“Only the orangutans get a life jacket”

ABSTRACT: In an era of mass extinction, who gets a life jacket, who is left to drown or swim—and on what basis? This article addresses these questions by analyzing how tropes and practices of responsibility are variously enacted, reworked, contested, and refused across the global nexus of orangutan conservation. Drawing on multisited, collaborative ethnography, we trace the mutually constitutive relation between multiple orangutan figures and commons imaginaries at different nodes of conservation—from environmental activism in the Global North to NGO‐villager encounters in rural Borneo. In so doing, we “uncommon” international conservation's encompassing planetary imaginaries, showing how dominant portrayals of the orangutan as a global responsibility are translated and fragmented in different settings. We further contemplate what an analytic of responsibility might bring to ongoing discussions about the “commoning” planetary epoch in which conservation is increasingly embedded: the Anthropocene. [commons, uncommoning, responsibility, orangutan conservation, the Anthropocene, Borneo, Indonesia

Longing for prosperity in Indonesian Borneo

This thesis explores Dayak villagers search for prosperity at a Central Kalimantan frontier in Indonesian Borneo. Concretely, it asks how do marginalised people deal with the growing sense of uncertainty caused by livelihood instability in consequence of accelerated political-economic and environmental change? How do they navigate a present that refuses to offer stability and well-being and constantly is changing be- yond their control? To address these questions, the thesis looks at local livelihoods and their transformation, and examines the imaginaries of prosperity and well-being that inform these strategies. By doing so, it argues that both the past and the future provide people a space of hope to imagine a prosperous existence and that this back- and forward-looking is itself a way of dealing with the uncertainty of the present. Therewith, the thesis not only sheds light on what it means to make living in both a material and ideological sense in rural Borneo in contemporary times, but it seeks to offer a critical account of current Indonesian state practice of frontier development

Using Ethnographic Research for Social Engagement: A Toolkit for Orangutan (and Other) Conservationists

n recent years there’s been a growing recognition that conservation is as much about humans as about nonhuman species, landscapes, and ecosystems. Ethnographic research methods offer one important way of learning about and working with the many social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of conservation. These methods aim to create a holistic understanding of people’s everyday interactions; their perspectives on important issues, such as land rights, development, conservation and the state; and—where relevant—their previous or current experiences of conservation programmes, projects and practitioners. But what do these methods involve, and when and how can they be used effectively and ethically by conservationists? Using Ethnographic Research for Social Engagement aims to answer some of these questions. Drawing on our fieldwork experience and research on human-orangutan-conservation interactions in rural Borneo, it offers an introduction to key social concerns in conservation, an overview of the principles of ethnographic research, a guide to some of its key methods and approaches (illustrated with case studies), and tips on analysing and reporting ethnographic findings. While grounded in a specific Southeast Asian context, it contains material that is more broadly relevant to conservationists seeking to understand and engage seriously with the social complexities that shape their work and strategies

Dodo dilemmas: conflicting ethical loyalties in conservation social science research

In a time of deepening social and ecological crises, the question of research ethics is more pertinent than ever. Our intervention grapples with the specific personal, ethical, and methodological challenges that arise at the interface of conservation and social science. We expose these challenges through the figure of Chris, a fictional anoymised composite of our fraught diverse fieldwork experiences in Australia, Burma, Indonesian Borneo, Namibia, and Vanuatu. Fundamentally, we explore fieldwork as a series of contested loyalties: loyalties to our different human and non-human research participants, to our commitments to academic rigour and to the project of wildlife conservation itself, whilst reckoning with conservation’s spotted (neo)colonial past. Our struggles and reflections illustrate: Firstly, that practical research ethics do not predetermine forms of reciprocity. Secondly, while we need to choose our concealments carefully and follow the principle of not doing harm, we also have the responsibility to reveal social and environmental injustices. Thirdly, we must acknowledge that as researchers we are complicit in the practices of human and nonhuman violence and exclusion that suffuse conservation. Finally, given how these responsibilities move the researcher beyond a position of innocence or neutrality, academic institutions should adjust their ethics support. This intervention highlights the need for greater openness about research challenges emerging from conflicting personal, ethical, and disciplinary loyalties, in order to facilitate greater cross-disciplinary understanding. Active engagement with these ethical questions through collaborative dialogue-based fora, both before and after fieldwork, would enable learning and consequently transform research practices

Conservation and the social sciences: Beyond critique and co-optation. A case study from orangutan conservation

Interactions between conservation and the social sciences are frequently characterized by either critique (of conservation by social scientists) or co-optation (of social scientific methods and insights by conservationists). This article seeks to push beyond these two dominant positions by exploring how conservationists and social scientists can engage in mutually transformative dialogue. Jointly authored by conservation scientists and social scientists, it uses the global nexus of orangutan conservation as a lens onto current challenges and possibilities facing the conservation–social science relationship. We begin with a cross-disciplinary overview of recent developments in orangutan conservation—particularly those concerned with its social, political and other human dimensions. The article then undertakes a synthetic analysis of key challenges in orangutan conservation—working across difference, juggling scales and contexts and dealing with politics and political economy—and links them to analogous concerns in the conservation–social science relationship. Finally, we identify some ways by which orangutan conservation specifically, and the conservation–social science relationship more generally, can move forward: through careful use of proxies as bridging devices, through the creation of new, shared spaces, and through a willingness to destabilize and overhaul status quos. This demands an open-ended, unavoidably political commitment to critical reflexivity and self-transformation on the part of both conservationists and social scientists.European Research Council Starting Grant 758494, Brunel University Londo

Tropical forest and peatland conservation in Indonesia:challenges and directions

Tropical forests and peatlands provide important ecological, climate and socio‐economic benefits from the local to the global scale. However, these ecosystems and their associated benefits are threatened by anthropogenic activities, including agricultural conversion, timber harvesting, peatland drainage and associated fire. Here, we identify key challenges, and provide potential solutions and future directions to meet forest and peatland conservation and restoration goals in Indonesia, with a particular focus on Kalimantan.Through a round‐table, dual‐language workshop discussion and literature evaluation, we recognized 59 political, economic, legal, social, logistical and research challenges, for which five key underlying factors were identified. These challenges relate to the 3Rs adopted by the Indonesian Peatland Restoration Agency (Rewetting, Revegetation and Revitalization), plus a fourth R that we suggest is essential to incorporate into (peatland) conservation planning: Reducing Fires.Our analysis suggests that (a) all challenges have potential for impact on activities under all 4Rs, and many are inter‐dependent and mutually reinforcing, implying that narrowly focused solutions are likely to carry a higher risk of failure; (b) addressing challenges relating to Rewetting and Reducing Fire is critical for achieving goals in all 4Rs, as is considering the local socio‐political situation and acquiring local government and community support; and (c) the suite of challenges faced, and thus conservation interventions required to address these, will be unique to each project, depending on its goals and prevailing local environmental, social and political conditions.With this in mind, we propose an eight‐step adaptive management framework, which could support projects in both Indonesia and other tropical areas to identify and overcome their specific conservation and restoration challenges

Learning Knowledge about Rattan (Calamoideae arecaceae) and Its Uses Amongst Ngaju Dayak in Indonesian Borneo

German National Science Foundation and the World Agroforestry Centre