Processing plant specimens 

Birds in Borneo study group 

 
Community mapping 

Training Programmes in Southeast Asia

Overview

The Global Diversity Foundation aims to build capacity among professionals, community members, researchers and students interested in exploring aspects of biocultural diversity in the Southeast Asian region.  Our training programmes build on a combination of training courses, field methods workshops, field research grants and publication of training manuals.

Training courses and field workshops

In Sabah, The Global Diversity Foundation is working with the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to implement a training course in Ethnobiology and Conservation.  From 2005 to 2007, we are organising a series of five modules that are delivered by lecturers from the University of Kent (United Kingdom), UMS and selected guest speakers from the region.  Each module emphasises a blend of interactive lectures and field methods workshops, covering environmental anthropology, biodiversity law, ethnobiological knowledge systems, conservation, communities and tourism, ethnobiological data analysis, and a range of contemporary issues in ethnobiology.  Our modules have attracted professionals, researchers and students, with the added participation of community members in the field methods workshops.

As part of our long term commitment to enhancing ethnobiological expertise in Sabah, we are facilitating links between the Univeristy of Kent and UMS, to support a UMS initiative to develop a degree programme in ethnobiology and conservation. 

Field research grants

Under the Darwin Initiative project to assess ethnobiological resource use in the proposed Community Use Zones of the Crocker Range Park, The Global Diversity Foundation is offering grants to postgraduate students from UMS and the University of Kent to support their field research projects in the Crocker Range.  The projects we are supporting include:

Ms. Perpetua George, MSc Ethnobotany, University of Kent, Identifying community values of forest and landscape types among the Buayan Dusun of the Crocker Range, Sabah

Mr. Adam Murphy, MSc Conservation Biology, University of Kent, Study of mammal hunting in the community of Buayan, Crocker Range, Sabah

Ms. Zuraida Zainudin, MSc Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Feeding ecology of sucker fish in the northwestern-northeastern areas of the Crocker Range, Sabah

Mr. Yassin Miki, MSc  Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Comparative analysis of home gardens among the Buayan-Kionop Dusun in the Crocker Range, Sabah

Mr. James Wong, MArts  Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Impact of swidden agriculture on soil fertility in the Buayan-Kionop area of the Crocker Range, Sabah

Training manuals

In 2007, The Global Diversity Foundation is launching a series of methods manuals that discuss a range of ethnobiological techniques for assessing resource and landscape use with local communities.  Funded by the Darwin Initiative, these manuals emphasise participatory approaches to ethnobiological research.  They are aimed at field projects and researchers in the Southeast Asian region that work in close collaboration with local communities to plan, design, implement, analyse and return results.  Case studies of our field experience and samples of our data will be included to illustrate ways in which different field techniques can be adapted and innovated to meet the challenging circumstances often encountered in fieldwork.

Additionally, we are compiling a handbook on Best Practices for Assessing Community Use Zones, which will include the various field techniques and case studies discussed in the methods manuals.  The handbook will be made available to professionals, researchers and students who are involved or interested in carrying out ethnobiological research with local communities, especially those working on indigenous peoples and protected area management issues throughout Southeast Asia.  We are aiming to complete the handbook by the end of 2007.