The objective of the Southeast Asia Sustainable Forest Management Network is to study degraded natural forests where community management may be a viable strategy in establishing access controls and thereby stabilizing forest use. The Network is comprised of a small, select coalition of Asian colleagues, many of whom have collaborated together for years, both with each other and with Network facilitators. The solidarity of the Network members is based on a common commitment and well-defined focus on exploring alternative management strategies for Asia's disturbed natural forest lands. The Network's strategy has been to move away from conventional, academic research toward more applied, interdisciplinary studies which have both practical and policy relevance. Through case diagnostic studies, the work attempts to capture the voices and needs of forest communities and to communicate their indigenous knowledge and perspectives on the human-forest relationship. To that end, the national teams in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines are developing long-term working relationships with community members to learn more about their forest management issues, resource-use systems, and problem-solving strategies. The emphasis of the Network's research includes the ecology of natural regeneration, the economics of non-timber forest product systems, and the community organizations and institutional arrangements which support participatory management. The lessons stemming from the research aim to inform field implementation procedures, reorient training, and guide policy reform.
For more information about the Network and its publications, please contact Dr. Mark Poffenberger and Betsy McGean at the address below.
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
University of California
2223 Fulton, #617
Berkeley, California 94720
Tel: 510-642-3609
FAX: 510-643-7062
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THIS WORK WAS SUPPORTED BY TWO GRANTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, THROUGH FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION AND THE BIODIVERSITY SUPPORT PROGRAM, A USAID-FUNDED JOINT VENTURE OF WORLD WILDLIFE FUND, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, AND WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE. THE CONTENTS HEREIN DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE DONORS. |
©1993
Front cover photo: A Young Dayak tribal returns from a one-month hunt dee in the rainforests surrounding Diak Lay village.
Back cover photo: Village elder from Ben Hes believes logging companies could negotiate an agreement to transfer management responsibilities of the secondary forest to local community groups.
Country Team Coordinators:
Oekan Abdoellah, Padjadjaran University (UNPAD)
Abu Bakar Lahjie, Mulawarman University (UNMAL)
and
Sopari S. Wangsadidjaja, Indonesian Ministry of Forestry (DEPHUT)
Herri Hadikusumah, UNPAD
Johan Iskandar, UNPAD
Bambang Sukmananto, DEPHUT
Edited by
Mark Poffenberger
and
Betsy McGean
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
International and Area Studies
University of California, Berkeley
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List of Figures |
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vii |
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BACKGROUND |
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1 |
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Farming Systems of Buginese, Javanese, and Banjarese Migrants |
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33 |
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37 |
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40 |
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42 |
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Protecting Forest Resources to Enhance Productivity and Regeneration |
49 |
Primary Forest Reserves (Keletong) and Non-Timber Forest Products |
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54 |
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57 |
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61 |
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Notes |
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1 |
Logging Concessions in East Kalimantan, 1970s |
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Samarinda and the Lower Kutai Area, East Kalimantan |
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Traditional Dayak Territory with Logging Concessions and Residual Tribal Lands |
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Time Line of Important Events in Senoni Area |
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Changing Population and Land Cover in Datarban: 1950-90 |
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Benuaq Dayak Phases of Forest Regeneration |
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Transects of Regenerating Forest Phases |
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Dayak Phases of Forest Regeneration: Relationships to Light Intensity and Vegetative Composition |
27 |
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Land Use Patterns in Datarban |
29 |
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Map: Official Forest Coverage of Indonesia |
30-31 |
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10 |
Population Migration and Forest Product Flows in Datarban |
34 |
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Combined Household income and Subsistence Goods by Ethnic Group and Source in Datarban: 1991-92 |
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12 |
Historical Transects of Diak Lay: 1870-1990 |
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Transect of Land Use Systems in Diak Lay, East Kalimantan |
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This report provides a preliminary discussion of selected research findings from the Indonesian members of the Southeast Asia Sustainable Forest Management Network. The two study teams have recently concluded the first round of data collection and plan to return to the field in June 1993. Consequently, the information discussed here and the recommendations provided should be viewed as tentative, requiring further confirmation in the field. Future research reports will provide more detailed ecological and economic information concerning conditions and changes in the study areas. The research teams in Indonesia greatly appreciate the support they have received from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. The teams would also like to acknowledge the encouragement and cooperation given by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta and the provincial forestry offices in East Kalimantan. The P.T. ITCI and P.T. Mugi timber companies have also cooperated with the studies, contributing their ideas and perspectives to the teams' understanding. Finally, the authors would like to extend their thanks to the villagers of Diak Lay, Ben Hes, and Datarban for sharing their knowledge and experience with us. Particular gratitude is due to Pak Biteq, Pak Abdullah, Pak Bourhan Mas, Pak Abraham, and Pak Daniel.
The Southeast Asia Sustainable Forest Management Network Secretariat, based at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, would also like to acknowledge its cast of supporters and contributors. We are most grateful to John O'Toole at the Rockefeller Foundation for his continued interest in the subject of community forest management and his commitment to support Network activities over the past two years. We would like to specifically thank Molly Kux and Toby Pierce of USAID for their intellectual guidance to the Network, as well as Janis Alcorn, Stephen Kelleher, and Richard Richina of the USAID-supported World Wildlife Fund's Biodiversity Support Program, for providing ideas and financial assistance for the production and publication of this study. At the University of California, Berkeley, we owe thanks for the excellent work of cartographer Jane Sturzinger, artist Anne Higgins, editors Bojana Ristich and Stephen Pitcher, and the competent administrators in the grants office. The facilitators of the Network are indebted to Robert Reed, Eric Crystal, and Cynthia Josayma at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies for their consistent cooperation and overall institutional support. Finally, the Secretariat would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to all the member scientists of the Southeast Asia Network, whom we greatly value as friends and colleagues, for their hospitality during our field visits and for their commitment to this important research.
Forest management policy has been a topic of heated discussion in Indonesia in recent decades. With nearly three-quarters of the country's land area officially under forest cover, national planners have viewed forest utilization as a vehicle to stimulate economic growth and as a land pool to absorb Java's growing population. Migrants seek forest land for farming. Businessmen see profit-generating opportunities. Non-government organizations perceive the richness of the cultural and biological diversity and hope to preserve it. Indigenous peoples view the forest as their ancestral home, the foundation of their traditions and their continuity.
The East Kalimantan case studies presented here do not attempt to justify any of the views described above. Rather, the researchers report changes in the environment and society occurring in the provincial study sites in recent years through human forest interactions. The study finds that forest utilization practices by concessionaires, developers, migrants, and local populations have led to a rapid process of forest degradation, especially in high pressure areas nearer roads and urban centers. The researchers raise the question, "How can Indonesia best manage its millions of hectares of degraded forest lands?" They conclude that while some of this area can be developed for settlements, agriculture, and fast-growing timber plantations, a sizable majority might best be left to regenerate naturally under the protection of local communities.
The Dayak communities in Datarban and Diak Lay both showed a deep knowledge of forest ecology and regenerative processes based on centuries of experience with long rotation agriculture. Traditional wisdom combined with more recent scientific experimentation indicates rapid regrowth can be achieved if cutting and burning are controlled. The productivity of valuable timber and non-timber forest products can be greatly increased through enrichment planting and other manipulations of the natural environment. The Dayaks, as well as the Kutai and migrant groups, are concerned about the future of their communities and the natural resources upon which they depend. The researchers conclude by urging planners, academics, and community development specialists to empower forest people with the legal custodial authority to heal disturbed forest ecosystems and make them once again ecologically rich and economically productive.