KINABATANGAN: From the 3rd-9th of August, a group of 14 British students visited Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), based in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, and lent a helping hand in cleaning up the Kinabatangan River.

The students, aged 17-18, visited DGFC from St. Bart’s College in Newbury, England as part of a biology field course run through Far Frontiers Expeditions. Three St. Bart’s instructors, one leader from Far Frontiers Expeditions, and one local guide from FieldSkills, a wilderness adventure and training organisation based in Kota Kinabalu, accompanied the students on their Bornean journey.

In total, the group spent 5 hours collecting rubbish from the Kinabatangan River, including major tributaries Sungai Tekala and Sungai Koyah. Brandishing garbage bags, gloves and nets, the students collected 271 kg (over a ¼ of a tonne!) of waste.

The 37 bags of rubbish were filled with plastic bottles, polystyrene packaging, petrol jerry cans, glass bottles, aerosol cans, cosmetic products, a rubber tire and even two bags of dirty nappies.

Luke Evans, a PhD student at Danau Girang Field Centre expressed, “The students and instructors all worked extremely hard to help make a difference here in the Kinabatangan.

“The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary was established to protect the amazingly high biodiversity along this river, yet we still fight against very preventable pollution.”

“It was absolutely astounding to see the huge amount and variety of rubbish the students collected in a mere five hours. It makes a strong statement about how much more work needs to be done to protect this amazing place,” added Danica Stark, also a PhD student at Danau Girang Field Centre.

“The research being conducted at Danau Girang Field Centre is just a part of the effort needed to protect and sustain Sabah’s wildlife. Animals within the sanctuary, which include elephants, crocodiles, primates, birds, and many other species, could be injured by such pollution directly or indirectly by the chemicals leaching into the ecosystem.

“Sabah needs to come up with a plan for waste disposal and increase awareness and enforcement on rubbishing in the State, if we want to improve the conditions of our rivers,” stated Dr. Benoît Goossens, Director of Danau Girang Field Centre.

The students had a marvellous time at Danau Girang, as St Bart’s student Victoria Weems expressed, “I’ve had opportunities and been given experiences I never thought I would have. I’ll never forget everything I’ve done here and the people I’ve met; everyone’s enthusiasm has inspired me. I cannot get over how incredible it’s been.”

All photos taken by Meaghan Harris

(Collected from Borneo Insider, August, 21, 2013, http://borneoinsider.com/2013/08/21/stop-rubbishing-the-kinabatanga...)