Asking for your support :)

In June 2011, we (BRINCC (Busang River Initiative for Nature Conservation and Communities)) will be heading into the northernmost hills of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Borneo. For 4 months, we will travel along the Busang River, surveying primates, small mammals, birds, butterflies and moths, reptiles and amphibians, as well as conducting work with communities in surrounding villages. I am the only Canadian among the 15 scientists on this trip and will be responsible for GIS and GPS mapping of the area.

We want to make the ecological impact of this expedition as small as possible, which means state-of-the-art equipment and minimal use of motorized boats. All the equipment will be used by local people after the expedition to continue monitoring biodiversity in the area or donated to conservation projects in Indonesian Borneo.

In order for this to be possible, our fund raising efforts will have three approaches:
1) each non-Indonesian expedition member will fund-raise for their own expenses,
2) applying for grants and
3) requesting corporate sponsorship.

Each team member is aiming to raise £1000 (about $1500 Canadian dollars) towards the expedition, and I am asking you to consider helping me reach this goal.

As much as I love being in Borneo, there is a greater purpose to what we will be doing as our knowledge will be shared by producing management plans identifying threats to the ecosystem and the local communities, DVD documentaries, blog entries and press releases, and training Indonesian students and conservation workers, to name a few. We will also be getting schools in Canada, Europe and the UK involved.

Borneo may seem far away to us, but many of the decisions we make as consumers has a definite impact on Borneo’s economy and environment. If we know more we may be able to make a positive difference. Borneo is a major producer of palm oil, a product which is used in many products we buy every day, such as a vegetable oil in foods (margarine, bread, chips, cereal, cookies, chocolate, chewing gum, etc.), and other products such as cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste (it makes these products lather!). The increase in demand cannot be met with the current number of oil palm plantations, but only by increasing the total area of plantations. This would require existing forests to be cut down, as land used for other plantations (rubber, cocoa) has become limited and expensive for oil palm conversions. A goal of this expedition is to identify this area as an important area of biodiversity and therefore protect it (and all of its wildlife, including proboscis monkeys!) from the encroaching oil palm plantations that are spreading all over the island.

Whether you are donating to BRINCC through the Canadian, American or UK office of the University of Oxford, you can receive a charitable donation receipt.

For all donations please send an email to BRINCC brinccborneo@googlemail.com stating the amount you have donated and that it is a donation towards "Danica's personal fundraising goal", so your donation can be directed properly.

Here is how you can support me:

1)Donations from UK or Canada please click here

Select “Emergency Fund” and “Donate by Credit Card”
Please complete all the fields and in the field “Subject Studied” please write “DONATE TO BRINCC WILDCRU”

Select “I would like the University of Oxford Development Trust Fund to reclaim tax on this donation and all donations I make on or after the date of this declaration until I notify you otherwise. I am a UK tax-payer and pay an amount of income tax and/or capital gains tax at least equal to the tax to be reclaimed on my donations.”
OR
Select “I am a Canadian tax payer and I would like the University to issue me with a tax receipt.”

2)Donations from USA please click here

In the section marked “It is my preference that” please state “other” and put BRINCC Expedition, WildCRU” in the space

3)Donate by post or from any other country

Please send a cheque to payable to “BRINCC Expedition” to the following address. Please indicate it is a donation towards Danica’s personal fundraising goal.

BRINCC Expedition
C/O Dr Susan Cheyne
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Oxon, OX13 5QL, UK

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR GENEROSITY IN SUPPORTING MYSELF AND BRINCC :-)