak)  Edible birds’ nest, which are moulded from the saliva of the aerodramus swiflets, forming white and black nests, are a highly prized culinary food product reputed to have health benefits. The uniqueness of the appeal of the nests is its association with the dynastic past of China as a special food for rulers and the wealthy, an appeal which carries on to this day as an expensive and prestigious food product for the ethnic Chinese wherever they live. The nests are collected from cliffs in caves and man made structures in maritime and […]

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The Motherland of Oil Palm [Noboru Ishikawa]

The Motherland of Oil Palm – a Travel Journal of West Africa Noboru Ishikawa(Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University)  The landscape of a myriad of oil palm trees has now become a familiar sight in Sarawak, Malaysia where we have been working on our project. Oil palm trees originate from Africa and just like rubber, oil palm has flourished as a commercial crop in insular Southeast Asia, very far from its original birth place. Today, oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) is grown in plantations, and now has considerable impacts on the local communities and ecological environment of Southeast Asia. The following outlines the thoughts that crossed my mind during my field […]

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Field Investigation Report on Oil Palm Cultivated by Company K and Smallholders in Sarawak, Malaysia [Yucho Sadamichi]

Field Investigation Report on Oil Palm Cultivated by Company K and Smallholders in Sarawak, Malaysia Yucho Sadamichi(The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)  This is to report a cooperative survey with Prof. Ubukata, conducted at Company K in Sarawak on 14-21 September 2012. Company K is an oil palm plantation company with a processing mill, which is located in Bintulu, Sarawak. Since this company produces RSPO-certified oil, the company activities are implemented in accordance with RSPO requirements, e.g. compliance with environmental and social laws and regulations, fulfilling cooperative social responsibilities, etc. This certification requires the company to document the related activities. From the documents, our previous surveys obtained […]

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