Borneo’s tropical ecosystems range from montane rainforests to lowland forests, peat swamps, mangroves and coral reefs. Despite being globally recognised for their high biodiversity, and as a source of livelihood for millions of people, the forests and peatlands of Borneo are threatened by intensive logging, oil palm and timber plantations, mining, agricultural development, and forest fires.
Planning for Borneo’s landscapes needs to incorporate diverse social and environmental issues, so we have developed new approaches to spatial planning to enable simultaneous optimisation for social and environmental objectives, to understand their trade-offs and synergies, and account for the contribution of a diverse range of land uses and activities to meeting these objectives.
We are working closely with Dr. Erik Meijaard, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners to extend and apply these methods, to help meet objectives for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and equitable development, and to help make planning and decision processes more transparent and sustainable.