Sponsorship opportunity

[Rusty @ heart of borneo]

Hello all,
This November I shall be part of an expedition into Murung Raya highlands in Kalimantan for the Heart of Borneo project, this is a three month expedition to explore this poorly understood region with aims including discovering what plants and animals make their homes there, whilst being fully interactive so that the world can share our journey, with the use of live feeds from the jungle. We are a young team and have recently been granted our scientific visas so that we can conduct research once we’re there; we’re currently based in the UK, in Falmouth, Cornwall.
We are hoping to invite Indonesian students to accompany us for part of the expedition, so that we might benefit from their expertise and so they can benefit from being part of an expedition such as ours, as well as creating international ties. For this to happen we need financial sponsorship from Businesses, who would benefit from being associated with this enterprise.
If anyone is interested, or knows anyone who would be, please don’t hesitate to reply, or even if you aren’t able to help directly but are curious to know more, also reply and I shall do my best to get back to you with answers. There is so little understood about the rainforests of Borneo, and it’s rapidly declining, this expedition aims to educate and to improve our understanding of this unique place so that efforts to protect it can be enhanced.
Rusty, Ecological researcher, Heart of Borneo project.

[MadCat]

Hi Rusty, can't do much from a sponsorship perspective but if you need some IT stuff while you're in Indonesia (think websites, or the software needed to manage your feed, location, comments, yadda-yadda-yadda) I'm quite sure I can work something up for that (in association with my business partner). If needed anyway :) I'll pass your request along though.

[Gratilla]

I'm curious. Why would businesses providing "financial sponsorship" for this junket, I mean "opportunity",


benefit from being associated with this enterprise.

? <question mark>

[Mas Fred]

I'm curious. Why would businesses providing "financial sponsorship" for this junket, I mean "opportunity",



? <question mark>

Advertising dear boy.
"Green" is the fashion and the sponsors will get a load of green street cred by telling the world they support an environmental project.
Toss in they want to take Indonesian students on the trip and that means air time on Indonesian TV if their PR department are worth their wages.

If it's done right you can't buy that sort of good will.

[Gratilla]

You're right. The copy is very slick and green is a popular colour.

There are, however, hundreds (thousands?) of more viable (worthy?) environmental projects than a bunch of adults on a three month "vacation" (at the taxpayers expense?) wandering through distant lands looking for ... pansies.

[RatHat]

You're right. The copy is very slick and green is a popular colour.

There are, however, hundreds (thousands?) of more viable (worthy?) environmental projects than a bunch of adults on a three month "vacation" (at the taxpayers expense?) wandering through distant lands looking for ... pansies.

Sounds like an advert for gay tourism!

[Morty]

You're right. The copy is very slick and green is a popular colour.

There are, however, hundreds (thousands?) of more viable (worthy?) environmental projects than a bunch of adults on a three month "vacation" (at the taxpayers expense?) wandering through distant lands looking for ... pansies.


Grats, why would you say this? I have garnered from your posts that you are concerned about preserving the natural environment. Do you know something (about this!) that I don't?

The Heart of Borneo Project is a great project. It is an attempt to link up and save the remaining high value areas of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei in central Borneo into one area that is large enough to be viable. It contains much of remaining high quality forest environment, and a number of indigenous tribes that still live there.

I admit that I know nothing about this particular trip, but in general the Heart of Borneo is a project that I support.

[Hombre de Maiz]

You want to protect forests and the environment? Unless you fix capacity of the civil service, law enforcement, property rights, zoning and land usage laws and administration of justice, anything that you do will be temporary, stop-gap, bandaid palliatives at best.

[Morty]

You want to protect forests and the environment? Unless you fix capacity of the civil service, law enforcement, property rights, zoning and land usage laws and administration of justice, anything that you do will be temporary, stop-gap, bandaid palliatives at best.

They are also very important.

However The Heart of Borneo is a bit different, as much of it is still virgin forest. If you can maintain its inaccesibility, then the preservation job is much easier. Many of the problems that arise due to the shortcoming you allude to will not apply.
Typically a large undamaged area with very few people, no roads and no access = a preserved environment.

[t___c]

Call Bruno Manser ............ he will tell you EXACTLY what the Indo Government thinks of conservation, protection of the indigenous tribes and green issues .......... hint you may need a Ouija Board


http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Protagonist+of+paradise%3A+the+life,+death,+and+le gacy+of+Bruno+Manser-a0134382060

[atlantis]

(edited)
Welcome back also Morty. Glad to see you around again. :thumb:

[Morty]

Thanks for the welcome Atlantis. I stayed away for a while, but something about the forum kept dragging me back. It is an interesting mix of people, opinions and experiences. Some idiotic people with idiotic opinions or experiences, and just enough who are not quite so idiotic that it is worthwhile me adding a bit of stupidity into the mix!

[Rusty @ heart of borneo]

Hello again,

first of all sorry for delay in replying, a mixture of issues i shan't bore you with. MadCat and Morty, thankyou for your support and good will! even if no backing comes from this thread i'm happy that you got to learn of our expedition.
to clarify, it's not a vacation, there is no help from the taxpayer, of any nation, and yes there are risks involved, but 18months of prep and planning, combined with failed visas (although now awarded), has gone into this, we as a group of people feel it's important that this is done. i appreciate there are huge issues such as politics and social structures that need addressing, but the fact of the matter is no scientist within a hundred years has been to where were going, this is often cited as one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet, proving that gives the arguement more credability. if places like Borneo, of which there arn't many left, are chopped down, we all stop breathing, it's very simple.

Rusty

[haryadi]

You should contact LIPI (Indonesian Research Institute, www.lipi.go.id ) ,probably their Biology Department. I'm not sure they could provide you with funding ,but they have the local knowledge and expertise in this area. I remember they had joint project with JICA building database,collecting various kind of plants from all around Indonesia.

Just a wild idea, several Indonesian companies in palm oil plantation and pulp/paper sector (Sinar Mas Agro,Asia Pulp and Paper) have problem with greenpeace/environmental issue . They might be interested in sponsoring your project in exchange for good publicity .Kind of dancing with the devil , I guess .




You want to protect forests and the environment? Unless you fix capacity of the civil service, law enforcement, property rights, zoning and land usage laws and administration of justice, anything that you do will be temporary, stop-gap, bandaid palliatives at best.

Gezz.rather than complaining about Indonesia corrupt bureaucracy , for starter, you guys should stop using paper to wipe your ass.

[Gratilla]

It doesn't take a particularly careful reading of your post to see a collection of disjointed soundbites that make no collective sense. This makes it vacuous, manipulative and, unfortunately, dishonest.

Examples?

- "no help from the taxpayer" - Unsupported implication being you're independently self-financed.
- "there are risks involved" - Not identified, relevance?
- "not a vacation" - Not clarified.
- "18 months of prep and failed visas" - Made to sound like some kind of achievement.
- "we as a group of people feel this is important" - What is important? No reference given to the word "this".
- "huge issues such as politics and social structures that need addressing" - As if you're offering to address them. Are you?
- "but the fact of the matter is no scientist within a hundred years has been to where were going" - Relevance? So what?
- "this is often cited as one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet" - Again, relevance? So what?
- "proving that gives the argument more credibility." What unspecified argument? What proof? What credibility?
- "if places like Borneo, of which there aren't many left, are chopped down, we all stop breathing, it's very simple." Huh? Relevance.

Why is it that the WWFs and TNCs of this world "protect the planet" by sending their people to the unspoilt places and ignore those that need attention?

If you were really serious scientists, researchers or environmentalists, you wouldn't be encouraging the indiscriminate trampling of virgin jungle, you'd be doing something useful like remediating damaged land and planting trees. But unfortunately that takes effort, right?


it's very simple.

Really? Explain.

[Frankly, I don't expect to hear from you again. Certainly not with any kind of credible input or explanation.]

[Gratilla]

Just a wild idea, several Indonesian companies in palm oil plantation and pulp/paper sector (Sinar Mas Agro,Asia Pulp and Paper) have problem with greenpeace/environmental issue . They might be interested in sponsoring your project in exchange for good publicity .Kind of dancing with the devil , I guess .

You're correct. It is a wild idea. Logical, but wild. I happen to know relevant senior management at Sinar Mas / APP (APP is a member of the Sinar Mas Group) and they do sponsor serious environmental projects. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't consider one such as the above (irrespective of any potential positive PR), primarily because it has no identifiable benefit.

You're correct. APP do have a "problem" with Greenpeace, who are in effect blackmailing APP by misrepresenting the facts to large clients. The dispute is currently sub judice.