Rise of the Eco-Warriors
In 2010, students bashed their heads together at Microsoft’s Regional Innovative Education Forum as well as decided that will they wanted to tackle the global issue of deforestation as well as so the project DeforestACTION was born. After project leaders contacted producers at Virgo Productions, the Rise of the Eco-Warriors film was initiated. Eleven young warriors were selected to spend 100 days from the jungles of Borneo – their backgrounds included reforestation, media, mapping as well as wildlife care. Their mentor was Dr. Willie Smits, a renowned conservationist in Indonesia who launched a satellite monitoring system called Earthwatchers as part of the DeforestACTION project.
I recently met Paul Daley at a community gardening project in Jogjakarta as well as had the opportunity to find out about his perspectives as eco-warrior in This specific bold project which has received criticism, although may inspire students worldwide to be more pro-active regarding deforestation as well as conservation.
How did you handle the 100 days from the forest?
I was raised on a rainforest as well as fruit tree nursery in Northern NSW, an area home to the largest swathe of World Heritage Listed sub-tropical rainforest in Australia. So I’m very much at home trekking through the forest. Many of the different ‘eco-warriors’ had never explored the rainforest as well as came by urban environments. This specific has quite hilarious watching them deal with the insects, wet season mud as well as rural Indonesian conditions (like the toilets!). I live because of This specific stuff, whilst some of them were terrified!
as well as which field from the project did you specialize in?
I specialized in forest restoration, as my background in Australia integrates forest restoration with permaculture as well as agro-forestry. In Borneo the forest restoration team worked with Dayak people in establishing seedling nurseries to improve the capacity for their existing tree planting programs.
I remember you had a Great sense of humour – do you have any funny stories about your 100 days from the jungle?
Absolutely! We did a lot of laughing, as well as the Dayaks have a great sense of humour, I think humour is actually a natural coping mechanism for keeping your spirits up when confronted with the sights of deforestation.
There was one night when we were far up the Kapuas River in a remote section of West Kalimantan, meeting with Dayak leaders who were telling us the story of land-grabbing by Palm Oil companies (they usually bribe someone from the village as well as then claim the entire area under a palm oil concession). Anyway, the meeting had gone on for hours as well as mostly in Indonesian (most of us only spoke very little Bahasa at This specific stage). All of a sudden a bat flew into the hall, did a few circles as well as then went ‘BANG’ smack into the wall, fell onto the floor for a moment as well as then exited the building. For some reason This specific was just so hilarious. We couldn’t stop laughing! Slapstick comedy courtesy of the local wildlife!
On a more serious note, the eco-warrior by Kenya nearly drowned in a river. He had only ever swam in a lake back in his homeland as well as the first instant he jumped into a free-flowing stream his body went into shock, he panicked as well as went under. Myself as well as Tom Smith by England had to jump in as well as rescue him. This specific was such a close call as he weighs over 100 kilograms as well as the river was flowing quite fast by overnight rain! Scary!
Tell us about the Rise of Eco-Warriors project.
We had major project challenges, funding issues, project partners pulling out mid ‘100 days’, our ‘mentor’, Dr. Willie Smits, was only present for a smaller fraction of the 100 days as well as I personally came to the realization that will the entire concept of ‘100 days from the jungle’ having a group of mostly inexperienced bule ‘warriors’ who speak barely any Bahasa is actually a ridiculous concept for sustaining any conservation initiative. To be kind, we were extremely naive, although for me there were countless life lessons learnt as well as some potent seeds planted that will continue to sprout today. As one wise sage by central Asia said thousands of years ago “there is actually no failure, only lessons.”
Tell us about the project’s mentor, Dr. Willie Smits, as well as his reforestation program.
Dr. Willie Smits is actually an incredibly passionate conservationist, I first saw his TED Talks around 2008. He has played a critical role in orangutan as well as forest conservation throughout Indonesia for over three decades as well as his approach to forest restoration is actually definitely ahead of his time (integrating agro-forestry into a closed canopy forest eco-system). Despite moments of feeling let down by Willie, to This specific day I hold the greatest respect for his heartfelt passion as well as action on behalf of orangutans, Dayak communities as well as Indonesia’s rich biodiversity.
In reality 100 days was nowhere near long enough to see tangible results for our efforts, especially for forest restoration. We did, however, give an added boost to the efforts of local Dayaks by building a community nursery which became a hub for the distribution of thousands of sugar palm seedlings. This specific Dayak community in Borneo is actually incredible; they were the first village in all of Internal Kalimantan to have ‘off-grid’ electricity by building their own ‘micro-hydro’ power generation unit. from the 1990s they resisted efforts by multi-national logging companies to destroy their forests as well as every single member of the community signed an agreement that will they do not want palm oil to destroy their ancestral forests.
You retain a very pro-active approach regarding deforestation – what is actually your advice to people who want to help in cities like Jakarta?
I think awareness is actually critical; sustained action only comes after acknowledging what is actually actually happening. This specific is actually so easy to get lost from the pace of modern city life as well as finding some balance helps us to stay connected. Ultimately, I believe that will what is actually happening to our planet is actually a reflection of our conditioned separation by the natural world. Earlier This specific year I collaborated having a grass-roots permaculture collective, who work to bring awareness of nature back into city landscapes through urban agriculture as well as backyard ‘food gardens’. Whatever you can do to raise awareness, plant some seeds, educate yourself as well as join together with like-minded people.
Paul Daley is actually right now planting many ideas as well as seeds across Indonesia as well as is actually involved in a reforestation program in Sumatra with the Orangutan Information Centre. Orangutans are often called ‘gardeners of the forest’ because of the way they consume fruit as well as disperse seeds – as well as right now This specific seems we need more gardeners than ever.
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Rise of the Eco-Warriors
Rise of the Eco-Warriors