The Penan indigenous community in Sarawak, Malaysia is facing increased hardship despite promises made by the state government over a decade ago. They are now hungrier, poorer, and sicker as their forest resources have been depleted by logging. The Penan struggle with food shortages and poor health as they try to adapt to an agricultural lifestyle. While some received basic housing materials, many communities were left to build their own longhouses with minimal assistance and lack decent housing and infrastructure. The promises made by the government did not translate into real improvements, as the communities continue to face hardship with little support for their transition to a settled lifestyle after losing access to their traditional forest lands and resources.
A region in transition? The city of Pelican Rapids in west central Minnesota is a microcosm of the change the state is going through as a whole. One person who watched it all happen tells how the city rose to the challenge and embraced change.
A region in transition? The city of Pelican Rapids in west central Minnesota is a microcosm of the change the state is going through as a whole. One person who watched it all happen tells how the city rose to the challenge and embraced change.
Ifsar Stands for Institute of Fundamental Studies and Research, Bikaner, which is an Ngo, registered under The Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958 and working in the field of Education and other social concerns.
Because of its rich diversity of animal and plant species, the entire province of Palawan, in the Philip-pines, is the target of a land management plan under the Philippines Republic Act 7611, also known as the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP).
Due to its unique features, UNESCO declared Palawan as a biosphere reserve, and two of its sites as world heritage sites. All over the island, there are still ecologically valuable areas that have been sustainably managed since time immemorial by the local indigenous peoples.
Today, because of escalating mining activities province-wide, most of these Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) are under serious threat. Compared to other municipalities, the City Government of Puerto Princesa has not allowed mining within the boundaries of its municipality, as a result the territory of the Tanabag Batak has the potential for remaining one of the best examples of community conserved areas in the entire Palawan.
The people living in the area is believed to be descended from the first wave of Australoid populations which crossed the land bridges connecting the Philippine Archipelago with the mainland of Asia (probably around 45,000 – 50,000 years ago), and that are generically labeled as Negritos.
Indeed, with an overall population of less than 300 individuals, the Batak of Palawan are amongst those most threatened indigenous community of South East Asia.
Floods have always been a part of the history of the Zambezi River but the benefits outweigh the negative impacts of life on the river. Floods
bring sediments rich in nutrients, feed wetlands, clean the canals, tributaries and branches, and much more. In the past, the highly predictable
flooding regime of the Zambezi River allowed for the emergence of traditional practices and social systems that relied on and benefited from the
river's natural functioning
Land Grabbing - A Mexican Presidium Under Threatberat celik
Around the world, huge tracts of fertile land are being sold or
rented for extremely low prices. Tens of millions of hectares
have been surrendered in recent years to produce food crops
for export or biofuels, to extract resources or to resell the land
on the financial market, like any other commodity.
This so-called land grabbing is severely threatening the
environment, the food sovereignty and the very lives of local
communities.
Ifsar Stands for Institute of Fundamental Studies and Research, Bikaner, which is an Ngo, registered under The Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958 and working in the field of Education and other social concerns.
Because of its rich diversity of animal and plant species, the entire province of Palawan, in the Philip-pines, is the target of a land management plan under the Philippines Republic Act 7611, also known as the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP).
Due to its unique features, UNESCO declared Palawan as a biosphere reserve, and two of its sites as world heritage sites. All over the island, there are still ecologically valuable areas that have been sustainably managed since time immemorial by the local indigenous peoples.
Today, because of escalating mining activities province-wide, most of these Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) are under serious threat. Compared to other municipalities, the City Government of Puerto Princesa has not allowed mining within the boundaries of its municipality, as a result the territory of the Tanabag Batak has the potential for remaining one of the best examples of community conserved areas in the entire Palawan.
The people living in the area is believed to be descended from the first wave of Australoid populations which crossed the land bridges connecting the Philippine Archipelago with the mainland of Asia (probably around 45,000 – 50,000 years ago), and that are generically labeled as Negritos.
Indeed, with an overall population of less than 300 individuals, the Batak of Palawan are amongst those most threatened indigenous community of South East Asia.
Floods have always been a part of the history of the Zambezi River but the benefits outweigh the negative impacts of life on the river. Floods
bring sediments rich in nutrients, feed wetlands, clean the canals, tributaries and branches, and much more. In the past, the highly predictable
flooding regime of the Zambezi River allowed for the emergence of traditional practices and social systems that relied on and benefited from the
river's natural functioning
Land Grabbing - A Mexican Presidium Under Threatberat celik
Around the world, huge tracts of fertile land are being sold or
rented for extremely low prices. Tens of millions of hectares
have been surrendered in recent years to produce food crops
for export or biofuels, to extract resources or to resell the land
on the financial market, like any other commodity.
This so-called land grabbing is severely threatening the
environment, the food sovereignty and the very lives of local
communities.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
This presentation includes basic of PCOS their pathology and treatment and also Ayurveda correlation of PCOS and Ayurvedic line of treatment mentioned in classics.
MASS MEDIA STUDIES-835-CLASS XI Resource Material.pdf
Penan Doc 2 Article
1. Baram's Penan Community - Hungry, Poor And Sick
Utusan Konsumer magazine
May 1st, 2002
In the mid-1980s, when the world began to comprehend the magnitude of the
devastation caused by logging operations in Sarawak to local indigenous groups, in
particular to the Penan community, promises suddenly were pledged to the
community in all forms of imaginable packages, like pretty presents on a platter -
from forest reserves to infrastructure facilities.
However, a decade later, the Penan are more impoverished than ever, confined in
substandard living conditions that lack the most basic of facilities and infrastructure
and fatigued by frequent food shortages and poor health. As they struggle to get
accustomed to a settled lifestyle and adopt agricultural skills,
with their jungle and river resources almost depleted - what
could they do when everything they need is in the market?
There are no promises like those made under pressure.
Designed for damage-control when everything else fails,
promises are the cheapest miracle pill around to be
dispensed, with a bit of drama of course, to a displeased
public. Promises save you from the hassle of having to
apologise or admit accountability. A Penan child sitting on
a drainage ditch.
Just when the horrendous impacts of logging operations on
the state's indigenous communities, especially on the Penan, became common
knowledge worldwide in 1987 as a result of thousands of the natives stating peaceful
protests by blocking numerous logging roads in Baram and Limbang, the Sarawak
state government, in the course of several years, showered the communities with
incredible promises of better days ahead (see box for detail).
Although blockades had been sporadically organised in a few areas before this, this
was the first time that they were erected simultaneously in such a huge number.
This captured the world attention and was one of the most politically embarrassing
moments in Sarawak history.
Being the last nomadic hunter-gatherers of Borneo, the Penan were the worst hit by
logging operations. Although most of them had already engaged in agriculture and
settled with varying degrees of permanency by then, the people on the whole,
regardless of their different dwelling lifestyles, still depended heavily on forest
resources. Those who were still nomadic and lived by hunting and gathering suffered
untold hardship when game, fish, fruit trees and wild sago palms, which is their
staple food, started to disappear.
The strategy of the state in mitigating bad press seemed simple - firstly it started off
by giving community self-determination a bad name by associating it with foreign
environmentalists still hooked on the myth of the exotic savage and local activists
2. with an anti-development agenda, whatever that means.
Then came the offers of modern living to the community, introducing the vocabulary
of an advanced lifestyle that crushes the people's isolation and backwardness against
modern knowledge and skills that will raise their socio-economic position.
Finally, there were those words spilled so generously between the mid-1980s and
1990s.
Special Panel on the Penan Community. Cabinet Task Force Committee on the
Penan. Penan Volunteer Corp. Service Centres. RM5 million budget. RM1 million
annual allocation. Biosphere Reserve.
So did these words that served as part of the state's approach to tackle the Penan
problem, translate into deed and if they indeed did, how well did the process go?
Settle and be damned
The Penan population numbers close to 10,000
with more than 5,000 of them concentrated in
Baram (Miri Division) followed by some 1,500 in
Belaga (Kapit Division), around 1,000 and 700 in
Mulu and Bintulu respectively and 200 in
Limbang. About 21 percent of them today are
permanently settled while another 75 percent
A map showing the major
are considered to be semi-settled, leaving their
river basins where the permanent homes for the forest from time to
Penan live. time. The rest, around 5 percent, are still
nomadic.
To the communities in Baram that we spoke to recently, along with their
counterparts who are still living in the forests of Sungai Puak, Ulu Limbang and Ulu
Magoh, hardly anything has changed for the better. Their lives have been plagued by
hardship that shows no sign of abating since the logging companies arrived in the
area.
Their forest is almost depleted of animals, wild sago palms, fruit trees, medicinal
herbs and multi-purpose plants like rattan. The river is polluted with silt, oil spills,
wood preservative chemicals and garbage disposed by the loggers - killing fish and
poisoning the people's water supply. Such tragedy not only deprives the people of
their food supply, it also kills their livelihood since game, fish and rattan-based
handcrafts have always been sources of income.
3. In short, the people today are hungrier, sicker
and poorer than ever. Even for the settled
communities, food supply isn't safely steady
since agriculture is a new invention that they
have been trying to master without adequate
technical and resource assistance. Farming
productivity is low, seed access is limited and
attempts to grow crops like vegetables often
simply fail.
Adisease after forest
For settled families whose staple has changed to medicinal plant are gone.
rice, when game, fish or vegetables cannot be
found, meals would often be reduced to plain porridge. Sometimes they manage to
collect some cassava shoots, but if cooking oil has run out, boiling them with water is
all they can do. If rice runs out, they will try to look for wild sago or cassava. But if
nothing is there, then - you will have to just wait, may be for one day, may be more.
If you are lucky, there are neighbours who may be able to chip in a little. But then
most of the neighbours are also just as poor and deprived.
Most of the Penan communities who have settled also lack
decent housing and basic infrastructure facilities and access to
basic healthcare services. Being nomadic, they are skilled
sulap - temporary shelters or huts - builders. However they
have little knowledge on longhouse construction or even wood-
cutting or sawing. Thus the Penan longhouses are rarely as
well-built as other indigenous communities'; in fact some
communities make do with only huts.
It is disheartening to see people who have sacrificed their
A woman suffering from
traditional way of life of depending on the forest sustainably,
nasty skin infections.
to take on the state's urge to settle down permanently, are left
high and dry, without aid as basic as decent housing.
Some of the communities ended up having to build the houses themselves and had
to manage with whatever they can. Some managed to obtain wood from the forest.
Others requested for rejected wood from the timber camps. Some communities
received building material like wood planks and zinc from the
state but then were left to quot;buildquot; the homes themselves.
Most of the Penan communities who have settled also lack
decent housing and basic infrastructure facilities and access to
basic healthcare services. Being nomadic, they are skilled
sulap - temporary shelters or huts - builders. However they
have little knowledge on longhouse construction or even wood-
cutting or sawing. Thus the Penan longhouses are rarely as
well-built as other indigenous communities'; in fact some
The same woman's
communities make do with only huts.
leg, with sores.
It is disheartening to see people who have sacrificed their traditional way of life of
depending on the forest sustainably, to take on the state's urge to settle down
4. permanently, are left high and dry, without aid as basic as decent housing.
Some of the communities ended up having to build the houses themselves and had
to manage with whatever they can. Some managed to obtain wood from the forest.
Others requested for rejected wood from the timber camps. Some communities
received building material like wood planks and zinc from the state but then were left
to quot;buildquot; the homes themselves.
Some of the longhouses were indeed financed and built by the state but as a young
man from a nomadic group puts it, quot;they say the government built the longhouse for
them - but the longhouse does not look like it was built by the government at all.quot;
Web of problems
Why are the living conditions of the people today so poor, despite all the promises
from the state? There is a web of reasons to this and at the centre of it, is an
insatiable spider whose tale spinning is as big as its appetite.
Firstly it is plain to see that the promises are primarily publicity stunts that dabble as
a damage control mechanism, for there is nothing that a Penan can receive without
being heralded by the press and there is nothing the press can herald without a
politician in the picture.
Thus, one should not be too surprised if some of the promises were never honoured
to the letter or if attempts to deliver them in all likelihood, had suffered from
incompetent, lax and slipshod implementation.
However underlying the question of the delivery of the promises is a much bigger
problem - which is tied to the issue of the lack of accountability of the administration
of the promise makers. One cannot help but notice that all the state proclamations
on forest reserves and annual allocations for the community seem to sound like
badly scripted plots, told for the sake of telling, filled with ambiguous loopholes.
Mr. Ajang Kiew, Chairman of the Sarawak Penan Association, perfectly captured the
knotty essence of these plots when he questioned, quot;what happened to all the
money? Are they really being used to help us? Where did the money go?quot;
If there is indeed a RM1 million annual allocation for the community, how come the
people today are still living without basic facilities like electricity and piped water?
Why can't more schools and clinics be built to serve more communities - after all
there are only around 90 Penan villages in Sarawak? Why do the people complain
that they do not receive adequate training in farming and lack access to seed
supply? Why also the large number of people who still do not own any identification
documents?
5. If forests in Ulu Magoh and Ulu Limbang have been
turned into a biosphere reserve forest for the
community, why do the nomadic groups complain that
logging companies are encroaching onto their land? If
a forest reserve has indeed been established in Ulu
Nomadic Penan standing Melana, how come logging concessions are issued in
in front of their sulap. the area?
When the state announced that they had set aside 66,000 ha of land as quot;Special
Penan Forestquot; in 1993, are these to be regarded as Communal Forests, which can be
gazetted by the Minister as stipulated by the Sarawak Forest Ordinance, or are the
forests merely areas where the people are allowed to exercise their Native
Customary Rights as spelt by the Sarawak Land Code?
How can you claim to have set aside a portion of land for a community, without
describing in detail the legal status of the land and its functions?
Illiterate solutions
However underlying the question of accountability is yet again the biggest flaw, one
which plagues at the fundamentals of such promises; one that submerges each
pledge into inevitable failure, as far as the welfare of the people is concerned.
The promises that the state seems to employ as a tool to dilute bad publicity on what
they must have regarded as the Perpetual Penan Problem, are unlikely to be able to
solve the people's troubles because the solutions to the problem are themselves
beset with a fundamental problem.
This fundamental error is a policy issue. It characterises the approach the state takes
in dealing with the community, which is arrogantly top-down and disregards the
importance of community participation in its decision-making process.
Such a policy may be able to churn out many solutions in the press but in reality,
they have little to do with the principal demand of the people, which is - halt all
logging operations on their land.
The refusal of the state to accurately read the demands of the people only produces
illiterate solutions.
They urge people who move around but live sustainably in the forest to settle
permanently, and equate it as a mark of modernness but the people are left to
endure living conditions which are unimaginably harsher than their forest life. They
build service centres and promise financial assistance but do nothing when the
people's food supply and source of income are destroyed. They promise clinics that
will cost them to travel to and then allow the people's water supply to be polluted
and their medicinal plants depleted. They want the people to take up agriculture but
do little to provide them with training and a seed support system. They promise
schools but they are so far away children will have to board in hostels - and in any
case their dwindling income also means that many parents cannot afford to settle the
schooling costs and fees. They claim that their promises will produce a modern
6. community but the people are so poor, they do not even have the money to travel to
the nearest town and apply for birth certificates and identification documents.
So why the urge for the people to settle at all?
Perhaps another young man who still dwells in the forest of upstream Magoh is able
to offer an explanation. quot;We know that if we agree to settle down, it would in effect
be a trade off for our forest. The government is asking us to settle down, as if once
when we are settled, they can do anything to our forest.quot;come.
Clearly, this is not a question of wanting to preserve the people as museum pieces.
This is a question of livelihood and choice. Development is supposed to make you
robust enough to be free to make your own choices. No one can be so when one is
hungry and poor.
And then, the spider. Super-comfortably hanging at the centre of the forest. Eager to
spread its cobweb from tree to tree. Spinning more tales. Hey, stop roaming the
forest from tree to tree. Do not live like wild animals. Come progress with me.
Can one imagine if the rice farmers of the 1950's
in Peninsular Malaysia had their rice fields
bulldozed and then told they too could produce
graduates and ministers?
Penan people in a typcial house.
Possessions are very sparse.