Blog Archives

Research Work in Sarawak and Study on Oil Palm Business [Fumikazu Ubukata]

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Research Work in Sarawak and Study on Oil Palm Business Fumikazu Ubukata（Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University） 1. Non-specialist and Area Study 　It always requires a certain amount of courage for an area study researcher to step into uncharted territory. Being a specialist of mainland Southeast Asia, I am not familiar with the history and geography of Malaysia and have no expertise in the language of Malay or Iban. It seems a bit strange then that such a “non-specialist” should join in an area study project outside of his field, but the project might benefit to some degree from the ideas of an outsider. I hope to make a […]

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Oil Palm Smallholding by Longhouse Villagers in Inland Area, Sarawak　[Yumi Kato, Ryoji Soda]

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Oil Palm Smallholding by Longhouse Villagers in Inland Area, Sarawak Yumi Kato（Waseda University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies） Ryoji Soda（Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences, Osaka City University） Introduction 　The recent growth of oil palm agriculture in Sarawak, Malaysia is remarkable. In the 1990s, the area planted with oil palm was less than 200,000 hectares. In 2004, it was more than 500,000 hectares and it reached 920,000 hectares in 2010. （Fig.1） Fig.1: The expansion of the area of oil palm agriculture in Sarawak (1991-2009)(ha) Source: Yearbook of Statistics Sarawak, Malaysian Palm Oil Statistics 2007, 2010 　In general, oil palm plantations are created after clear-cutting over a wide range of existing […]

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Project Promotion Meeting 2013 Apr.12 (Fri.)

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Project Promotion Meeting As we have entered into the fourth year of our project, we would like to have another promotion meeting for our studies. The date and venue is as below. 【Date】April 12, 2013（Fri.）15：00～18：00 【Venue】Conference Room II, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University Speakers ・Yuuichi Kano（Kyushu University） “Fresh Water Fishes in Southeast Asia and Sarawak” ・Yayoi Takeuchi（National Institute for Environmental Studies） “Biodiversity of the Reserved forest in the vicinity of Sarawak Settlements ・Kuniyasu Mokudai（Pro Natura Foundation Japan） “Riverine Landscape of Sarawak”

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River Water Quality and Landscape in the Kumena and Tatau Basins, Sarawak, Malaysia [Keitaro Fukushima]

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River Water Quality and Landscape in the Kumena and Tatau Basins, Sarawak, Malaysia Keitaro Fukushima 　(Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University) 　River water quality is a very useful indicator of upstream terrestrial environment including land use, geology, lifestyle, development of infrastructure, and so forth. For example, the concentrations of calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+) ions and dissolved silica (Si) are mainly controlled by underlying bedrock geology; nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentratios reflect land use such as agriculture and urbanization; and chloride ion (Cl–) concentration is likely proportional to the distance from the sea. Mines, factories, and livestock facilities can discharge high concentrations of N, P, certain metals, and […]

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Bank Erosion along the Rajang River and Its Social Impacts [Watakabe, Soda, Mokudai, Ikeda, Yuhora]

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Bank Erosion along the Rajang River and Its Social Impacts Takuma Watakabe（Graduate School of Regional Sciences,Tottori University） Ryoji Soda（Graduate School of Literature and Human Sceiences, Osaka City University） Kuniyasu Mokudai（Pro Natura Foundation Japan） Hiroshi Ikeda（Fukada Geological Institute） Kazuhiro Yuhora（Muroto Geopark Promotion Office） Introduction Fig. 1 Study area 　Introduction 　The district of Sarawak, Malaysia is stretched in the tropical forest and the residents of this area are facing a drastic environment change ever since the logging operation began. One example is the Rajang river basin (Fig. 1) where people witness serious riverbank erosion. According to the residents, the problem began to surface from the end of 1960s or 70s which coincide […]

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