Danau Girang Field Centre

About our NGO partner

The Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) is a collaborative research and training facility established through a formal partnership between the Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University (UK). It is situated in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

The DGFC’s research investigates the landscape-level requirements critical for the viable persistence of tropical species in human-dominated landscapes and focuses on multiple core species using advanced technologies. To explore their survival mechanisms further, the DGFC also gathers information regarding population genetics, disease, toxicology, behaviour, and classical ecology.

In addition, through their well-established reforestation programme (Regrow Borneo), undertaken in partnership with Sabah’s Wildlife and Forestry Departments and a local village cooperative, the DGFC plant native trees in areas of highly degraded forest to create new wildlife corridors and living laboratories to study the long-term development and ecological impact of each site.

The scientific results from their work are published in academic journals and presented to stakeholders and government agencies to influence the decision making process and inform State-wide conservation strategies.

Engaging with NGOs, local village cooperatives and policy makers, DGFC is open to research collaborations, volunteers, professional and academic training programmes with scientists and students from all over the world.

The Danau Girang Field Centre Purpose

“Healthy ecosystems allow us all to survive. Every plant and animal plays an important role in maintaining our fragile ecosystems.

“In Sabah, Borneo, where many of the species are endemic, their protection through scientific research and monitoring plays an important part in understanding how to best maintain and even enhance their depleting numbers and habitat.

“The world’s landscapes, often fragile and fragmented, remain vital for every creature’s survival, including man, and every creature and their habit is vital to maintain the local ecology wherever its location.”

Benoit Goossens, PhD, Director Danau Girang Field Centre