SBI collaborates with ULM to conserve bekantan and wetlands

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Sahabat Bekantan Indonesia (SBI) foundation and the University of Lambung Mangkurat (ULM) signed MoU to extend their cooperation in the effort to preserve and protect biodiversity, bekantan (proboscis monkey) and wetlands.

Chairman of SBI Amalia Rezeki here on Friday said their cooperation was part of three basic pillars of mindset and obligation of higher education.

"Since 2015 or for five years we have done a lot of things together with ULM," said the younger outstanding lecturer of ULM.

Among which were the establishment of the Bekantan Research Station and Wetland Ecosystem in Curiak Island, Barito Kuala, which is become the role model for managing research station and proboscis monkeys outside conservation area and this is the first in the world. 

Their cooperation, Amalia said, has also produced 23 scientific papers on proboscis monkeys and wetlands, also a book entitled "Studi Biologi Bekantan" (Biological Study of Proboscis Monkeys), which is a collection of bekantan research.

Related news: S Kalimantan Environment Agency plants mangrove to save flora and fauna

SBI and ULM cooperation including summer courses and internships which annually bring in students from various universities from abroad.

Amalia said she was grateful to be part of ULM and as a gratitude she dedicated her self optimally for the progress of the university. "The vision and mission is to make ULM a leading university with a competitive advantage in wetlands," she said.

ULM Rector, who is also supervisor of SBI, Prof. Dr. H. Sutarto Hadi on the occasion handed over laboratory equipment in the form of an electronic microscope to the manager of SBI's proboscis monkey research laboratory.
Read also: South Kalimantan's dev village index increases significantly
Read also: Hanif ready to encourage South Kalimantan's reforestation program to national level