Borneo or Kalimantan is the largest island in Asia and third largest in the world with an area of 743,330 km2, and the highest peak is Mount Kinabalu (4,095 m) in Sabah, Malaysia. The widest part of the island is located in Indonesia (73%), the rest is in Malaysia (26%) and Brunei Darussalam (1%). Borneo has some the most extensive and longest river systems in Southeast Asia, e.g. Kapuas River West Kalimantan (1143 km), Mahakam River, East Kalimantan (980 km), Barito River, South Kalimantan (880 km) and Rajang River, Sarawak ( 562 km). Borneo has also a very extensive karst system with the world's longest underground rivers.

In the Ice Age, Borneo, Java and Sumatra joined the Asian mainland; melting ice causes the island is separated from Java and Sumatra by a shallow water. Meanwhile, Borneo separated by a deep sea to Sulawesi and the eastern islands. Thus, the biodiversity of Borneo tend to be similar to the Asian region and different to Sulawesi and Papuasia-Australia.

Borneo is home to the oldest tropical rainforest in the world, 140 million-year-old. The island has a very high biodiversity, as well as being the center of evolution and distribution of endemic plant and animal species. On this island there are 15,000 species of flowering plants, 3,000 species of trees (267 dipterocarp species), 221 species of mammals, 420 species of birds, 440 species of freshwater fish and hundreds to thousands of shallow sea water fishes. Tropical rain forest is a habitat for several flagship species such as Borneo orangutans, Java elephant, Sumatran rhinoceros, Borneo clouded leopard and others.

Borneo anthropogenic pressure gets very high, includes logging for the plywood industry, land conversion to oil palm plantations, coal mining, burning of forests to agricultural land, construction of a giant dam in Sarawak and others. However, Borneo still leaves considerable biodiversity. In the program "Heart of Borneo", initiated by WWF in 2007-2010, has found 123 new species. Conservation, utilization and biodiversity research finds its place on this island.

The International Conference on Biodiversity, the second international conference on the theme of the biodiversity of the Heart of Borneo, is conducted by combining between the scientific international seminar on biodiversity and the eco-tourism to the 4 amazing natural tourism destination, Derawan Archipelago (Derawan, Kakaban, Sangalaki, and Maratua Islands), located in the Makasar Strait, East Kalimantan Indonesia. The information of the tourism desitinatation can be visited here. Besides one full seminar day the conference participants could join the 3 full days tour to the Derawan archipelago.


The Heart of Borneo: Land and Water Tropical Biodiversity

1. Genetic diversity
2. Diversity of species
3. Diversity of ecosystems
4. Ethnobiology & Socioeconomics
5. Life Science and Technology



Jl. Pulau Sambit No. 747, Tanjung Redeb, Berau 77315, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Date : 5-8 July 2017
Time : 08.00 to 16.30 WIB

