Raleigh International

Scientists in Raleigh expedition country Borneo have made another natural discovery after rediscovering a colourful toad believed to be extinct.

The team from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, led by Dr Indraneil Das, spent months scouring remote mountain forests and eventually found three of the missing long-legged Borneo rainbow toads up a tree during a night time search.

A small group of hunter-gatherers on the Raleigh expedition island of Borneo are celebrating after scoring a major victory over a giant oil palm firm that was targeting their rainforest.

Tribal charity Survival International revealed last month that the Malaysian firm Shin Yang was clearing forest and planting oil palm in an area where members of the Penan tribe were due to be resettled, to make way for the Murum dam.

Orangutan and pygmy elephant survival in Borneo has received a major boost after nearly 300,000 hectares of important habitat in two forest reserves have been certified.

Raleigh partner the WWF has said that The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has certified the areas within the reserves of Ulu Segama-Malua and Tangkulap-Pinangah in the state of Sabah.

The sites are considered to have the world’s highest density of the orangutan sub-species the pongo pygmaeus morio and the Borneo pygmy elephant.

WWF Malaysia CEO Dr Dionysius Sharma said: “FSC certification is a crucial part of independent third party verification of sustainable forest management and its critical role in sustaining viable populations of some of the world’s most endangered wildlife here in the Heart of Borneo, one of the most bio-diverse areas on the planet,” he said. Tweet

More than half of Borneo's carnivore species could become extinct, new research has revealed.

As a result of the research, the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) has said there was a need for action plans and long-term solutions to the declining number of Borneo's carnivores.

SWD director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the need to strengthen knowledge was crucial in efforts to protect the 24 species of carnivores found in Borneo such as the Sunda Clouded Leopard, which is only found on the Raleigh expedition island.

"Last year, scientists even rediscovered the world's most endangered otter species here in Sabah, so it's obvious we have to work harder to protect our amazing wildlife," he said.

Besides the Sunda Clouded Leopard, the threatened carnivores of Borneo are mammals including civet cats and otters and badgers.

The rate of destruction of the world's three largest forests, including Borneo’s Mekong forest, has fallen by 25% this decade, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has said.

 

The Amazon and the Congo are the world's first and second biggest forests, and then comes Borneo’s Mekong.

For those thinking of a Raleigh expedition in Borneo, because in part of catching a glimpse of the island’s endangered orangutans, there’s now a rare opportunity to see a baby in the UK before setting off.

 

A US government human rights report has highlighted Borneo’s Penan tribe’s battle to protect their rainforests in the state of Sarawak from logging.

The document comes after elections at the weekend in which may tribespeople were unable to vote and claims that Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud’s government has leased the Penan’s land “to logging companies and land developers in exchange for political favours and money”.

Thousands of Borneo tribespeople will be unable to vote in elections this weekend, and therefore won’t be able to have a say in saving the rainforest they rely on, tribe charity Survival has said.

The Penan people will not be able to vote in the crucial elections in the Borneo state of Sarawak as they don’t have identity cards.

A documentary film has been released following the efforts of two women who save baby elephants in Kenya and baby orangutans in Borneo, one of Raleigh’s expedition locations.

The 3D film, which is showing at IMAX cinemas, features Dr Biruté Mary Galdikas, who saves the baby orangutans orphaned by the destruction of their rain forest habitat by poaching, palm oil plantations and illegal logging.

The Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sabah, Borneo, a partner of Raleigh, has received an A-list boost after actress Emma Thompson pledged her support.

The Oscar winner screenwriter took time off from her holiday to attend the "Power to the People" street party in Sabah.