This article examines the small-scaled, village-based, self-organised initiatives community-based
conservation (CBC) of Bung Jagoi Heritage, Bau, Sarawak. The community self-organisation
criteria are adopted in this study. The initiatives are developed through the CBC Projects under
the Equator Initiative (EI) of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) which are
considered successful by the EI. This article also investigates the impact of Bidayuh customary
law or adat on the access and forest resources management in the communal forest of Bung Jagoi
Heritage which utilised the Adat Bidayuh Order, 1994 and native customs as their guidelines for
managing the access and forest resources. The level of participation among the villagers and the
committee members is also assessed in this study based on the widely used participation typology
developed by Jules N. Pretty. The data for this study is gathered through semi-structured
interviews (SSIs) and observation. The findings of this study shows that the self-organisation in
CBC of Bung Jagoi Heritage is initiated by a small number of Jagoi-Duyoh villagers due to some
outsiders’ mysterious visits and concerns to conserve the forested land that also situate an
ancestral village and its biodiversity as well as to develop the Bung Jagoi Heritage through the
conservation activities. The success of this CBC self-organisation relies heavily on the involvement
and commitment of the committee members, funding from the local and international donors, and
leadership of the committee’s advisor in order for it to sustain and develop. The local community
practices collectively known as the adat gives some impact on the access and forest resources
through its communal tenure and traditional beliefs. The level of participation among the villagers
can be categorised as ‘participation for material incentive’ while the level of participation among
the committee member can be categorised as ‘self-mobilisation’