Green speaker to hold lectures

Forest lessons

NOAH Jackson from Forest Voices, a new environmental non-governmental organisation that works with indigenous communities, will be in town from today to Friday to give a series of lectures titled "Playing with Gibbons, Dancing with Kids: Lessons Learned from a Forest Odyssey".

The first will be lectures to the PNHS-PPS to be held at the Brunei Shell Petroleum Panaga Club and Atrium in Seria tomorrow, followed by lectures and an Images Workshop at Jerudong International School on Thursday.

Jackson will be involved in further presentations at Jerudong International School throughout their International Day celebrations on Friday.

His final presentation will be to the Brunei Readers and Writers Club at Kota Batu Yacht Club from 3pm on Friday.

Jackson is a former Peace Corp volunteer in the Philippines and US Fulbright Scholar in Malaysia.

He is a talented photographer and community forest researcher whose work was recently featured in The Expat Magazine, Action Asia, and the Edge. He has also worked with the National Geographic on assignment.

Jackson will talk on the challenges he faces while documenting forest communities' knowledge, which can range from run-ins with loggers to falling off a lorry with camera gear and all. Besides working with local communities, Noah is also the founder of Forest Voices. Using participatory research methods, Forest Voices documents activities such as gathering and harvesting of wild foods, and collecting plants and seedlings, to emphasise the value of the forest environments to the communities who use them. By respecting the communities' expertise on forest management, Forest Voices provides a vehicle for them to share their understanding of forest environments. In light of the problems of deforestation and diminishing natural resources in Malaysia, Forest Voices is helping to document knowledge that will lead to a more sustainable use of the world's precious resources.

The Brunei Times