Soundscapes of Nusantara: Bioacoustic Recording in Kalimantan Amid Indonesia's Capital Relocation

Scientists and indigenous collaborators use bioacoustic monitoring to document Kalimantan's forest sounds as Nusantara, Indonesia's planned capital, rises in the heart of Borneo. Across 20 sites and 18 months, passive acoustic recording units and AI analysis capture wildlife voices to baseline ecosystem health and preserve traditional ecological knowledge before development alters the soundscape. The episode weaves science with local perspectives, highlighting endangered species, cultural meaning, and the social implications of relocation and large-scale infrastructure.

• Sound as a data source for biodiversity and ecological health
• Indigenous knowledge and community engagement in conservation science
• Nusantara's green city vision contrasted with real-world ecological and social impacts
• Financial, political, and ethical tensions shaping conservation efforts

Overview

Jakarta's sinking has driven a bold plan to relocate the capital to Nusantara, a forested region of eastern Borneo. The podcast follows a collaboration between scientists and Balik communities as they document the forest's sounds to understand how biodiversity and cultural knowledge may be affected by rapid change. The narrative centers on sound as a scientific instrument and a vessel for indigenous knowledge, offering a lens on the environmental and social stakes of Nusantara's development.

Sound as Data and Methods

The project deploys terrestrial passive acoustic recording units at multiple terrain types, including mountains, mangroves, caves, and eucalyptus forests. A key device, nicknamed Swift, records continuously, building a long-term archive of the forest's soundscape. Over 18 months, researchers collect thousands of hours of audio, which are analyzed with spectrograms—visual representations of sound—allowing scientists to identify distinctive acoustic fingerprints for species such as proboscis monkeys, orangutans, and various gibbons. AI tools sift through the data to place where wildlife are present and how their presence shifts over time, providing a baseline to measure construction impacts as Nusantara takes shape.

Ecology and Biodiversity at Risk

East Kalimantan hosts high biodiversity and endangered primates. Audio monitoring can capture signals from animals that camera traps might miss, enabling a more comprehensive view of movement and health. The researchers describe the forest's sonic fingerprints as windows into ecosystem function, with spectrograms acting as maps of species presence and activity. The goal is to detect displacement patterns or shifts in habitat use as Nusantara's expansion proceeds, informing targeted conservation and management strategies.

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Significance

Balik voices are central to the story. Abidin, a Balik guide, explains that certain animal sounds carry cultural meanings and warnings. For his community, dawn and morning calls signal life events and, sometimes, the passing of community members. The collaboration emphasizes reciprocal knowledge exchange: scientists gain data, while local communities gain tools to preserve ecological knowledge, education materials for children, and pathways to engage with the project through illustrated books and an user-friendly sound app.

Nusantara, Development, and Governance

Nusantara is pitched as a forest city, powered by renewables and designed to maintain ecological corridors. Yet the plan sits within a complex political and financial landscape. The government allocated a large-scale seawall project and pledged substantial foreign investment, while local communities faced relocations and evictions. The podcast traces the tension between ambitious sustainability branding and the practical realities of land rights, livelihoods, and governance, including funding challenges that have affected the project’s momentum and long-term viability.

Reflections and Future Directions

The speakers wrestle with a central question: can listening to the forest reveal what should be done to balance development with ecological and cultural preservation? The story ends on a reflective note about paying attention to environmental signals and the responsibility to future generations to preserve a voice-filled forest heritage even as Nusantara moves forward. The overarching message invites listeners to consider how we listen to the more-than-human world and what kind of future our cities should sound like.