Chapter 3: "Librettising" ecology to create Lipote: An Interconnected Journey
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Context of the Research and Influences
3.3 Synopsis
3.4 Developing the Script
3.4.a Communication: Influence from the Science
3.4.b Exploring Different Worlds: Panarchy and Adaptive
3.4.c Soil
3.4.d The Fungal Network
3.4.e The Narrator
3.4.f The Humans
3.4.g The Rainforest
i. A Framework for the Rainforest
iii. Exploring the Rainforest through Cycles of Collaboration
3.4.h The Palm Tree Plantation
3.4.i Lipote as the Loner Tree and the "Fiery Edge"
3.4.j The Strangler Fig
3.4.k The Forest Garden (or Taungya) and the Marriage
3.6 Future Steps and Conclusion
Chapter 3: "Librettising" ecology to create Lipote: An Interconnected Journey
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Context of the Research and Influences
3.3 Synopsis
3.4 Developing the Script
3.4.a Communication: Influence from the Science
3.4.b Exploring Different Worlds: Panarchy and Adaptive
3.4.c Soil
3.4.d The Fungal Network
3.4.e The Narrator
3.4.f The Humans
3.4.g The Rainforest
i. A Framework for the Rainforest
iii. Exploring the Rainforest through Cycles of Collaboration
3.4.h The Palm Tree Plantation
3.4.i Lipote as the Loner Tree and the "Fiery Edge"
3.4.j The Strangler Fig
3.4.k The Forest Garden (or Taungya) and the Marriage
3.6 Future Steps and Conclusion
3.4.f The Humans
As humans are a part of many of the forest systems explored, I needed to acknowledge them within the libretto. In a 2020 research paper by Fleiss et al. the impact of palm tree oil production on deforestation, biodiversity and carbon sequestration is explored in Borneo. It found that in areas of plantation where 10% of the land remains as natural forest carbon storage increases by 20% more than land with no protected forest. They also found that higher levels of biodiversity were connected to the areas that stored the highest amounts of carbon. So protecting those forests which are very biodiverse is even more valuable than it was first understood to be. They also found, however, that when plantations are marked as sustainable due to the rules set out by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RPSO), which require a certain amount of natural forest to be protected within plantation land, these areas of natural forest had a low rate of new tree seedlings and so more must be done to conserve the biodiversity in these patches of forest. Fleiss suggests that human management of these areas of natural forest is now vital in order to allow them to flourish. When discussing the role of forests with members of Nature, Art and Habitat and the local inhabitants of the Taleggio Valley in the prealpine region, I also learned of the importance of forest management in the health of the forests in this valley. I discussed with local foresters and farmers how the systems of woodland and pastures required maintenance and monitoring as they were not part of the original landscape of the region but had been partly created by human settlement. Having already been altered and touched, even created, by man it is vital that humans continue to work to maintain the balance which keeps these very biodiverse ecosystems healthy and functioning well, not only for their own sake, but also to maintain the regenerative economies which exist in these areas. This information, alongside the readings on forest dwelling societies, encouraged me to include such a society in some way in the libretto. Both Dr Eichhorn and Prof. Newton had also pointed me in the direction of rainforests which are managed by humans in a way which does no harm, and even protects elements of the environment. Prof. Newton referred to the taungya, otherwise known as a forest garden. In scene 6 the narrator directly references these types of systems saying (p. 17-18, lines 420-430):
Narrator:
Lipote moves into new territories,
Lands that have been touched and altered by man
But that have also been left to grow
A balanced land – a Forest Garden.
This land is ancient too
As old as Lipote and the rainforest can remember
But man and woman have worked with it and among it
Praying and protecting
Thanking it for the fruits, nuts and grains it can bear.
As the research presented shows how important our active approach to the problem is, I wanted the work to leave the minds of the audience with a positive idea of their relationship with forests, not approaching the problem through fear and guilt, but as a story of which we are a vital part. This happens in the short recitative at the end of scene 7 and subsequent narration (see timecode 01:15:50) where the Baby Durian says: ‘You were seeking help from us / Now we seek help from you / In partnership we grow together / Heal scars from fires and weather’ (p. 25, lines 600-603), and the narrator goes on to say that the humans ‘They will maintain and manage the land’ (p. 25, line 607).
Humans are referenced in the three worlds which surround the Rainforest. In the Palm Tree Plantation, they are referred to as a kind of god. These lyrics from scene 2 (p. 5, lines 119-125) explain the relationship between the humans and the palm trees.
Our sacrificial fruits offered
To terrestrial controllers
Trusted victual providers
Who feed us with dogmatic drip,
Enough for all to be equipped
Trickling through the earth we grip
Without whom we could not exist
This representation of people is not one that I wanted the audience to feel connected to, in order to highlight the inhuman nature of a monoculture. The Strangler Fig refers to the humans who deforested the area around them (probably for the Palm Tree Plantation) but left them there as a sacred object which could not be removed. It has been rescued as cultural heritage. The final words of Lipote in this scene reference the legislation surrounding plantations from the RPSO which will not be effective at preserving biodiversity, despite their attempts to conserve plots of land, if effort is not put into boosting the life that would naturally occur in these plots (p. 16, lines 393-395):
Lipote:
Bands of fear and death
Conserving to consume
You’ll save us in order to destroy
In the Forest Garden there is a reversal of the roles in the plantation. The trees become kings being served by the humans. There is an enjoyed reciprocal relationship between these two communities. This is reflected in the moment the King Durian realises the forest garden people are gone (p. 20, lines 490-492):
Durian Tree:
Our walking caretakers have gone
No laughter in my earth,
No music through the soil.