Documentation centre

The Bruno Manser Fund's documentation centre is one of the globally leading centres for information on the subjects of the Sarawak rainforest and indigenous peoples. The information collected here is available for anyone interested in these matters and is intended to contribute to awareness-building.

Inventory

The documentation centre's inventory takes in the documents collected by Bruno Manser himself, including his photographs and videos. It also comprises a library on the theme of the rainforest and its inhabitants, with a particular focus on Sarawak, one of the Malaysian federal states on the island of Borneo. The documentation centre is the contact point for inquiries from interested parties on issues concerning the Penan and the rainforest.

Bruno Manser’s photographic, audio and written records

During the six years that Bruno Manser spent living with the Penan in the rainforest in the 1980s, he drew, photographed and filmed the life of the withdrawn forest dwellers. These first-hand records are preserved by the documentation centre and made available to interested parties. They constitute a unique chronicle about a nomadic way of life, which the Penan can now only keep up to a very limited extent on account of the destruction of the rainforest.

Library

A library on the subject of the rainforest in Sarawak provides more detailed insight into the status of research in the fields of botany, zoology and anthropology as well as politics and human rights in Sarawak and Malaysia. Approximately 1500 works of reference are available for interested parties to consult in the library itself.

Contact point for interested parties

In addition to collecting, preserving and communicating existing documents, the Bruno Manser Fund’s documentation centre also functions as a contact point for the association’s own employees and for external inquiries. Facts on selected subjects, such as palm-oil cultivation and rainforest destruction are collected and processed here. We are happy to provide advice to students and schoolchildren in relation to lectures and project work.