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This Blog has moved to Arkitrek.com

2008-04-16T00:53:00.003+08:00

This Blog has moved.

All past and future posts can be found at Arkitrek.com

Carbon Neutral Office Tower?

2008-04-01T12:16:00.006+08:00

I was asked recently by a friend of a friend to comment on the practicality of building a carbon neutral office tower.

Without knowing any better, I bravely suggested that a carbon neutral office tower was not yet possible. The root problem I surmised is that we can’t control the source of energy delivered by the grid. Thus any would-be carbon neutral building needs to generate all of its power on site using renewables to be certain that its energy use is not causing carbon emissions.

Assuming that power generation of any kind is likely to take up a lot of space, it seems highly unlikely that a tall energy intensive building on a tight urban would be able to generate all of its power on site. The only viable way to be carbon neutral is therefore to generate as much as possible on site using renewables and use carbon offsetting or carbon capture to neutralise the remaining carbon emissions. Obviously having an energy efficient building will make emissions targets easier to achieve.

Having made these comments I thought it prudent to do a little post-verification just in case I had got it wrong. Luckily my old colleague and friend Mark Weintraub was able to confirm most of what I had surmised. Being something of a high rise guru Mark was able to point me in the direction of current best practice in sustainable design of tall buildings.

Apparently the best we can do at the moment is achieving 20% of a building's ongoing energy requirement generated on-site using renewables. This figure is included in a BREEAM 'excellent' rating or LEED 'platinum' rating. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmentally Design) are the sustainable design standards for the UK and USA respectively.

Mark suggested several approaches to on site generation. The favourite seems to be space efficient hydrogen fuel cells which can provide a large proportion of electrical energy and also cooling through absorption chillers. From what I can gather, absorption chillers use the heat output from the fuel cells’ electricity generation to dehumidify air prior to cooling by evaporation, but I’m not very clear on this at the moment.

Another option is a combined heat and power (CHP) plant run on biofuels but this takes up much more space than fuel cells.

In considering these options it is obvious to me that neither fuel cells nor CHP are automatically carbon neutral. We still need to get the fuel from somewhere. If you have read other pages of my blog you will see that I am very sceptical about carbon neutral biofuel. Similarly hydrogen does not simply occur; it must be produced by separating water molecules, a process which uses energy. Only if this energy comes from a truly carbon neutral source (such as geothermal, hydro or nuclear) can the resulting hydrogen claim to also be carbon neutral. These fuels also need to be transported to the building, a process which presumably will use a diesel engine truck. Everything is interconnected which makes it all very complicated.

Purists might argue that we should therefore rely on our building sheathed in photo-voltaics and bristling with wind turbines. This might avoid the pitfalls of certified carbon neutral fuel, but the fact that we haven’t done this yet suggests that either the technology is inadequate or that there is just not enough solar or wind energy acting on a single high density building to provide all of it’s energy requirements.

One advantage that is clear to me is that efforts to be carbon neutral are pushing for better designed and more energy efficient buildings. In rural and lower density suburban sites, carbon neutral and/or off grid buildings are already a reality, but in high density urban centres we are still waiting for either sustainable design technology to improve or our grid electricity to be carbon neutral.

In the Shit - A Septic Tank Guide

2008-03-26T15:45:00.012+08:00

A few people have asked me recently ‘what do I know about septic tanks?’, which made me realise that I know very little. To date my contribution to sustainable wastewater management has been a note on my drawing saying ‘pipe connected to new septic tank designed by contractor’ or even better ‘pipe connected to existing septic tank’.

Realising that I need to be a little more responsible than this, I have been googling all sorts of interesting subjects and this is a summary of what I have come up with.

Most septic tanks in Sabah look something like this. They are made of either plastic or concrete and usually discharge straight into a river or open drain. The effluent (discharge) pipe takes water from well below the scum layer and well above the sludge layer. Each time a new delivery arrives at the influent (inflow) pipe it will displace an equal volume of effluent.

There are two very important considerations:

Time is needed for bacteria to digest the waste. The tank needs to be large enough that fresh influent can sit for a while before being displaced as effluent. Obviously a higher volume of water flushing through the tank will need a larger tank.
Sludge will get deeper and eventually need to be removed. This is usually done by a ‘honey dipper’ as the Americans euphemistically call it. In reality it’s a tanker truck with a big dirty vacuum cleaner. In Sabah I have discovered that they don’t have this kind of truck so the sludge has to be removed by hand. Often immigrant labour will be used for this job which makes it more acceptable, apparently. On many of the sites I am working with there is no vehicular access anyway. In which case when the tank fills with sludge the only viable option is to seal it up and build another one.

This is what happens if sludge is not cleaned out, but instead allowed to reach the outflow level of the effluent pipe. Any new delivery will cause sludge to be displaced as effluent. Clearly this is not good. In some cases the effluent pipe will become blocked and scum followed by sludge will come out through the inspection hatch or back up into the building. Clearly this is not good either. It is usually fairly obvious when this starts to happen because of the smell.

When correctly maintained this septic tank system works well. Plastic tanks are available cheaply off the shelf and concrete ones are easily built insitu. This system is apparently favoured by the Malaysian Ministry of Health.

A better system is to use dual tanks (or one tank with two compartments) which allows more control of the digestion process. The first tank has a mix of undigested and partially digested waste, whereas the second tank contains only partially digested and completely digested waste. Turbulence caused by fresh influent does not stir up the waste in the second tank.

Dual tanks will also give a better chance that wastewater will stay in the system long enough for waste to be fully digested. Dual tanks still need to be de-sludged, although perhaps at reduced frequency in the second tank.

In Sabah it seems acceptable to discharge effluent straight into the environment, even from a single tank system. In Western countries the standard practice is to use a ‘Leach Field’ or 'Soakaway'. This is usually a series of perforated pipes connected to the effluent and buried in the soil. The wastewater is then slowly filtered and any remaining pathogens have time to be digested by bacteria in the soil. This probably makes more sense in a temperate climate where cold temperatures can inhibit bacteria growth.

My feeling is that in the humid tropics we probably get away without a leach field because as soon as the treated effluent is in the open, the bacteria have everything they need (oxygen, heat, water) to very quickly demolish any remaining pathogens. In the context of a rainforest camp I cautiously suggest that I am happy with this approach, as long as the effluent is downstream from the camp. The rainforest is very good at decomposing organic waste.

Where I am not comfortable with this approach is in slightly higher density projects such as a field station or jungle lodge. Although the environment may not be bothered by treated effluent, I have to consider the possibility of it coming into contact with people. In this case a good alternative is to use a reed bed or maturation pond for the final stage of effluent treatment. In extreme cases of a lot of people on a very small site – an island resort for example – I was interested to read that a hydroponicum can be used for this purpose.

After researching all of this I am still left with one very significant question. How do you deal with the sludge? Clearly I do not consider it acceptable to send someone down to dig it out.

One idea I have been thinking of is to try to using alternating septic tanks. Once one tank is full the influent is re-plumbed to an empty adjacent tank. Extra organic matter (rice husks, oil palm fibres etc) is then added to the full tank to soak up any remaining liquid and then it is sealed off and left for a year or more. By the time the second tank is full perhaps the first tank would have digested to something relatively harmless which could be more safely dug out?

The problem I have with this idea is that unlike a composting toilet, the sealed off tank would not be able to be dried out thoroughly. Unless it could be dried out I am not sure that the sludge could be composted to something non-hazardous.

Another idea I’m thinking of follows the ‘seal it up and forget about it’ philosophy. The catch with this is that plastic and concrete do not just go away. I am wondering therefore whether it is possible to make a septic tank out of a biodegradable material? Obviously it would need to last long enough for the tank to fill up (say 2-5 years) but then after that it could be allowed to degrade, say over a period of 10 years.

There are two other unfinished leads in this story. The first is how a composting toilet works and the second is what happens to the sludge once it has been ‘honey dipped’? Those stories are for another day. Meanwhile if anyone has any helpful advice on the above I’d be very happy to hear it.

Environmentalism Schism

2008-03-07T09:46:00.007+08:00

As a sometime environmentalist I often find myself joining email campaigns of the ‘save the whales’ variety, targeting careless corporations and evil industrialists. The Ecological Internet petition that I signed this morning was different though. It included in its many targets, household eco-warrior names such as WWF, Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth.

Although I moderated the tone of the pre-composed text, I still felt slightly uncomfortable hitting the ‘send’ button. This is not the first email alert of this kind that I have received from Ecological Internet, but it is the first one that I have acted upon. In pondering my motivation for this mutinous act, it will help to look at the background of a couple of key issues.

Many of you will know about Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. For those who don’t; it is a mechanism designed to reduce the environmental impact of an extractive industry, in this case logging. It works by creating a brand by which consumers can recognise timber products which originated from sustainably managed forests. The key to its success is independent auditing and enforcement of approved forest management procedures and chain of custody of the subsequent product.

FSC certification can apply to plantations, secondary forest and primary forest.

The gist of Ecological Internet’s campaign is that the Earth’s climate is in such dire straights that we cannot afford to loose any more primary / old growth forest, and yet the above mentioned household names are all condoning and even encouraging FSC certified logging of primary forests.

I am sympathetic to this cause because the claimed environmental benefits of FSC seem to be in danger of exceeding their true value. There is even a suggestion that FSC certified logging of primary forest should be eligible for carbon credits. I do not need scientific research to prove to me that extracting the large valuable trees from primary forest will result in a net increase in carbon emissions – the opposite of a carbon credit.

The Schism is equally evident in the debate on biofuels. Biofuel consumption is increasing, predicated on the belief that it can help reduce our carbon emissions by replacing traditional fossil fuels. In this case there is scientific evidence which proves that biofuel can actually result in greater carbon emissions than fossil fuels. This occurs when the biofuel feedstock is grown on land which was previously rainforest. The rub being that rainforest and the soil that it grew from stored more carbon than subsequent oil palms, soy beans etc.

Thus, on the one hand, organisations like Biofuelwatch are arguing that many of the claimed environmental benefits of biofuel are unfounded and we should not rush to embrace them. On the other hand WWF maintains that the use of biofuels should be increased and the sustainability claims made more accountable by the use of assessment and enforcement mechanisms similar to FSC. In this case known as the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

Given that palm oil plantations are a fact (and a very economically compelling fact) it makes perfect sense to me to try to influence the behaviour of the industry by working with it rather than against it. FSC started from a similar understanding; that if logging is going to happen anyway, why not try to create an incentive to do it more sustainably. The incentive being that FSC certified timber can access more markets and possibly at premium price.

The demand for FSC and RSPO certified products is generated in part by campaigning organisations and I am encouraged that these campaigns seem to be influencing behaviour for the better. Of course there will be those who say that too little is being done too late but the risk that environmentalists face, is if they are too self-righteous and aggressive in their campaigns then the target industry will close their ears and minds and we will achieve nothing.

When I consulted a close friend on my conundrum she said that the best we can do is to encourage engagement between all parties. She used the metaphor that a lack of engagement between environmentalists and industrialists in certain parts of Sabah had resulted not only in fragmented points of view, but in a fragmented landscape.

If I dig deep into my motivation for hitting that send button, I come upon a dialogue to which I was privy between Biofuelwatch and WWF. Biofuelwatch had attempted to engage with WWF on the subject of WWF policy on bio-fuels. The tone of the Biofuelwatch correspondence was in my opinion well reasoned. It was not confrontational or sensational as is often the case with Ecological Internet. The response from WWF was I thought, rather haughty and refused to acknowledge that there was an issue which needed to be addressed at that time. End of dialogue. I still do not know whether they are addressing it. Clearly, Ecological Internet believes that they are not addressing the FSC issue either.

The root of the schism appear to be that, while certification can help to reduce the environmental impact of some sectors of the industry, it does little to restrain the continued logging of primary forest or the expansion of biofuel feedstock cultivation. So, we have moderate environmentalists taking a cooperative tone while more radical activists are pointing out that this diverts attention from the continuing destruction taking place on the front line.

Although I am not always aligned with the style of presentation of Ecological Internet’s arguments, their email campaigns appear to be effective. They also seem to be able to identify campaign targets which are unpalatable to many and yet essential if environmentalism is to continue provoke debate and change on the most relevant issues.

I worry that the Grand Daddies of environmentalism might be focusing too closely on their damage limitation campaigns – such as reducing the impact of logging – that they are loosing sight of the fundamental principles upon which their organisations were founded – such as the prevention of logging.

I am troubled by the fact that environmentalists are turning against each other to point this out and also feel slightly guilty that I have joined in this attack. I present this article in the hope that it can explain if not excuse my actions and perhaps even help to facilitate engagement. I’d prefer our campaigns and environment intact, not fragmented.

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO)

2007-11-04T10:02:00.005+08:00

Despite evidence of the harmful effects of biofuel expansion, the British and European Governments are pushing ahead with legislation to increase biofuel use particularly in transport. I was sufficiently agitated by this development to instigate discussion with my MP and MEP.

The correspondence began with a standard letter produced by the biofuelwatch 'take action' page. I was impressed that my MEP wrote back and so took the opportunity to engage in more personal dialogs in the form of the following text:

* * * * *

Dear Richard Corbett, many thanks for taking the time to reply to me on the subject of biofuels and the RTFO.

Despite your assurances I am concerned that the British and European Parliaments are mistaken in promoting biofuels as a measure to reduce CO2 emissions. Legislation designed to increase biofuel use in transport seems designed to ease our conscience whilst allowing us to continue with business as usual.

I am working on conservation related projects in Malaysia at the moment and am seeing first hand the effect that rising demand for biofuel feedstock is having on land use policies here. We know that growing biofuels is less effective at reducing CO2 than conserving or replanting rainforest Science 17th August 2007) so why is Britain and Europe promoting CO2 reduction policies that create an economic incentive to clear more rainforest?

These policies are also having a negative effect on the environment at home in Europe, where our set-aside land has been an early casualty. If as Peter Kendall (president of the National Farmers' Union) has suggested, we plant all Britain's set-aside with Oil See Rape for biofuels, we risk compromising land that is a last refuge for biodiversity and provides valuable eco-system services such as flood mitigation.

I hope that you can see how obvious this policy mistake is and help to argue for meaningful reductions in transport emissions through policies which will reduce the overall volume of transport. Examples which I support are congestion charging and high fuel efficiency targets.

Doubtless detractors will point at the economic cost of these measures but we need to face up to the fact that tackling climate change is going to cost us. However as The Stern Report has convincingly concluded; the cost of tackling it will not be nearly as high as the cost of not tackling it.

Yours Sincerely

Ian Hall

* * * * *

Dear Ian Hall,

thank you for your well-put arguments. In my view, it reinforces the case for being very careful with biofuel but not for ruling it out entirely.

Best wishes,

Richard Corbett MEP
Labour Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and Humber

* * * * *

Sustainable Forest Management

2007-11-04T10:00:00.003+08:00

My story of the Wild Cuckoo Chase is a case study into how seemingly elusive is the concept of sustainable forest management. At the Sabah Society talk in May 2007 entitled ‘Forestry in Sabah’ the State Director of Forestry admitted to an ‘environmental disaster’ in Ulu Segama Malua Forest Reserve.

Now 6 months on, the logging in this area is drawing to a close and the Forestry Department and NGO’s are poised to begin an ambitious reforestation program. This is a tough call for the NGO’s to make because although rehabilitation is desperately needed, to do so excuses the logging company from their obligation to avoid doing the damage in the first place. It sends the message that it’s OK to log unsustainably because someone else will pay to clear up the mess. The logging licensee (in this case Yayasan Sabah) is left to go on making unsustainable profits by extracting timber from other forest reserves.

In the area surrounding Imbak Canyon Conservation Area, Yayasan Sabah is about to start logging the Sungai Pinangah Forest Reserve, otherwise known as Forest Management Units (FMU) 15 and 16. Together these FMU's total 190,000ha and include large tracts of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF).

The extent of this gearing-up to logging is clearly illustrated by the rate at which the State Government has been approving Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for timber extraction. These approvals have risen from 16,000ha of forest in 2005 to 29,000ha in 2006 and 67,000ha so far in 2007. Source: Sabah State Government

The fact that logging contractors must get EIA approval may sound encouraging but in fact this is largely a formality, serving only to delay rather than mitigate environmental damage. If logging is to go ahead, then the only widely accepted standard for environmental damage limitation is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

Full FSC certification is a rigorous process and may take several years to complete but it would ensure that wildlife corridors, HCVF, steep areas and riparian reserves area all identified and protected. It is encouraging therefore that Yayasan Sabah are apparently intending to gain FSC certification for FMU’s 15 and 16. Souce: Tropical Forest Trust

The big question then is; why have EIA’s already been granted to log over 112,400ha of this forest when the FSC certification process has not got beyond the ‘pre-assessment’ phase?

It will be interesting to find out whether Yayasan Sabah are serious about FSC certification and if not, what alternative method of environmental protection is being used. It would be inexcusable to see a repeat of the Ulu Segama Malua disaster in Sungai Pinangah Forest Reserve.

Wild Cuckoo Chase Pt.III

2007-10-01T09:40:00.002+08:00

Read Part I and II first

Department Admits Logging Disaster’. That was the headline in the Sabah Daily Express the morning after the Sabah Society talk. It seems that the question and answer session at the end of the talk was dominated by discussion of an environmental crisis which had been unfolding for some time in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve. It is uncharacteristically frank for a politician to admit to a ‘disaster’ and to give him credit the gist of the message appeared to be; ‘it’s a fair cop Guv, please go easy on us and we’ll promise not to do it again’.

The Ulu Segama Forest Reserve is managed by Yayasan Sabah for commercial timber harvesting. It almost completely encircles the Danum Valley Conservation Area and includes much of the catchment of the Segama River. Unsustainable logging practices have been prevalent in this reserve since the 1960’s but had intensified as the deadline to phase out all logging by the end of 2007 approached. The hardest hit area is known as North Ulu Segama and comprises 12,000ha of virtually clear-cut forest. Environmental refugees, famously orang-utans, have been unable to escape their decimated habitat due to being hemmed in by Oil Palm plantations to the north and the Segama River to the south.

Notwithstanding the environmental tragedy, the public interest of this case is that the Ulu Segama region is subject to a Sustainable Forest Management License Agreement (SFMLA). In other words Yayasan Sabah are contractually bound to manage this forest sustainably. The admission of an ‘Environmental Disaster’ by Sabah Forestry Department suggests that the SFMLA had been broken. Technically Yayasan Sabah can be sued for mismanagement and although this is unlikely to happen, at least the public now have evidence that their forest reserves are not managed as sustainably as it is claimed.

The other ‘successful’ outcome of the Sabah Society talk was that my 'press release' style email was mistakenly read out as a question to the Director of Forestry. In this email I had focused on the fact that proposed logging coupes near Imbak did not respect either the Imbak buffer zone or the presence of the Research Station and proposed Studies Centre. The Director’s response was to deny all knowledge of research activities near Imbak Canyon and in doing so suggest that the Conservation Division were not being transparent.

This of course was the incident to which my client referred in our meeting. As awkward as it was I knew that I had to explain myself immediately. My confession was taken curiously and on leaving the meeting I had the feeling that a re-appraisal had occurred, both of me and of the situation. Now that the dust has settled it looks as though the Imbak Studies Centre site and adjacent research plots will be spared the chainsaw, although how this will affect the viability of the proposed Studies Centre remains to be seen.

Wild Cuckoo Chase Pt.II

2007-09-15T17:33:00.002+08:00

Read Part I first

Imbak Tampoi Basecamp

A white Landcruiser bounces into the Imbak Tampoi Basecamp and three men jump out clutching rolls of paper and clip boards. I sense forestry officials and so try to lurk inconspicuously. ‘Is that a map of Imbak region?’ I enquire innocently, ‘can I have a look?’ I add before he has a chance to respond. Sure enough it is a map of the proposed logging coupe, an area of nearly 23,000ha in the Sungai Pinangah, Gunung Rara and Kuamut Forest Reserves.

Much of this region has already been logged but as this selective harvesting was done 20-30 years ago there is much valuable secondary forest remaining. The proposed coupe borders four Virgin Jungle Reserves and encompasses un-logged areas, the Imbak Canyon buffer zone, plus steep areas which shouldn't be logged under the sustainable forest management license agreement.

Most of my attention however is focussed on the 5000ha around the Tampoi Basecamp highlighted to be the first to go, sometime before the end of the year 2007. A short way down the track workers are already conscientiously marking out the 30m riparian reserve along the Imbak River.

I communicate my findings to an NGO colleague in Kota Kinabalu and together we begin to disseminate information to hopefully sympathetic acquaintances. Our plan is that we might be able to persuade someone to raise the issue at a forthcoming presentation to the Sabah Society by Sam Mannan, Sabah’s Director of Forestry. We even prime Sam himself about our concerns plus I write a ‘press release’ style email to the Sabah Society to inform them on the situation.

Unfortunately I can not make it to the talk as I am still in Imbak looking at birds. It is depressing to be surveying an area where our data may just record what used to exist. In this context I’m not sure whether it is better to find more species or less. Of course it’s better to find more but the whole thing feels rather hopeless. We record over 150 species, nearly 50 of which are Near Threatened or faced with a High Risk of Extinction as categorised by the IUCN Redlist.

A week later I am sitting in the office of my client; the Conservation Division of Yayasan Sabah. We are discussing my design of a new research laboratory at Danum Valley Field Centre but at the end of the meeting I can’t help enquiring for a progress report on the logging at Imbak Basecamp. Apparently the conservation division have lodged an appeal to save the 5000ha but are not hopeful. Once the logging contracts have been awarded it is very difficult to go back.

I ask whether the public and conservationists can help by campaigning for a reprieve. ‘No! That is absolutely what you should not do’ I am told emphatically, before he continued, ‘because apparently someone wrote an email that was read out at the Sabah Society talk and thanks to Sam’s [Mannan: Director of Forestry] response we are now having to answer to the Tan Sri about some things which have appeared in the papers about our Conservation Division’. My stomach lurched. He did not know who had written the email but I had a horrible feeling that I knew who the author was. I didn’t know what had happened at the talk, but it seemed that I had inadvertently landed my patron in the shit.

Pete on the Kangkawat River border of Imbak Canyon Conservation Area. The left hand side will be logged, the right hand side is conservation area.

Wild Cuckoo Chase Pt.I

2007-08-28T08:25:00.002+08:00

Pete and I were standing motionless on the nature trail at Danum Valley Field Centre, our ears craned and binoculars at the ready. We were on a twitch. Some friends of Pete’s had reported sensational sighting of a Giant Pitta on this trail just a month before. The Giant Pitta is high on the wanted list of every bird watcher who comes to Borneo, but at this moment it was the call of a quite different bird that we were straining to hear. The instant I heard it I recalled a similar scenario, an occasion that my father described as our ‘Wild Cuckoo Chase’ in the company of Robert Chong aboard one of his boats on the Kinabatangan River. One of Robert’s specialities is locating and tracking the shy Bornean Ground Cuckoo through his well practised ability to imitate it's call. I will never forget the call as we had to listen to Robert and a Ground Cuckoo in duet for nearly an hour without a glimpse for reward. I have still never seen one but it is now firmly on my Danum observation list recorded on call.

The presence of Peter Stephens, together with John and Jemi Holmes and me at Danum Valley was intended as a warm up to get our eyes and ears tuned-in before our ambitious trip to survey the bird biodiversity and abundance at Imbak Canyon. The purpose of this trip (apart from our own enjoyment) was to gather more evidence of the biological wealth of Imbak and hence help to secure its protection. Our noble objectives were soon to receive a bitter reality check.

One of the perks of working for the Sabah Foundation is that I get to stay at their conservation areas for free. The downside of this is that I have to do some work while I am there. I therefore reluctantly tore myself away from the Giant Pitta Hunt and returned to the Field Centre to fire up my laptop. The first email I read was from a bird-watching acquaintance responding with some useful information about their recent trip to Imbak. At the end of the email was a remark that stopped my heart; ‘enjoy it while you can, as they are going to log the area around the Imbak Tampoi Basecamp before the end of the year’!

The Tampoi Basecamp is an area I know so well that I can move through the jungle without map or guide. I have explored every corner and recognise individual trees, many of which carry fond memories. I was angry and indignant that they could be logged and began to feel slightly sick with despair. Fantasies about tying myself to trees and lying down in front of bulldozers leapt unbidden into my mind. In reality I felt so impotent that in my fantasy I would risk everything to save these trees. Surely even the headline ‘Western Activist locked-up without trial and key thrown away’ would be preferable to doing nothing?

Unfortunately I am not Julia Butterfly Hill, neither do I have the confidence and determination that my younger sister devotes to activism. I am at heart one of those who are reluctant to rock the boat because I am scared that the outcome may leave us in a worse situation than when we started. Nonetheless, I am certain there must be something that I can do.

New Lab for Danum Valley

2007-06-19T03:44:00.002+08:00

As our rainforest resources dwindle, so the scientific understanding of their systems becomes more critically important. It is hoped that this knowledge can help to promote more sustainable management and conservation in the future.

The Royal Society's South East Asia Rainforest Research Program (SEARRP) has now been running at Danum Valley for over 20 years. Due to the continuing success of this and other research programs, the facilites at the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) are now outdated and inadequate.

Consequently the DVFC management in partnership with SEARRP and Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) are proposing to relocate the research and administrative hub of the field centre to a site adjacent to the existing Shell Malaysia sponsored management office.

The new building totals 500m² of labs, offices and conferencing, including dedicated accommodation for both the Royal Society and WWF. It features good passive solar design, water cooled walls plus shaded courtyard and breakout spaces designed to encourage informal interaction between users.

The Site next to the existing management office and environmental education gallery. This is a good example of the 'air-conditioned box with mirrored glass windows' style of architecture which I discussed in my earlier post; Cultural Conditioning

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

South Elevation

BRL - Chalet Photos

2007-05-25T12:04:00.002+08:00

Here are some photos of the first completed refurbished chalets.

The general idea of the refurbishment was to improve the environmental performance of the buildings and to raise the standard of comfort and facilities available to guests. The layout of bedrooms has been modified to enhance the feeling of privacy and provide a better view of the rainforest, ensuite bathrooms are now more spacious and luxurious and selected chalets feature a private spa bath on the veranda with uninterrupted views of the Danum River.

To maintain the interior of the rooms at a comfortable temperature a number of sustainable design principles have been followed to help ensure that we do not need to rely on energy intensive air-conditioning:

- Good passive solar design means that no direct sunlight can enter and heat up the room.
- Thermal insulation in roof and walls to reduce indirect heat transmittance into the room
- New and increased areas of cross ventilation in both the bedroom and ensuite bathroom
- Mechanical roof extract fan to remove accumulated hot air from the ceiling space
- Floor ventilation inlet to bring in cooler air from underneath the building.

Additional energy saving is achieved through the use of solar water heaters and more intelligent control of all electrical installations. Finishes and fixtures have also been completely overhauled to a much higher standard and where possible either locally sourced and/or recycled materials have been specified.

Eco Tourism

2007-04-28T11:59:00.002+08:00

Above is a photo of work in progress at BRL. This ‘mock-up’ chalet is now complete and all remaining 8 rooms should be ready by the end of June. We deliberately programmed construction to complete one twin chalet ahead of the others. This approach has proved very useful and has allowed us time to tweak the design without big cost penalties.

The photo shows the concrete base of a spa bath which has been installed in six of the ten chalets. As well as being the area of design which as been most ‘tweaked’, this bath also provokes debate about the nature of eco-tourism lodges.

Ecological tourism (eco-tourism) is a form of tourism which aims to be both ecologically and socially conscious. It is usually associated with travel to areas with a rich cultural heritage, outstanding natural beauty and high biodiversity. Due to the fragility of such environments there is a risk that tourism may damage exactly the characteristics that attract the tourists in the first place.

Therefore any would be eco-tourism resort should demonstrably minimize the adverse effects of traditional tourism on the natural environment and enhance the cultural integrity of local people. Currently the implementation of eco-tourism principles is mostly voluntary and there is little regulation within the industry or local governments. This has led to claims that some tourism operators use the term eco-tourism as a marketing tool without accountability for their claims.

As a result regulation is now starting to be driven by organisations such as Wild Asia who use both the internet and mainstream media to promote the concepts of Eco-tourism and/or Responsible Tourism. The result of this is that any would be eco-tourism resort must adhere to the principles of eco-tourism

As commendable as these principles are, they ignore a more fundamental debate about how luxurious should an eco-tourism lodge be. There is a strong argument which says that eco-tourism should promote more modest, less consumerist ways of living.

By this argument the above mentioned principles of eco-tourism are devalued to a ‘retrofit kit’, serving only to minimise the impact of our actions rather than questioning the existence of these actions in the first place.

A 33m² (110ft²) ensuite bedroom with veranda and private spa is not modest. Each spa bath requires the use and subsequent disposal of 800litres (210gallon) of water and has necessitated the installation of large solar water heaters with additional electrical backup heating.

If I apply the above question I can’t help thinking that the environment would be better served by not having the spa baths in the first place, rather than trying to mitigate their impact with the use of solar water heaters and biodegradable soap.

My client however would be quick to point out that all aspects of this refurbishment will make BRL more competitive in a rapidly expanding market. A successful Borneo Rainforest Lodge is currently one of the best incentives to conserve the Danum Valley and Ulu Segama rainforest.

The Lost Valley of Imbak

2007-03-25T20:58:00.002+08:00

Work at Borneo Rainforest Lodge has reached a comfortable pause while the contractor is away thinking about how much the chalet refurbishments are going to cost. Our plan is to construct a test chalet before progressing with the other nine units. Right now all my ‘innovative’ ideas are still in favour with the client and hopefully we can keep them in there through the cost planning process. These include advanced concepts such as wall and roof insulation and cross ventilation. I’ve also proposed a floor vent coupled with a solar powered roof extract fan to help the cold air in hot air out cycle.

Meanwhile I’ve been off on some site visits with some friends from the USA. In fact Mauricio is Mexican and Susan is German but they both practice in Los Angeles with a company called Urban Networks. As the name suggests they have a largely urban portfolio but are pretty hot designers and are well up on sustainability issues. I’m working together with them on proposals for a new Studies Centre in the Imbak Conservation Area. Until this trip we had only met by Skype conference but over the course of ten days on the road we developed a great mutual respect and I’m pleased to say became close friends. Thanks for this are due to another friend Cynthia of http://www.leapspiral.org/ who has put the team together and whose drive and committment is taking the project to another level.

As most of you will be aware I have been involved in the Imbak Canyon project since I was sent there by Raleigh in 2004 to facilitate some young volunteers to come up with concept proposals for a new studies centre. On that occasion my colleagues in Raleigh had short listed some potential sites but the areas in question were still heavily overgrown secondary rainforest. It was our job to try to visualise a studies centre on a site that you literally could not see for the trees. Since then a base camp has sprung up whose buildings and layout have elaborated on designs that I sketched out. On subsequent trips I have been able to survey the Studies Centre site in more detail and refine the original concept design.

Knowing this you may therefore by sympathetic to my feeling of threat when informed that a group based in the US had come bearing sponsorship money and were to take over the architectural design of the Centre. This fear very quickly gave way to the realisation that my involvement wasn’t under threat but that I would have to adapt to a changing role. With this in mind I contacted Cynthia at LEAP and found myself with a new and perhaps more exciting opportunity. Our first task as a team was to plan a study trip and site visit to conservation areas in Sabah.

As the date for the trip drew closer the itinerary became increasingly jam packed. We planned to visit not only Imbak Canyon but also Maliau Basin and Danum Valley conservation areas. Perhaps heeding my grumbling about hours of driving on bumpy 4WD logging roads, Cynthia introduced the idea of doing one leg by helicopter. This would be very instructional and would indeed help us to fulfil our professional obligations we all agreed. The trip budget was re-examined and I began to believe that after four months living under a tarpaulin at the edge of the conservation area I might finally get to see the legendary Canyon from the air.

The flight from Kota Kinabalu to Imbak takes about an hour and on the way we crossed the virgin rainforest of the Crocker Range National Park followed by miles and miles of secondary forest degraded to varying degrees. On this flight plan we were fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate not to instead cross miles and miles of palm oil plantation which generally succeeds secondary rainforest. As we were just starting to get bored the pilot announced in our headphones that the boundary of the Canyon was ahead. What I could see was a forested mountainside rising to the same altitude as our aircraft and stretching away to either side. The top of the ridge was hidden in cloud and we feared that we would not find a break which would allow us to cross. We were flying into the sun and the cloud seemed blinding white and impervious, the jungle almost black by contrast. A gap appeared and we altered course. ‘Oh lucky day!’ announced our pilot ‘welcome to the lost valley of Imbak’. I felt my breath choke in my throat.

We crossed the ridge top with 200ft to spare and dropped steeply to follow the valley floor. Imbak is not really a canyon but as they already have a ‘Valley’ and a ‘Basin’ it was necessary to come up with a different sound bite. I have been lucky enough to fly over Maliau Basin by helicopter but it has nothing like Imbak. The valley floor is wide and level and is carpeted with enormous trees. It would be easy pickings for the logging contractors and as you might imagine they are all scratching at the door. Imbak’s existence is still tenuous for although it has been set aside for conservation, it could still legally be logged. All that it would take is a decision by a single politician who may or may not be best mates with some logging contractors. The existence of a studies centre and nature tourism operations would go a long way to beefing up it’s protection.

Cultural Conditioning

2007-03-25T20:40:00.002+08:00

There were a number of air-conditioning related comments to the last blog post, so I feel the need to try to explain myself a bit better. The following critique could be aimed at any country and discusses cultural aspirations for the built environment.

In many cases these aspirations lead to inappropriate use of materials and technology with scant regard for sense of place or community. This is represented in Sabah by gridiron rows of concrete air conditioned boxes with mirrored glass windows and faux stone columns.

Often the stylistic aspiration comes from perceptions of what a modern developed country should look like. It's a delicate exercise telling someone that their new office building should not look like a Dallas mansion and that instead it should respond to the regional environment in a similar way that local traditional buildings are a response to their culture, materials and climate. The paradox is that in a developing country these traditional buildings represent the subsistence agriculture that they want to move on from. In their rush to embrace the ‘new technologies’ of air conditioning and tinted glass they forget basic considerations such as orientation and sun shading that were intrinsic to traditional buildings.

Air conditioning is not automatically a bad thing, but it is when used as a panacea for poor thermal and solar design. My point is that it’s possible to reduce the reliance on air conditioning through simple methods such as orientation, shading and insulation. If this point can be made successfully then other interesting things can also start to happen, like connection between the building and its environment. By that I mean for example; that natural east and west light is allowed to illuminate breakfast and dinner respectively, that fresh air be allowed into the building to remind you that it's just stopped raining outside and that you can still look at the view through clear glass and accurately judge what time of day it is.

To complete the circle I’ll come back to an observation that many local people do not like to sit on the veranda and look at the view. They’d prefer to sit in a dark, air conditioned box watching Sky TV. I’m not sure why there is a pervasive culture of turning your back on the environment, Perhaps it has something to do with the speed at which Sabah has been developing over the last couple of decades. The attitude still persists that the forest is either to be feared or overcome.

Unfortunately new technologies mean that the relationship with the forest is not as sustainable as it once was. As a metaphor; one of my clients explains that most people can still remember wrapping their rice cake packed lunch in a leaf. They still eat rice cake packed lunches but now it is wrapped in plastic. There is a big difference between throwing away a leaf and throwing away plastic.

Luckily there is a growing culture of environmental awareness and people placing a recreational value on nature. You only need to look at the number of locals heading out to enjoy the cool climate of Kinabalu Park at the weekend to see this in action. With this should follow a greater pride in the natural and cultural heritage of the country and a will to conserve it. I’m hoping that more environmentally responsive buildings will start to become part of this heritage.

Borneo Rainforest Lodge

2007-03-25T20:37:00.003+08:00

This is Borneo Rainforest Lodge, otherwise known as BRL to the cognoscenti. It’s marketed as ‘An exclusive facility for natural history tourism’. It is exclusive because it is relatively small, relatively expensive and difficult to get to.

Size is a key issue when talking about eco-tourism. The Danum Valley Conservation Area is virgin lowland rainforest, far too fragile to put up with hordes of tourists trampling through the undergrowth. Besides, the uncomfortable two and a half hour 4WD journey should be enough to dissuade the mass-market.

Once here though, you realise what you are paying for. The hotel is on a bend in the Danum River and the rainforest is in your face. There are orang utans feeding on the opposite river bank, a wild pig called Moustache raiding the kitchen and endangered species of birds knocking themselves out by flying into windows.

The guests that I have spoken to are all overwhelmed by the place, although most also have some useful feedback that is helping me with my brief. For example, there is roughly a 50:50 split between those who think that there should be air conditioning in the rooms and those who are happy without. The other main comments, luckily, mostly tally with what my client has asked me to have a look at. Guests all stay in individual chalets, the oldest of which are starting to get a little tired now. My work is therefore mainly a refurbishment job, but also includes improving the natural lighting and ventilation and installing ‘Balinese’ baths on the verandas of the best chalets.

An important consideration is to try to reduce solar gain in the chalets so that we can continue to resist the calls for air conditioning. Unfortunately timber heats up rapidly during the day and the interior can quickly become uncomfortable. The challenge would seem to be to try to keep the sun off the building but things are never that simple. In this high humidity environment timber rapidly deteriorates if it is not baked dry by the sun for a few hours every day. A combination of a well insulated over-sailing roof, masonry in the shaded parts and timber in the sunny parts would seem to be the ideal combination.

I am also looking at their main lodge and trying to improve its layout and create more space for guests, both around the edge of the building where they can watch the wildlife and in the high open central space where they can keep cool. My job of recommending improvements to the lodge is made a lot easier by the fact that there are some easy to spot fundamental cock-ups with the planning. For example; front of house and back of house are hopelessly confused. In this refurbishment I am also indebted to the months and months spent drawing hotels for Weintraub Associates.

The Chalets and the Main Lodge are the meat of my work here, but there are also some fun projects on the side including a tented camp in the jungle and a tree-top observation hide. My biggest fear is that the months here will pass all too quickly.

Arkitrek - Everyday Junglists

2007-02-16T22:38:00.002+08:00

ARKITREK – setaip hari dalam hutan (everyday junglism)

Have just returned from a 5 day expedition through Borneo’s finest rainforest… What a trip! The landscape is truly magnificent, the terrain is rough, rugged - physically and psychologically demanding, but the places I have been have made all the blood, sweat and cursing all the worth while J We walked several kilometres everyday visiting different camp sites which need developing. At the same time we observed the condition of the trails through the jungle (where trails existed!) and identified different sites along the way for potential rest stops for future visitors. The challenge will be to make the architecture as unobtrusive as possible, respecting the existing terrain and maximising spectacular views through and across the rainforest.

One of the highlights was visiting the Maliau Falls, deep in the heart of the basin – absolutely beautiful. The waterfall cascades 7 tiers - I was lucky enough to be swimming beneath and between the final 2. It felt so good to be refreshing myself in the river’s clear water, knowing that when this place is developed the visitors will not be allowed such privileges.

After visiting the falls we trekked 3 kilometres uphill to Lobah Camp. It was hard work, especially as I suffered a hunger attack just before we reached camp! I needed to stop and replenish myself with emergency biscuits as my knees went wobbly 1 km before our destination. As I climbed the final makeshift ladder I encountered Ian sitting on a rock, chewing a straw of grass and grinning. ‘What took you so long?’ ‘Munchies man…’ I then took notice of where I had arrived and with a big smile on my face, got snapping with my camera. From here I had a 360-degree panoramic view of the basin rim, looking down onto the forever-sprawling forest canopy – stunning.

View from Lobah Hills at sunrise.

The following day, I spent the best part of it falling arse over heel downwards! It rained overnight and so it was wet and slippery underfoot. My shoes let me down, as they are not proper junglist footwear… I wasn’t helped by the fact that no-one had walked this route for 3 years and so the trail was non-existent in some parts. I soon realised after much rolling around in mud whilst shouting out obscene profanity that this was part and parcel of being a true-junglist. Life in the jungle is not about jumping around the club around waiting for the next wicked bass-line to drop - It’s about picking yourself up after each fall and getting on with it! It goes hand in hand with other everyday inconveniences i.e. leeches in your shoe, other bugs that bite, being followed by a swarm of bees who want nothing more that to lick the sweat off your skin, wearing the same minging t-shirt everyday, sleeping in hammocks that are 12 inches too short, the list goes on… but I’m not grumbling (much;) at all – a TRUE junglist, fights for survival!

So we soldiered on through the wilderness and visited two more sites. Our final destination before heading home was the Camel Trophy camp. This was the first camp to be built by a team of volunteers in 1993, ‘the for the benefit of ongoing scientific research and conservation within the Maliau Basin…’ or something like that. It is set in a clearing of beautiful heath forest, 1085m above sea level. It was the most comfortable of all the camps we visited, with proper toilets and beds! And we really appreciated these luxuries after 6 gruelling hours of relentless uphill trekking.

We headed home next morning, which was all downhill and the terrain was thankfully dry! On the way, one of the rangers spotted something rustling in the trees and started running after it… We were quick to follow and Ian is 99% convinced he saw through his binoculars an orang utan swinging through the trees! How cool is that!? They are not a common sight here, so to see one in the wild is a real treat. We reached Agathis Camp in good time and were rewarded by cold beers and cokes on our return J

It’s now Tuesday (I think) and we’re at the studies centre working as our generator is still caput! It’s lunchtime now and I’m ready for my packed lunch – fried chicken rice J So I’ll sign off now! (We’ve just had a power cut here too!)

Best Wishes,

Your Everyday Junglist

Maliau Basin Projects

2007-01-16T13:56:00.003+08:00

Previous posts describe the challenge of designing buildings for an untouched and fragile area of outstanding natural beauty. It is impossible to work in this environment without being aware of the threats to it's exisitence, hence posts have often digressed into related subjects such as reforestation, ecosystem services and palm oil plantations.

This post will come back to the point and show you some design proposals.

Some of these camps may get built in the next couple of years, the Seraya Camp and Maliau Falls observation deck in particular. The others may not get out of the ground for five years or so, such is the way of these things. The important point is that designs for all the camps and trails between them illustrate an environmentally responsible strategy for development. Even if they don't get built in the form illustrated here, their design should act as a guiding brief for the next 10 years or longer.

The final package of detail designs includes five research or trekking camps, observation decks, an observation tower, information centre, walkways, bridges and a staff house. The following are a selection of images from those projects.

Map of trails and trekking camps (conservation area shaded green). Projects follow the trails in a clockwise direction starting at Agathis Camp.

Agathis Camp layout

Ambiguous space at Agathis Camp

Camel Trophy Camp extension

Observation tower for the Heath Forest

Observation deck at Maliau Falls

Walkway in Maliau Gorge

Seraya Camp perspective

Seraya Camp layout

Information Centre at Belian Camp

Gatelodge Staff House

Mengaris Tree

2006-11-13T21:46:00.003+08:00

I was stripped down to my boxer shorts and with my bare hands was clawing great clods of mud out from under the wheel arch. Occasionally I would take a rest from cleaning and lie down in the shallow water to cool myself off. Even with the help of a second tow truck it had taken us nearly an hour to free an old Landcruiser that had got stuck on the way into Imbak Canyon. All three vehicles were now parked in the middle of the Imbak River to receive a much needed wash.

By way of taking a holiday from Maliau Basin I had decided to pay a visit on my old friends in Imbak Canyon. A lot had changed since I was last there, not least the troublesome new access road extension. At the end of these three kilometres of mud I was pleased to find the rangers happily ensconced in their expansive new basecamp quarters. The shiny tin roofs and plywood floors were a big improvement on the tarpaulin and packed earth that they had put up with for the previous three years. Apart from a few new faces they were much the same if not slightly more mature than I remembered! Maybe this was due to the more homely feel (two of them had even moved in their wives and children), or maybe it was because my visit fell during Ramadan. No doubt after the end of the fasting month they’ll be back on the beer and fags and cheating at cards all night long.

Some readers may question that all this new road and basecamp construction may seem at odds with a pristine virgin rainforest. However think of the infrastructure as a big rubber stamp which says ‘conservation area’. This stamp needs to be as strong as possible because worrying changes are taking place in the world at large.

On this trip I was dismayed to see the encroachment of palm oil plantation right up to the boundary of Imbak. The change had taken place on land which I had had to walk through to reach Imbak on my first visit. On that occasion we had followed an overgrown logging road through mature secondary forest. In order to make way for palm oil any existing vegetation must be clear cut, then burned and finally hillsides are bulldozed into terraces. Trees which I had first known for their protective shade were now charred stumps on naked earth.

With Malaysia’s hardwood exports fast diminishing, palm oil is a viable economic alternative. It will grow almost anywhere and will start to bear fruit three to five years after planting. The market for palm oil is huge, particularly in China where there are a lot of people who like to fry their food. It also sees widespread use in cosmetics and lately in an ironic twist palm oil is being marketed as a bio-fuel that will help reduce our dependency on carbon emitting fossil fuels!

I have spent enough time driving for hours through seemingly endless palm oil plantations to have become almost inured to their presence. Occasionally on the long drive from Lahad Datu to Kalabakan the numbness of the plantations is broken by tall slender mengaris Trees. The Mengaris is an emergent species which means that they rise above the main rainforest canopy, often reaching heights of seventy metres or more. They have broad spreading crowns and smooth silver bark and are said to be the strongest of the rainforest trees. Rangers will happily build their camps under them secure in the knowledge that they are not likely to fall down. Their strength is said to derive from the potent spirits which they harbour. It is out of respect for these spirits that logging contractors will never fell a Mengaris tree. Even once a forest has been logged two or three times and finally clear cut for plantation they will not fell a Mengaris tree. The spirits of a Mengaris tree you see are exceptionally cunning as well as strong; they have ensured that the timber is brittle and of little commercial value and that the high silica content wears a chainsaw blade at a dangerous rate.

Sadly when seen emerging from a canopy of oil palms these magnificent trees are now a symbol of what has been lost. That this is now so close to Imbak gives me fresh cause for concern.

It seems to me that the proliferation of oil palm should be checked immediately. Of course it’s existence is now irreversible but it is not too late to enforce sensible controls on where it is planted and how it is farmed.

Some key concerns that should inform this legislation are; biodiversity conservation, wildlife corridors, riparian reserves, visual amenity (Planner speak for nice views), water catchment protection, soil erosion, siltation and above all protection of remaining primary and secondary forest. There is also a strong economic and agricultural science argument which says that monoculture tends to result in more resilient pests and diseases specific to that crop. In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Unfortunately legislation that exists is often not enforced and calls for consumer led regulation, such as to introducing sustainably certified palm oil, are going unhindered.

Of course all of the above concerns are potentially outweighed by the global climate change issue and the question of where are we going to get our energy from? We know that burning fossil fuel produces greenhouse gasses and that this is bad for the climate, but what are the alternatives?

One of them is use biofuel i.e. fuel oil that comes from plants. Burning biofuel still produces carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) but the emission of CO2 is exactly equal to the amount of CO2 absorbed by the plant as it grew. This is called carbon neutral i.e. there is no net increase or decrease in carbon emissions.

This would be great if all biofuel crops were grown on existing agricultural land. Unfortunately they are not. In Sabah most biofuel (in this case Palm Oil) is grown on land that was formerly rainforest. The subsequent re-absorption of CO2 by oil palms will not equal the amount that was released by chopping down the rainforest in the first place. In this case the biofuel is neither carbon neutral nor environmentally friendly.

To exacerbate matters, much of the lowland rainforest grows on thick peat swamp. By planting oil palm here you also loose the peat due to fires and erosion. Peat is effectively young coal and destroying it releases an enormous quantity of additional CO2. In this case the net emissions of CO2 by the biofuel may actually be greater than that of coal or petroleum!

The alarming twist is that the European Commission is advocating a switch to biofuel as a means to meet our obligations to cut carbon emissions. Actually this may cut emissions from Europe but unless the biofuel can be certified carbon neutral, there may be a net increase in carbon emissions elsewhere.

Unfortunately this point seems to have been missed by a large number of people, even some of those very clever bureaucrats, politicians and climate change scientists who dreamed up the Kyoto Protocol and Mechanisms such as Carbon Trading.

If you're interested to read more there is a very good online resource at http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/ which also includes stuff you can do to help if you're so inclined.

Trekker Containment Solution

2006-11-03T10:58:00.004+08:00

The text of this post is based on an email to friends dated Tuesday, 27 September, 2005

*****

As we were tucking into our dinner last night we were rudely interrupted by an extraordinarily loud crash. It scared the life out of Eda who immediately leapt into Jamil’s arms, thus confirming a point of gossip that Andy and I had been debating for some days. We continued munching our steamed fish for a few more moments before Andy voiced what I had been thinking.
‘That sounded like it came from the region of our hammocks’.

Having managed to let go of Eda, Jamil rushed off to investigate and returned slightly animated to tell me that my stuff was getting wet!

We trooped round get some of the action and were impressed to see that a falling tree had demolished the end bay of our dormitory where our beds had been and that the rain was pouring in through splintered timbers and crumpled sheets of corrugated aluminium. I dived straight in to rescue my laptop and in doing so answered that normally hypothetical question ‘if you could only rescue one thing what would it be?’ as it happened there were enough hands on deck to ensure that my sleeping bag and books were moved safely into the dry before my hammock filled up with leaves and rainwater.

We retired to finish our dinner and to debate the essential nature of trees; they germinate, grow tall and then fall over and that given the inescapability of this fact should we build homes underneath them? I have a feeling that this debate will trundle on for some time to come.

Meanwhile I’m sure you can’t wait to hear about progress of my pondok pogrom. Well my stance has changed from ‘death to all pondoks’ to ‘oh well, if you must but only if they can be critically justified'. What this means is that I've been questioning what a pondok is and what it is designed to do.

To start, perhaps the idea would be easier to swallow if they weren’t called pondoks but instead something like; ‘visitor management facility’, ‘trekker containment solution’ or ‘behavioural suggestion installation for environmental protection and visitor safety’. However at risk of degenerating into ‘business bullshit’ (as a friend likes to call it) I will refer to ‘deck’, ‘railing’, ‘lunch spot’ and ‘covered bench’.

Since my last email I have had a good chat with Dr Waidi who is my client representative at Yayasan Sabah. As usual he has all the answers and was able to substantially clarify the components of my architectural brief. Sometimes I worry that he is actually the only person who has an idea of what’s going on but on other occasions I am relieved that there is someone as astute as he in charge of all these fantastically valuable and equally as fragile conservation areas.

The intention is to develop the spectacular Maliau Falls as the focal attraction of Maliau Basin Conservation Area. To explain this role it is useful to draw a comparison to Kinabalu Park. Here only a small proportion of visitors make the arduous climb to the summit of Mt Kinabalu. Nevertheless the climb is the Park’s most famous asset and it is attainable to most able bodied visitors. Similarly not every visitor to Maliau will see The Falls but the opportunity should be there for as wide a range of poeple who want to make the effort.

If this is the case then my question is; is it justifiable to pepper the Maliau Falls trail with decks, railings, lunch spots and covered benches? The surest way to broaden the range of people who can reach The Falls is to make the trail as easy as possible with well constructed steps, walkways and yes, you've guessed it the 'P' word.

My next question is; why is it necessary to get all these people into The Falls? Let’s remember that Yayasan Sabah’s obligation is to Malaysians living in Sabah. These forests are being conserved in their name therefore every Sabahan should have the opportunity to go and visit. The other less obvious reason is that the future of MBCA is not guaranteed. An act of government made it a conservation area therefore an act of government could equally un-make it. Why might the politicians want to do this? Of course there is logging (including the fantastically valuable Agathis tree) but there are also rich coal deposits with an estimated capitalised value in excess of 200 million US Dollars.

You’re going to need many years of eco-tourism to make this kind of money and unfortunately economists to not give equal weighting to financial benefits that accrue in the future.

One thing that might stay the politician’s hand is the voice of their electorate. That is why Maliau Basin needs visitors, particularly Malaysians who can experience at first hand and through environmental education the value of Sabah’s natural history.

In this case my feeling is that maybe a pondok or two in the right place is not too high a price to pay. The next challenge is how to design them with as little environmental impact as possible.

Misty Rainforest Vibes

2006-10-14T19:42:00.005+08:00

In front of me the river is making it’s way over a small waterfall and behind me I can hear the girls carrying on in the kitchen as they prepare lunch. I am sitting next to a 1:50,000 scale relief model of the Maliau Basin Conservation area which is to be my home environment for the next three months. Home itself is an accretion of zinc roofed shelters that meander across folds in the ground between leggy rainforest trees. As a white man and therefore head and shoulders taller than most Malaysians, I have to continually watch my head on forehead cracking beams. I also have to watch where my feet or chair legs are placed on the constantly varying floor levels. It is easily possible to push your chair back upon finishing your meal only to loose the back legs over an edge with hilarious consequences.

One of my jobs is to recommend improvements to this camp, named Agathis Camp after the concentration of huge Agathis trees in the area. It is required to cater for up to forty guests, most of whom visit Maliau to see the many waterfalls and unique geology and biodiversity of the basin. The camp's strength is it's connection to nature. From where I am sitting I can almost reach out and touch the rainforest and in fact nature itself is trying to crawl into the LAN port on my laptop as I type.

Most of my projects are camps similar to this. The conservation area managers want to expand the tourist potential of rainforest trekking by developing overnight camps on the trail network. On my previous visit here I checked out two such sites by helicopter; Lobah Camp and Seraya Camp. Exciting as this was it was nothing compared to trekking there on foot. What you miss out on with helicopter travel is the feeling of isolation and disconnection from normal life. You do get some sense of scale but this is distorted. 60m trees could easily be broccoli heads, With a little imagination. From the ground you rarely see the broccoli, in fact you're lucky to even see the sky. It's just tree trunks, lots of them and an awarness there is something big above you and around you. This closeness means that when you do get a view, it's extra special.

There was a storm last night at Lobah Camp. Just before sunset I popped up to the clearing on the ridge that is used as a helicopter landing site. From that vantage point I could see clouds and rain advancing across the rim of the basin and down the valley towards us. At 1.00am I awoke with a start as thunder crashed directly overhead. I lay awake terrified that a stricken tree would demolish our camp, but there was nothing save the hammering of rain on corrugated zinc. Despite the roof and tarpaulin walls around me a fine spray of moisture settled on my face and dampened my sleeping bag. During a lull I ventured outside for a piss. In the darkness I imagined the forest spirits going about their business, tapping on my bare shoulders with cool drops of water. I switched my headtorch off and between flashes of lightning I could see no distinction between forest and sky. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, lights came on around my feet. Dappled phosphorescence seemed to float just above where the ground should be, the entire forest floor brightly mapped by a blanket of glow in the dark fungus living off the leaf mould.

The rain stopped at about 7.00am shortly after sunrise. I rushed back up to the helicopter landing site to be rewarded with a view of crowns of emergent trees poking through the mist and the thunder of waterfalls hidden 500m below me. One of my jobs is to design a camp here. By selecting a few trees to chop down I’m hoping to open up this view to residents eating their fried rice breakfast on a veranda perched on the edge. The idea of chopping down a few trees is one that I’m relatively comfortable with now. I still feel the need to say sorry to the tree but I hope they’ll understand. The problem that I’m wrestling with on this trip is that my brief includes spattering the trails with pondoks and building gazebos at every waterfall and point du view.

A pondok here is usually a square pyramid roof on four posts with a bench or two underneath. They’re designed as a dry rest point for footsore trekkers. Problem is that after a year or two the roof is dented by falling branches, the timbers are decorated with graffiti and litter is trodden into the mud underfoot. This is in addition to the fact that I believe that people would want to walk these trails for the wilderness jungle ‘lost world’ vibe, which is incompatible with a pondok every hour. And don’t get me started on gazebos, even the word sounds awful!

My plan then is to try to sell a principle of restricting buildings to the camp sites and providing the ‘lost world’ vibe with views from the camps and either on the trails between camps or on loop walks to waterfalls. They’ve asked for my advice on trail construction too so hopefully we can avoid miles of ruler straight boardwalks but I don’t think there’s a way round the aluminium ladders that are necessary on many sections, particularly on approach to waterfalls. I’ve also got some bridges to design. I’ve never designed a bridge in my puff, unless you count that balsa wood contraption in first year Structures.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to get all this work done because office facilities are a little makeshift. I was hoping to stay at the new Maliau Basin Studies Centre but that is still under construction and out of bounds due to a recent malaria outbreak amongst the construction workers. Unfortunately, using the studies centre is unavoidable because that’s where the satellite internet connection is. Using it only by day when mosquitoes are asleep seems a good way around the problem, but getting there from Agathis Camp is a forty minute drive by battered Toyota landcruiser. The track is far from straightforward. On my last trip there we broke the rear drive shaft and had to radio for another battered landcruiser to tow us home.

Just in case you were worried that I'll feel a little lonely in the jungle, the last four evenings I have been enjoying the company of Glen Reynolds, Senior Scientist at Danum Valley Field Centre, Charles Godfray, Professor of Zoology at Imperial College and Sir Peter Crane, Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. I’m expecting them back from their animal spotting by searchlight ‘night drive’ shortly and am confident that they will need my help to finish their bottle of cask strength Aberlour single malt.

Prof. Ho

2006-10-13T17:48:00.002+08:00

When I first met Prof Ho Coy Choke he was hunched over his plate clumsily shoveling rice into his mouth. He spoke in a loud abrupt tone without looking up. Once his meal was finished he straightened up, slid a pair of heavy rimmed glasses onto his nose and transferred his attention to me. I tried hard to return the scrutiny but between his heavily squinted eyebrows I was not even able to determine the colour of his pupils. That he was a man of powerful intellect was immediately apparent by the chain of his questions. That he loved talking about his work to someone who was interested was equally obvious.

He works at Universiti Malaysia Sabah in the department of biotechnology. I have mentioned that one of the many values that we can place on the rainforest is the chance that there might be something useful to us there. My conversations with Prof Ho were my first first-hand evidence of this in practice.

On this visit he had brought a group of students to research correlation between tree diversity and microbe diversity. Microbes are essential to the ‘decomposition’ stage of the nutrient cycle. In a tropical rainforest very few nutrients are stored in the soil, instead they are cycled endlessly between the dead and the living using the processes of composition and decomposition.

Prof Ho explained that different kinds of dead things will be decomposed by different types of microbes. He is therefore looking for rare trees and in particular byproducts such as resin that are difficult to decompose. It seems reasonable to me to accept his assertion that these in these environments you might find extraordinary microbes.

The microbes in question are mostly bacteria and yeast type fungi. What Prof Ho is so excited about is that these microbes produce complex chemical compounds that may be useful to medical science. For example there is a compound called avermectin that is partially effective against incurable nematode infections such as elephantiasis and river blindness. This was originally found in Japanese soil and is now being synthesised commercially. In Sabah Prof. Ho has personally isolated a compound from lowland dipterocarp forest soil that is finding applications in cancer research. I would love to explain more but the science gets a bit beyond me at this point.

What I did understand is that the more rare the microbes, the more unusual and potentially useful their chemical byproducts are likely to be. The fact that the rainforests are quickly disappearing is of great concern to Prof. Ho. This is because microbes evolve something like an order of magnitude faster than larger plants and animals so any changes in ecosystem are going to become apparent at the microscopic level first.

Prof. Ho is therefore on a mission to find stuff that no one else has found in the hope that it might prove valuable both to his reputation, to medical research and to the survival of primary forests in Borneo.

Background

2006-10-13T08:47:00.001+08:00

'Ripe Hairy Red Fruit' introduces several subjects and questions that have been cropping up over the last two years:

Imbak Canyon, Maliau Basin and Danum Valley conservation areas

The 'economic value' of rainforest conservation

Forest rehabilitation and management

On the Arkitrek itself we had an architectural design brief to work to but in many ways this was secondary to the bigger picture that we were involved in. All of these above mentioned themes will crop up in subsequent posts but first a little background is relevant.

A year before the Arkitrek came about, I was invited to participate in a Raleigh International expedition to Sabah, Malaysia. Raleigh posted me to the fledgling Imbak Canyon Conservation Area where my role was to coach a team of young volunteers to survey the site and generate design concepts for a rainforest Field Studies Centre. Our partner in this project was Yayasan Sabah (Sabah Foundation).

Yayasan Sabah is a Malaysian Non Government Organisation (NGO) that aims to raise the standard of living of Malaysians living in Sabah. To generate income for this mission the Malaysian Government granted Yayasan Sabah a large forestry concession which is to be managed over a period of 100 years. Whilst most of this concession is designated 'production forest' Yayasan Sabah has voluntarily set aside over 1300 square km of primary rainforest for research and conservation. This area is divided between the three conservation areas mentioned above.

After the success of the Raleigh International Imbak project I pursuaded Yayasan Sabah to take me on directly as a volunteer architect. My intention had been to pursue the Imbak Canyon project but in reality a whole variety of projects came out of the woodwork in all three conservation areas. There was even a little side project in a tiny fourth conservation area known as Tanjung Tumonong Hullo.

Thus my second trip to Sabah came about and kept me busy from September to December 2004, during which time I wrote 'Ripe Hairy Red Fruit' and the following post 'Prof Ho'.

Ripe Hairy Red Fruit

2006-10-12T15:42:00.006+08:00

To get things moving I'll publish an edited version of an email that I originally sent on 17 Oct 2004

* * * * *

I knew when I took on this job that it would involve chopping down a few rainforest trees, the justification being that you’ve got to loose a few to save a lot. This still did not prepare me for the tearing destruction of a big tree falling to the ground. The tree in question was probably over 50m tall and was undoubtedly a small ecosystem of epiphytes, lianas, frogs, insects, mosses etc all in itself. Its only crime was that it had a few large dead branches and was growing on the site that we had selected for the new Imbak Canyon Conservation Area basecamp.

As if that wasn’t enough I then instructed the clearing of a large wedge of forest for the sole purpose of providing a nice view of the Imbak River from the veranda of the basecamp. In mitigation I have successfully germinated some seeds from a selection of tasty fruit that I bought in a local market. These are currently being nurtured by my ranger friends with a view to planting them in front of the veranda when the basecamp is complete.

The inspiration for this tree planting was my friend Banardus AKA Mike. 20 years ago he planted a rambutan tree at the nearby Danum Valley Field Centre and just last week I watched a young orangutan enjoying the ripe hairy red fruit of his foresight.

Back at Danum Valley I have also met a bunch of researchers from all over the world and am trying to learn from them about tropical rainforest ecology and resource management. One of their ongoing projects is the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment. This is trying to prove that if you replant logged forest with a greater diversity of indigenous tree species you get faster and more abundant re-growth.

The significance of this research is tied up in the concept of carbon trading; a development mechanism of the Kyoto Agreement. Forests sequestrate carbon dioxide and in an overheating world this is of value to us. It follows that the more carbon a forest can sequestrate the more value it has. The Kyoto carbon trading mechanism provides a means for the global community to pay for this ‘ecosystem service’.

The term ‘logged forest’ is important as there are different levels of logging, ranging from clear-cutting to reduced impact selective logging. Most of the forest that I see around the conservation areas has been selectively logged. This means that only the most valuable timber species have been taken out. The residual secondary forest has the potential to absorb additional CO2 if these large trees can be re-grown.

Obviously a virgin forest is in balance and of no value for additional carbon sequestration. Interestingly if countries have the legal right to log virgin jungle they can still claim carbon credits by opting not to log and going for conservation instead. Conservation may also bring with it many other benefits which we are only just beginning to appreciate. An example is conservation of biodiversity.

Somehow we know that biodiversity is good but it is very difficult to prove or evaluate this in absolute terms. The issues are highly emotive or speculative; such as species extinction and the possibility that we might destroy something essential before we’ve even discovered it! It is difficult to make a strong case for biodiversity conservation on these grounds alone. The Sabah Biodiversity Experiment scientists are therefore trying to prove that biodiversity has a measurable and relevant economic value in terms of carbon sequestration that can feed back into current forest regeneration and management practice.

Arkitrek is Ian Hall and Andy Lo

2006-10-12T12:16:00.000+08:00

Arkitrek is Ian Hall and Andy Lo

The name was coined while we were working on environment responsive designs for development of eco-tourism and rainforest research facilities in Maliau Basin Conservation Area.

The aim of this blog is to inform and debate our work in Maliau Basin and other similar projects.