Munene, the journey...

We spent the day at CIFOR where we met with a couple of people and discussed different aspects of forestry conservation: Forest fires: cheapest way to convert secondary forests into oil palm plantations Value of forest fire conversion is much higher than any potential benefit from using other method Forests are improving and stabilizing Cycles of burning affects Malaysia and Singapore; nothing done: policy is reactive Costs $47b due to haze Swidden Ancient practice for restoring soil fertility It has been sustainable, all along; not the cause of the haze?? 3-4 years' cycle Sustainable palm oil:  EU report on Indonesian palm oil not being sustainable Tension btn US/EU priorities on sustainability, with agenda of Indonesia on development REDD+ policy: struggle because of financial flow problems Policy in Brazil not automatically transferrable because of the different contexts Subnation...

Oil palm bunch This was zesty Tofu making in the background Rubber We began the day at 10 and Dede and Danny and his group showed us around the Bukit Lawang area and village. We saw many things Roof making from palm tree leaves Making of tofu Making of brown palm tree sugar Rubber plantations Rice plantations More importantly, we came in contact with leeches, and Julie got a bleed from one of them In the afternoon after lunch, we had a session with people from Orangutan Haven who explained to us about their works Afterwards, Kelly, a former student of the program last year (2017) explained about the Orangutan health project Self-medicating orangutans Use of their medicines for humans Parasite research Afterwards, Dede and Danny gave us a list of the things to bring to tomorrow's hike and day and night in the jungle. This place has a lot of monkeys, cheeky ones at that. They go throug...