Bentangor Environmental Education Center: A Living-Learning Natural Library

In 2009, we completed construction of phase one of our new Environmental Education Center located in the outskirts of Sukadana, including a meeting space with kitchen and bathrooms, and environmental displays. Sukadana is a critical target for our programs because it is the most populous town directly bordering the Gunung Palung National Park; as such, the actions of its residents have the more direct impact on the park.

We have cultivated close relationships with village leaders, government officials, and area students, teachers, and residents to inspire a sense of 'community owndership' and interest in further expanding the Center into a vibrant, multifunctional living-learning natural library.

Our new Center regularly hosts a flurry of ongoing educational activities for area residents of all ages -- alternative livelihoods workshops, trainings and demonstrations, natural science field trips, and meeting space and garden plots for local villagers. Current working demonstrations include: polybags to grow organic vegetables; a fuel-efficient earthen oven, biogas stove and long-burning kerosene and woodchip stove, and; bamboo as an alernative material to wood in making furniture, a duck and chicken coop, as well as a submersible cage for fish farming -- all part of our successful Alternative Livelihoods Program.

Our busy Bentangor Environmental Education Center is in need of a major expansion, and work is currently underway. We envision Bentangor as a vibrant, multifunctional living-learning natural library with improved facilities, displays, and expended access to important information about the region's extraordinary natural resources. A stream and small forest located on our land provide a convenient gateway to the National Park as well, making Bentangor the perfect setting for hands-on learning.

Moreover, our new multimedia library will include a wide array of books, periodicals, newsletters, films, and computers to increase conservation awareness among local villagers, our young Eco-Care Club members, GPOCP naturalist educators and interns, and many other visitors to the Center.

Construction of our new building offers and opportunity to demonstrate sustainable building practices. Given the rampant destruction of Borneo's vast forests in recent decades and its devastating impact on orangutan habitat, we are committed to using more environmentally-friendly materials, such as cement, brick, and rock (and minimizing the use of wood), for our construction project. By employing local builders and architects, we will also cultivate local knowledge and skill to support the spread of more sustainable building methods throughout the region.

Bentangor Environmental Education Center (Phase I).

Local villagers learn how to use bamboo as an alternative, sustainable building material.

Kindergarten coloring contest on Earth Day 2010.