Lancaster Environment Centre to host the UK secretariat of the South East Asian Rainforest Research Partnership
From January 2015, the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University hosts the secretariat of a new charity supporting collaborative research and training on the functions, conservation and restoration of tropical rainforest.
The South East Asian Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) supports a programme of work mainly, but not exclusively, in the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. It currently employs around 60 staff, most of whom are field assistants who facilitate and support research activities in the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment, the NERC-supported Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) programme, a Smithsonian-supported 50 Ha plot longitudinal study of biodiversity change and other long-term research endeavours in Sabah.
SEARRP also plays a major role in supporting research at the Danum Valley Field Station in Sabah, where several Lancaster University colleagues (especially Dr Nick Chappell and Professor Nick Hewitt) and students have worked over the years.
Lancaster University is a Founding Partner in SEARRP, along with the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, York, Leeds, Imperial College, ETH Zurich and others.
The Director of the Partnership, Professor Glen Reynolds MBE, is an Honorary Professor in the Lancaster Environment Centre.