Oil Palms and Orangutans: Forest Conservation in Malaysian Borneo
An Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Course

CRN: FOR 499/599, Special Topics
Credits: 6
Offered: August 2016

Course Instructor: Dr. John Bliss, Forest Ecosystems and Society

Course Description

Conversion of tropical forests to oil palm plantations across SE Asia is among the most pressing conservation challenges in the world today. At risk are millions of acres of primary and secondary tropical forests, along with the ecosystem services and wildlife habitat they provide. This course explores the complex ecological, social, economic and political dimensions of tropical forest conservation through an immersive experience in one tropical forest reserve in Malaysian Borneo.

The course will be conducted primarily at the Danau Girang Field Center, a collaborative research and training facility managed by the Sabah, Malaysia Wildlife Department and Cardiff University of Wales. Danau Girang is located inside the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, in the heart of Sabah (Malaysian Borneo). The center lies within a lowland dipterocarp forest comprised of primary and secondary forest, in a diverse landscape including oil palm plantations, small-scale agriculture, and villages. The Sanctuary is home to ten species of primates, the Bornean elephant, several cat species, the sun bear, abundant herpetofauna as well as hundreds of species of birds.

Oregon State University students will work and learn alongside students from Portland State University as well as student interns and researchers from Cardiff and other universities around the world. Activities will include field tours, classroom lectures, discussions with scientists, government officials, and local citizens; assistance with the field research of Danau Girang researchers, and service learning activities undertaken to further the goals of the Center. Students will work in teams to produce final projects related to the themes of the course.

Catalogue Description

With the explicit goal of enhancing global learning, this field-based course immerses students in the challenges and opportunities of forest conservation in the heart of Malaysian Borneo. Students learn from hands-on field research about conserving tropical forests for wildlife habitat, and the many other ecosystem services provided. The global context of forest management, exploitation, and conversion is emphasized, with the aim of preparing students to critically analyze conservation issues throughout the world.

Tentative Itinerary

The course will take place over two weeks (including travel) in late August, 2016. Most activities will be centered at the Danau Girang Field Center, with additional learning experiences at forest reserves, wildlife rehabilitation centers and government offices in or near Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, Sabah.

Student Learning Goals/Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Analyze and articulate interconnections between local conditions and global ecological, social, political, and economic trends.
  2. Articulate key concepts of resilience theory as applied to forest conservation and community well-being.
  3. Work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams toward established research, education and outreach goals.
  4. Develop and articulate research questions germane to course themes, collect relevant primary and secondary data using appropriate research methods, synthesize research findings and present them through professional oral and written communications.
  5. Demonstrate recognition of, and ability to describe their own cultural lenses in contrast to other cultural lenses. Demonstrate ability to compare and contrast U.S. and Malaysian cultural mores, values and perspectives pertaining to forest conservation and community well-being.

Prerequisites

To register for this course, students must:

  1. Have achieved at least junior standing
  2. Be nominated by faculty
  3. Submit a complete application packet including nomination, resume and statement of interest
  4. Be interviewed by course instructor

Student Learning Assessment

Each student will prepare a course portfolio documenting their learning experience and outcomes. Portfolios will include the following:

  1. Personal learning objectives and self assessment of learning
  2. Field notes, writing assignments, journals
  3. Class critiques of student presentations
  4. Graded final projects
  5. Graded final essay examination
  6. Student and faculty assessment of student participation in and contribution to class activities
  7. In addition, each student will participate in an exit interview with course instructors

Learning Resources

Walker, Brian, and David Salt. 2006. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. WA DC: Island Press. 174 pp.

Kricher, John. 2011. Tropical Ecology. Princeton University Press, 704 pp. ISBN: 9780691115139. eBook ISBN: 9781400838950.

Baker, J. 2008. Crossroads: A Popular History of Malaysia & Singapore. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 457 pp. ISBN: 9812615229 (PSU Library: online access)

Garbutt, N., & J. C. Prudente. 2006. Wild Borneo: The wildlife and scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan. MIT Press, 176 pp. ISBN: 9780262072748. (PSU Library: QH193.B65 G37 2006)

van Wyhe, J. 2014. The Annotated Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace (1869). NUS Press, 836 pp. ISBN: 9789971698201.

King, V. T. 1993. The Peoples of Borneo. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley–Blackwell, 352 pp. ISBN: 9780631172215 (PSU Library: DS646.3 .K5 1993)

Strauman, L. 2014. Money Logging: On the trail of the Asian timber Mafia. Bergli Books, 320 pp. ISBN: 9783905252682.

Wadley, R. L. 2005. Histories of the Borneo environment: economic, political and social dimensions of change and continuity. Leiden, The Netherlands: KITLV Press, 315 pp. ISBN: 9789067182546 (PSU Library: QH77.B67 W33 2005)