tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88209776951719247732012-02-16T01:58:29.679-08:00Science is often considered to be the realm of grey-haired, thick-glassed oddballs in white lab coats. Here I try to show you how exciting and important science work is and how we contribute to the preservation of some pretty cool natural places on earth. I hope you find this information useful and inspiring.Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.comBlogger91100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-80395290591296350822008-09-17T04:16:00.000-07:002008-09-17T05:52:46.071-07:00

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Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-3116704427222154632008-05-20T02:41:00.000-07:002008-09-17T06:06:01.217-07:00

In late April a picture and news release was sent around the world of an orangutan overhanging a river and poking the water with a stick. One of the headlines run “Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear”. The story line was that this is the first time an orangutan has been seen using a tool to hunt. I quote: “A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-20095648548552101472008-05-18T20:20:00.001-07:002008-08-15T15:58:42.948-07:00

What makes conservation work? Among all the many questions that conservationists want answered, this one is at the heart of our day-to-day work. We invest endlessly, try countless strategies, develop the most intricate tools for planning and analysis, but our successes are limited—at least in places like Borneo where forests are still disappearing at an alarming rate. Still the successes are

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-34944735171510762662008-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:00:02.806-07:00

“Why should Indonesia not be allowed to use up all its forest resources just like countries in Europe and north America have done?” This is a question that I have not infrequently been asked in discussions here in Indonesia. Fellow conservationists as well as government people have over the years confronted me with this apparently fair suggestion. The point they were making is that in many

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-28711956735519308812008-03-15T20:53:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:00:29.971-07:00

Okay, I admit it, I do watch a lot of children’s movies. Apart from giving me a good excuse to spend a few precious hours with my daughter Emily, I do like their simplicity, the simple lines drawn between good and bad. I also like the magic in these movies. In these films a nice, straightforward world is created, without many of the complexities in films for grown-ups that keep me thinking a long

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-43094040140629550492007-12-15T21:01:00.000-08:002008-08-15T16:01:11.130-07:00

Science plays a small but crucial role in conservation. It helps us to develop practical approaches to preserving biodiversity, ecological integrity and environmental values. We do this by identifying threats, work out the cause-effect relationships underlying these threats, and then clarify the means to counter them. In a more general context, conservation science guides our strategies, policies

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-37990152842981888292007-08-24T21:02:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:01:28.819-07:00

I always thought that the old Greeks knew what they were talking about when they lumped their sciences with the arts and put them under the patronage of one deity, Apollo. Although, in Greek mythology, Apollo is considered the god of the arts, archery, and divination, he is most often associated with the cultivated arts of music and medicine. And his role as the leader of the Muses establishes

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-7202811773137445782007-06-30T21:22:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:04:07.671-07:00

During a recent spell of Kalimantan field work, our survey team came across this hitherto undiscovered population of Land Rovers (Terraanglica perigrina Wilks 1947) (see note below, and photo on left). Quietly resting in the shade, these survivors of an EU-sponsored aid project, became isolated from the main populations in Britain, Australia and India when dispersal barriers prevented the flow of

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8820977695171924773.post-76111975369048361482007-04-04T21:27:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:02:05.275-07:00

This year something remarkable and unprecedented occurred. Both the presidents of the United States and Australia mentioned global warming and environmental conservation as a key concern to society. And many of the world’s political leaders seemed to agree. So far these are mostly words, but I can’t escape the feeling that within the next 5—10 years environmental issues will become increasingly

Erik Meijaardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00956569746959412338noreply@blogger.com0