- The 26-kilometer (16-mile) Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Bridge, the longest bridge in Southeast Asia, connects remote eastern areas to the country’s urban capital, while facilitating access to forests teeming with unique biodiversity and protected species.
- Authors of a recent study spoke with locals to examine whether easier access to wildlife trade markets is influencing traditional hunting behaviors and practices.
- They found that hunting is still primarily driven by cultural and traditional purposes for consumption rather than to sell at markets, although these motivations are gradually declining.
- Locals noted that while the bridge offers better job prospects and income opportunities, they have also observed unusual wildlife movements and migration patterns since its construction.
For local communities in Brunei, the longest bridge in Southeast Asia does more than connect remote eastern areas to the country’s urban capital; it also opens up access to rainforests teeming with unique biodiversity and protected species.
Ethnic groups in the remote, eastern Temburong region have historically relied on hunting for sustenance, with low impacts and pressure on biodiversity. However, as some community members point out, there’s been a gradual shift toward hunting for recreation and extra income — now made easier by the 26-kilometer (16-mile) Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Bridge, which connects villagers directly to a wider variety of markets in the west of the country.
To assess whether easier access between Temburong’s forests and markets influences hunting behaviors and practices, a recent study published in the British Ecological Society’s journal People and Nature gathered opinions from community members. The authors examined how infrastructure expansion interacts with people’s motivations and the region’s biodiversity, including tropical forests and mammal diversity.
“In Temburong, one of the ways through which the bridge possibly impacted biodiversity was by facilitating hunter access to forests,” said study author Natasha Mannion, a Ph.D. scholar at the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University.
A local villager in Temburong, who requested to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said, “If someone caught a wild boar, they’d share it with everyone in the village. Hunted meat is less important as a source of food, but it’s more of a hobby now.”
The region’s ethnic groups, including the majority Bruneian Malays and nine minority communities such as the Iban and Murut in the district, traditionally hunt bearded pigs (Sus barbatus), muntjacs (Muntiacus atherodes) and mouse deer (Tragulus kanchil) for food and cultural practices. While most of these animals, like pigs and some monkey species, are caught with snares for pest control or personal consumption, others are sold at local markets.
Because there is limited research on hunting practices in Brunei, Mannion said the study aimed to fill the knowledge gaps around the current state of hunting.
“There’s now a bit more potential for disturbance from hunting because of the bridge expansion. Although it seems fairly low, we don’t know how much hunting pressure is impacting the biodiversity level in Temburong,” she told Mongabay.
While pigs and deer species remain the most commonly hunted, several villagers mentioned during field discussions that they also occasionally hunt the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and porcupine species (Hystrix crassispinis and Trichys fasciculata), both for meat and the potential to earn more money.
Bridging the gaps?
One of the species of concern for conservationists is the Sunda pangolin. This critically endangered species is traditionally hunted, though rarely, and researchers express concern that easier access to its forested habitats may increase hunting pressures.
While pangolins are protected under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulations for international trade, of which Brunei is a member, they are not explicitly protected under the country’s laws. Even though locals say they are difficult to find, the species is targeted when spotted, and some hunters risk crossing borders to sell them abroad for high prices.
Even though the species is globally threatened, Brunei lacks its own legal frameworks to protect pangolins from trade within the country, a conservationist with more than a decade of experience working on pangolin conservation told Mongabay on the condition of anonymity due to safety concerns involving the Brunei government. “Hunting in Temburong might not be an issue as communities still practice traditional hunting, but not introducing robust legislation for pangolin conservation can have serious impacts on its sustainable protection and conservation,” the conservationist said.
While the bridge has opened up more job opportunities for communities, it also makes Temburong’s forests more accessible to outsiders. “And this is concerning because the local communities in the district have relied on traditional knowledge and methods of hunting with snares and nets, which is not the case with hunters traveling in from the border of Sarawak in Malaysia, which allows gun use for hunting,” the conservationist added.
According to the 12th National Development Plan, the government plans to commit around $3.1 billion by 2029 in more than 300 projects, including infrastructure. Aligning with these development goals, some villagers in Temburong view the bridge as a medium to find better jobs and for foreign investors to connect and invest in future projects in Temburong.
For other locals, however, balancing infrastructure development and biodiversity protection is key. They said the bridge has encouraged more people to visit Temburong, some of whom enter the forests and hunt animals and songbirds without permission or regard for hunting etiquette.
For generations, ethnic groups in Temburong have practiced traditional hunting practices, such as menyuluh, where community members walk through the forest for days, using a torch or lamp at night, hunting bearded pigs or deer using spears. Others describe “hard borders” beyond which they do not hunt, and following appropriate seasons to hunt particular species depending on the availability of their food and their breeding periods. However, with increasing development priorities, community elders say they worry that younger generations will lose interest in preserving traditional skills and knowledge.
According to the authors, one villager said, “Before the bridge was built, it was common to see Borneo crested fireback (Lophura ignita) wandering around, but it is quite rare now.”
A resident of another village, located near the bridge and also requesting anonymity for safety reasons, told Mongabay that the new infrastructure has impacted wildlife populations in the area. While glimpsing some species was previously rare, they’ve begun to see proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) around their village since the bridge was built, raising concerns about increased vulnerability to hunting.
The bridge cuts through the Labu Forest Reserve, a protected area known for its dense rainforests, and some locals living nearby have noticed unusual wildlife movements and migrations.
“The government had to cut through the Labu Forest Reserve to build the bridge. I wasn’t allowed to go and survey in that area, so I don’t know about the impact on the forest there,” Mannion said.
Mongabay reached out to the Temburong District Office and the Brunei Forestry Department via email, but they did not respond by the time of publication.
Banner image:A camera trap image of a southern red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) in Temburong. Image courtesy of Natasha Mannion.
Citations:
Franco, F. M., & Minggu, M. J. (2019). When the seeds sprout, the hornbills hatch: understanding the traditional ecological knowledge of the Ibans of Brunei Darussalam on hornbills. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-019-0325-0
Mannion, N. L. M., Gaulton, R., Jamil,M. E., Pfeifer, M., Slik, J. W. F., Willis, S. G., & Franco, F. M.(2025). Hunting motivations, behaviour and forest access: Characterising wildlife hunting practices in a multi-ethnic,forested landscape of Brunei Darussalam, Southeast Asia. People and Nature, 00, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70069
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