Human-Environment Interactions in Indonesian Borneo

Supervisor: Dr. Wendy Erb, K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology & Dr. Walker DePuy, National University of Singapore

Co-researcher: Claire Wu

Project Background

This project combines anthropology, ecology, and bioacoustics data to investigate the connections between indigenous communities and nature in East Kalimantan (a region of Indonesian Borneo). Currently, plans are underway to relocate Indonesia's current national capital of Jakarta in an effort to counter its climate-related struggles such as pollution and rising sea levels. Pitched as a sustainable "forest city," the planned new capital city of Nusantara will be constructed in East Kalimantan, and promises to fix many of the urban issues plaguing Jakarta. However, many environmental activists and indigenous leaders have raised the alarm over the potential social and ecological impacts of this project on an area full of vulnerable bio- and cultural diversity. Through my research this summer, I join an interdisciplinary team of researchers in seeking to understand these impacts of the capital city transition on local communities.

Objectives and Research Questions

"What will this 'forest city' really mean for Nusantara’s local and indigenous communities and the forests that hold so much of their history, sources of livelihoods, and cultural identities?" - Dr. Wendy Erb, Sonic Entanglements in Nusantara

Through this research, I seek to understand and document changing relationships between humans and the ecology in East Kalimantan. This will include investigation of indigenous communities' traditional land- and sea-based livelihoods, economic connections between the region's peoples and lands, ethnobiology and relationships with fauna, and a contextual background of historical land rights and urbanization patterns.

Methodology

I am currently conducting archival research to create a final literature review on human-environment relations in East Kalimantan. As a supplement for this archival research, I will be working alongside other researchers in the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics to analyze sound samples from the region and contribute to our sound library. Finally, I will present a digital humanities project (likely a story map) which presents my findings in an interactive and accessible format.

Very excited to share this work with all of you!