Earthwatch: Malaysia - Climate Change & Landscape in Borneo’s Rainforests

Trek into the heart of Borneo’s tropical rainforest to help scientists carry out vital climate change research that will inform future restoration programs. Work alongside plants, birds and endangered mammals.

The rainforests of Borneo are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They are home to thousands of plant species, countless types of insect, a vast array of birds and some of the world's most iconic and endangered mammals – the Sumatran rhino, clouded leopards and pygmy elephants. The rainforests are critically important in supporting this biodiversity - and to provide the critical ecosystem services of carbon sequestration, watershed protection, decomposition and nutrient cycling and soil stabilization. But they are under constant threat from unsustainable logging practices, conversion to agricultural land uses and climate change. The restoration of Borneo's remaining rainforest is essential - but the science guiding and underpinning the practice of rainforest restoration is woefully incomplete.

The project aims to understand how logging and land use change have impacted forests - and how 'resilient' these rainforests might be to the likely effects of climate change, particularly severe droughts. As a volunteer, you will trek deep into the heart of the tropical rainforest and, with a team of scientists and research assistants, assess the structure of the rainforest, how key the key plant and animal groups it supports have been impacted by logging and fragmentation, and how this disturbance has affected soil moisture, decomposition and soil erosion.

This information is critical if we are to find ways to conserve Borneo's remaining forests – and provide a strong scientific foundation for their restoration.