This article was originally published by The Borneo Post on June 7, 2026. 

KINABATANGAN: Danau Gir­ang Field Centre (DGFC) recently hos­ted an immers­ive, eye-open­ing 14-day field course for a del­eg­a­tion from the Uni­versity of Wyom­ing, bridging the gap between inter­na­tional aca­demic research, sus­tain­able industry, and com­munity-based con­ser­va­tion. Led by renowned eco­lo­gist Pro­fessor Brent Ewers, the group com­prised eight Amer­ican stu­dents and three sponsored Saba­han par­ti­cipants, cre­at­ing a unique cross-cul­tural plat­form for know­ledge exchange.

The intens­ive course offered par­ti­cipants a closer look at how mod­ern wild­life con­ser­va­tion oper­ates along­side major indus­tries and local com­munit­ies. The cohort vis­ited the Sandau Estate, oper­ated by Sawit Kin­abalu, to exper­i­ence the daily oper­a­tions of Sabah’s oil palm industry. Stu­dents tried their hands at har­vest­ing fresh fruit bunches and oper­at­ing a moto­car, gain­ing insight into the com­plex logist­ics of palm oil pro­duc­tion.

The agri­cul­tural les­son seam­lessly transitioned into con­ser­va­tion edu­ca­tion at the neigh­bour­ing Sun­gai Pin estate. Here, DGFC research­ers demon­strated how Ultra High Fre­quency (UHF) track­ing is used to study wild leo­pard cats, illus­trat­ing how these resi­li­ent pred­at­ors nav­ig­ate and util­ise agri­cul­tural land­scapes.

“This visit high­lights a real­ity that often gets over­looked: not all plant­a­tions are bad,” said Dr. Ben­oit Goos­sens, dir­ector of Danau Gir­ang Field Centre.

“Through our formal five year research agree­ment with the Sawit Kin­abalu group, we are act­ively focus­ing on crit­ical wild cat and pan­golin research within their land­scape. By work­ing hand-in-hand with oil palm estates, we can find real, action­able ways to bal­ance agri­cul­tural needs with biod­iversity pro­tec­tion.”

The field course heav­ily emphas­ised that true con­ser­va­tion must bene­fit the people who stew­ard the land. In col­lab­or­a­tion with KOPEL Bhd, the team par­ti­cip­ated in a tree­plant­ing activ­ity at the Sun­gai Pin refor­est­a­tion site. The tree-plant­ing work was led by a guide and staff from the local Batu Puteh com­munity. Since 1997, KOPEL Bhd has empowered the Batu Puteh com­munity through sus­tain­able, com­munity-based eco­tour­ism, pro­tect­ing the pre­cious flood­plain of the Kin­abatan­gan while gen­er­at­ing mean­ing­ful local live­li­hoods.

This grass­roots model deeply res­on­ated with the vis­it­ing Nat­ive Amer­ican stu­dents. Laz­ara Jimer­son from the Wind River Indian Reser­va­tion expressed immense inspir­a­tion from KOPEL’s com­munity­based tour­ism activ­it­ies, not­ing her excite­ment to explore and imple­ment a sim­ilar com­munity­driven approach back on her reser­va­tion. Jada Ante­lope also shared how much she enjoyed step­ping out of her com­fort zone, embra­cing the rich, diverse cul­tures of Borneo, and see­ing con­ser­va­tion through a new lens.

Des­pite being con­duc­ted in their own ‘back­yard’, the field course still proved to be an equally pro­found exper­i­ence for the local par­ti­cipants. Mohd Sar­izan bin Nuid, a PhD stu­dent and former teacher from Kota Belud, described the jour­ney as an eye-open­ing exper­i­ence packed with invalu­able prac­tical activ­it­ies that will bene­fit his future aca­demic and con­ser­va­tion career.

For tour leader Pro­fessor Brent Ewers, this trip marked his fourth visit to the region, a test­a­ment to the unpar­alleled value of the land­scape.

“I keep com­ing back to the Kin­abatan­gan due to its mag­ni­fi­cent biod­iversity and the com­plete, excep­tional facil­ity oper­ated by Danau Gir­ang Field Centre,” Prof. Ewers stated.

“In addi­tion, I have also benefited greatly from Dr. Goos­sens’ expert­ise and extens­ive net­work in the region,” he added, emphas­ising that a key takeaway mes­sage he wanted his stu­dents to under­stand from this course is that con­ser­va­tion only works when the local com­munity can bene­fit from it.

Reflect­ing on the suc­cess of the pro­gramme, Dr. Goos­sens emphas­ised the broader vis­ion of DGFC.

“DGFC field courses provide the per­fect oppor­tun­ity to show­case how con­ser­va­tion in the Kin­abatan­gan can gel together with com­munity-based tour­ism and sus­tain­able palm oil to bene­fit all involved – nature, wild­life and people.” 

University of Wyoming group with KOPEL Bhd staff from Batu Puteh at the Regrow Borneo tree-planting site.

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