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you
you
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as a 20 year old I came to Borneo for
the first time I had a dream that Borneo
would be the richest rainforest on the
planet that it would be colorful teeming
with life extraordinary in all ways and
it was true it was absolutely all of
that but what I didn’t know as much
about was the incredible logging it was
just overwhelming it made me really
think that if nothing else if my job
will never make a difference I cannot
live with not trying I would became
determined to follow the process and see
if a picture and the film can make a
difference what is important is to try
to affect change and I repeat that like
a mantra because I think that is what
pictures can do since then I’ve been to
Borneo 35 maybe even 40 times and I’ve
spent combined four years I would say
inside the forest now I’ve just started
I’ve only worked for 23 years I have at
least 23 to go so I’m just starting up
so what I’m about to show you our two
chapters the dream is chapter one it’s
what Borneo meant to me and still means
to me when it comes to the Borneo that I
love that I that has become a second
home for me and chapter two will tell
you what it looks like to a greater
extent than the dream this is one of the
most spectacular places it’s not a place
where you can bump into colorful life
all the time it’s not like Eastern
Africa where you see an incredible
abundance of biomass this is the place
of small miracles and it’s one of the
most incredible places when you listen
and feel the forest this is a place
where lots of adventures explorers like
Alfred Russel Wallace and the disciples
of Linnaeus ventured in to find new
territory new species and it’s still the
place to go if you venture into these
unknown territories in Borneo where you
would find in each expedition a couple
of new species at least it’s one of the
places where you can sit in the middle
of this diptych of forest and use the
trick that can use in any environment to
sit still and you let the forest move
around you from the beginning it’s like
walking into a cathedral some of the
lowland rainforest I’m not a religious
person let me begin by saying that but
it is so religious in a way it’s so soul
cleansing it’s like a retreat to be in
this place usually I go to Boni with two
three hundred kilos of equipment minimum
at least one durable assistant
but actually the longest expedition was
in 95 96 and that resulted in a cover
story for the magazine and that was 14
months in the making with 1.5 metric ton
of equipment well this is part of the
logistical nightmare of being a
photographer working in places like
Borneo we had two boats for this
expedition this trunk here this is a box
this is a sea cam underwater housing for
a film camera that we used to try to
visualize the hidden realm inside the
waterways and creeks and rivers in
Borneo so we brought underwater housings
for a super 16 camera heavy and very
very expensive remember that and we had
you know every scuba diving thing we
needed to that we carried out into the
forest to be able to dive in the
waterways I think we used about 12
seconds of it in the film and then my
wife she’s more she’s you know more
economically oriented she said Matias is
this very smart no possibly not I’ve
only crashed maybe two or three cameras
over the years and a few flash units
that go up in smoke have you ever
experienced that when when a flash all
of a sudden says and you have this
little cloud of smoke coming out it’s
very disappointing and then we have the
leeches this is normal this is everyday
especially when it’s raining and it’s
raining every day over the years I have
tried to concentrate on this on the
biodiversity the incredible diversity of
Borneo and I’ve tried to show this in a
positive way and I have lectured so many
times about it I’ve made books films
articles all the time focusing on things
that I love things that are so
interesting and some things that are
photograph doesn’t have a name even or
their new species or scientists are not
sure
it is that I photograph this is a lizard
that we know when you talk about the
environment you talk about climate
change you talk about the loss of
biodiversity you talk about pandemics or
you talk about just any of the big
issues it’s hard for especially young
people to relate to it’s hard for all of
us to relate to really what is it what
what what does it have to do with me so
what I’ve tried to do in Borneo for
example is to find ambassadors that
people possibly can relate to or it’s
not related to at least be interested in
as a ticket of an understanding what we
care about what we feel strongly for we
want to keep and cherish know more about
so all of these things what was that was
the reason for me going to Borneo again
and again and again the challenge to
find the pygmy elephants here’s a
picture where you can actually see my
wife that’s Monica she’s not only my
wife she’s also my my partner in crimes
here she in crime she is also a
photographer and I’m pretty film
producer and this is me and this is a
day at work and we really like the view
from our office visit before we had kids
now we have two boys so now we only
climb to this level this is lunchtime
the husband-and-wife teams about 210
feet up in a fig tree well it’s actually
a fig that has sort of encapsulated a
big dipped oracle tree and this is
another blind this is me about 150 feet
up in a tree camouflaged with camouflage
nets tarps and waiting for something to
come by
usually strategically positioned in
front of trees that were fruit
eventually not you know if you bought if
you build the blind when it’s fruiting
it’s too late so you have to build
or the fruit ripens otherwise birds and
animals of all sorts will be possibly
afraid of you while you build your blind
so you have to calculate them building
it a few weeks before the fruits are
ready to eat and then then it might work
might and then you can wait for three
and a half weeks to get a picture of a
rhinoceros hornbill with a fig fruit in
its beak or you can get the whip snake
and this is my favorite I love this name
what it does in every forward motion it
imitates the I should say the movement
of a wind stroke Liana so it will go
like this just very carefully and if you
have this lizard here it will go like
this and that bat you will take it it’s
very very smart strategy so I do the
same thing while when coming close to
the snake this is the largest poisonous
snake in the world this is in danum
valley in born here one of my favorite
spots and i’ll show you how big this
snake is too it’s about this long it’s
nice isn’t it nice and big
you know when it stands up with its hood
flared it’s my size because it can raise
1/3 of its body length and Here I am
crawling up to this snake and I am happy
because I’ve found it finally and you
can see that this is me and the camera
and I have a lot of debris in the way
but which which I like I like pictures
to be as you can see you always have
some brand sticking in I sort of like
that grittiness about photography and my
assistant lush Magnus he crawls around
very very carefully
he’s got cords and he’s got flashes and
he’s got an extra camera and it takes
this behind-the-scenes shot but the
snake didn’t really like that so the
snake opened up like this hood up a
little bit and then you can see my leg
here perhaps and my blue sock and a shoe
behind the tree can you see that it went
straight you know just passed me and
went into a small creek and I said love
– God we we can’t miss this chance this
is so amazing that we can that we can
get this snake you know it’s it’s this
is one of the most elusive and hard
snakes to photograph in the world
so he understood the pressure and I
understood the pressure but instead of
running after the snake which you know
might be a thing to do I don’t know what
you would do but I didn’t run after the
snake because what happens if you do it
would just be stressed it will swing
faster and it might even turn on you and
try to strike you it would just get
stressed so what I did is that I ran
around it and I put myself in the
position where I would sort of intercept
the snake and have the snake swim
towards me in the water so I could take
this picture and at that time I felt now
this is divine this is super I work
ember the exactly this shot when I took
this shot it was like this saved the day
and the month of the year it was I was
so happy it’s not a phenomenal picture
but given that this is such a very very
reclusive and hard take the photograph I
was so happy but then it sold me again
rush Magnus came after with all the gear
and the snake saw me and Ella pits or
these this kind of snakes they are very
very active have you ever thought that
when you look at snakes like
rattlesnakes or you look at even you
know crocodiles or sharks you can’t
really see what they’re thinking if they
think they’re just pretty blank not much
happen nothing but not this guy he looks
at you and he evaluates what you’re
gonna do he slide back and forth like
this and you can see that it’s acting
he’s active evaluating your every moment
and movement which is very very cool so
anyway he’d saw me and it put itself
sort of in its ceasefire position right
in front of me
Josh Magnus came and he got up caught up
with us and he took this picture so you
see the snake is sort of lying there
haha there are two of you guys again I
don’t know if I like this and I’m there
I’m taking pictures a lot of small
mistakes this behind-the-scenes picture
then all of a sudden the snake just
feels that no I’m sick of you guys I
don’t want you and I want to pass you
because we were sort of blocking the
route downstream a bit so what it did
was that it stood up a little bit not
all the way up but maybe to a few feet
up like this open its mouth and started
to hiss very strange and I stood up you
might have done too and then I backed
into the water Disputes the stream
behind me with the camera sort of a
shield in front of my legs with a
wide-angle flash on the camera to take
this picture
and to me the relevance of taking
pictures of silver leaf monkeys pygmy
elephants of the trees the flowers is
that they become ambassadors even though
it’s a few years ago I took this picture
I still get mails every week at least
about this photograph this is hard to
beat and this is a bearded pig and a
female on top of that look at the snout
and this is an indicator species in
Borneo they are so vulnerable to change
and what is happening right now is that
the ecosystem is like a house of cards
where we have pulled out too many cards
so the system collapses so bearded pigs
are not as common these days and this is
another snake that I love this is a pit
viper that I photographed quite recently
I don’t know if you guys like snakes but
there’s something about snakes that is
they’re so misunderstood I think and
then we have orangutans
I’ve spent four and a half months in the
trees just working with orangutans
trying to get footage and film these are
one of the animals that suffer the most
now we’ll come back to that yeah man of
the forest orangutans and they’re very
intelligent they have this enormous
memory especially for when it comes to
fruiting trees and where to find them
and they make reconnaissance trips to
different trees so they know exactly
that well three years from now this
durian tree will fruit so some
scientists think that they actually know
and can have this sense of both timing
and place which is quite phenomenal now
this is chapter 2 the reality because
the dream is not there anymore that is
what you just have seen and to me this
is the Borneo that I love and that’s
become a second home but this is not
what it looks like in most places these
days this is what it looks like this is
the Borneo that I went to 1988 and this
is the Borneo that I’ve worked in so
much
and this strangest thing is that as a
photographer you’re out there to try to
show the realms the encapsulated realms
that are heaven like but to come to
those places you travel through
purgatory you travel through hell to
find encapsulated heavens so in this
story now published in the November
issue of National Geographic magazine we
turn the coin and we said let’s focus on
what’s really happening to Borneo and
this is what it looks like and to me
this is like a very very nasty nightmare
this is like something out of Lord of
the Rings you know it can’t be true but
this is what it looks like in so many
areas and it’s quite depressing of
course this is the third largest island
in the world
it used to be covered with dense
rainforest peat swamp forests but at
this rate that it has been leveled now
since the 70s it’s one of the worst
ecological disasters in history and this
to me looks like something came from
some other planet and just dropped and
spread like cancer but this is terracing
for all palm and I’m not you know this
kind of environmentalist fundamentalist
that will say save everything our
species is is the cancer let’s you know
stop evolving stop using nature I’m not
that naive at all I have the references
working in 80
and countries during these 23 years and
I I know we’re six and a half billion
people on the planet but the thing is we
have to use nature sustainably I know
I’m preaching to the choir here but
that’s what we need to do this is the
Bakken dam in Borneo this is a
hydroelectric dam that is built in the
middle of one of the richest ecological
hotspots in Malaysia and the pilot was
so afraid of flying over this area she
said we can only take one turn because
if they see it’s me I would be out of a
job and I won’t be able to send my kids
he wanted to send his daughter to Japan
to study he said that I can forget about
it so we have to just make one round
around this but kun damn we couldn’t
have any guides or interpreters because
nobody wanted to take the risk to join
us because there is so much corruption
in some of the places we worked and most
of the places we worked unfortunately so
for example one of our drivers said that
well they know where I live so they
can’t be seen with you so we had to jump
out of the cars and walk into the night
or into the logging concessions and then
just make some blend and try to be
socially sort of become accepted by by
these wonderful people I mean the
workers are great it’s just that they
are nervous that their bosses will then
see us together so we had to hide every
time they recommended that we’d hide the
thing is we have a tendency to think
that we cannot personally as individuals
make a difference I meet that quite
frequently that people feel that it’s up
to somebody else what I feel is that
when I see this when I get to get all of
this knowledge and the references that I
get from this I feel that that is
definitely wrong
I think we can all make a difference the
only thing that can save places like
Borneo I think is that we can make the
people that live there we have to give
them a better future a more sustainable
future we have to try to give them
alternatives that are good that they can
prosper they can live in a good way in a
sustainable way without completely
massacring their their nature and by
consuming the right things by making the
right everyday choices by using your
voice our voices in a democratic process
if you may we can really make a
difference
these workers are Indonesian workers
about 1 million workers came to Borneo
to find a new way of life to have a good
job but what happens now is that they
have logged almost everything in
Southern Cal and on which means that
there is not a future for a lot of
people safeguarding a natural realm is
also safeguarding people’s futures we
have to make sure we use nature and not
misuse nature so this story is it is
possibly the toughest I’ve done and not
logistically not when it comes to all
the equipment not staying in blinds and
hides for for a long long long time but
to be accepted by the workers and
emotionally to be able to withstand
really working not just traveling
through hell to find pieces of heaven
but to work in hell and from this point
I really in this moment I really
appreciate my colleagues that work in
war-torn places photojournalists that
work in with the with from one
catastrophe to another to me this was as
close as I have never ever been to that
part and that kind of photography
the thing is I think one of the greatest
things that can happen to Bonilla is
that you log the forest and then you
have the forest that will come the force
will come back and regrow and you will
in that way
save a tremendous biodiversity not all
of it but a lot of it and then you will
harvest it again and it will regrow and
you will harvest it again and it will
regrow and you will bit by bit loose
biodiversity you will but you will still
have an incredible biodiversity compared
to if you burn it and plant a mono crop
because that is the alternative so in
order for this little family to have
life to have a good life we have to
determine in these countries Indonesia
and Malaysia and Brunei needs to
determine what to use and how to use in
and what to leave for other industries
such as tourism ecotourism pharmacology
medicine this is an interesting picture
it’s not a good picture but it’s an
interesting picture this guy is in broad
daylight
taking out born in Ironwood out of a
national park in Indonesia called gunam
pollute the IRA wood is so heavy the
density is so high so it will sink
immediately like lead so if you put it
in water just drops to the bottom it’s
so the quality of it is incredible it’s
called bel Yin
so what they need to do is to to get it
out they have to float it out with other
timber this is obviously illegal 30
percent of this National Park has been
logged illegally due to corruption and
the thing is as soon as we go to a to a
hardware store or furniture place and we
say oh this looks great I’d love to buy
this for my balcony wouldn’t it be
really cool to have our keys in the
nice and cute cupboard yes darling it
looks fabulous
please look what it’s made of and if
it’s certified FSC Forest Stewardship
Council certified or not otherwise we
will without knowing contribute to this
and I don’t blame him
of course nobody can blame him really
it’s a job he gets food on the table
bauxite mining is another thing also a
heavy issue
Dessie Ratna sorry up up right there top
right she is a scientist and she’s
monitoring illegal concessions basically
there are legal concessions but then
they bribe people to let them grow sort
of in all directions so they can mine
more and she’s going around with the GPS
to monitor what’s illegal and what’s not
a lot of these people receive death
threats
some people even disappear because it’s
a lot of money in this
and this is the oil palm so here we go
we have lowland forest here and peat
swamp and then this is all palm and when
you fly over it it looks green I’ve met
a lot of tourists a lot of visitors that
say isn’t it beautiful in green here it
might be beautiful but it’s not a jungle
and it goes on and on and on and what
needs to be done is to find ways to
obviously be able to grow palm oil but
in a sustainable way so this is one of
the major issues right now in that part
of the world but when we import eco fuel
partly made from oil palm we are also
contributing to this so we have to ask
for the right product if we’re all you
know allergic to nuts we would
definitely look you know at the package
of the product we’re buying so we won’t
suffocate one nice day but when it comes
to environmental products and the
environment and sustainability I don’t
think we really look it’s hard to be a
consumer what can I buy what can I do in
my life without screwing up a place
somewhere it’s not easy but but I think
we have to start a process where I think
we already start the process where we
care and what we think we can make a
difference and six and a half billion
people we are bound to be able to make a
difference both politically and as
consumers this is a farmer harvesting
all palm fruits this is another great
guide these are pretty heavy and spiny
fruits it’s a hard hard work to harvest
them but it’s very profitable not for
them but for the owner of the plantation
this guy is very fit and I remember when
I came to born here first the first
years when I looked almost like this I
don’t know what happened to me
there are so many species that’s
obviously suffer from this we can’t even
count them I mean there’s numerous
species but one that we get attached to
because of their intelligence and
because they’re both funny and sweet and
fascinating obviously or the orangutans
and these orangutans get caught you know
when you log huge areas and you have
sometimes then island so forest in the
middle of these huge areas lots of
animals get caught a lot of them burn or
just you know go up in smoke but those
are survivable then end up in these on
these islands and what happens then is
that female orangutan with babies they
will then venture out into these
wastelands or into these plantations
when they run out of food and then the
mothers are usually killed because
plantation workers or you know logging
people will then find them and kill the
mother and try to take the baby because
you can sell baby orangutans and this is
illegal but it’s also understandable you
can you can actually earn a lot of money
when they Club the mother or hit her
word or you know slay her with a machete
or shoot most of the babies are died too
a lot of them that are captured and then
kept as pets contract human diseases and
infections so there are projects in
Borneo and in Sumatra where also you can
find rank towns where they save
orangutans and they create orphanages so
part of my assignment most recent
assignment was try to to visualize this
when we are small human beings from one
from from one year to three we have a
certain way of we have a certain concept
of life baby we see things to remember
things in a special way orangutan
they are more mature their brains can
handle information and memory and
emotions better actually than we can in
that age between those years which is
both frightening and fascinating and
Center which means that baby orangutans
that witness there when they can see
their mother being killed in front of
them remembers this and becomes
completely traumatized by they have this
strong memory of this so it takes them
time to trust people this is a male that
is put to to Anissa ties to so they can
treat him against some diseases that he
has contracted in captivity illegal
captivity this male was so afraid of the
male veterinarian so this female
babysitter they called him she has to
comfort him by holding his hand and and
caressing him gently so that this
veterinarian can work and it it just
takes time for them to trust men
especially females women it’s much
easier but even then from the beginning
it’s hard and when people tell me you
know a lot of people tell me animals
don’t have a soul you know to me it’s
like saying the Holocaust didn’t exist
or it’s like saying Borneo is fine
there’s no logging in Borneo it’s like
saying the glaciers aren’t melting some
things are just so stupid and it gets to
me here we have a baby orangutan and
look at the next frame there’s just
certain certain moments where you know
you just know that they feel so much
that we know that we can’t explain it’s
like looking at whales like orchids
dolphins or larger whales we just don’t
know what they think what their concept
of life is we don’t understand that
doesn’t mean that they don’t think of
course again I’m pre
to the choir but it you know it first I
get so frustrated sometimes with these
thing this these babies are taking their
going to bed but instead but instead of
taking them one by one they have so many
in this place they have 500 orphaned
orangutans 500 without a mother 500 that
needs to be taught how to become an
orangutan again they don’t know how to
climb really they don’t know what to
what to eat they don’t know what to be
afraid of they don’t know better that a
snake they should stay away from a snake
so the babysitter’s need to teach the
orangutans us how to become Randy tails
and that is a paradox I think that we
representing the worst carnivore the
worst predator the worst enemy will them
be the ones that help them but that is
the wonderful thing about us is that we
can set things right
we can set things right if we want to
but we have to want to I will never
forget this woman to the left she was
very very sweet very forthcoming and
very she just loved the orangutans and
it’s so cute because she is in love with
this range and I’m sure but the
orangutan is even more in love with her
and she said look at this he loves when
I do this to him I do it every day
and then she started to tickle him you
know in the face as you can see he’s got
this strange huge tooth everything that
he looks so funny
and and she laughed as much as he did
but then it’s so cool because right
after this picture was taken he looks at
his rang attend friends like look we
have the special relationship she’s my
girl you know look at this
it’s like you know we have a thing here
going and then but look when he looks
back at her with love you know when you
work with wild animals wild orangutans
you obviously never get this kind of
relationship of course their while they
stay away from you they can be curious
sometimes but they choose to stay away
which is wise but as soon as you get
this kind of relationship which is to
begin with not good but at the same time
it is it is very emotional I think a lot
of people having met dolphins or
orangutans or gorillas or you know
whatever you can for a moment touch with
your hands or with your heart and get
really close to that could be a memory
for life they can change you I would
like them to be wild I would like them
to stay away from me and I cherish the
moments when I’ve been covered up behind
all these things just waiting for the
wild orangutans and they have given me
gifts from the forest when they come to
me as wild individuals and not to me but
they exposed themselves so I can take
pictures and film them this is not the
way it should be even though it’s
charming but this is necessary and again
this is a way for us to try to set
things right and a lot of people can now
adopt these young primates and give them
a better life this is again something to
ponder we’re six and a half billion
people on the planet why should we care
about narang eaten for god sakes two
children permitted died from malaria
does it matter if Borneo is wiped out
and all its wildlife does it really
matter if all the glaciers melt
does it matter at all if we pollute the
oceans I think yes because it’s the
diagnosis
it’s crystal clear that something is
wrong
we’re handling our planet in a way that
is not wise my countryman carl linnaeus
he’d the guy who invented the system of
taxonomy said 250 years ago that
everything is connected it’s pretty
smart nobody has said anything smarter
for 250 years
I mean it’s really smart and that we
need to understand we need to be able to
relate to these issues we need to
understand the importance of our daily
choices and what we do what we make our
lives so when we lose the Ronnie times
when we can lose a number we will lose
number of species but it’s like a pilot
told me once if you lose some parts of a
plane in the making me there you know
you fly this thing
and all of a sudden you hear sound and
you say oh that’s something on the
waiting what’s what’s that it just fell
off
oh we still fight it didn’t really
matter I think this seems ok they have
Roger Roger
this is Freddy what do you say yes this
is fine no problem ok Oh something is
burning right here it is this crucial is
this important thing no no no no it will
be ok in short well we’re still flying
it works well but eventually as we look
up as we lose cards in this house of
cards the plane will crash and that’s
what we’re seeing these are some of our
cards that we have presented that I have
tried to show you in this house of cards
I just wish that when my kids I have two
boys one is three year old three years
old his name is aina and one is seven
years old and Scott two blond boys with
blue eyes but when they grow up or
they’re fifteen or twenty or twenty-five
and they go with their friends or
girlfriends or whatever
ooh Borneo or to Alaska or they go to
Iceland or they go to the Great Barrier
Reef and they want to take this giant
stride out into this incredibly diverse
and colorful realm it it should be there
for them I want them to be able to sit
in a tree I don’t know if they want to I
wanted to be able to sit in a tree in
Borneo and listen to the Gibbons I’m
afraid that they will not be able to
that’s what I’m afraid of and if nothing
else if we if we can’t find one other
driving force to affect change
think of children and grandchildren and
their children what is the legacy what
do we want to leave for them
now I want to end with a few pictures of
my friends the pen on this is the one of
the people’s truest – the oldest of
human lifestyles hunter-gatherers in in
the more desolate parts of Borneo still
pretty desolate but they’re marked with
sadness because they’re losing their
realm surprise surprise
demand tabara I’m working on a
documentary on a man called the bottom
tabara told me a story that was so
strong while making poison darts like
this he’s drying them here they use a
poison called dodgem it’s sap from a
tree that’s very very powerful and
potent as a venom he said that my
grandfather showed my father that Todd
Jim tree that it’s essential of course
for their entire life I mean that’s how
they hunt and get their food and my
father showed me the tree when I was
ready for it and I showed my children
the tree and then after that the
machines arrived and the tree is not
there anymore
the thing is the orangutans they have
advocates fighting for them but when it
comes to the Penan they not very
successful I think I’m a sort of a
realistic optimist in a way I think but
I’m not very optimistic when it comes to
the pen and I think they would lose
their culture and their way of life no
doubt and if they would be happy to do
so that would be fine if they were
saying you know yeah I am so sick and
tired of eating this sago porridge it’s
like wallpaper glue fine but the thing
is some of these people don’t they want
to have the only thing they want is to
have a patch of land where they belong
have we seen it before yes we have seen
it before but it’s strangely sad how
history has a tendency to repeat itself
this is my friend when he’s going for a
walk to his
neighbouring tribesmen the people that
live in other nomadic settlements he
used to be able to walk in darkness the
people that walked in darkness now they
say that the sunlight give them diseases
and they die it’s not them they don’t
get diseases from light they get
diseases from from outside of course
from new people coming in so to me this
picture is very telling this is a little
group of nomadic Penan that travels on
the roads made by loggers now this is
the Borneo I want to give to my sons
this is the Borneo that I want you to be
able to see go to and enjoy but in order
for us to save Borneo we need to give
the people in Borneo a bright future we
need to demand products that are
sustainable and we need to care thank
[Applause]
you
you
[Music]
you
you
[Music]
as a 20 year old I came to Borneo for
the first time I had a dream that Borneo
would be the richest rainforest on the
planet that it would be colorful teeming
with life extraordinary in all ways and
it was true it was absolutely all of
that but what I didn’t know as much
about was the incredible logging it was
just overwhelming it made me really
think that if nothing else if my job
will never make a difference I cannot
live with not trying I would became
determined to follow the process and see
if a picture and the film can make a
difference what is important is to try
to affect change and I repeat that like
a mantra because I think that is what
pictures can do since then I’ve been to
Borneo 35 maybe even 40 times and I’ve
spent combined four years I would say
inside the forest now I’ve just started
I’ve only worked for 23 years I have at
least 23 to go so I’m just starting up
so what I’m about to show you our two
chapters the dream is chapter one it’s
what Borneo meant to me and still means
to me when it comes to the Borneo that I
love that I that has become a second
home for me and chapter two will tell
you what it looks like to a greater
extent than the dream this is one of the
most spectacular places it’s not a place
where you can bump into colorful life
all the time it’s not like Eastern
Africa where you see an incredible
abundance of biomass this is the place
of small miracles and it’s one of the
most incredible places when you listen
and feel the forest this is a place
where lots of adventures explorers like
Alfred Russel Wallace and the disciples
of Linnaeus ventured in to find new
territory new species and it’s still the
place to go if you venture into these
unknown territories in Borneo where you
would find in each expedition a couple
of new species at least it’s one of the
places where you can sit in the middle
of this diptych of forest and use the
trick that can use in any environment to
sit still and you let the forest move
around you from the beginning it’s like
walking into a cathedral some of the
lowland rainforest I’m not a religious
person let me begin by saying that but
it is so religious in a way it’s so soul
cleansing it’s like a retreat to be in
this place usually I go to Boni with two
three hundred kilos of equipment minimum
at least one durable assistant
but actually the longest expedition was
in 95 96 and that resulted in a cover
story for the magazine and that was 14
months in the making with 1.5 metric ton
of equipment well this is part of the
logistical nightmare of being a
photographer working in places like
Borneo we had two boats for this
expedition this trunk here this is a box
this is a sea cam underwater housing for
a film camera that we used to try to
visualize the hidden realm inside the
waterways and creeks and rivers in
Borneo so we brought underwater housings
for a super 16 camera heavy and very
very expensive remember that and we had
you know every scuba diving thing we
needed to that we carried out into the
forest to be able to dive in the
waterways I think we used about 12
seconds of it in the film and then my
wife she’s more she’s you know more
economically oriented she said Matias is
this very smart no possibly not I’ve
only crashed maybe two or three cameras
over the years and a few flash units
that go up in smoke have you ever
experienced that when when a flash all
of a sudden says and you have this
little cloud of smoke coming out it’s
very disappointing and then we have the
leeches this is normal this is everyday
especially when it’s raining and it’s
raining every day over the years I have
tried to concentrate on this on the
biodiversity the incredible diversity of
Borneo and I’ve tried to show this in a
positive way and I have lectured so many
times about it I’ve made books films
articles all the time focusing on things
that I love things that are so
interesting and some things that are
photograph doesn’t have a name even or
their new species or scientists are not
sure
it is that I photograph this is a lizard
that we know when you talk about the
environment you talk about climate
change you talk about the loss of
biodiversity you talk about pandemics or
you talk about just any of the big
issues it’s hard for especially young
people to relate to it’s hard for all of
us to relate to really what is it what
what what does it have to do with me so
what I’ve tried to do in Borneo for
example is to find ambassadors that
people possibly can relate to or it’s
not related to at least be interested in
as a ticket of an understanding what we
care about what we feel strongly for we
want to keep and cherish know more about
so all of these things what was that was
the reason for me going to Borneo again
and again and again the challenge to
find the pygmy elephants here’s a
picture where you can actually see my
wife that’s Monica she’s not only my
wife she’s also my my partner in crimes
here she in crime she is also a
photographer and I’m pretty film
producer and this is me and this is a
day at work and we really like the view
from our office visit before we had kids
now we have two boys so now we only
climb to this level this is lunchtime
the husband-and-wife teams about 210
feet up in a fig tree well it’s actually
a fig that has sort of encapsulated a
big dipped oracle tree and this is
another blind this is me about 150 feet
up in a tree camouflaged with camouflage
nets tarps and waiting for something to
come by
usually strategically positioned in
front of trees that were fruit
eventually not you know if you bought if
you build the blind when it’s fruiting
it’s too late so you have to build
or the fruit ripens otherwise birds and
animals of all sorts will be possibly
afraid of you while you build your blind
so you have to calculate them building
it a few weeks before the fruits are
ready to eat and then then it might work
might and then you can wait for three
and a half weeks to get a picture of a
rhinoceros hornbill with a fig fruit in
its beak or you can get the whip snake
and this is my favorite I love this name
what it does in every forward motion it
imitates the I should say the movement
of a wind stroke Liana so it will go
like this just very carefully and if you
have this lizard here it will go like
this and that bat you will take it it’s
very very smart strategy so I do the
same thing while when coming close to
the snake this is the largest poisonous
snake in the world this is in danum
valley in born here one of my favorite
spots and i’ll show you how big this
snake is too it’s about this long it’s
nice isn’t it nice and big
you know when it stands up with its hood
flared it’s my size because it can raise
1/3 of its body length and Here I am
crawling up to this snake and I am happy
because I’ve found it finally and you
can see that this is me and the camera
and I have a lot of debris in the way
but which which I like I like pictures
to be as you can see you always have
some brand sticking in I sort of like
that grittiness about photography and my
assistant lush Magnus he crawls around
very very carefully
he’s got cords and he’s got flashes and
he’s got an extra camera and it takes
this behind-the-scenes shot but the
snake didn’t really like that so the
snake opened up like this hood up a
little bit and then you can see my leg
here perhaps and my blue sock and a shoe
behind the tree can you see that it went
straight you know just passed me and
went into a small creek and I said love
– God we we can’t miss this chance this
is so amazing that we can that we can
get this snake you know it’s it’s this
is one of the most elusive and hard
snakes to photograph in the world
so he understood the pressure and I
understood the pressure but instead of
running after the snake which you know
might be a thing to do I don’t know what
you would do but I didn’t run after the
snake because what happens if you do it
would just be stressed it will swing
faster and it might even turn on you and
try to strike you it would just get
stressed so what I did is that I ran
around it and I put myself in the
position where I would sort of intercept
the snake and have the snake swim
towards me in the water so I could take
this picture and at that time I felt now
this is divine this is super I work
ember the exactly this shot when I took
this shot it was like this saved the day
and the month of the year it was I was
so happy it’s not a phenomenal picture
but given that this is such a very very
reclusive and hard take the photograph I
was so happy but then it sold me again
rush Magnus came after with all the gear
and the snake saw me and Ella pits or
these this kind of snakes they are very
very active have you ever thought that
when you look at snakes like
rattlesnakes or you look at even you
know crocodiles or sharks you can’t
really see what they’re thinking if they
think they’re just pretty blank not much
happen nothing but not this guy he looks
at you and he evaluates what you’re
gonna do he slide back and forth like
this and you can see that it’s acting
he’s active evaluating your every moment
and movement which is very very cool so
anyway he’d saw me and it put itself
sort of in its ceasefire position right
in front of me
Josh Magnus came and he got up caught up
with us and he took this picture so you
see the snake is sort of lying there
haha there are two of you guys again I
don’t know if I like this and I’m there
I’m taking pictures a lot of small
mistakes this behind-the-scenes picture
then all of a sudden the snake just
feels that no I’m sick of you guys I
don’t want you and I want to pass you
because we were sort of blocking the
route downstream a bit so what it did
was that it stood up a little bit not
all the way up but maybe to a few feet
up like this open its mouth and started
to hiss very strange and I stood up you
might have done too and then I backed
into the water Disputes the stream
behind me with the camera sort of a
shield in front of my legs with a
wide-angle flash on the camera to take
this picture
and to me the relevance of taking
pictures of silver leaf monkeys pygmy
elephants of the trees the flowers is
that they become ambassadors even though
it’s a few years ago I took this picture
I still get mails every week at least
about this photograph this is hard to
beat and this is a bearded pig and a
female on top of that look at the snout
and this is an indicator species in
Borneo they are so vulnerable to change
and what is happening right now is that
the ecosystem is like a house of cards
where we have pulled out too many cards
so the system collapses so bearded pigs
are not as common these days and this is
another snake that I love this is a pit
viper that I photographed quite recently
I don’t know if you guys like snakes but
there’s something about snakes that is
they’re so misunderstood I think and
then we have orangutans
I’ve spent four and a half months in the
trees just working with orangutans
trying to get footage and film these are
one of the animals that suffer the most
now we’ll come back to that yeah man of
the forest orangutans and they’re very
intelligent they have this enormous
memory especially for when it comes to
fruiting trees and where to find them
and they make reconnaissance trips to
different trees so they know exactly
that well three years from now this
durian tree will fruit so some
scientists think that they actually know
and can have this sense of both timing
and place which is quite phenomenal now
this is chapter 2 the reality because
the dream is not there anymore that is
what you just have seen and to me this
is the Borneo that I love and that’s
become a second home but this is not
what it looks like in most places these
days this is what it looks like this is
the Borneo that I went to 1988 and this
is the Borneo that I’ve worked in so
much
and this strangest thing is that as a
photographer you’re out there to try to
show the realms the encapsulated realms
that are heaven like but to come to
those places you travel through
purgatory you travel through hell to
find encapsulated heavens so in this
story now published in the November
issue of National Geographic magazine we
turn the coin and we said let’s focus on
what’s really happening to Borneo and
this is what it looks like and to me
this is like a very very nasty nightmare
this is like something out of Lord of
the Rings you know it can’t be true but
this is what it looks like in so many
areas and it’s quite depressing of
course this is the third largest island
in the world
it used to be covered with dense
rainforest peat swamp forests but at
this rate that it has been leveled now
since the 70s it’s one of the worst
ecological disasters in history and this
to me looks like something came from
some other planet and just dropped and
spread like cancer but this is terracing
for all palm and I’m not you know this
kind of environmentalist fundamentalist
that will say save everything our
species is is the cancer let’s you know
stop evolving stop using nature I’m not
that naive at all I have the references
working in 80
and countries during these 23 years and
I I know we’re six and a half billion
people on the planet but the thing is we
have to use nature sustainably I know
I’m preaching to the choir here but
that’s what we need to do this is the
Bakken dam in Borneo this is a
hydroelectric dam that is built in the
middle of one of the richest ecological
hotspots in Malaysia and the pilot was
so afraid of flying over this area she
said we can only take one turn because
if they see it’s me I would be out of a
job and I won’t be able to send my kids
he wanted to send his daughter to Japan
to study he said that I can forget about
it so we have to just make one round
around this but kun damn we couldn’t
have any guides or interpreters because
nobody wanted to take the risk to join
us because there is so much corruption
in some of the places we worked and most
of the places we worked unfortunately so
for example one of our drivers said that
well they know where I live so they
can’t be seen with you so we had to jump
out of the cars and walk into the night
or into the logging concessions and then
just make some blend and try to be
socially sort of become accepted by by
these wonderful people I mean the
workers are great it’s just that they
are nervous that their bosses will then
see us together so we had to hide every
time they recommended that we’d hide the
thing is we have a tendency to think
that we cannot personally as individuals
make a difference I meet that quite
frequently that people feel that it’s up
to somebody else what I feel is that
when I see this when I get to get all of
this knowledge and the references that I
get from this I feel that that is
definitely wrong
I think we can all make a difference the
only thing that can save places like
Borneo I think is that we can make the
people that live there we have to give
them a better future a more sustainable
future we have to try to give them
alternatives that are good that they can
prosper they can live in a good way in a
sustainable way without completely
massacring their their nature and by
consuming the right things by making the
right everyday choices by using your
voice our voices in a democratic process
if you may we can really make a
difference
these workers are Indonesian workers
about 1 million workers came to Borneo
to find a new way of life to have a good
job but what happens now is that they
have logged almost everything in
Southern Cal and on which means that
there is not a future for a lot of
people safeguarding a natural realm is
also safeguarding people’s futures we
have to make sure we use nature and not
misuse nature so this story is it is
possibly the toughest I’ve done and not
logistically not when it comes to all
the equipment not staying in blinds and
hides for for a long long long time but
to be accepted by the workers and
emotionally to be able to withstand
really working not just traveling
through hell to find pieces of heaven
but to work in hell and from this point
I really in this moment I really
appreciate my colleagues that work in
war-torn places photojournalists that
work in with the with from one
catastrophe to another to me this was as
close as I have never ever been to that
part and that kind of photography
the thing is I think one of the greatest
things that can happen to Bonilla is
that you log the forest and then you
have the forest that will come the force
will come back and regrow and you will
in that way
save a tremendous biodiversity not all
of it but a lot of it and then you will
harvest it again and it will regrow and
you will harvest it again and it will
regrow and you will bit by bit loose
biodiversity you will but you will still
have an incredible biodiversity compared
to if you burn it and plant a mono crop
because that is the alternative so in
order for this little family to have
life to have a good life we have to
determine in these countries Indonesia
and Malaysia and Brunei needs to
determine what to use and how to use in
and what to leave for other industries
such as tourism ecotourism pharmacology
medicine this is an interesting picture
it’s not a good picture but it’s an
interesting picture this guy is in broad
daylight
taking out born in Ironwood out of a
national park in Indonesia called gunam
pollute the IRA wood is so heavy the
density is so high so it will sink
immediately like lead so if you put it
in water just drops to the bottom it’s
so the quality of it is incredible it’s
called bel Yin
so what they need to do is to to get it
out they have to float it out with other
timber this is obviously illegal 30
percent of this National Park has been
logged illegally due to corruption and
the thing is as soon as we go to a to a
hardware store or furniture place and we
say oh this looks great I’d love to buy
this for my balcony wouldn’t it be
really cool to have our keys in the
nice and cute cupboard yes darling it
looks fabulous
please look what it’s made of and if
it’s certified FSC Forest Stewardship
Council certified or not otherwise we
will without knowing contribute to this
and I don’t blame him
of course nobody can blame him really
it’s a job he gets food on the table
bauxite mining is another thing also a
heavy issue
Dessie Ratna sorry up up right there top
right she is a scientist and she’s
monitoring illegal concessions basically
there are legal concessions but then
they bribe people to let them grow sort
of in all directions so they can mine
more and she’s going around with the GPS
to monitor what’s illegal and what’s not
a lot of these people receive death
threats
some people even disappear because it’s
a lot of money in this
and this is the oil palm so here we go
we have lowland forest here and peat
swamp and then this is all palm and when
you fly over it it looks green I’ve met
a lot of tourists a lot of visitors that
say isn’t it beautiful in green here it
might be beautiful but it’s not a jungle
and it goes on and on and on and what
needs to be done is to find ways to
obviously be able to grow palm oil but
in a sustainable way so this is one of
the major issues right now in that part
of the world but when we import eco fuel
partly made from oil palm we are also
contributing to this so we have to ask
for the right product if we’re all you
know allergic to nuts we would
definitely look you know at the package
of the product we’re buying so we won’t
suffocate one nice day but when it comes
to environmental products and the
environment and sustainability I don’t
think we really look it’s hard to be a
consumer what can I buy what can I do in
my life without screwing up a place
somewhere it’s not easy but but I think
we have to start a process where I think
we already start the process where we
care and what we think we can make a
difference and six and a half billion
people we are bound to be able to make a
difference both politically and as
consumers this is a farmer harvesting
all palm fruits this is another great
guide these are pretty heavy and spiny
fruits it’s a hard hard work to harvest
them but it’s very profitable not for
them but for the owner of the plantation
this guy is very fit and I remember when
I came to born here first the first
years when I looked almost like this I
don’t know what happened to me
there are so many species that’s
obviously suffer from this we can’t even
count them I mean there’s numerous
species but one that we get attached to
because of their intelligence and
because they’re both funny and sweet and
fascinating obviously or the orangutans
and these orangutans get caught you know
when you log huge areas and you have
sometimes then island so forest in the
middle of these huge areas lots of
animals get caught a lot of them burn or
just you know go up in smoke but those
are survivable then end up in these on
these islands and what happens then is
that female orangutan with babies they
will then venture out into these
wastelands or into these plantations
when they run out of food and then the
mothers are usually killed because
plantation workers or you know logging
people will then find them and kill the
mother and try to take the baby because
you can sell baby orangutans and this is
illegal but it’s also understandable you
can you can actually earn a lot of money
when they Club the mother or hit her
word or you know slay her with a machete
or shoot most of the babies are died too
a lot of them that are captured and then
kept as pets contract human diseases and
infections so there are projects in
Borneo and in Sumatra where also you can
find rank towns where they save
orangutans and they create orphanages so
part of my assignment most recent
assignment was try to to visualize this
when we are small human beings from one
from from one year to three we have a
certain way of we have a certain concept
of life baby we see things to remember
things in a special way orangutan
they are more mature their brains can
handle information and memory and
emotions better actually than we can in
that age between those years which is
both frightening and fascinating and
Center which means that baby orangutans
that witness there when they can see
their mother being killed in front of
them remembers this and becomes
completely traumatized by they have this
strong memory of this so it takes them
time to trust people this is a male that
is put to to Anissa ties to so they can
treat him against some diseases that he
has contracted in captivity illegal
captivity this male was so afraid of the
male veterinarian so this female
babysitter they called him she has to
comfort him by holding his hand and and
caressing him gently so that this
veterinarian can work and it it just
takes time for them to trust men
especially females women it’s much
easier but even then from the beginning
it’s hard and when people tell me you
know a lot of people tell me animals
don’t have a soul you know to me it’s
like saying the Holocaust didn’t exist
or it’s like saying Borneo is fine
there’s no logging in Borneo it’s like
saying the glaciers aren’t melting some
things are just so stupid and it gets to
me here we have a baby orangutan and
look at the next frame there’s just
certain certain moments where you know
you just know that they feel so much
that we know that we can’t explain it’s
like looking at whales like orchids
dolphins or larger whales we just don’t
know what they think what their concept
of life is we don’t understand that
doesn’t mean that they don’t think of
course again I’m pre
to the choir but it you know it first I
get so frustrated sometimes with these
thing this these babies are taking their
going to bed but instead but instead of
taking them one by one they have so many
in this place they have 500 orphaned
orangutans 500 without a mother 500 that
needs to be taught how to become an
orangutan again they don’t know how to
climb really they don’t know what to
what to eat they don’t know what to be
afraid of they don’t know better that a
snake they should stay away from a snake
so the babysitter’s need to teach the
orangutans us how to become Randy tails
and that is a paradox I think that we
representing the worst carnivore the
worst predator the worst enemy will them
be the ones that help them but that is
the wonderful thing about us is that we
can set things right
we can set things right if we want to
but we have to want to I will never
forget this woman to the left she was
very very sweet very forthcoming and
very she just loved the orangutans and
it’s so cute because she is in love with
this range and I’m sure but the
orangutan is even more in love with her
and she said look at this he loves when
I do this to him I do it every day
and then she started to tickle him you
know in the face as you can see he’s got
this strange huge tooth everything that
he looks so funny
and and she laughed as much as he did
but then it’s so cool because right
after this picture was taken he looks at
his rang attend friends like look we
have the special relationship she’s my
girl you know look at this
it’s like you know we have a thing here
going and then but look when he looks
back at her with love you know when you
work with wild animals wild orangutans
you obviously never get this kind of
relationship of course their while they
stay away from you they can be curious
sometimes but they choose to stay away
which is wise but as soon as you get
this kind of relationship which is to
begin with not good but at the same time
it is it is very emotional I think a lot
of people having met dolphins or
orangutans or gorillas or you know
whatever you can for a moment touch with
your hands or with your heart and get
really close to that could be a memory
for life they can change you I would
like them to be wild I would like them
to stay away from me and I cherish the
moments when I’ve been covered up behind
all these things just waiting for the
wild orangutans and they have given me
gifts from the forest when they come to
me as wild individuals and not to me but
they exposed themselves so I can take
pictures and film them this is not the
way it should be even though it’s
charming but this is necessary and again
this is a way for us to try to set
things right and a lot of people can now
adopt these young primates and give them
a better life this is again something to
ponder we’re six and a half billion
people on the planet why should we care
about narang eaten for god sakes two
children permitted died from malaria
does it matter if Borneo is wiped out
and all its wildlife does it really
matter if all the glaciers melt
does it matter at all if we pollute the
oceans I think yes because it’s the
diagnosis
it’s crystal clear that something is
wrong
we’re handling our planet in a way that
is not wise my countryman carl linnaeus
he’d the guy who invented the system of
taxonomy said 250 years ago that
everything is connected it’s pretty
smart nobody has said anything smarter
for 250 years
I mean it’s really smart and that we
need to understand we need to be able to
relate to these issues we need to
understand the importance of our daily
choices and what we do what we make our
lives so when we lose the Ronnie times
when we can lose a number we will lose
number of species but it’s like a pilot
told me once if you lose some parts of a
plane in the making me there you know
you fly this thing
and all of a sudden you hear sound and
you say oh that’s something on the
waiting what’s what’s that it just fell
off
oh we still fight it didn’t really
matter I think this seems ok they have
Roger Roger
this is Freddy what do you say yes this
is fine no problem ok Oh something is
burning right here it is this crucial is
this important thing no no no no it will
be ok in short well we’re still flying
it works well but eventually as we look
up as we lose cards in this house of
cards the plane will crash and that’s
what we’re seeing these are some of our
cards that we have presented that I have
tried to show you in this house of cards
I just wish that when my kids I have two
boys one is three year old three years
old his name is aina and one is seven
years old and Scott two blond boys with
blue eyes but when they grow up or
they’re fifteen or twenty or twenty-five
and they go with their friends or
girlfriends or whatever
ooh Borneo or to Alaska or they go to
Iceland or they go to the Great Barrier
Reef and they want to take this giant
stride out into this incredibly diverse
and colorful realm it it should be there
for them I want them to be able to sit
in a tree I don’t know if they want to I
wanted to be able to sit in a tree in
Borneo and listen to the Gibbons I’m
afraid that they will not be able to
that’s what I’m afraid of and if nothing
else if we if we can’t find one other
driving force to affect change
think of children and grandchildren and
their children what is the legacy what
do we want to leave for them
now I want to end with a few pictures of
my friends the pen on this is the one of
the people’s truest – the oldest of
human lifestyles hunter-gatherers in in
the more desolate parts of Borneo still
pretty desolate but they’re marked with
sadness because they’re losing their
realm surprise surprise
demand tabara I’m working on a
documentary on a man called the bottom
tabara told me a story that was so
strong while making poison darts like
this he’s drying them here they use a
poison called dodgem it’s sap from a
tree that’s very very powerful and
potent as a venom he said that my
grandfather showed my father that Todd
Jim tree that it’s essential of course
for their entire life I mean that’s how
they hunt and get their food and my
father showed me the tree when I was
ready for it and I showed my children
the tree and then after that the
machines arrived and the tree is not
there anymore
the thing is the orangutans they have
advocates fighting for them but when it
comes to the Penan they not very
successful I think I’m a sort of a
realistic optimist in a way I think but
I’m not very optimistic when it comes to
the pen and I think they would lose
their culture and their way of life no
doubt and if they would be happy to do
so that would be fine if they were
saying you know yeah I am so sick and
tired of eating this sago porridge it’s
like wallpaper glue fine but the thing
is some of these people don’t they want
to have the only thing they want is to
have a patch of land where they belong
have we seen it before yes we have seen
it before but it’s strangely sad how
history has a tendency to repeat itself
this is my friend when he’s going for a
walk to his
neighbouring tribesmen the people that
live in other nomadic settlements he
used to be able to walk in darkness the
people that walked in darkness now they
say that the sunlight give them diseases
and they die it’s not them they don’t
get diseases from light they get
diseases from from outside of course
from new people coming in so to me this
picture is very telling this is a little
group of nomadic Penan that travels on
the roads made by loggers now this is
the Borneo I want to give to my sons
this is the Borneo that I want you to be
able to see go to and enjoy but in order
for us to save Borneo we need to give
the people in Borneo a bright future we
need to demand products that are
sustainable and we need to care thank
[Applause]
you
you
[Music]
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