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Economic development, environmental stress and sustainability in Indonesia A case study on community transformation and local resource use in Berau, East Kalimantan Economische ontwikkeling, milieudruk en duurzaamheid in Indonesië Een case studie over de transformatie van gemeenschappen en het gebruik van natuurlijke hulpbronnen in Berau, Oost-Kalimantan (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)

Pembangunan ekonomi, tekanan terhadap lingkungan hidup dan keberlanjutan di Indonesia Sebuah studi kasus mengenai transformasi masyarakat dan penggunaan sumberdaya alam lokal di Berau, Kalimantan Timur (dengan ringkasan dalam Bahasa Indonesia)

PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 9 november 2012 des middags te 12.45 uur door Rizki Pandu Permana geboren op 15 januari 1976 te Bogor, Indonesië

Promotor

: Prof. dr. E.B. Zoomers

Co-promotoren : Dr. P.P.M. Burgers Dr. M. J. Titus †

Dit proefschrift werd mogelijk gemaakt met financiële steun van De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO/WOTRO) en de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW).

ISBN 978-90-6266-309-5

Graphic design and layout by Eko Prianto [[email protected]] Photos by Rizki Pandu Permana Copyright: Rizki Pandu Permana, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Dedicated to Dr Milan J Titus (1939-2011)

Contents

List of Figures and Tables Glossary Preface 1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Analytical framework 1.3 Berau, one of the last resource frontier areas in Indonesia 1.4 Research aim and research questions 1.5 Methodology 1.6 Thesis structure

2. Linking Farming Communities and the Sustainability of Local Natural Resources 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy and society 2.3 Early society versus nature thinking 2.4 The role of institutions and culture 2.5 Farming communities and their social transformation 2.6 Livelihood strategies in the farming communities 2.7 Sustainability as part of complex dynamic development 2.8 Concluding remarks

3. Regional Development Processes and Issues In an East Kalimantan Resource Frontier Area 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Politics and policy developments: From New Order to decentralization 3.3 Development through the management of natural resources 3.3.1 Forest extraction 3.3.2 Coal Mining

xi xv xix 1 2 5 5 10 11 14

17 18 18 20 23 24 27 30 32

33 34 35 38 39 44

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Economic development, environmental stress and sustainability in Indonesia

3.3.3 Estate crops 3.3.4 Coastal and marine-based activities 3.4 Development and population growth 3.5 Berau’s economic situation 3.6 Land cover changes and pressures on natural resources 3.7 Conflicts over natural resource management 3.8 Conclusion

4. Impacts of Forces of Change On the Transformation of Berau Farming Communities 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Community as a unit of analysis 4.3 Tribal Farming Communities 4.3.1 Dynamics in resource use systems 4.3.2 Land tenure 4.3.3 Access to market 4.3.4 Technological innovation and commercialization 4.3.5 Social differentiation 4.3.6 Conflict over resources 4.4 Peasant Farming Communities 4.4.1 Dynamics in resource use systems 4.4.2 Land tenure 4.4.3 Access to market 4.4.4 Technological innovation and commercialization 4.4.5 Social differentiation 4.4.6 Conflicts over resources 4.5 Pioneer Farming Communities 4.5.1 Dynamics in resource use systems 4.5.2 Land tenure 4.5.3 Access to market 4.5.4 Technological innovation and commercialization 4.5.5 Social differentiation 4.6 Coastal Communities 4.6.1 Dynamics in the resource use systems 4.6.2 Resource access 4.6.3 Access to market 4.6.4 Technological innovation and commercialization 4.6.5 Social differentiation 4.6.6 Conflict over resources 4.7 Forces of change in the farming communities 4.8 Responses and flexibilities of the farming communities 4.9 Conclusion

46 47 51 53 55 60 60

63 64 65 66 69 75 76 77 78 80 81 83 85 86 87 88 90 91 94 99 100 101 102 104 105 109 110 111 111 114 116 116 121

A case study on community transformation and local resource use in Berau, East Kalimantan

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5. Internal Differentiation and Responses Within the Farming Communities

123 5.1 Introduction 124 5.2 Classification of strategy groups within the farming communities 125 5.3 General characteristics of the farming communities 129 5.4 Resource access and acquisition 134 5.5 Involvement in the market system 138 5.6 Management of resource use systems 140 5.7 Income distribution and diversification 146 5.8 Conclusion 152

6. Sustainability of Resource Use Systems 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Assessing sustainability resource use systems 6.3 Variation of resource use systems in the farming communities 6.4 Shares of resource use systems to total income 6.5 Marketing potential of commodities 6.6 Level of income inequality 6.7 Institutional arrangements in resource use system 6.8 Impacts on ecosystem and biodiversity conditions 6.9 Comparison of sustainability in the farming communities 6.10 Conclusion

7. Conclusions and Recommendations 7.1 External forces of change in Berau 7.2 Social transformation and flexibility of the farming communities 7.3 Internal differentiation and responses at household level within the farming communities 7.4 What about the sustainability of resource use systems in the farming communities? 7.5 Towards sustainable local natural resources 7.6 Policy implications for local government 7.7 Final conclusions

159 160 160 163 164 167 170 175 177 182 188 193 194 195 199 202 204 209 216

References

219

Appendices

235 235 239 242

Appendix A. ANOVA from the cluster analysis Appendix B. Computation of Gini coefficient and correlation Appendix C. Procedures for assessing the sustainability aspects

x


Summary Ringkasan Samenvatting Curriculum Vitae

243 253 263 275

List of Figures and Tables

Figures Figure 1-1. Analytical framework of research

6

Figure 1-2. Map of Berau

7

Figure 1-3. Population and population density in Berau subdistricts, 2007

(Source: BPS Berau 2008)

9

Figure 3-1. Advertisement in The New York Times in 1969 invites

foreign investors to do business in Indonesia (Source: Roem et al. 1982)

36

Figure 3-2. Gross regional domestic product of Berau, 2000–2007

(Source: BPS Berau)

40

Figure 3-3. Aquacultures development in Berau (Source: Berau Fishery

Office 1998-2005)

50

Figure 3-4. Population growth in Berau from 1971 to 2007 (Source: BPS Berau)

52

Figure 4-1. Research sites

67

Figure 4-2. The number of boats and fish production in Berau

113

Figure 5-1. Mean values for indicators and strategy group classification

in the farming communities

131

Figure 5-2. Distribution of households according to strategy group

and type of community

132

Figure 6-1. Price movements of some agricultural commodities

in Indonesia from 1995 to 2008 (Source: FAOSTAT 2011)

168

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Tables Table 3-1. Timber concession holders in Berau, 2008

41

Table 3-2. Estate crop companies in Berau (as per September 2009)

48

Table 3-3. Revenue shares at all government levels before

and after decentralization policy applied

54

Table 3-4. Source of revenue of Berau, 1995–2007 (in billion IDR)

56

Table 3-5. Land cover changes in Berau, 1990–2005

58

Table 4-1. Area and population of research villages in the tribal farming

communities, 2007

68

Table 4-2. Area and population of research villages in the peasant farming

communities, 2007

82

Table 4-3. Farm gate and market prices, 2009

87

Table 4-4. Area and population of research villages in the pioneer farming

communities, 2007

92

Table 4-5. Area and population of research villages in the coastal

communities, 2007

104

Table 4-6. Main fish commodities in Berau, 2007

106

Table 4-7. Characteristic and dynamics of resource uses systems

in Berau farming communities

117

Table 4-8. Responses of the farming communities in Berau

119

Table 5-1. Research villages

125

Table 5-2. Indicators and weight indices used for classification

within the farming communities

126

Table 5-3. Age, education and ethnicity composition

of the farming communities

133

Table 5-4. Land use patterns and average acquisition (in ha)

by type of strategy group and community

137

Table 5-5. Level of involvement in market systems among strategy

groups in the farming communities

139

Table 5-6. Differentiation of response patterns among successive

strategy groups in the farming communities

141

Table 5-7. Share of income per household per year in the farming

communities (in IDR)

148


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Table 5-8. Comparison of characteristics of household strategy

groups in all farming communities

153

Table 6-1. Resource use systems in Berau farming communities

163

Table 6-2. Shares of total income of the farming communities

164

Table 6‑3. Income distribution analysis in the farming communities

172

Table 6-4. Comparison of sustainability aspects of resource use systems

in the tribal farming communities

183

Table A.1. ANOVA from the cluster analysis using 3 groups in each

type of farming community

235

Table A.2. ANOVA from the cluster analysis using 4 groups in each

type of farming community

237

Table B. Result of income distribution analysis in Berau farming communities

240

Table C. Description of sustainability aspects in the scoring system

242

Glossary

Abbreviation Indonesian

English

APBD

Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Daerah

Local government revenues and budget

APBN

Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Nasional

National government revenues and budget

APL

Area Penggunaan Lain

Other Land Use Area

BAPPEDA

Badan Perencana dan Pembangunan Daerah

Regional Planning and Development Agency

BP

Badan Pengelola

Management body

BPS

Badan Pusat Statistik

Statistics Office

BUMN

Badan Usaha Milik Negara

State-owned enterprises

CPO

Minyak Sawit Mentah

Crude palm oil

DAK

Dana Alokasi Khusus

Special Allocation Fund

DAS

Daerah Aliran Sungai

Watershed / river basin

DAU

Dana Alokasi Umum

General Allocation Fund

Dishut

Dinas Kehutanan

District Forestry Office

DR

Dana Reboisasi

Reforestation Fund Focus group discussion

FGD

Gross regional domestic product

GRDP Ha

Hektar

Hectare

HGU

Hak Guna Usaha

Use rights

HKM

Hutan Kemasyarakatan

Social forestry

HL

Hutan Lindung

Protection forest

HP

Hutan Produksi

Production forest

HPH

Hak Pengusahaan Hutan

Natural forest concession

HPHH

Hak Pengusahaan Hasil Hutan

Forest product management right

HPHTI

Hak Pengusahaan Hutan Tanaman Industri

Timber plantation forest

HPK

Hutan Produksi Konversi

Convertible production forest

HPT

Hutan Produksi Terbatas

Restricted production forest

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English

HR

Hutan Rakyat

Community forest

HTI

Hutan Tanaman Industri

Timber plantation

HTR

Hutan Tanaman Rakyat

Community timber plantation

IDR

Rupiah

Indonesian rupiah International Monetary Fund

IMF IPK

Izin Pemanfaatan Kayu

Permit for timber utilization

IPKTM

Izin Pengelolaan Kayu Tanah Milik

Permit for timber management on private land

IPPK

Izin Pengusahan dan Pengelolaan Kayu

Permit for timber management

IUP

Izin Usaha Pertambangan

Mining license

IUPHHK HA

Izin Usaha Pengelolaan Hasil Hutan Kayu untuk Hutan Alam

Permit for timber forest management in natural forest

IUPHHK HT

Izin Usaha Pengelolaan Hasil Hutan Kayu untuk Hutan Tanaman

Permit for timber forest management on timber plantation

Kaltim

Kalimantan Timur

East Kalimantan

Kanwil

Kantor Wilayah

Provincial office

KCDA

Kecamatan Dalam Angka

Sub-district in figures

KP

Kuasa Pertambangan

Mining license

MoU

Memorandum of understanding

MPA

Marine Protection Area

NES

Nucleus estate system

NGO

Non-governmental organization

PAD

Pendapatan Asli Daerah

Regional revenue

Permenhut

Peraturan Menteri Kehutanan

Ministry of Forestry Decree

PIR

Pola Inti Rakyat

Nucleus estate system

PKP2B

Perjanjian Karya Pengusahaan Pertambangan Batubara

Coal mining license agreement

PLTU

Pusat Listrik Tenaga Uap

Steam power plant

PT

Perseroan Terbatas

Limited company (Ltd.) Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus

REDD+

RTRW

Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah

National spatial planning

RTRWK

Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah Kabupaten

District spatial planning

SD

Sekolah Dasar

Primary school

SK Bupati

Surat Keputusan Bupati

Head of district decree

SMA

Sekolah Menengah Atas

Senior high school



English

SMP

Junior high school

Sekolah Menengah Pertama

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TNC

The Nature Conservancy

WCED

World Commission on Environment and Development

WWF

World Wildlife Fund

Terminology

Description

Central government/ Unless indicated otherwise, the governing authorities of Indonesia. National authority Consumable

Activities that generate food from animals and vegetables for selfconsumption. Includes hunting, livestock, collecting vegetables and planting vegetables.

Farm activities

Activities to generate incomes from land-based agriculture and fishery sectors. Includes activities on own-account land, ownoccupied land and rented/shared land. In this book, the identified activities are: shifting cultivation, rice cultivation, upland cultivation (ladang), perennial crops cultivation, sea fishery, stationary lift net (bagan), aquacultures and (to some extent) livestock keeping (for sale). All these farm activities are also included in resource use systems.

Farming community

Considering the emphasis on productive systems and responses, and the local social conditions, a farming community is classified according to the characters of the main livelihood types and the dominant types of production relation. In this research, a farming community is two or three villages that were chosen based on the similarity of these characteristics. This is of course not to suggest that the communities are homogeneous entities, because they may still be internally differentiated and may incorporate various types of production relations. However, the classification remains valid as long as it is based on their dominant types of relations.

Forces of change

Political, economic and population developments that have dynamic impacts on the communities and the environment.

Household/family

A social unit that shares the same dwelling and the preparation and consumption of daily meals. The members of the unit also share incomes and resources, and coordinate some economic decisions.

Local government/ Local authority

Unless indicated otherwise, the governing authorities of Berau District.

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Terminology

Description

Non-farm activities

Activities that derive incomes from sectors other than agriculture and fishery. Includes off-farm and non-farm incomes derived from working for government institutions and private companies, and as kiosk owners, middlemen, taxi drivers, teachers, nurses, doctors and others. These activities, however, are not included in resource use systems. Some non-farm activities are included in resource uses systems – namely gold mining, wage labour/share cropping, forest products gathering and hunting – because the income is generated directly from natural resources.

Resource use system

A farm or non-farm activity that generates an income from natural resources. Includes activities practised through cultivation or gathering, and performed individually or communally.

Preface

When I started my PhD in 2006, I never dreamed that my journey towards its completion would have so many ups and downs. ‘Life is like a roller coaster ride’ certainly applies to that particular phase of my life. Yet I’ve never regretted returning to the Netherlands, where I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy and benefit from the very scientific yet fun academic environment at Utrecht University, wonderful research trips to Berau and meeting so many interesting people from various backgrounds – some of whom appeared from nowhere at just the right moment. It was some of them who opened various doors for me, induced life-changing experiences and shaped my present life. One of these good people is Dr Milan J. Titus, to whom I dedicate this thesis. This is the only form of appreciation I can give to the person who gave me the opportunity to do this research and who provided me with my first lifechanging experience in Utrecht, both personally and professionally. I still remember our first meeting in Indonesia and being pleasantly surprised at how advanced his Bahasa Indonesia was, which he spoke with a slightly Javanese accent. But later, it was his knowledge of and passion for science that amazed me even more. I may not have been his best student, but he was certainly the best teacher and tutor I’ve ever had. I will always be indebted to him for that. All these years, Pak Milan has helped me to open my eyes to my own country, Indonesia. I’ve never met anyone as enthusiastic as he is when talking about Indonesia: he loves the country and has deep knowledge of it. He made me see how great Indonesia is and why so many people love it. He opened my eyes and mind to a country that I had neglected and taken for granted. Thank you and rest in peace, Pak Milan.

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I also owe a lot to Dr Paul Burgers. He instilled in me the perspective of a good and proud social scientist, who often has to stand alone in the middle of a crowd of people who have different ways of thinking. Pak Paul was a great supervisor, working partner and friend, someone with whom I discussed forestry, social-economy, carbon issues, world politics, sports, the best kebab in the Netherlands, rendang, nasi goreng, coffee, jokes and much, much more. He often said that I’m more Dutch that he is – but he never realized that I learned that lesson from him. In fact, his love of Indonesia has led him to absorb many Indonesian ways of thinking. I’m grateful that our professional work continues, even though my PhD project is finished. Prof. Dr Annelies Zoomers is another person who made a huge contribution to my project and the finalization of my thesis. The vast amount of support she gave me, particularly after Pak Milan passed away, is really appreciated. I will never forget the long, deep discussions we had, contributing to a common understanding on some issues. I learned from her unexpected questions that forced me to think about and present my argumentation more clearly. And then there was her amazing support when I was stuck in ‘ludicrous moments’ during my PhD period. I really thank her for that. This PhD research was made possible by the multidisciplinary East Kalimantan Project funded by WOTRO (Science for Global Development), which is a subdivision of NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). The project was a cooperation of several organizations in the Netherlands (Utrecht University, ITC – International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, NIOZ – Royal Netherlands Institute for Undersea Research, NIOO – Netherlands Institute for Ecology) and Indonesia (LIPI – Indonesian Institute of Sciences, BAKOSURTANAL, LAPAN, DESDM, Bandung Institute of Technology, and University of Mulawarman). I thank Prof. dr. Piet Hoekstra, Dr Ton Hoitink, Ayi Tarya, Dr Frans Buschman, Dr Wiwin Ambarwulan, Achmad Aditya, Marjolijn Christianen, Rikardo Simarmata, Rini Kusumawati, Bambang Gunawan and other scientists for the great scientific experiences and friendships that gave me during the project. I hope our professional relationships will continue in the future. I received enormous help from people I did not even know before I arrived in Berau. I’m greatly indebted to Abdul Hamzah, Viktor, Catur Sulis, S.N. Andayani, Vienie Deddy, Hendri, Achyar, Iswan Nurhasan, Setiyasih, Sumanto, Catur Suroso, Faisal Kairupan, Agus Herdianto, Fahrizal Nashr, Indah Astuti, Ebe Bun and Arif Hadianto for their excellent assistance and help during the


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fieldwork. And I thank all the people and respondents in the site villages for their sincere hospitality and support. I also received support from the government of Berau District (Bupati Office, Planning and Development Office, Forestry Office, Estate Crop Office, Fishery Office, Revenue Office, and Statistical Office), The Nature Conservancy – Berau Office, World Education, and World Wildlife Fund – Berau Office in the form of background information and outstanding knowledge on the issues. I also thank the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and its staff for their hospitality and their scientific and administrative support during my research in Indonesia; special thanks go to Dr Suyanto, Dr Meine van Noordwijk, Dr Beria Leimona, Betha Lusiana, Dr Atiek Widayati, Vinny Iskandar, Noviana Khususyiah, Nikmatul Khasanah, Retno Setyowati and Degi Harja. The Netherlands would not have been my favourite place to be without the presence of some good companions. Colleagues and great friends at the university kept me going during the hard times and made the process easier for me. I especially thank Dinu Abdella, Ari Susanti, Suseno Budidarsono, Femke van Noorloos, Ty Pham, Tram Nam Tu, Claver Rutayisire, Yoseph Nkurunziza, Ignace Kabano, Dieudonne Rugenda, Raziah Ahmad, Martin Zebracki, Antony On’gayo, Lucia Goldfarb, Joris Schapendonk, Phuc Nguyen, Marike Bontenbal, Efsane Luleciler, Edo Andriesse, Bram van Helvoirt, Henk Huisman, Guus van Westen, Otto Verkoren and Paul van der Lindert for all the discussions and great times we had together. Many other friends in the Netherlands also made me feel at home. It would be a very long list were I to write them all down, so I’ll name just a few: Riza Nugraha, Bernadette Budhawara, Kiki Kushartanti, Grace Wangge, Irene Hadiprayitno, Bastian and Elisabeth Westbrock, Raden Wahyuningrat, Mia Wibisono, Risma Ikawaty, Audy Joinaldy, Trisna Putra, Priyadi Family, Malik Batubara, Edi Husaeni, Charlie Raya, Meli Sari, Hery Setiaji, Asmara Sumitro, Ngurah Wirawan, Nanda Noor, Ella Enira, Geng Bijlmer, Yustina Artati, Ibu Dewi, Agung Salamah, Yurdi Yasmi, Nike Widayanti, Geng Geulis, Pipit Kartini, Rahmilyna Putri, Benedicta de Fretes, Annisa Riyadi, Adept Widiarsa, Marcin Zielinski, Bas de Koning, Sietske Bruning and Thomas Dirkmaat. Thank you all so much for your warm friendship and for telling jokes, throwing parties and sharing so many delicious meals. In Indonesia, I should like to thank Dede Wiliam, who opened the first door to my journey: our conversation on Yahoo Messenger was what set me off on that journey. Wiwin Erikawati and Muhi Usamah for great support during the

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research. And I’ll never forget the hospitality provided by Pak Sofyan, Ibu Nana, Ryan Gozali, Pak Muhammad Salim and the Kelay café family during my stay in Berau. Two good friends – Haris Iskandar and Rahajeng Pratiwi – also helped me to continue my life journey in Indonesia during the last stage of my PhD. I owe you guys a lot. Thank you! Finally, I thank my family. I am the luckiest man in the world to have such a loving and caring wife as Antie Nugrahani. What I put her through was not so normal for a couple who had just got married. It was her understanding and support that kept me running, and sometimes panting towards the finish line. Thank you for believing in me, Antie. When our baby daughter – Deandra – grows up, she will be proud to have such a wonderful mum like you. My thanks also go to my mother, father, sisters and in-laws, all of whom believed in me and encouraged me to go for something that I really wanted. Thank you all so much for supporting me in 2006 when I decided to quit my job and go back to school. I love you all!

1. Introduction

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1.1 Background This thesis presents the results of research into the use of natural resources in Berau District, Indonesia, where the environment is considered at risk. Policy change, rapid economic development and the inflow of various population groups are having important implications for the access to and control by populations, forest products, land, marine products and other natural resources. Being one of the last resource frontiers in Indonesia, the district has recently been exposed to increasing in-migration and to massive interventions both by government policies at the central and district level and by corporate sector activities. Faced with these forces of external origin, the local population had little choice but to adapt their livelihoods and social and demographic behaviour to the changing conditions. The research looked at the effects of increasing environmental stress on sustainable resource use and people’s responses and capacity to build sustainable livelihoods. In this thesis, these responses are described and analysed in relation to the sustainability of natural resource use at the community level as influenced by the decisions made at the household level. Understanding the link between population and the environment and, more particularly, the multidimensional notion and contextrelated interpretation of sustainability were the main objectives of this study. To the extent that attention has been paid to the link between population and the environment, large groups of scholars have long been concerned about the increasing stress between population needs (e.g. food production, energy consumption) and the environment. In his An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), Thomas Robert Malthus stated that the human population would grow at a far faster rate than the population’s ability to produce food. He predicted that there would be famines and wars over territory as nations sought to increase their capacity to produce food for people. Garrett Hardin provided a highly influential examination and discussion of the link between population pressure and natural resources in ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ (1968). The article demonstrated how population pressure is directly linked to the dwindling of common resources. The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and solely and rationally according to their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen. With regard to environmental issues in international debates, the Club of Rome’s publication The Limits to Growth: A Global Challenge was very important (Meadows et al. 1972). ”This global think-tank stressed, in a


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neo-Malthusian way, how existing trends of rapid population growth, food production and industrialization would result in the depletion of natural resources and the pollution of the environment. In today’s discussions about climate change, much prominence is also given to population growth and the risk of increasing stress between population and the environment. Emphasis is given to new scarcities such as the increasing pressures between non-renewable energy and natural resources, and human over exploitation. The pollution and increasing scarcity of natural resources (e.g. land, forest and water) are assumed to threaten human health and welfare” (Zoomers 2012). In discussions on sustainability and the use of natural resources, much attention is thus paid to the risk of population growth and overpopulation, often resulting in doomsday scenarios of situations of scarcity, conflict and/or human displacement (‘environmental refugees’). The assumption of the negative relation between population and environment has increasingly been responded to by other scholars. An important example is the study by Esther Boserup (1965), who stressed that people are able to adapt to population pressure by intensifying agricultural production. This study showed that technological change and innovation will help people to deal with growing population pressure, which will not necessarily result in crisis situations as predicted by Malthus. In addition, Elinor Ostrom played a crucial role in contesting Hardin’s ideas about the tragedy of the commons by stressing the importance of institutions and showing how traditional communities were capable of setting the rules necessary for sustainable resource exploitation (Ostrom 1990). Scholars working on livelihoods research have stressed, mainly in the context of the poverty debate, the importance of human agency, that is, people’s flexibility and capacity and their capabilities to adapt. Sustainable development is usually referred to in terms of a balanced pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission, which coined what has become the most frequently quoted definition of sustainable development, namely as development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland et al. 1987). Whereas debates about sustainability were initially mainly focused on environmental sustainability, more attention is now paid to the social, cultural, economic and political aspects of sustainability. Increasing attention is also being paid to people’s capacity to build sustainable livelihoods. The generally accepted definition of sustainable livelihood is: ‘A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance

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its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, without undermining the natural resource base’ (Chambers and Conway 1991 in Zoomers 2012). In the 21st century, it is increasingly acknowledged that global sustainability problems cannot be approached with a traditional and linear, mechanistic method: economic, ecological, social, technological and cultural processes, at both the local and the global level, have to be considered in combination, and harmony at these levels is important if we wish to bring about global sustainability (Goñcz et al. 2007). At the local level, sustainability has also been defined in terms of sustainable community development (Hamstead and Quinn 2005). The concept focuses on the community or local economy as the primary locus of action, while integrating the concept of ecological sustainability. Through this concept, the dynamic relationship between the local economy and its environment can be explored and understood. Many studies have shown that there is an intricate relationship between community development and natural resource use, which are influenced by a multitude of factors such as economic development, global market demand, population dynamics and higher level policies (Chimhowu 2002, Wadley and Mertz 2005, Jakobsen et al. 2007, Koczberski and Curry 2005, Soini 2005, Verbist et al. 2005). These macro- and meso- level factors have profoundly influenced the socioeconomic dynamics at the community level and the pressures on the local environment. As even the most remote areas become integrated, or even incorporated into wider social, economic and political systems, externally induced factors are becoming increasingly important in understanding changes in the natural environment in general. However, the extent to which these factors contribute to the speed and direction of certain ecological transformations is often not sufficiently understood. Depending on their expertise and interests, researchers tend to overemphasize the impact of the formal system, while underestimating traditional practices in managing resources, or vice versa. In other words, insufficient attention has been paid to the way in which socioeconomic transformations at the local level (ranging from social differentiation to changing household strategies) that affect the sustainability of local resource use, are a result of growing globalization and commercialization. Proper understanding requires an approach that provides insight into the most important internal and external conditioning factors, which influence both


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long- and short-term ways to build up a livelihood in the various types of local communities and among the different socioeconomic groups living in these communities. These various types of communities represent the richness and complexities of reality. This thesis mainly focuses on the nature of the processes leading to changes in the use of natural resources, namely development policy at the national and/or local level, economic development, and population changes that influence the transformation and pursuit of livelihood security at the local level. It emphasizes issues of local resource use, as these have a direct impact on the environment through deforestation, land degradation, erosion, overfishing, etc. It identifies sustainable local management systems that might be relevant within the current decentralized form of resource management policy in Indonesia.

1.2 Analytical framework When studying the interactions between communities and natural resources in a regional context, a clear distinction should be made between the various analytical elements and processes involved. Four major elements or levels are identified in the analytical framework presented in figure 1-1. The first element is related to the forces of change affecting the regional economy, social and ecological conditions. The second element includes the types of people/communities involved and the major processes of transformation occurred. The third element concerns the role of natural resource use systems and the impact of responses from elements 1 and 2. The fourth focuses on the impact of changing resource use on local and regional social, economic and environmental conditions. The various elements in each of the analytical ‘levels’ are related through causal relationships and feedback mechanisms. They are also embedded in the region’s environmental conditions.

1.3 Berau, one of the last resource frontier areas in Indonesia We carried out our research in the Berau river basin, which is known for both the originality and the diversity of local forms of natural resource management. The various areas that form the basin have an exceptional biological and cultural diversity. In addition, the rapid pace of socioeconomic transformation in recent

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Environmental conditions/regional context Major forces of changes (Global/national level): - National policies - (Global) market demand - Corporate sector investments - Migration (in and out)

Dynamics at district level: - Economic development - Population growth Dynamics at community level: - Social transformation - Livelihood strategies - Changing resource use systems

Natural resource use systems: - Land use patterns (and changes) - Environmental pressures

Feedback

Climate

Local and regional consequences: - Sustainability impacts - Livelihood security - Economic performances

Figure 1-1. Analytical framework of research

years provided interesting opportunities to study the environmental impacts and the possibilities of applying socially and economically sound conservation strategies in managing local resources. Berau is located in the north-eastern part of Kalimantan (Borneo Island) (figure 1-2). It covers an area of 34,127 km2 (BPS Berau 2008), embracing the extensive hinterlands of the Segah and Kelai rivers, which merge into the Berau river, about 50 km from the estuary. This riverine system provides crucial communication arteries throughout the district by linking the interior with the coast. It also forms the main transport route for fresh water, sediments and other materials affecting the coastal zone.

7

Figure 1-2. Map of Berau


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Mantel (2001) divided Berau into four main types of landscape: flat land, sloping upland, steep land and complex landforms. The flat land includes the coastal zone in the eastern part, which is of considerable length and diversity, as dozens of small islands and coral reefs are scattered along the shore. Most of this coastal area was originally covered by mangrove forest. The sloping uplands are found mainly in the north-eastern part of Berau. The interior of the district is dominated by steep land that consists of hills and mountain ranges rising to over 2,000 metres above sea level in the western part. This interior area was once largely covered with primary rainforest. Finally, a mountainous limestone landscape with complex landforms dominates the southern part of the district. The district is situated between three other districts: Bulungan District to the north, Malinau District to the west and East Kutai District to the south. Berau is divided into 13 subdistricts, nearly all of which are sparsely settled. Kelay subdistrict covers the largest area, followed by Segah subdistrict. The capital –Tanjung Redeb – occupies the smallest area, and is by far the most populous centre. The population distribution in the subdistricts is far from equal (figure 1-3). The highest population concentration is in the most urbanized areas, such as Tanjung Redeb (2,168 inhabitants per km2) and in neighbouring Sambaliung and Teluk Bayur, while the lowest concentration is in Maratua subdistrict (0.77 inhabitants per km2). Sambaliung subdistrict has a fairly large population, but the density is low, because of the large size of its administrative area. Besides, the population in Sambaliung is mainly concentrated in the border areas of the neighbouring urban centre of Tanjung Redeb. The population of Berau is composed of various Indonesian ethnic groups. Prior to the successive migration waves, the population consisted mainly of indigenous Malay/Berau (Orang Banua) and Buginese, who occupied the lower sections of the river basins and strategic locations at the Berau river confluences. They mostly engaged in subsistence agriculture (wet and dry rice cultivation) and local trade activities. A small minority consisted of Chinese traders, who lived in the urban centres and were mostly engaged in inter-regional trade. The population inhabiting the densely forested areas in the hinterland were native Dayaks (Gaai, Kenyah and Punan), who were hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators. Some of them now live close to the urban areas and practise a more permanent type of agriculture. Finally, Bajau sea nomads settled in the coastal areas together with Buginese migrants.

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Population

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Figure 1-3. Population and population density in Berau subdistricts, 2007 (Source: BPS Berau 2008)

Population number

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9

Population density (people/km2)

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Although timber concession companies have been active in Berau since the 1970s and the coal mining company, which started in colonial times, was revived in the 1980s, few local people engage in these sectors, as the companies employed contract labour from outside (mainly Javanese labourers). The latter group has increased even further since the implementation of the first transmigration programmes in the 1980s. The majority of the households in Berau still depend on primary activities, namely rice cultivation and upland food crop farming in the flat areas, mixed-forest gardening, shifting cultivation and traditional hunting and gathering in the hinterland, and aquaculture and sea fisheries in the coastal areas.

1.4 Research aim and research questions The primary aim of the research was to get an insight into the dynamics of the main types of natural resource use under conditions of major forces of change, namely changing national and local policies, advancing processes of economic development and increasing population pressure. We paid ample attention to the role of contextual factors at both the macro and regional levels of analysis, such as government policies, market forces, corporate sector investments and technological innovations. We then switched our focus to unravelling the intricate relationships between these macro- and meso-level processes and the responses at the community and household levels, that is, at the level of the decision-makers among the local population. The impacts of the processes of change are later described in terms of social transformation in the different types of communities, including their internal differentiation and the livelihood strategies of the households. Considering the differences in flexibility of the various actors or strategy categories with respect to increasing pressures upon their respective livelihood conditions, different outcomes may be expected for the sustainability of the applied resource use systems. Based on the general research aim and problem definition, we formulated the following research questions: 1. How do the external forces of change (if any) affect the resource dynamics at the regional/district level? a. What are the major drivers/determinants of resource dynamics at the regional/district level?


2.

3.

4.

5.

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b. What are the impacts of these drivers/determinants on the main economic, social and ecological developments at the regional/ district level? What is the impact (if any) of these external forces of change on the different types of farming communities? a. What are the demographic and other characteristics of the various farming communities in the research area? b. What are the characteristics of their resource use systems? c. How these resources are use systems changing in each type of farming community? What is the impact of these changes on the farming communities with respect to their resource use management? a. How do the differentiations appear within the farming communities? b. Which livelihood strategies can be distinguished within the farming communities? c. To what extent do these livelihood strategies reflect the variety in local social, economic and environmental conditions? d. How do the livelihood strategies demonstrate the various responses in coping with the external forces of change? Do these developments and the communities’ responses affect the sustainability of their local resource use systems? If so, in what way? a. What are the economic, social and ecological characteristics of resource use systems in each farming community in relation to sustainability? b. Which resource uses system is considered sustainable in specific local conditions in each farming community? What conclusions can be drawn from the research results with respect to the feasibility of present resource management policies and practices in the area?

1.5 Methodology We started by exploring the current debate on the sustainability of local livelihoods and resource management in general and in the region in particular. Based on a literature study and a discourse analysis, we identified the various discourse lines as well as respective key concepts on the sustainability of local community livelihoods and resource use systems. We assumed a significant causal relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics of households and communities and the sustainable use of existing resources. We applied a systematic comparison of the local resource

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management systems and the livelihood strategies in the different settings of the research areas, to study the effects of socioeconomic changes on sustainable management of the natural resources. Our research activities also included a first phase of analysing existing secondary data in the Netherlands and Indonesia. We also carried out a baseline field survey to develop a more empirical basis for later analysis. This included qualitative data gathering through formal and informal in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and household surveys. We gathered these data in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the processes that are taking place in the research area, and to put the empirical data in their proper context. We combined data collection at the regional level of resource governance with observations and interviews with various key persons involved in the management at the local and the regional levels. We carried out our first field research in August–October 2007 in 11 villages that we had selected purposively from all over the district. We used secondary sources of literature and discussions with local government officers and NGOs in Berau to collect basic information about these villages. Our selection principle was that each village should represent several types of farming communities1.We classified the majority of the farming communities in the district into at least four types based on their major social and production characteristics. The four types are: subsistence-oriented tribal farming communities, semi market-oriented peasant farming communities with permanent agriculture, the relatively unstable pioneer farming communities, and the coastal communities, which mainly subsist on fishery. We selected three Dayak villages in the upper Segah river area in the western part of Berau as representing subsistence-oriented tribal farming communities, and two villages in the central part of Berau as representing semi-market oriented peasant farming communities. We chose two pioneer or migrant farming communities in the southern part of Berau, close to the Kelay river; one is a government-sponsored transmigration village, the other a spontaneous migration village of Dayak Kenyah people. The last type is represented by four villages in the coastal zone of the eastern part of Berau, where fishing is the main type of livelihood. Focus group discussions were organized in each of these 11 villages by bringing together different households from different backgrounds to discuss their 1

The complete analysis of this classification is presented in Chapter 4.


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experiences in managing local resources, identify shared views, and offer accurate information on current land use patterns, policies and regulations. We also used the data to analyse the impacts at the community and the household level. Furthermore, we held in-depth interviews with selected key informants and specific resource persons, including local people, heads of adat (customary law), village heads, middlemen, team leaders (e.g. of a gold mining group), and district and sub-district government staff. We conducted these in-depth interviews to generate more detailed information about specific issues discussed during the focus group discussions. Later, we conducted structured household surveys to generate more detailed information at the household level on livelihood strategies and other related matters, including the households’ income and demographic characteristics. We carried out this survey from October 2008 to January 2009 in eight villages out of 11 previous eleven villages, which represented the four types of farming communities as mentioned before. In each community type, the household survey was conducted among 40–42 households. The drawing of the household sample, however, was not intended to obtain a sample representing the exact composition of the community population, but was aimed at acquiring insight into the decision-making processes in the various types of households involved in the respective resource use systems. In order to collect sufficient data from each of the household types, a purposive random selection was drawn covering each of the types identified before with the help of informants. Only in this way it was possible to compare, for example, the various livelihood strategies of different types of households with very different frequencies of distribution, and that otherwise might have remained outside the sample. We classified the households in each type of farming communities on the basis of a cluster analysis. Using the cluster analysis, we could make a classification of households in four groups that allowing us to make a distinction between households aiming at survival; households focusing on consolidation (making a subdivision between starters and people in an advanced stage); and finally a group aiming at accumulation (see chapter 5). Finally, it should be noted that, since this study focused on changing resource use systems and their sustainability impacts, the emphasis was on analysing production systems and the related response patterns at the community and household levels. Consequently, socioeconomic and socio-spatial aspects of differential developments and response behaviour prevailed in this comparative

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study, although socio-cultural explanations were certainly not neglected in case they play a relevant role.

1.6 Thesis structure This thesis comprises several chapters and sections dealing with the research context and problems, the theoretical framework, the forces of change at the regional and local levels, the empirical findings and analyses, and the comparative conclusion, which comprises a synthesis and overview of the main processes and their policy implications. This chapter has presented the background to the study, described the research area, and explained the research objectives, the research questions and the methodology used. The theoretical background is explored in Chapter 2. It presents an overview of relevant theories and concepts within an analytical framework that links the main forces of change and their impacts on the dynamics at the community level with the sustainability of the related resource use systems. Chapter 3 describes the major determinants of change at the national and district levels. It also positions Berau within the context of economic and political developments at the national level. Starting with the description of political processes from the starting New Order era up to the current modern decentralization policy, the chapter discusses the major policy changes at both the national and district levels, including their impacts on economic sector development in the district. The description here focuses on largescale developments that significantly influence the district’s economic and environmental conditions, such as forest exploitation, estate crops, mining and fishery activities. Finally, the chapter presents the impacts of these development processes at the district level on population growth, economic development, environmental conditions, social changes and conflicts. Under these macro- and meso-level processes, many communities faced the full force of externally induced changes in their livelihood conditions and perspectives. Chapters 4 and 5 explore these changes and dynamics at the community level. Chapter 4 focuses on the social transformations in the different types of farming communities due to external forces of changes. This includes the dynamics of their resource use systems in relation to access to markets, access to resources, level of commercialization and technological


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innovation, and social differentiation. This chapter also shows the different responses and flexibilities of the farming communities to the major forces of change. In Chapter 5, the analysis is narrowed down to the internal differentiation within the farming communities, which are classified on the basis of their livelihood strategies in coping with the forces of change. Here, the diversity of responses shows that the communities are not homogeneous entities and may react quite differently to major factors of change. All the resource use systems, however, have different potentials for either improving or degrading the environmental conditions in the respective areas of the communities. Chapter 6, therefore, compares the sustainability potential of the various resource use systems in each farming community by assessing their economic, social and ecological dimensions. Chapter 7 presents a general discussion and the main conclusions of the research. It summarizes the different responses among the various farming communities in coping with the main forces of change, and presents reflections on the main determinants of these responses against the background of the theoretical framework described in Chapter 2. The conclusion also makes recommendations for improving communities’ resilience and discusses the implications for the formulation of local development policy.

2. Linking Farming Communities and the Sustainability of Local Natural Resources

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2.1 Introduction The sustainability debate has grown over the years. Different concepts have been provided in order to define what must be available for future generations in order to meet the sustainability criterion (Inyang et al. 2009). Nevertheless, some people believe that – more than 40 years after the term ‘sustainability’ was introduced in Limits of Growth (1972)– the world system is still not able to abandon the path of exploitative development and to follow that of balanced sustainable development (Goñcz et al. 2007). The discussion about sustainability has now moved from a linear, mechanistic approach to a more complex dynamic development approach that includes and combines all aspects and processes –economic, social, ecological, technological and cultural. Moreover, the global debate on sustainability has also brought the discourse on the importance of this matter to the regional and local level; to local communities that are influenced by external social, economic and political forces, and that have to respond to these developments by transforming or adapting their social and economic livelihood systems in order to maintain the sustainability of their local natural resources system. In line with this, regional and local sustainability was increasingly considered the foundation of global sustainability (Goñcz et al. 2007) and it was increasingly believed that understanding processes at the local level is not only relevant but can help in finding solutions at the global level.

2.2 The three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy and society The concept of sustainability became firmly rooted in policy and academic circles after the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987 (Mebratu 1998). The definition of sustainable development given in the report is now widely used and has set a standard for sustainability and sustainable development. It reads: ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland et al. 1987). Its wide acceptance, however, does not mean that no other definitions have been introduced. The concept of sustainable development turned out to be open to numerous views, interpretations and definitions. It is recognized that the influence of science, mostly natural sciences, has had a large impact on defining sustainability. Partly because of the Brundtland


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definition, past and current discussions about the concept of sustainable development focus mainly on the generational aspects, that is, the fact that satisfying our needs should not affect the needs of future generations. As a result, ecological aspects and physical sustainability came to dominate the debate; the relationship between man and environment (nature) was put central. The preservation of natural resources, the maintenance of resource stocks in more stable amounts, and the maintenance of ecological processes and life support continue to be the main objectives of sustainability strategies and policies. In other words, the ecological approach to sustainability emphasizes the need and ability to prevent or reduce the destruction of the environment, by conserving natural resources, optimizing and enhancing the use of land and other resources, and preserving biodiversity either at the local or global level (DFID 1999). However, sustainability also has an important social dimension when it refers to the allocation of access to resources within society. In other words, sustainability also has everything to do with the distribution of goods and services in relation to human needs and the allocation mechanisms among its population (Conway 1987, Leach et al. 1999). It means that social conditions should not exclude too many people from access to resources and facilities, and that principles of equitability should be safeguarded so as not to increase the differences in wealth between and within communities. In this context, the capabilities approach developed by Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen should be mentioned. In essence, Sen (1981) argues that it is not the availability of resources per se, but the way that people can secure and sustain access to certain assets or resources. Thus, the social dimension of sustainability requires the maintenance of shared values and equal rights within community interactions, most of which are embedded in their cultures and religions. In the 1999, another book by Sen, Development as Freedom, showed that values, institutions, development and freedom are all closely interrelated. These values and rights can be enhanced by developing a strong civil society and through systematic community participation (Goodland 1995), as well as by performing group action and promoting local formal and informal institutions. The third dimension of sustainability is the economic dimension, namely the viability and stability of economic pursuit related to natural resources, or the way in which capital is invested, maintained and kept. The economic dimension refers to the willingness to abandon, and the profitability of abandoning the path of exploitative exploitation.

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The integration of these three dimensions is most relevant to a proper definition of sustainability (Sutton 2000). It should be kept in mind, however, that the three dimensions often overlap (see Conway 1985, Barbier 1987, Brown et al. 1988, Chamber and Conway 1991, Lele 1991, Goodland 1995). Economic and physical ecological aspects of sustainability, however, have stronger direct linkages with each other than with social aspects of sustainability. Social sustainability often has indirect linkages, even though in many cases they are a prerequisite for achieving ecological and economic sustainability. On the other hand, however, according to Lele (1991) the term sustainability is commonly related to ecological sustainability, and has a conjunction with the social conditions that influence man–nature relationships. It may thus be said that sustainable development requires a progressive transformation of economy and society. Physical sustainability cannot be secured unless development policies also pay attention to such aspects as changes in access to resources and in the distribution of costs and benefits, that is, to the social and economic dimension. Although development and physical sustainability (protection or conservation) are viewed as inseparable, there has been insufficient progress in making a shift from a rather exploitative path of development towards that of sustainable development.

2.3 Early society versus nature thinking Sustainability is supposed to have strong links with demographic processes, as well as with economic, ecological and socio-political changes. In his ‘Essay on the principle of population’ (1798), Malthus showed that sustainability is an unattainable goal, as population growth is constantly outpacing growth in food production, unless people are able to claim unused lands or intensify farming methods. As this takes a long time, it leads to poverty and probably to mass starvation (as a correction to overpopulation). The basic mechanism behind it is that, according to Malthus, the production potential of land is limited and production is susceptible to diminishing or stagnating returns, so that yields tend to increase only according to arithmetical principles, whereas population tends to increase according to geometrical principles. Consequently, this will lead to irreversible damage to the environment, since people will most likely deplete the lands that feed them. Malthus has had a major impact on sustainability thinking, as he was one of the first to recognise the importance of land as a scarce resource, the problem of diminishing or stagnating yields, and the role of population growth (Ayres 2008).


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However, Malthus expected that the use of modern technology and inputs would develop within one generation and enable a huge increase in agricultural productivity; he also expected the development of techniques to control human population. Neo-Malthusians recognize that these developments have occurred, but still emphasize that population growth can be a major brake on economic growth. In relation to sustainability thinking, they argue that the use of modern technology might increase pollution and environmental degradation, and therefore increase both poverty and mortality levels. A similar neoMalthusian view was presented by Ehrlich and Ehrlich (1970), who assumed that every individual on this planet has a net negative impact on his or her environment. Thus, high and unbalanced rates of population growth will have negative impacts on the environment (Ehrlich and Holdren 1971). Population growth has consequently become a major underlying factor of humanity’s environmental problems (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2002). Another line of thinking was sparked by Esther Boserup (1965), who argued that the impact of population growth will also depend on the capacity of people to adapt to the new situation. If, for example, population growth is caused by external factors, the growth rates may be too high to allow for timely adaptations in technology and social organization. But if people are faced from within with increasing pressures on resources, they will start to work harder and more regularly, change their work habits and increase productivity. She showed that under certain conditions, the relationship between population and sustainability may lead to positive impacts on agricultural intensification and increase agricultural output. Moreover, higher food prices, caused by increased population and resource scarcity, encourage investors and entrepreneurs to seek a solution. This solution is mainly sought in technology development. Increasing population density may also improve the division of labour, increase the spread of communication and education, and improve prosperity (Simon 1998). A third line of thought evolved from Garrett Hardin’s ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ (1968), in which he wrote ‘Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all’– meaning that without policies to keep the growing population and their activities under control, the world’s open access resources will inevitably be eroded beyond the point of regeneration. The tragedy of the commons is a problem arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently in their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even though it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen.

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These three lines of thought continue to persist in the global debate on sustainability, simply because they show the possible disastrous impacts on ecosystems due to human behaviour. In such cases, it becomes inevitable that the pace of development of the resource exploitation system cannot keep up with population pressure and environmental degradation. Simon (1998), however, believes that this impact is still indeterminate, and will depend on demand, supply and technological know-how. The argument serves for the use of a variety of resources, such as water, land, fish, and non-renewable energy sources like oil and coal. Thus, to achieve a sustainable global society, major changes in population growth, consumption level and the use of technology have to be made. This aspect can also be found in the economic developmentalist view on sustainability. Kuznetz (1955) can be considered the pioneer of the idea of how a country or state adopts more sustainable production when development takes place. The environmental Kuznetz curve is the graphical representation of Kuznetz’s hypothesis that economic inequality and pollution increase over time while a country is developing, and then begin to decrease after a critical average income is attained. During the initial process, sustainable development is subordinated to economic growth objectives. After that, it makes way for more environmentally conscious behaviour and sustainable development becomes rooted in the country’s strategy. This could explain why many countries in the South conduct rather unsustainable forms of economic activities in the beginning, since development policy is focused on increasing the country’s income as rapidly as possible. However, there has been considerable criticism of the Kuznetz curve, as it would be too easy to believe that developing countries can initially ignore unsustainable practices, as they will be solved in the long run. Many developing countries could (and some already do) take various measures to protect or improve their environment, and such measures can have enormously positive implications for societal welfare (Carson 2005). Another researcher, Daly (1992), believes that biophysical and ethic social conditions could limit the tendency toward unlimited economic growth, even in cases where growth is still desirable. According to Daly’s steady state economic (SSE) approach, the flow of processes in economic growth is based on a linear loop (the ‘throughput’ in Daly’s terminology) because the economy is believed to be an open system rather than an isolated system. His line of reasoning is as follows. At first, economic growth might cause environmental degradation and create pollution as the loop begins with the depletion of resources; this is followed by the production phase, continues with a depreciation process and finally ends up with the creation of pollution through waste, which is re-restored to the environment. The depletion and the pollution


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phases are considered disorders in the ecosystem that render the economy unstable and interfere with the life-support services provided by other kinds of natural biological cycles. If these supporting services diminish, it is appropriate to count them as a cost of growth in the development process, in order to make it sustainable. Finally, with the increase in wealth, improved technology and rising costs of environmental degradation, the sustainability issue becomes more pressing and necessary to be solved. This can be achieved through market mechanisms that promote sustainability by including environmental costs in production prices. However, the weakness of the SSE approach is that it puts too much confidence in a proper functioning of the market as an open system that offers a maximum of efficiency and freedom of choice, whereas in reality shareholder capitalization and hence international competition tend to force producers to maximize profit by saving on production cost and charging part of these costs to the environment.

2.4 The role of institutions and culture It is necessary to understand institutions in order to ascertain how local actors view a resource and to comprehend their motives for using it. This aids in determining how the use of the resources fits in the livelihoods of natural resource users. Leach and colleagues (1999) assert that institutions influence ecological change by shaping the ways that actors ‘access, use, and derive well-being from environmental resources and services.’ Ostrom (2007) define institutions in the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework as the ‘enduring regularities of human action in situations structured by rules, norms, and shared strategies, as well as by the physical world’. Moreover, formal institutions are those that require outside enforcement by a third party. Examples include laws, policies and regulations. Informal institutions, conversely, are formed by mutual agreement or power relations, and can be endogenously enforced (Leach et al. 1999). Crawford and Ostrom (1995) state that both formal and informal institutions are expressed in institutional statements. These statements cover ‘a broad set of shared linguistic constraints and opportunities that prescribe, permit, or advise actions or outcomes for participants in an action situation’ (Ostrom 2005). This view is exemplified by Agrawal and Gibson’s (1999) assertion that communities are made up of multiple actors who interact according to their own interests within a pre-set form of institutional arrangements that structure their

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interactions. They observed that citizens do not necessarily immediately adopt conservationist norms that are introduced into a community by external actors. Agrawal and Gibson (ibid.) go on to assert that if a resource is to be managed effectively at the local level, local actors need to have authority and control over (1) making rules about the use, management and conservation of the resource, (2) implementing the rules that are created and (3) resolving disputes that arise during the interpretation and application of rules. Institution also includes behavioural norms to which people conform in their daily lives (Imperial 1999). Sustainability largely depends on a certain ‘culture’ or worldview that prevails in a society. Anthropologists have pointed to the conservational and sustainable use ethics of so-called indigenous communities as a worldview (Loomis 2000). The unsustainable use of resources is also possible. Egmond and Vries (2011) stated that our current civilization is characterized by social, ecological and economic crises. He presented a new ‘quality of life’ whereby we change our rather unsustainable behaviour by finding shared values that respect integrated social, economic and ecological sustainability. If we do not, history has already taught us that the ability to expand beyond the limitations of social, economic and ecological sustainability tends to disturb the vulnerable local balance between population and resources, especially where population growth is due to external factors. The concepts and theories discussed above all point to the fact that societies continuously change their behaviour under the influence of external forces, technological developments, population dynamics, institutions and the prevailing culture. Communities, households and individuals are affected by processes of change at a higher level, but they respond to these processes in a variety of ways. Various authors have stressed the community and household level as being the ultimate level, where the effects of larger and wider processes of change can be seen in reality, as communities, household and individuals respond to change in the way they construct their livelihoods.

2.5 Farming communities and their social transformation The impact of external and internal influences on communities, households and individuals that rely on natural resources as part of their livelihood systems has received considerable attention in the sustainable development debate. Rural transformation and particularly social transformation are phenomena that can occur in a community at any time and that are usually


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beyond the community’s grip. The transformation is usually caused by a multitude of factors, depending on local and external conditions, such as the commercialization of agriculture (which leads to a rural economy becoming involved in the market), demographic change, rural–urban integration, economic development, political changes, government interventions, increasing accessibility, better transport facilities, and (last but by no means least) increasing pressure on resources (Roberts 1978, Hinderink and Sterkenburg 1987, Ellis 1988, Bryceson 1996, Elson 1997, Ajami 2005, Cramb et al. 2009). From the farmers’ point of view, this transformation process can be seen as a deliberate diversification of livelihoods in order to survive under uncertain economic conditions and to make their livelihoods more stable (Rigg 1997, Ellis 2000). The example of Iran (Ajami 2005) shows that the decreasing number of rural workers in agriculture and the increasing number of workers in non-agricultural jobs, such as trade, transport and mechanics, are strongly related to the wish to create an additional income for the household, besides that of the family farm. Ajami (2005) therefore postulated that both job diversification and changes in the production system have accelerated the transformation. In Indonesia this process has been generally noticed in the densely populated rural hinterland areas of the big cities of Java, where rural– urban interactions through circular migration and rural diversification have become ubiquitous (Hugo 1992, Manning 2000, Titus and Burgers 2008). Ajami (2005) described three indicators of what he called the ‘village transition’, namely changes in the system of agricultural production, diversification of the occupational structure and shifts in social stratification. Furthermore, the transformation process at the community level is usually strongly related to the change in access to common pool resources, its institutional arrangements and how it influences social differentiation within communities. Influenced by all the external factors, the communities would experience the transformation or change of institutional arrangements. The possible changes include the translation of traditional customary regulation into more formal law, changes in resource allocation mechanisms (including land, labour, capital and production systems), and changes in social cohesion due to a decline in traditional customary and sharing mechanisms. Governments could use legal and formal regulations, for example, to reduce the use of customary law on specific resources. On the other hand, some traditional resource-sharing institutions might persist in commercialized farming communities, because they may acquire a new role on the basis of a more business-oriented type of production relations, such as sharecropping, land pawning and credit systems (Hüsken and White 1989, Titus et al. 1994, Burgers 2008, Cardano 2012).

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The transformation process generally first forces farming households to specialize in cash crops; households then invest their growing surpluses in both farm and non-farm activities, while wage labour tends to replace family labour. The decline in the use of family labour may also be caused by mechanization and the rise of non-farm activities (Roberts 1978, Hayami 1996, Ajami 2005). Wage labour may be a solution during the peak season (harvesting) in commercializing farm areas. In communities that are being integrated into the market economy, it may also become difficult for farm households to continue to telly on traditional types of subsistence production, so that selling their seasonal labour offers an opportunity to gain additional income (Thangchungmunga 1998). In a case study from Iran, Ajami (2005) showed the reduction of family labour in agricultural production, except for weeding and harvesting, which are labour-intensive activities. All these changes and the simultaneous increase in the demand for non-farm labour have reduced the number of labourers in agriculture. The commercialization of agriculture is also apt to create a new division of labour in terms of gender relations. Men tend to specialize in cash crop production, while the women remain focused on subsistence production for the needs of the entire family (Bulow 1992, Eijkemans 1995, Preston 1998, in Rigg 2001). It also happens that the mechanization of agriculture excludes women from productive work and creates the masculinisation of agriculture, as presented by Rigg (2001), based on cases in Malaysia described by Scott (1985) and Koninck (1992), and cases in Thailand described by Parnwell (1996). Most of the time, this change turns the women from wealthier households into housewives who do more domestic work, while the poorer women find themselves marginalized and have to find an off-farm job (Rigg 2001). Another change, however, may be that the men are increasingly looking for jobs outside agriculture because of the reduction in the time needed for land preparation, while the women remain responsible for subsistence production (Trankell 1993, in Rigg 1997, Eijkemans 1995). Transformation processes may also lead to more social differentiation within communities. One may think of the changing division of labour (see before), and of changes in social status due to differences in education or wealth. These shifts in social stratification, including social polarization, are also important indicators of the commercialization-related process of transformation (Ellis 1988, Ajami 2005). There are usually also shifts in economic power relations. Increasing state intervention in local administration together with the emergence of farmer elite could create more power-based differentiation in farming communities (Washbrook 1994). A case study on the Mizo Tribal Community in India (Thangchungmunga 1998), for example, showed that


27

the process of commercialization had created part-time farming groups in the communities; these groups emerged from the elite groups with a bond to the national hierarchy. With better access to the government, as well as to the agricultural commodity market, they had indulged in extensive land speculation, which caused a local shortage of cultivable land. And in Iran, the increase in the number of small and middle-class peasants was a result not only of land reallocation, but also of the improvements in technology and market integration (Ajami 2005). At a later stage, this could easily lead to the impoverishment of the poorer farmers, since their land might increasingly fall into the hands of small elite of economically more powerful middle-class farmers. These changes may also be accompanied by increasing rigidity in resource allocation and the progressive erosion of the reciprocity principles in the community. The changes discussed above may also influence the use of common resources; population growth, for example, may lead to their over exploitation, particularly if access is open (Hardin 1968). Thus, as Hardin also noted (ibid.), privatization and state control, which limits communities’ access, are required in order to manage these resources more sustainably in the future. Environmental services now require farming communities to respond to these interventions. Jourdain and colleagues (2009) showed that if households are forced into such a programme through the top-down designation of protected areas, there is a reduction in environmental degradation in the targeted zones, but an increase in environmental degradation on the remaining part of their land-holding. This is mainly because these interventions change the community’s original resourceuse arrangements. Ostrom (2007) argued that uniform government policies will not work when it comes to common pool resources. Instead, specific policies that fit with the local culture and institutional environment will work best (Ostrom 2008b).

2.6 Livelihood strategies in the farming communities The increasing pressure on and the new opportunities arising in communities described above, can stimulate or even force households to develop several strategies during their lifetimes, particularly with respect to their livelihoods. Both necessity and choice play a role when households make decisions and follow certain strategies in building their livelihoods. Necessity refers to actions done in involuntary or distress conditions, such as eviction from land or natural disasters that make the households lose their resources or incomes, while choice refers to voluntary and proactive actions, including increasing farm or wage

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income or using certain inputs and techniques to improve productivity. Both manifest themselves as strategies that are followed by households in the form of livelihood diversification (Ellis 2000, Kappel 2004). In order to achieve their goals, people have to choose from the various types of capital that they have at their disposal and combine them into certain activities to meet the various needs of a household at different times (DFID 1999).In other words, people commonly develop a livelihood strategy, that is, a path towards meeting their daily needs, fulfilling their social and ceremonial obligations, and preserving or improving their productive and reproductive capacity. These strategies are also aimed at increasing the household’s level of production and consumption and food security, as well as at developing more sustainable types of natural resource management. The strategy concept also includes activities to cope with livelihood stresses and shocks and to handle the various limitations or opportunities people are facing (Reitsma, Dietz and Haan 1992, Ellis 1998, Scoones 1998, Zoomers 1999, White et al. 2002, Burgers 2004). Most strategies are developed at the household level. Households are the basic unit of making decisions on adjusting livelihood strategies. However, this does not mean that households are more or less homogeneous groups in which all members are considered equal, driven by household-determined ethics, and bound by ties of kinship and obligation. In fact, households are often internally quite heterogeneous (Rigg 2001). It may therefore occur, for example, that one or more members prefer to intensify agricultural production and more labour is needed to achieve this goal, whereas other members prefer to engage in off-farm work. Livelihood strategies are divided in the literature into various types, for example long-term and short-term strategies. Long-term strategies are developed in response to structural changes, risks and opportunities occurring within certain limits of probability (White et al. 2002), while short-term strategies are a response to sudden disturbances, such as a disaster, a bad harvest or a manmade crisis. Ellis (2000) and Carney (1998) divided strategies into natural resource based activities and non-natural resource based activities (including remittances and other transfers). Scoones (1998), however, classified livelihood strategies as agricultural extensive or intensive types, livelihood diversification types and migration-based types. Finally, based on the household’s position in the production structure, access to resources and capacity to produce a surplus, White (1991) identified three types of rural livelihood strategy (see also Titus 2002, Burgers 2004):


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1. The survival strategy. This strategy is followed by households that lack of access to resources; these are categorized as marginal-farm or landless households. They look for activities that are easily accessible and generate sufficient income for daily subsistence purposes. With hardly any capital resources at their disposal and few skills, they can only expect to have low returns that often do not even cover their basic needs. 2. The consolidation strategy. This strategy is chosen by households that have more access to productive resources than ‘survival households’. Their agricultural production and income usually cover their basic subsistence needs, but they still have limited opportunity to improve the agricultural system or diversify into activities that would generate additional cash incomes. They usually prefer to maintain their production activities and standard of living, rather than to take the risk of investing in new types of agriculture or in some other business field. 3. The accumulation strategy. Households that adopt this strategy have a wide access to resources and other types of capital. They produce farm surpluses far above their basic subsistence needs, and sometimes have bigger incomes from non-farm activities. They can therefore invest in new types of agriculture or other economic activities in order to increase both their resource base and their incomes. They thus often use the income from one type of activity to gain more from another, more lucrative one. The strategy chosen by a household is, of course, influenced by many other factors. A household’s (or person’s) livelihood is also related to shocks, trends and seasonality. These three components are part of the vulnerability context over which people usually have limited or no control at all. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (2002) conceive them as the risk factors in making a living. The vulnerability context directly or indirectly affects people’s assets, as well as their strategies and outcomes. Shocks, such as floods, storms, conflicts or human diseases, can destroy the asset, while other events are more predictable and usually cause stresses rather than shocks, such as population trends, economic growth or technological innovation. Seasonality is the most common and predictable source of hardship for people in developing countries, causing shifts in prices, production levels or employment opportunities (DFID 1999). Besides the resource base to which the households have access and the impact of the vulnerability context, the decision on their livelihood strategy will also depend on the household’s lifecycle phase, which determines its assets, capabilities and needs (Haan 2000; White et al. 2002).

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A household’s strategy further depends on its social relationships and networks, which may play a vital role in determining livelihood security for the poorer households, and in giving access to resources especially for the richer households. The role of these relationships seems to be particularly important when a household has to cope with sudden shocks and stresses (Scoones 1998; Burgers 2004). Burgers (2004) discussed the role of the adat institution in Jambi, Indonesia, which is based on the Minangkabau’s matrilineal organization and restricts the right of land cultivation through the inheritance system. Here, they use the rotational mechanism (giliran) as a system of cultivating rice among the community members who are related through kinship ties. Nevertheless, access to the system is available only to members who maintain local networks and are included in the local institutions (see also Ven 1994). The adat regulation, moreover, only grants cultivation rights to those who use their rotation right (hak gilir) in a definite year, unless the person who gets hak gilir passes his right to another through a deal in sharecropping. Thus, maintaining good social relations with many community members is essential to find additional access to land in times of survival, especially for the poorer ones.

2.7 Sustainability as part of complex dynamic development Many farming communities are under going major or minor transformations, as they always have done. These transformations, such as increasing population growth and processes of advancing modernization and commercialization, have a direct impact on sustainability: they can result in either more stable or more unstable forms of resource exploitation. For instance, agrarian conditions in communities can be considered stable as long as the population growth is not caused by external factors, and is therefore more gradual and balanced by the growth in total output. In contrast, rapid population growth can lead to conditions of more unstable resource exploitation. This may also be the case when cash crops are introduced: if a community does not have knowledge of adequate fertilization techniques, for example, it is likely to shorten the fallow period without making any changes to their agricultural method, especially if the introduction of permanent cash crops reduces the area available for food crop production. Thus, both population growth and agricultural commercialization may reduce the stability of shifting cultivation systems and lead to the depletion of land resources and eventually cause famines and migration (Boserup 1965).Unstable conditions created in this type of community may also be caused by poor practices of logging or the indiscriminate use of fire by some pioneer farmers to exploit new frontier lands and clear grass (Imperata cylicndrica) fields for new pastures.


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The implementation of decentralization policies may cause another unstable state or chaotic situation. Although decentralization could increase economic development at the local level, as the local government has wider authorities to manage natural resources, it can also lead to the degradation of natural resources, as occurred in, for example, Indonesia (Obidzinski and Barr 2003; Casson 2003), the Philippines (Balooni et al. 2008) and Malawi (Cross and Kutengule 2011). This was mainly caused by unclear new regulations and by officials who were ill-prepared for the new tasks and responsibilities assigned to them. In such a vacuum, districts find themselves at the edge of chaos. Putting the issue within a theoretical context, stability or instability (chaos) has been receiving increasing attention within ecological sciences, where studies on various ecosystems link self-organized patchiness to catastrophic shifts between ecosystem states. Scheffer (1999) showed that disturbed ecological systems are capable of returning to a sustainable or unsustainable, but nevertheless stable state after a chaotic stage of change, often induced by human interference. Studies on the relationships between humans and the environment are increasingly using such concepts as complexity, chaos and self-organization, as transformation processes in ecological stable states are increasingly caused by globalization processes, through the compression of space and time, and knowledge transmissions (Carnoy and Castells 2001). New balances, increasingly caused by global processes, lead to yet more new balances, or self-organized criticality, whereby small or large natural or socioeconomic and political shocks can trigger disturbances and new stable states between humans and ecology. Mention should also be made of the study of social–ecological systems (SESs) from a complex systems perspective. It is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field, and theory-oriented frameworks are beginning to emerge (Cumming 2011).The main advantage is that SESs include some of the societal concerns that have traditionally received little attention in complex adaptive systems theory. Finally, mention should be made of bio-history (Boyden 2011), which is a rather new line of thought. The bio-historical approach recognizes the importance of the interplay between human society and living systems (Boyden 2011), and shows that the original biosphere started to change when humans and their culture came onto the stage. The nature–culture interplay is a constant feature of all human situations, including the one in which we find ourselves today. If we wish to learn from history, bio-history can help us.

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2.8 Concluding remarks The globalized aggregate state of sustainability problems is attaining a new quality of dynamic complexity that cannot be mastered using traditional problem-solving patterns (Goñcz et al. 2007). Sustainability debates have increasingly moved from what were the mainly linear thoughts of Malthus, Boserup and various economists, towards more complex non-linear systems. The evolving self-organization, co-evolution and critical dynamic equilibrium literature is now showing the interactions between human, economic and environmental aspects. In open systems, self-organization is the spontaneous appearance of new structures and of behaviour away from equilibrium, and is characterized by internal feedback loops and on-linear processes (Goñcz et al. 2007). These demand new kinds of communication between humanity, nature and technology. Ostrom and others have shown that informal and formal political systems and economic organizational structures all influence the way a balance is achieved between ecology, economy and humanity. In this research, therefore, we aim to unravel the complexity of processes that make natural resource management change at the community level within specific ecological, economic and social boundaries.

3. Regional Development Processes and Issues In an East Kalimantan Resource Frontier Area

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3.1 Introduction Berau is one of Indonesia’s rapidly developing districts. It has vast natural resources and many characteristics of a resource frontier area. The district makes a significant contribution to the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of East Kalimantan Province, which has the highest per capita GRDP in Indonesia. However, despite the numerous local success stories, the development of this district has brought about problematic changes in the social, economic and environmental spheres. Economic development started in the 1970s when Suharto’s New Order policies assigned a major role to natural resources, and particularly to forests, as a way to increase national income. Berau became one of the regions supporting Indonesia’s economic development through forest exploitation, coal mining, and later cash crop estates. The increase in global market demand for these commodities was one of the main drivers behind the development of both large- and small-scale activities. Another important change was related to the fall of Suharto’s regime in 1998, which led to the widespread implementation of decentralization policy in Indonesia. This fundamental change in the political system accelerated the economic development of Berau, as the local government tends to generate more income and revenue despite all the attendant risks. The district’s improved economic opportunities and accelerated development also promoted spontaneous types of migration. This – combined with the impact of forced migration through the central government’s notorious transmigration programme, which started in the 1980s – has had important social, economic and environmental impacts and has accelerated the exploitation of natural resources. The combined effects of these political, economic and population developments (hereafter also referred to as ‘forces of change’) continue to have dynamic impacts on both local communities and the environment. This chapter explores these impacts at the district level after more than 30 years of development, by focusing on issues of resource management and resource conflicts, mainly in relation to deforestation, agricultural land use and other types of natural resource use.


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3.2 Politics and policy developments: From new order to decentralization The political instability and chaos in Indonesia during the period of Guided Democracy in 1960–65 culminated in September 1965 in an attempted coup against Sukarno’s regime and the assassination of six senior army generals. General Suharto – the Strategic Reserve commander at the time –took control of the army and suppressed the coup. On 11 March 1966, after serious riots in Jakarta and elsewhere, the army asked Sukarno to shift the executive power to Suharto, whose job was to enforce law and order, and secure national unity and stability. In March 1967, the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat; MPR) forced Sukarno to step down and appointed Suharto acting president. A year later, Suharto was made president, a role he was to fill until 1998. His appointment marked the beginning of the New Order in Indonesia. Suharto’s New Order regime introduced a top-down and centralized approach in the administrative system. The system was applied systematically and effectively; its structure was similar throughout the country, from the national to the district level. Five-year plans were introduced to guide development efforts at each of these levels. The new regime had a greater and more effective level of economic management and was more willing than its predecessor to cooperate with international capital (Mackie and MacIntyre 1994). In 1967, after almost two decades without any foreign investment, Indonesia started to open up. The Indonesian government’s 1969 advertisement in The New York Times bears witness to this change in attitude (see figure 3-1). During his first period in office, Suharto made Indonesia one of the best performing developing countries (Mackie and MacIntyre 1994, Barber and Percival 1997). Accelerated economic development increased the growth rate to 8 per cent in the 1970s, while per capita per income increased from US$50 in 1967 to US$650 in 1997. The New Order was also marked by the growth of large-scale enterprises that were closely connected with the state, in order to maintain sufficient support and economic performance. The government saw the failure of the previous (the ‘Old Order’) government in economic affairs as the main reason for the country’s political instability. Economic development was therefore seen as the ultimate antidote to instability, and improving the country’s performance by encouraging large enterprises to make investments became a major goal. These efforts included huge investments and largescale activities in natural resource exploitation, ranging from agriculture and

36


Figure 3-1. Advertisement in The New York Times in 1969 invites foreign investors to do business in Indonesia (Source: Roem et al. 1982)


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forestry, to mining and the marine sector. The large-scale concessions for forest exploitation, for example, as well as for estates, have been increasing spectacularly, particularly in the outer islands, such as Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi. Although the New Order brought economic stability and social development, it also created inequalities and misery for some segments of society. There were also certain weaknesses in the programme implementation at the ground level (Barber and Percival 1997). These conditions met with increasing nationwide opposition. Indonesia’s economic and political sectors suffered severely from the financial crisis that hit Asia in 1997, and this led to social unrest and serious riots incited by students, who demanded a democratic transition. However, the riots were caused not only by poor economic conditions, but also by the poor practices of Suharto’s regime during the previous two decades. In this period, corruption, collusion and nepotism had mushroomed across the country, and Suharto gave benefits only to his cronies, while obstructing equal chances for development for others. These negative aspects of Suharto’s regime became particularly obvious during the crisis and contributed to his fall in 1998. The events also marked a new era in Indonesia: the Reform Era (Era Reformasi). The transition to a more democratic system accelerated the initiation and implementation of decentralization policy. Indonesia is one of the developing countries that have undergone a drastic and dramatic change from being a highly centralized government system to one of the most decentralized government systems. Decentralization makes sense for a large country like Indonesia, considering the diversity in its geographical and sociocultural characteristics and its unequal endowment with human and natural resources (World Bank 2003). A decentralized authority was recently assigned to some 33 provinces and 400 districts/municipalities. The process was legalized by Law 22/1999 on Regional Governance, which gives broader powers in several domestic fields to local levels of government, including the management of natural resources, but excluding defence, security, justice, foreign affairs and religion. Later, Government Regulation 25/2000 was issued to specify the powers of the provincial and the central government. Another new regulation is Law 25/1999 on Fiscal Balancing, which provides guidelines for the fiscal redistribution of revenues between the central and local governments. One of the impacts was to increase the share of local revenues in the regional budget from 17 per cent in 2001 to 30 per cent in 2002, which is double the average local reserve share in the 1990s (15 per cent) (World Bank 2003).

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These two laws were revised in 2004 into Law 32/2004 on Regional Governance and Law 33/2004 on Fiscal Balancing. In the beginning, the revision of these two laws was thought to clarify the functioning of provincial autonomous regions, and to strengthen the role of the governor as the representative of the central government in supervising and facilitating local government (World Bank 2003). It is also considered a pledge to put decentralization on the right track (Brodjonegoro 2004). However, to some extent, the revision still has some weak points, for example, with respect to the unclear regulation of conflict situations at the community level (Cahyat 2005). Some articles of the law also remain unclear and flexible, which may lead to conflicts between the various administrative levels and to ‘a controlled type of decentralization’ by the central government (Tamin 2005). With respect to natural resource management, including marine resources, the new law regulates the relations between the central, provincial and local governments as specified in articles 17 and 18, including issues of responsibilities, management, maintenance, and conservation efforts. The articles also specify some aspects regarding the sharing of revenues from natural resource management and the procedures for integrated development planning at different levels of administration. The latter aspect usually implies that the district plan should be in line with the guidelines and macro planning of higher levels. Berau also issued several specific district regulations in response to the decentralization process. Most of them are natural resource-related regulations aimed at generating more revenues for the district administration. These policies together with national policies, in particular those related to natural resource management, have strongly influenced the dynamics of economic and natural resource conditions in the district.

3.3 Development through the management of natural resources During both the New Order and the decentralization period, government policies focused on economic development and were implemented through the exploitation of natural resources. Parallel with the increase in global demand for such commodities as timber, oil palm, coal and gold, these policies have driven the development of resource-rich regions in Indonesia.


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In Berau, as in other regions in Indonesia, the New Order era also started to intensify the exploitation of natural resources in order to generate revenues. Berau has contributed significantly to the economic performance of East Kalimantan, since it is an important area for log production (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005, Pangestu 1989). Since the early 1980s, the exploitation of the vast coal reserves has been a major source of income. This was soon followed by the establishment of one of the biggest pulp and paper factories in Indonesia, PT Kiani Kertas. More recently, the development of oil palm plantations has become a major priority of the local government to generate more revenues from local extractive industries. Finally, as a district rich in marine resources, Berau is an important producer of fish, turtle eggs and shrimps. Figure 3-2 shows the contribution of Berau’s main domestic products, with the largest contributions coming from coal mining, forestry, and pulp and paper processing. These three natural resource sectors have contributed more than 60 per cent of total Berau GRDP for years. The GRDP increased from IDR 2,185 billion in 2000 to IDR 2,943 billion in 2007.

3.3.1 Forest extraction In Indonesia, most of the formal timber production was conducted by largescale concession holders, on the basis of the Hak Pengusahaan Hutan (HPH) permit or currently named as Izin Usaha Pengusahaan Hutan Kayu di Hutan Alam (IUPHHK-HA), permit for managing natural forest. The first large-scale logging concession in Berau was established in the late 1960s when the New Order era began. In the last three decades, Berau has played an important role in timber production, together with the areas around Samarinda, Balikpapan and the Mahakam river basin (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005, Pangestu 1989). The HPH holders in Berau have extracted significant amounts of timber: they harvested around 10.5 million m3 of timber in 1985–99, representing over 13 per cent of the total timber volume harvested in Indonesia in that period (Obidzinski 2003). During the first decade, the government issued 14 concession permits in the district (Kanwil Kaltim 1998, in Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005). In the late 1990s, there were nine active HPH holders in Berau; this number had increased to twelve in 2001 (Obidzinski 2003). According to the Berau Forestry Office, in 2008 there are 11 active concession holders (see table 3-1).

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Fisheries

Services

Coal and other mining

500,000

Forestry

2,000,000

Food crops

2,500,000

3,500,000

Tranportation and Communication

3,000,000

note: the graph shows nine largest production of commodities and the remaining are combined in ‘others’.

Others (Building. Finance rental and company services, Livestocks, Timber Idustry, Quarrying, Electricity, Gas and Water, Mining Industry, Food Industry, Textile Industry)

Trading, Hotel, and Restaurant

Indonesian Rupiah

1,500,000

Pulp and Paper Industry Perrenial crops

1,000,000

Figure 3-2. Gross regional domestic product of Berau, 2000–2007 (Source: BPS Berau)

Year

40 Economic development, environmental stress and sustainability in Indonesia


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Table 3-1. Timber concession holders in Berau, 2008 No Company

Area (ha)

Location (subdistrict)

Permit issued

1

PT Puji Sempurna Rahardja

51,000

Tanjung Batu

1990

2

PT Aditya Kirana Mandiri

42,700

Kelay

1990

3

PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya I

89,595

Batu Putih

1994

4

PT Wana Bhakti Persada

44,402

Kelay

1990

5

PT Mardhika Insan Mulia

46,080

Kelay

1999

6

PT Amindo Wana Persada

43,680

Kelay

1999

7

PT Daisy Timber

67,000

Biduk-biduk

2000

8

PT Karya Lestari

49,123

Kelay

1999

9

PT Utama Damai Indah

49,250

Kelay

2005

10 PT Inhutani 1 (Sambarata) PT Inhutani 1 (Labanan 1/2) PT Inhutani 1 (Meraang)

106,020 138,210 70,700

Gunung Tabur Segah Sambaliung

2006 2006 2006

Tabalar

2006

11 PT Widya Artha Perdana Total

14,800 812,560

Source: Berau Forestry Office (2008)

Forest extraction in the forest area also takes the form of timber plantation estates (Hutan Tanaman Industri; HTI)2 to supply the pulp and paper industry and meet the increasing domestic demand for timber. In Berau, the development of HTI started in the mid-1990s. There were three major companies in the district developing HTI and supplying the huge pulp and paper factory of PT Kiani Kertas, in the southeast of Tanjung Redep. The companies are PT Tanjung Redeb Hutani (180,330 ha; est. 1996), PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya (10,673 ha; est. 1997) and PT Belantara Pusaka (15,610 ha; est. 1998). The last one was established together with the transmigration programme (Sido Bangen village) close to the concession area, and therefore benefitted from the local supply of migrants as a labour force. However, only PT Sumalindo Jaya has been able to establish a proper timber plantation, since the others did not perform well, for example in replanting after clearing. The other two companies also had poor management and experienced financial problems, which soon made them stagnate (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2 The system was initiated in 1990, through Government Regulation No 7/1990. It was then revised under Government Regulation No 34/2002 and Government Regulation No 6/2007, with a new name as Timber Utilization in Plantation Forest (UPHHK-HT - Usaha Pemanfaatan Hasil Hutan Kayu dalam Hutan Tanaman). Some HTI concessions were operated in natural forest areas that had been given a permit for conversion. After clearing the standing trees, the concession holders planted some fast growing species, such as Acacia mangium, Paraserianthes falcataria and/or Gmelina arborea to supply the pulp mill.

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2005). PT Belantara Pusaka Utama ceased trading in 2000, which caused some commotion among the communities in Sido Bangen. Most of the migrants sold their houses and returned to their areas of origin. The others insisted on staying on and started to work on their agricultural lands, including the rubber plantations that were developed by the company as a form of compensation. With the start of the decentralization era in 1998, a new type of logging scheme, forest product extraction permit (Hak Pemungutan Hasil Hutan; HPHH) was introduced. Under Government Regulation No 6/1999, the district government was allowed to issue permits for 1-year concessions of 100 ha of land within the state forest area. This regulation was supported and specified by the Ministry of Forestry in Decree No. 310/1999 on HPHH allocation procedures. Unlike the HPH permit, the HPHH applies to smallscale logging activities3 and was issued to individuals, cooperatives and companies. The status of the state forest area that can be managed by using this permit is restricted to either conversion forest or production forest that is going to be converted or reclassified. This new concession type then appeared under different names in each region. East Kalimantan, for example, called it timber extraction and utilization permit (Izin Pemanfaatan dan Pemungutan Kayu; IPPK) (Barr et al. 2006). In Berau, 33 licenses were issued in 1999–2000 covering 11,396 ha of forest areas (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005, Obidzinski and Barr 2003). In 2000, the minister of Forestry suspended Ministerial Decree No 310/1990 in response to the strongly increasing scale of this concession type and the subsequent threat of deforestation. This measure included a call to district and provincial heads to withdraw the permit and require the permit holders to replant their concession areas (Barr et al. 2006). The minister also used Indonesia’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce the rate of forest conversion as a major reason to postpone the decree. This was especially necessary, it was argued, as the negative experiences at the district level might easily endanger the whole agreement with the IMF (Barr et al. 2001). The suspended regulation made some district heads argue that Law No 22/1999 already authorized district governments to take control of their natural resources, and that the ministerial decree could not suspend the law. 3 The Ministry of Forestry based on Government Regulation No 6/2007 also gives the communities the opportunity to manage the forest through several community-based forest management mechanisms, namely Community Timber Plantation (Hutan Tanaman Rakyat), Village Forest (Hutan Desa) and Social Forestry (Hutan Kemasyarakatan). However, implementation started just a few years ago and has not been applied equally over the regions, thus the information was not included in this book.


43

Consequently, some districts started to apply their own regulations. In Berau, the regulation was translated into a new concession type called license to extract timber from private land (Izin Pemanfaatan Kayu di Tanah Milik; IPKTM). The difference from the previous HPPH/IPPK concession was that the new one applied to non-state forest areas. It also happened, however, that large-scale timber companies released some of their concession areas for that purpose after negotiations with the IPKTM permit owners (usually the local community group/cooperatives), as their proposed area coincided with the companies’ concessions (Barr et al. 2001). In 2000–01, it was noted that Berau had issued around 183 permits of this type, covering more than 35,000 ha and targeted to produce around 1.4 million m3 of timber (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005). Another type of forest extraction is based on the Izin Pemanfaatan Kayu (IPK; wood utilization permit). This permit is needed to develop timber plantations, crop estates or mining activities, and may derive from the conversion of either a forest area or a non-forest area. An IPK allows a company to harvest all the standing trees in the area (excluding areas classified as protection areas, such as riverbanks, steep slopes, etc.). Based on Ministry of Forestry Decree No. 382/2004, an IPK permit can be issued by the district government if the area is a non-state forest area. Hence, if an area falls under the classification of state forest areas, the permit authorization should be issued by the governor. In that case, the state forest areas should first be converted into the status of either conversion forest or pinjam kawasan hutan4. But both the conversion and pinjam kawasan hutan of a forest area still needs approval from the minister of Forestry. In Berau, the IPK system was introduced in the mid-1990s. According to Obidzinski and Andriato (2005), in 1997 Berau issued 13 IPK permits to develop timber plantations (pulp wood and transmigration), estate crops (oil palm and coconut) and coal mining. In 1999, there were 19 companies using IPK for converting around 240,000 ha of forest, mostly into oil palm plantations (Obidzinski and Andriato 2005). However, in 2002–04 the area under IPK dropped from 18,400 ha to 2,000 ha. This process was presumably triggered by the companies’ frequent failure to plant new cash crop trees after 4 Under Ministry of Forestry Regulation No. 14/Menhut-II/2006, pinjam kawasan hutan is the use of some forest area for non-forestry related purposes, without changing its original status and function. Some of these types of non-forest use are for religious purposes, mining, defence, energy and water flow uses, as well as for some public facility purposes, such as road access, water supply, development of TV and radio towers, etc. Here, the permit holder should provide land as a substitute for compensating the conversion of Forest Area. If 2 years after issuance the permit holder however cannot provide the land, he may change the compensation into a tax of as much 1 per cent of the price of a unit production from the total production.

44


they had applied clear felling to the original forest. Thus, the local government stopped issuing new permits and refused to extend existing ones.

3.3.2 Coal Mining Coal mining has been a part of Berau’s history since the early 1900s, when the Dutch established the Steenkolen Maatschappij Parapattan (SMP) in Teluk Bayur, which is close to Tanjung Redep. The exploitation of this rich resource triggered the arrival of new waves of traders from Europe, Arabia, India and China, who now also penetrated the interior parts of Berau. The coal company brought in workers from Java, and many of their offspring are still living in Berau. The establishment of the SMP made Teluk Bayur the economically most active area in Berau during the first half of the twentieth century (Lopulalan and Muhtaman 2003). The end of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia had a profound impact on the political and economic situation in Berau. In 1942, the Japanese had expelled the Dutch from Berau and firmly established their authority in Tanjung Redep. The confiscated coal company could not perform as well as before and no longer supported the regional economy, since the Japanese only exploited the coal mine to supply their navy with cheap fuel by using forced labour. In 1945, Japan lost the Pacific War. Air strikes by the allied forces destroyed vital production facilities in Berau and the Japanese were expelled from Indonesia (Lopulalan and Muhtaman 2003). During the period of the independence struggle (1945–49), the Dutch colonial administration tried to restore the production capacity of the coal mines to supply their inter-island shipping company KPM with fuel. But the pre-war production was not achieved and in 1958 the mines were nationalized, along with all other Dutch companies in Indonesia. With the introduction of Guided Democracy in Indonesia, in around the 1960s the government took over all Dutch companies and tried to exploit these mining fields, with the support of Mitsubishi (the Japanese manufacturing company) and a local company from Samarinda. However, the plan failed due to the lack of economic and political stability (Lopulalan and Muhtaman 2003). At the moment, the coal potential in Berau has been allocated to 71 companies (data in 2008). However, only seven companies have actively exploited the coal, with a total production reaching 14 million tons (BAPPEDA Berau, personal communication 2008).


45

PT Berau Coal is by far the biggest mining company in Berau. It started functioning in 1983 after it had signed a contract with PN Tambang Batubara to exploit around 487,217 ha of concession area in the Berau region. In 1986, the PKP2B5 (Perjanjian Karya Pengusahaan Pertambangan Batubara) contract was signed, which decreased the area to 243,126 ha. After several years of exploration, in 1994 production was fully commercialized. In 2005, based on Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Decree No. 178K/40.00/DJG/2005, the concession area was reduced to 118,400 ha. The company is now operating through a joint venture between PT Armadian Tritunggal (51%), Rognar Holding B.V. (39%; a Netherlands company) and Sojitz Corp. (10%; a Japanese company) (PT Berau Coal, personal communication 2008). The present concession area of PT Berau Coal (118,400 ha) includes the coal fields of Lati (127 million tonsof coal reserves), Binungan (37 million tons) and Sambarata (34 million tons). Their annual production capacity is around 17.5 million tons (PT Berau Coal, personal communication 2007), while the overall reserves of coal in the concession areas are estimated at 2 billion tons (BAPPEDA Berau 2001). Nearly all of these reserves can be exploited by openpit mining using heavy machinery instead of labour. Considering its capitalintensive nature, employment in this sector is quite low: it accounts for only 10 per cent (7,519 people) of the active labour force (BPS Berau 2005).

These yields make coal mining the largest contributor to the GRDP of Berau. In 2007, it contributed more than 40 per cent of the total GRDP of this district. The amount also increased, from IDR 752 billion in 2000 into IDR 1,175 billion in 2007 (BPS Berau 2008), reflecting the increasing demand for fossil fuels in the world market. Most of the coal production in Berau is shipped to Japan, Korea and India. PT Berau Coal is also one of the main suppliers of the national electricity company (Perusahaan Listrik Negara; PLN) and it supplies around 200,000 MT of coal a year to the steam power plant (Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Uap; PLTU) in Berau.

5 Based on Law No. 11/1967, mining for domestic investors in Indonesia operates under a mining right (Kuasa Pertambangan - KP), a local mining permit (Surat Izin Pertambangan Daerah - SIPD) and/or a collective labour contract for coal mining (Perjanjian Karya Pengusahaan Pertambangan Batubara - PKP2B), while the foreign investors operated under the different terms of a Contract of Work (Kontrak Karya - KK). However, in the coal mining sector, the foreign investors operate under the same PKP2B as domestic investors. The new law, No.3/2002, simplifies the permit administration, whereby both domestic and foreign investors operate the mines under the authority of a mining operation permit (Izin Usaha Pertambangan - IUP) or a mining operation agreement (Perjanjian Usaha Pertambangan - PUP).

46


3.3.3 Estate crops Compared with timber and oil/gas extraction, estate crop development, in particular oil palm plantations, started relatively late in East Kalimantan. Plantation or estate development was started nearly a decade after the oil and timber boom of the early 1970s (Pangestu 1989). The first oil palm estate in East Kalimantan was established in 1982 by a state-owned company (PTP VI), which developed a Perkebunan Inti Rakyat (PIR) or Nucleus Estate Smallholder (NES)6 project. By 2010, the area devoted to oil palm plantations in East Kalimantan had reached 663,533 ha, that is, 126,756 ha of community plantations, 17,237 ha of state-owned plantations and 519,540 ha of privately owned plantations (311 enterprises) (Dinas Perkebunan Kalimantan Timur 2011). In Berau, the development of large-scale estate crops (mostly oil palm) started only in the Reform Era in 1998 (Obidzinski and Andrianto 2005). It should be noted that the district government reserved an area of 452,813 ha for agricultural development in the period 2001–11, including the promotion of large-scale estate crops. This development is in line with the objective of the district government to develop a long-term and sustainable type of commercial agricultural production. For this purpose, the district government launched the Agricultural Production Centre Programme. The programme was set up through the establishment of nine agricultural production areas based on their local conditions and potentials for various types of commodities, such as oil palm in Segah, Kelay, Lempake, Batu Putih and Talisayan subdistricts, rubber in Kelay, and cocoa in Labanan, Kelay and Segah subdistricts (BAPPEDA Berau 2005). The government has encouraged investors to develop estate plantations, in particular for oil palm, with community partnership in the region. In around 2000–01, when the offer was first launched, the district attracted some investors/companies to run their own businesses. However, after years of implementation, some companies have clearly failed to achieve their official 6 NES is an estate exploitation model based on cooperation between small farmers and a private/state-owned company. The company provides the small farmers with land (in some cases the land also belongs to the community) and capital, carries out land preparation, planting and the maintenance of the oil palm plantation. Moreover, it provides the central processing facility (factory) of the estate. For the first 3–4 years, the small farmers work for the company and get paid by it. After that, the land is transferred to the farmers and is developed under the supervision of the company. The farmers are bound by contract to supply the company with their yields at a price set by the company. This price is based on world market price minus the redemption of debts of the smallholder to the estate company (due to the conversion of their land into estate crop).


47

objective, as it turned out that their only purpose was to grab the timber on the site, not to plant the cash crop or establish a crude palm oil factory. Thus, 24 oil palm plantation permits had to be cancelled because of the inconsistency between the behaviour of the permit holders and the commitment they had made (Kaltim Pos, 23 July 2004). Up to September 2009, the local government had issued 199,125 ha of permit areas (Izin Lokasi) to 27 companies, of which 25 really intended to establish oil palm plantation. However, the total planted area reached 38,192 ha (see table 3-2), for both company and community (partnership) areas.

3.3.4 Coastal and marine-based activities Berau is also famous for marine-based activities, such as fisheries and aquaculture (shrimp/fish ponds). The fishery sector has always been one of the most important sources of income for both the coastal community and the local government. Of the total production of fishery products in Berau, 42 per cent originate from the coastal areas (BPS Berau 2003b). The role of the international market is influential here, particularly for several fish species that have a high price. The demand for Kerapu sunu (Plectropomus leopardus; leopard coral grouper), for example, is high and traders come from other islands (such as Bali and Java) and even from abroad (e.g. from Hong Kong and Malaysia) to buy it. The yields were also influenced by the migration of Buginese fishermen from Malaysia, who since early 2000 have established floating wooded platforms or bagan (stationary lift nets) along the coast. The number of bagan in Berau has increased dramatically: there are now 600 bagan in the area. The success of the bagan fishery has also attracted other migrants from Indonesia to settle in the coastal area. Another important source of income is offered by the rapid increase in the number of shrimp and fishponds along the coastal zone. This type of aquaculture has become one of the most dynamic activities in this part of the district: their total surface rose from 162.5 ha in 1997 to 3,624.9 ha in 2008 (figure 3-3). The coastal area is also known as a habitat for the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate), which previously generated a significant amount of revenue for both the local government and the local

Company

PT. Tanjung Buyu Perkasa

PT. Hutan Hijau Mas

PT. Malindo Mas

PT. Dwiwira Lestari Jaya

PT. Satu Sembilan Delapan

PT. Intimung Kahuripan Indonesia

PT. Sanggam Mukti Kahuripan

PT. Inti Energi Kaltim

PT. Jabontara Eka Karsa

PT. Yudha Wahana Abadi

PT. Sentosa Kalimantan Jaya

PT. Anugrah Agung Prima Abadi

PT. Natura Pasifik Nusantara

PT. Rimba Anugerah Kaltim

PT. Berau Sawit Sejahtera

Koperasi Long Klatak Mandiri

PT. Buana Madantara

PT. Gunta Samba Jaya

No

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Commodity

9,000

7,940

2,900

8,400

4,000

5,090

10,000

7,125

10,000

14,006

2,476

1,400

6,750

12,460

19,038

8,266

7,710

13,382

Permit area (ha)

Table 3-2. Estate crop companies in Berau (as per September 2009)

8,265

0

2,150

6,782

0

4,840

8,410

6,000

9,120

14,006

2,466

1,325

6,750

6,010

12,000

7,440

7,430

9,157

Plantation area (ha)

3,876

0

0

45

0

163

51

39.3

2,617

1,600

1,550

0

815

3,100

4,019

4,500

5,000

7,146

Company area (ha)

506

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

400

0

0

0

0

600

0

100

400

1,165

Community area (ha)

Planting realization

4,382

0

0

45

0

163

51

39

3,017

1,600

1,550

0

815

3,700

4,019

4,600

5,400

8,311

Total (ha)


PT. Multigreen Sempurna Plantation

PT. Bina Karya Nuansa Sejahtera

PT. Perfoma Kalimantan Sejahtera

PT. Anugrah Surya Mandiri

PT. Indo Alam Makmur

PT. Mahkota Jaya Abadi

PT. Andalan Mitra Persada

PT. Berau Agro Kusuma

Koperasi Lakawan

Total

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Source: Berau Estate Crop Office 2009 (processed)

Company

No

Rubber

Rubber

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Oil palm

Commodity

199,125

700

2,350

4,240

6,100

10,360

3,700

5,367

13,665

5,750

Permit area (ha)

129,428

673

2,194

0

0

5,000

0

0

12,277

0

Plantation area (ha)

35,021

0

382

0

0

0

0

0

500

0

Company area (ha)

3,171

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Community area (ha)

Planting realization

38,192

0

382

0

0

0

0

0

500

0

Total (ha)


49

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

1997

163

1998

192 1999

295 2000

511 2001

1,101

2003

Year

2002

1,148

2004

2,100

2005

3,100

3,480

Figure 3-3. Aquacultures development in Berau (Source: Berau Fishery Office 1998-2005)

Area (ha)

3,625

2006

2007

2008

area of aquacultures

3,543

3,565



51

communities, from turtle egg collecting and trading. The population of green turtles in the Berau coastal area is still amongst the largest in Southeast Asia, with a total of around 6,000 animals, in particular on the six hatching islands (Derawan, Sangalaki, Sambit, Blambangan, Mataha and Bilang-bilangan). On these islands, turtles produce around two or three million eggs each year. From the turtle eggs levy, the local government generated revenues of IDR 600 million in 1997, an amount that increased to IDR 1.05 billion in 2000. However, since 2001, 20 per cent of the eggs have been reserved by law for hatching purposes, while Sangalaki and Derawan islands are now fully protected from commercial turtle egg collection and trading.

3.4 Development and population growth In 2007, the population of Berau was 164,501 persons (BPS Berau 2008), an increase of over 500 per cent since 1971. However, the increase was most likely not caused solely by natural population growth. Using the natural growth equation,7 the natural population numbers (dashed line) show a smaller increase than the actual condition (bars), as shown in figure 3-4. The figure also links the growth of population with the large-scale economic development described previously. It seems that some of the government’s major policy interventions – for example, the transmigration programmes, the decentralization policy, and the development of forestry and the pulp/ paper industry– are some of the drivers related to the dynamics of the Berau population, as are the increasing spontaneous migrations to find new lands for cultivation and other livelihood opportunities. As economic development started in the early 1970s when the first logging companies in Berau were established, this was presumably also the starting point for accelerated population growth in the district. Many people moved to Berau at that time, both spontaneously and as workers brought in from outer regions/islands. After several years, many of them became permanent settlers. The growth of the population in 1988–94 was most likely generated by the central government’s transmigration programme and the subsequent spontaneous settlement movements. In 1994–95, the number of migrants also 7 The total population is calculated using the equation (Pt+n= Pt (1+r) n). The population assessment is based on natural growth assumptions deriving from the national growth rate as an average. The population in 1980 is used as the basis (Pt = 45,905) while the growth rates (r) in 1980–90, 1990–2000, 2000–05 are 1.98, 1.49 and 1.3, respectively. As a result, the population in 1990, 2000 and 2005 can be assessed as 55,848, 64,750 and 73,678, respectively.

0

2,000

4,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

Actual growth

Natural growth

1992

1993

1989

1988

1987

1986

1985

1984

1983

1980

The operation of large scale timber companies

Transmigration program

The operation of coal mining companies

YEAR

2003

2002

2001

2000

2005

1999

Oil palm estate development

Decentralization era

2004

1998

1996

1995

The operation of pulp and paper company

1997

1994

1970

Figure 3-4. Population growth in Berau from 1971 to 2007 (Source: BPS Berau)

Number of population

160,000

1990

180,000

1991


2007

2006


53

increased when the timber plantations were established. Most of the migrants originated from Java and Nusa Tenggara, and were brought in to work for these timber plantations. These plantations were primarily aimed at supporting the establishment of PT Kiani Kertas, a huge pulp and paper factory that also employs many new migrants as factory workers. The population also seems to have grown following the beginning of the Reform Era in 1998. There are strong indications that especially spontaneous migration contributed to the increase in population in this period. The opportunities to grab and cultivate new lands were increasing all over the country, and Berau was no exception. An interesting case supporting this hypothesis occurred in Kelay subdistrict, where the additional population growth in excess of natural growth was almost 1,000 inhabitants in 2003–05. The drastic population increase in some villages (such as Long Beliu, Sido Bangen and Merapun; KCDA 2005) is therefore most likely a result of spontaneous migrants joining their family and friends. The increase in economic development in the region is another main attractor of this type of migration. Local land tenure conflicts elsewhere may also have caused types of pioneer migration, as happened in Long Ghie village in Kelay subdistrict.

3.5 Berau’s economic situation The fiscal system during the New Order period was much more centralized (Resosudarmo et al. 2006), because the majority of the revenues of provincial and district governments were distributed from the centre in the form of loans and grants (Devas 1989, in Resosudarmo et al. 2006). Some major resources – such as oil, liquid natural gas and forests – were mostly managed under the responsibility of the central government, which issued the permits and collected the taxes. The district was only allowed to get revenues from such tax sources as group C mining8, surface and ground water, advertisements, hotels and restaurants, and street lighting. However, the decentralization law allowed local governments, particularly those in resource-rich regions, to find additional income sources. Decentralization has expanded enormously the types and volumes of revenues from natural resources, including the forestry and mining sectors. Correspondingly, most revenue shares at the district level have increased, as is shown in table 3-3. Besides revenue shares from local land tax and nature resource levies shown in table 3-3, the local government also received revenues deriving from the general 8

Mining type for sands, rocks, granite, etc.

100

Personal Income

80

0

9

20

20

20

20

20

70

85

0

16

16.2

0

30

56

16

16

0

0

8

16

16.2

0

16

16

16

16

6

3

0

64

64.8

0

15

14

64

64

0

0

B

12

64

64.8

0

32

64

32

64

12

6

A

Originating district

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

B

0

0

0

0

0

0

32

0

12

6

A

Other district in the same province

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

B

0

20

10

80

0

0

0

0

0

0

A

All districts

B: Before decentralization; A; After decentralization; LNG: liquid natural gas; IHPH; Iuran Hak Pengusahaan Hutan (HPH License Fee) a fee for forest concession area; PSDH: Provisi Sumber Daya Hutan (Forest Resource Rent Provision) a royalty for each m3 of timber harvested Under Law 33/2004, the share of oil revenue has been changed so that as of 2009, the centre would receive 84.5 per cent of oil revenues and 69.5 per cent of LNG revenues, while the share of the regions remain the same. The difference of 0.5 per cent will be allocated for basic education, in which the province will receive 0.1 per cent, originating district 0.2 per cent and other district within province 0.2 per cent. Under Law 33/2004, Reforestation Fund (Dana Reboisasi; DR) is categorized as shared revenues. The centre would receive 60 per cent and originating region would receive 40 per cent. Under special autonomy arrangements, the provincial government of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam receives 55 per cent of oil taxes and 40 per cent of LNG taxes; the provincial of Papua receives 70 per cent of oil and LNG taxes.

20

Land Building Transfer Fee

Source: Resosudarmo et al. 2006 in Barr 2006 (processed)

•

•

•

•

19

Land and Building Tax

30

Forestry: IHPH 55

20

Mining: Royalty

100

20

Mining: Land Rent

Fishery

100

Forestry: PSDH

100

LNG

A

B

B

A

Provincial government

Central government

Oil

Revenue Source

Table 3-3. Revenue shares at all government levels before and after decentralization policy applied



55

allocation fund (Dana Alokasi Umum; DAU) and the special allocation fund (Dana Alokasi Khusus; DAK). The DAU comes from the national government’s budget, with 10 per cent going to provincial governments and 90 per cent to district/municipal governments. The DAK allocation also comes from the national government’s budget, but here the allocation depends on the special needs of specific regions. Other sources are the regional generated revenues (Pendapatan Asli Daerah; PAD) and regional loan (Pinjaman Daerah; PD). The PAD includes all incomes from regional taxes and levies, as well as from regional government enterprises that generate direct income for the local government (Resosudarmo et al. 2006). Since decentralization, the PAD in Berau have increased dramatically, that is, from IDR 3.7 billion in 1995 to IDR 81.7 billion in 2007. However, they still accounted for only 4 per cent of the district’s total revenues, because the revenues also come from the DAU, the DAK, and the shared taxes from natural resources and other sources (see table 3-4), which contributed around 96 per cent of total revenues. The district government could also generate revenue from third-party contributions, such as the production fees for logs cut by the companies (IDR 10,000/m3), pulp wood or serpihan wood (IDR 5,000/m3) or processed timber products (IDR 15,000/m3). Other revenues are also generated from bird nest collecting licenses, a district-owned company that managed a forest concession area and the Reforestation Fund (Dana Reboisasi; DR),9 and fees for each m3 of timber harvested. Thus, it is not surprising that the local government tried to optimize its natural resource potential: as a resource-rich district, Berau could get more than it used to. However, as shown in the following section, this economic improvement was usually achieved at the cost of land cover changes, particularly the degradation of forest areas.

3.6 Land cover changes and pressures on natural resources The increase in economic performance through natural resource exploitation implies dynamic changes in land cover in Berau. The deforestation rate, for example, has increased strongly over the last 30 years. In 1970, 90 per cent of the East Kalimantan land surface was covered by forest (RePPProT, 1987), a 9 Based on Law No. 33/2004, DR is included as a Special Allocation Fund, of which East Kalimantan Province receives 40 per cent of the DR generated from its regions and distributes it to all districts in the province to support the land and forest rehabilitation in the regions.

2.9 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.4

District tax

Redistribution

Income from district-owned enterprises

Income from district offices

Other district incomes

0.0 43.7

Funds from province and others

Total

Source: Berau Regional Revenue Office (primary data)

7.2

0.0

Special Allocation Fund (DAK) 14.5

0.0

General Allocation Fund (DAU)

Contributions

2.7

Share of natural resource taxes

Donations

6.1

Share of tax revenues

30.5

3.7

District revenues

Fiscal Balancing

9.5

Funds remaining from the previous year

1995

42.0

0.0

11.8

7.8

0.0

0.0

3.2

8.3

31.3

0.3

0.0

0.1

0.3

3.0

3.8

7.0

1996

55.2

0.0

21.1

10.1

0.0

0.0

3.6

9.4

44.2

0.4

0.1

0.1

0.4

3.8

4.9

6.2

1997

62.1

0.0

20.2

11.4

0.0

0.0

5.9

13.2

50.7

1.3

0.0

0.1

0.7

1.2

3.4

8.0

1998

49.3

0.0

9.4

6.7

0.0

0.0

4.9

10.7

31.7

1.9

0.0

0.2

1.0

0.8

3.8

13.8

1999

Table 3-4. Source of revenue of Berau, 1995–2007 (in billion IDR)

72.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

32.5

1.2

14.2

11.2

59.1

2.6

0.0

0.4

0.9

0.7

4.6

8.4

2000

14.4

0.0

1.4

2.8

1.6

20.2

115.8

2002

14.7

0.0

3.3

2.9

1.6

22.6

104.7

2003

19.4

0.0

0.0

2.8

2.3

24.5

114.5

2004

13.4

0.0

6.8

3.4

3.8

27.4

116.5

2005

43.0

0.0

3.8

5.6

5.1

57.6

384.2

2006

14.0

0.0

0.0

6.2

135.7

201.5

28.8

29.5

0.0

0.0

35.8

130.5

231.9

50.9

23.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

130.8

226.4

36.6

38.7

0.0

0.0

17.3

128.3

371.4

33.3

88.2

0.0

0.0

63.7

213.8

517.8

34.7

199.3

0.0

0.0

8.0

296.0

451.0

38.6

793.5

57.4

0.0

8.6

9.5

6.2

81.7

790.6

2007

322.8 522.2 605.9 555.8 732.9 1,360.0 1,865.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

40.4

73.4

163.9

20.1

297.7 372.1 449.1 393.8 550.3 830.0

7.8

0.0

0.5

1.6

1.2

11.1

14.1

2001



57

figure that was used to estimate that forests still covered 98 per cent of Berau in 1970 (Steenis 2001). In 1997, forests in Berau were calculated to cover only 92 per cent(1.94 million ha) of the total area, which represents a 6 per cent reduction in 27 years. In 2000 – just three years later – the area had been reduced to 1.8 million ha (86 per cent) of the total area (Steenis 2001). This figure is striking because of the similarity to the percentage decline in forest area between 1970 and 1997 and between 1997 and 2000. Another analysis of 1990, 2000 and 2005 Landsat images by Ekadinata and colleagues (2010) also shows vast changes in land cover in Berau (see table 3-5). Logging was the main activity that set the trend for land cover changes in those years by converting undisturbed forest into logged-over forest. Logged-over forest areas increased from 712,084 ha in 1990 to 949,698 ha in 2005. The increasing number of HPH concession holders that from the 1970s till 1997 actively logged the Berau forest areas, contributed to a strong decrease in the forest cover on especially the inland and north-eastern plateau areas. The conversion of some forest areas into transmigration settlements is also assumed to have reduced the district’s forest cover in this period. The decentralization policy is believed to have promoted deforestation (Duncan 2007, McCarthy 2001). Seeing the possibility to increase their revenues, many local governments abused or misinterpreted decentralization by issuing many small-scale timber licenses and charging extra fees. In some regions, this led to the legalization of illegal timber cutting by the local government and to the establishment of uncontrollable timber industries, which increased the deforestation rate in these areas. (Resosudarmo 2005, Obidzinski and Barr 2003, Ribot 2002, McCarthy 2001). In addition, Obidzinsky and Andrianto (2005) stated that in 2003 a cumulative increase in legal and illegal logging activities in Berau led to a rate of annual deforestation of between 58,713 and 61,713 ha. The state forest areas in Berau, as well as in other districts, are mostly under the direct authority of the central government. Based on Ministry of Forestry Decree No. 79/200110, Berau classified 75 per cent (1,588,594 ha) of its total 10 As a result of decentralization, the local government has also developed its own spatial planning framework. According to Berau’s spatial plan for 2001–11, the local government has allocated 72 per cent of the total district area as Forest Area, which is 3 per cent less than the figure given by Ministry of Forestry Decree No 79/2001. The difference from the previous plan, which possibly met with objections from the central government, is the considerable increase in the nonforestry area by more than 150,000 ha (Berau Forestry Officer, pers. comm.). However, the new plan also increased the amount of Protection Area by around 4,700 ha, which already covered 31 per cent of the total district area. The plan had already been approved and adapted to the planning schemes at the provincial level, but not yet at the central government level. Therefore, the district government is still using the previous spatial planning scheme.

6,801.40 23,436.40 160,014.80 2,198,223.20

Water body

No data

Total

Source: Ekadinata et al. 2010

10,534.10

38.2

Coconut plantation

Road and settlement

1,568.10

Cocoa plantation

Shrub and bare land

2,391.50

Oil palm plantation

2,168.60

6,962.00

Timber plantation

Agriculture

431.1

8,089.10

Rubber plantation

Mixed garden

116.3

2,224.60

Old shrub

16,487.50

40.1

Logged-over mangrove

Logged-over swamp forest

25,193.40

Undisturbed mangrove

Undisturbed swamp forest

712,084.30

Logged-over forest

1990 1,219,641.90

Undisturbed forest

Land cover

333,992.30

23,436.40

18,033.00

33,660.50

5,392.70

2,095.10

328.3

16,978.10

44,380.40

4,474.40

23,691.20

12,574.60

3,807.10

10,023.60

1,944.00

23,593.40

799,114.20

840,704.00

2000

Area (ha)

2,198,223.20

Table 3-5. Land cover changes in Berau, 1990–2005 2005

2,198,223.20

183,546.80

23,436.40

33,458.20

51,541.90

9,959.80

3,270.80

10,417.80

30,764.70

72,664.70

3,310.70

21,081.20

10,305.10

6,220.20

6,650.40

5,577.80

21,159.60

949,698.40

755,158.70

0

173,977.50

0

11,231.60

23,126.40

3,224.10

2,056.90

-1,239.80

14,586.60

37,418.40

4,043.30

15,602.10

12,458.30

1,582.50

-6,463.90

1,903.90

-1,600.00

87,029.90

-378,937.90

1990–2000

0

-150,445.50

0

15,425.20

17,881.40

4,567.10

1,175.70

10,089.50

13,786.60

28,284.30

-1,163.70

-2,610.00

-2,269.50

2,413.10

-3,373.20

3,633.80

-2,433.80

150,584.20

-85,545.30

2000–2005

Net change (ha)

0

23,532.00

0

26,656.80

41,007.80

7,791.20

3,232.60

8,849.70

28,373.20

65,702.70

2,879.60

12,992.10

10,188.80

3,995.60

-9,837.10

5,537.70

-4,033.80

237,614.10

-464,483.20

1990–2005



59

area as forest area (Berau Forestry Office, pers. comm.). This forest area can be divided into production forest (616,210 ha), limited production forest (631,491 ha), protection forest (339,391 ha) and conservation forest (500 ha). The remaining land area that is fully manageable under the authority of the district government is known as Areal Penggunaan Lain (APL; other land use) and covers only 25 per cent of the total area (523,431 ha). This includes areas for industry, tourism, agriculture, estate crops, housing and marine fishponds. Yet, these sectors are most vital for the employment and income opportunities of the local population, and revenues from all sectors are required in order to finance the district’s operational expenses. The distribution pattern also shows a clear preference for APL areas for the more accessible and better-endowed riverbank and coastal areas. Thus, the development and exploitation of APL areas have become a vital aim for which the issuance of large-scale estate crop permits in this area can serve as an important means of implementation. As shown in table 3-5, the conversion of natural regrowth/shrubs into oil palm plantation (from 2,391 ha in 1990 to 30,764 ha in 2005) is another common change in Berau. In addition to the direct impact of logging activities, the introduction of some newly developed estate crops has also contributed to the decreasing forest area in Berau. As mentioned, most of the estate companies initially acquired their concession in forested (or logged-over forested) areas,and with an IPK license they could easily convert them into plantation area. In addition, the construction of shrimp and fish ponds is usually at the cost of mangrove forests. Mangrove forests in Berau are distributed all along the coast from the northern to the southern border of the district. The data above show that the area of logged-over mangrove increased from 40 ha in 1990 to 5,577 ha in 2005. A similar concern about the mangrove areas was mentioned by Wiryawan (2005). The fact that the local government’s primary objective was to increase its revenues and its control over natural resources may have been an important factor in explaining the distribution of APL areas along the riverbanks, and may also have increased the risk of natural resource degradation in the vulnerable areas. Some of the degradations frequently occurring here are deforestation, sediment run-off along the river, reduced water debit/droughts, water pollution and flooding. Most of these phenomena will presumably increase as the pressure on the APL areas, in particular along the riverbanks, is increasing as well.

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3.7 Conflicts over natural resource management One of the significant impacts of the Reform Era is that communities are now encouraged to speak up freely and to claim legal recognition of their traditional land rights, which in some areas may involve both customary and communal land ownership. This leads to the identification of several issues that often serve as a trigger in the conflict, such as unclear boundaries and access to fields, indiscriminate forest clearing, timber theft, environmental damage and deviations from officially designated types of land use, which are usually related to the intrusion of external interests. Natural resource management conflicts are thus usually embedded in specific social settings and policy contexts (Yasmi et al. 2006). Recent resource conflicts at the regional level are often closely related to the Reform Era and the subsequent decentralization process (Yasmi et al. 2006, Obidzinski and Barr 2003, Wulan et al. 2004). In their research on conflicts in Indonesia’s forestry sector, Wulan and colleagues (2004) also showed an increased number of conflicts after decentralization. In 2000, the number of conflicts was 11 times higher than in 1997, but this figure dropped in 2001–03. Their research noted that 30 per cent of the conflicts had occurred in East Kalimantan, which had the highest number of conflicts in Indonesia. Based on the empirical evident found in site research11, the social conflicts that occurred in Berau were mostly related to natural resource management issues, and were at various levels of the conflict escalation scale (i.e. from local forms of concern or unrest, to open protests and physical confrontations). The actors involved varied from local communities to the local government, companies and even NGOs. The underlying causes of the conflicts can thus be divided into three categories: environmental degradation directly affecting livelihood conditions, unclear land tenure status, and the threat of loss of income and livelihood sustainability.

3.8 Conclusion The processes of political, economic and demographic development in Berau are usually the outcome of external forces that are beyond the control of the local population or the district government, such as national policy interventions, market demands or population growth. These forces of change, however, have 11 The detailed cases of conflict are presented in chapter 4.


61

created both positive and negative impacts that have changed the conditions of the communities and the district in general. Among the positive impacts are an increase in the district’s economic performances, improved employment opportunities and greater power for the local government to manage its own resources. On the other hand, these processes have put the population under greater pressure, led to more environmental degradation (as indicated by the high rate of deforestation), and increased the economic and social tensions among the various actors in the district. The central government’s interventions since the New Order have been quite strong and dominant. To some extent, the centralized system facilitated the local implementation of development policies and measures. Some examples are the policies allowing the large-scale exploitation of natural resources since the beginning of Suharto’s regime, the allocation of budgets to provinces and districts, and the allocation of investments in large-scale industries across the country. On the other hand, these policies have created a great dependence of the district on the central government. In line with the argumentation developed by Helmsing (2003), the dominance of the central government contributed to the underdevelopment of local conditions as well as to high degrees of local dependence, which blended perfectly with the bureaucracy of the central government. Barber (1997) explained this underdevelopment issue in terms of human capital, which is characterized by imbalanced conditions. Although the quality of human resources at the national level had improved, and was even better than during the previous regime, the quality at the provincial and the district levels was still low. This was worsened by the incomplete and inaccurate feedback of information from the local level, which for specific fields or issues supplied empirical data that was so weak that the central level could not develop effective policies. The centralized system also prevented local actors – such as the local government, the communities and local private enterprises – from developing and improvising their local economic development efforts. The decentralization process in the late 1990s, therefore, seems to have been completely in line with an attempt to apply the principles of local economic development at the district level. The districts now also had greater power to develop their own policies that fitted with their local conditions. Moreover, the process of decentralization not only created more space for local governments to manage their own resources, but also increased the opportunities for increasing their revenues from these resources. At the same time, some doubts have arisen about the effectiveness of decentralization, especially considering the high expectations about the progress of the decentralization process. Some positivists

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might see these problems as a challenge of a new policy implementation. But to others this process may seem overambitious, badly thoughtout and too drastic. The process, moreover, was often also misguided because of a lack of qualified personnel and technical implementation. Similar to the implementation in other districts in Indonesia, Berau has experienced the effects of an overenthusiastic interpretation of the decentralization process. Stories of decentralization in Berau are therefore often more or less echoes from other regions of Indonesia, where decentralization was used by local authorities, private companies and members of the local population to gain more benefit from and control over the various types of local resources. To some degree, local stakeholders and local parties wanted everything to be decentralized to the local and the regional level, especially by giving the local members (putra daerah) more power to control and exploit their natural resource-rich regions. However, what happened in Berau during the last decade of the decentralization process seems to confirm that the local actors are still minor players in local development issues. The major actors still come from outside, and they are either national or multinational companies whose behaviour is mainly defined by national policies and international interests. Moreover, the breeze of centrally controlled power from the national government still prevails, especially with respect to the role of large-scale investments in natural resource use. Our findings on the various types of resource management conflicts in Berau and their main causes, lead us to the crucial issue of what role can be played by local or district governments in preventing or solving these conflicts. In theory, the establishment of regional autonomy or decentralization might have created ideal conditions for the regional authorities to play a mediating role between the interests of the local communities (i.e. the small producers/farmers) and those of corporate companies or the central government with its national development goals and needs. But in reality, the local government often seems just as interested in maximizing revenues from local resource exploitation in order to achieve its ambitious development goals, like building modern infrastructure or developing health services and educational facilities. Under these circumstances, the communities often have to face the full force of externally induced changes in their livelihood conditions and perspectives. In the following chapters, we analyse the main impact at the community level and the various mechanisms they have developed in coping with these impacts.

4. Impacts of Forces of Change On the Transformation of Berau Farming Communities

64


4.1 Introduction As discussed in Chapter 3, the primary aim of Indonesia’s economic development processes is to generate revenues, and the extraction of natural resources plays an important role in this. Berau is one of the most important areas for generating revenues, not only from the exploitation of primary forests by both state and corporate sector companies, but also from the vast concession areas that have been claimed by coal mining companies, and from some largescale estate plantations. Following the launch of Indonesia’s regional autonomy (decentralization) process in 1999, Berau’s district government assumed considerably greater administrative authority over local resources. As under the previous political regime, the local government has used this authority to secure a greater share of the revenues generated from local natural resource extractions such as timber logging, mining, agricultural and marine activities. Together with the strongly growing population over the past 30 years, these developments have resulted in increasing pressure on resources and particularly on land, as well as in increasing transport accessibility and advancing processes of commercialization among the local communities. These processes are considered prominent among other development factors that affect the dynamics in especially natural resource use at the district level. However, the local communities often have to face the full force of these changing conditions and factors, because they usually are beyond their control and have a strong influence on their livelihood conditions and strategies, as well as on their social perspectives. These processes have forced households in Berau communities to become innovative and adapt to the changing economic, social, political and environmental conditions. Thus, the transformations and dynamics of the resource use systems vary in the respective types of communities, each of which has its specific sensitivity and responses to the external forces. This chapter deals with the complex relationship between various types of communities and their transformation resulting from the external forces of change. What should be emphasized here, however, is their role as a framework of analysis for explaining the various livelihood responses/adaptations arising from both internal and external challenges affecting their dominant types of production relations. Specifically, this chapter analyses the main characteristics and dynamics of their resource use systems, which relate directly to their livelihoods. As access to resources allows their utilization, this has been identified as another vital aspect of the systems. Thus, the conditions regulating the communities’ access to these resources is also analysed in this chapter.


65

The analysis also continues to explore the communities’ dynamics in terms of involvement in the market, the level of commercialization/technological innovation, and social differentiation as some aspects of the transformation.

4.2 Community as a unit of analysis As mentioned, special attention is paid to the role of the different types of community in explaining the different resource exploitation systems and dynamics. This is not to deny the role of the farmer’s household in making the final decisions on resource use at the local level, but to acknowledge the vital role of the community as an intermediate level of analysis, where the main relations of production and resource use are defined. These are expressed in a wide range of institutional arrangements that provide access to resources and distribute wealth, status and power in the local community (Rigg 1998, Ellis 2000) As our research focused on natural resource use by local actors – in this case, agrarian communities with their small-scale use of local resource use systems – we were immediately confronted with the problem of defining their social context or types of community. Considering the emphasis on productive systems and responses, and the local social conditions, a definition according to dominant types of production relations seemed the most feasible. This, of course, is not to suggest that the communities are homogeneous research entities, because they may still be internally differentiated and incorporate various types of production relations, but the classification remains valid as long as it is based on their dominant types of relations. Consequently, the various types of communities needed to be redefined on the basis of their main livelihood types and modes of production. A generally accepted classification of agrarian communities given by influential authors like Wolf (1966), Dalton (1971), Nash (1966), Ellis (1988), Barker (1989), Elson (1997) and Panda (1999) distinguishes between tribal, peasant and commercial types of farming communities. Although these types do not necessarily show increasing levels of development, there is a possibility for each community to transform itself into one of the others. In addition to these three main types of farming communities, here special attention is paid to a specific type of community, namely pioneer farming communities. This type does not completely fit into the previous classification as it usually consists of settlers from different areas of origin living under unstable conditions in a frontier area where nature is converted into cultivated land. Another important

66


type of farming community in Berau is coastal communities, which mostly settled along the coastal area. This latter type of agrarian community also plays an important role in the development of Berau. Farming, fishing and other extractive activities were chosen as the main characteristics of these communities, because they are the most important livelihood systems in Berau, in terms of both production figures and land use areas. The research was carried out in 11 villages distributed throughout the district (see figure 4-1). The research was done in August–October 2007. The initial information on these villages was collected by using secondary sources of literature and discussions with some local government officers and NGOs in Berau. Three Dayak villages in upper Segah River in the western part of Berau were chosen as representing the tribal farming communities; two villages in the middle part of Berau were chosen as representing the peasant farming communities. Pioneer or migrant farming communities were chosen in the southern part of Berau, close to the Kelay River, which consist of a government sponsored transmigration village and a spontaneous migration village of Dayak Kenyah people. Finally, four villages located in the eastern part of Berau were chosen to represent the coastal communities. The main methods were based on qualitative and quantitative data collection using structured and open interviews with key informants and organized focus group discussions, in addition to the collection of secondary data at the local level. These sources were used in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the processes that take place in the research area, and to offer a proper context of the empirical data.

4.3 Tribal Farming Communities Referring to the term defined by Panda (1999), a tribal community is defined in a more neutral sense as a social community that lives together in households on the basis of extended families or clans. A tribal community usually believes that it is descended from a common ancestor and thus forms an entity of both fictitiously and congenially related groups under a leader or a chief. Most of these communities apply non-permanent types of agriculture for their livelihoods, such as swidden cultivation, and this is not only a means of livelihood but also includes some basic sociocultural and religious aspects dominating their life (Panda 1999). They may also practise forest product gathering and hunting, while in other places they may prefer to become pastoralists due to limited opportunities to cultivate land (McDonagh 1983).

Figure 4-1. Research sites

Tribal communities

Pioneer communities

Peasant communities

Coastal communities


67

68


Moreover, production is always for subsistence purposes and hardly ever for exchange (Bates 1984). A tribal community is also characterized by communal ownership of its vital resources (Bates 1984). It is hard to find private property, in particular private land, within their social system. Most of the land belongs to the communities and access can be acquired only through tribal affiliation or kinship. Similar to access to land, labour resources for cultivating the land are acquired through marriage and kinship, or through reciprocal support relations (Dalton 1971). Most of the Dayak communities in Berau can be considered tribal farming communities since their natural resource use pattern, property rights to lands, and social-organizational and cultural aspects characterize them as such. However, a few have already transformed into more peasant types of farming communities. Three villages in the upper part of Segah River were chosen to represent the tribal farming communities, namely Long Laai, Long Ayap and Long Oking (Punan Segah). Long Laai is dominated by Dayak Gaai people, while Long Oking (Punan Segah) and Long Ayap are dominated by Punan people. The population figures are given in table 4-1. Table 4-1. Area and population of research villages in the tribal farming communities, 2007 Village

Area (km2)

Male Female Total

Households


Long Laai

727.43

342

299

641

152

0.88

Long Oking

460.84

77

39

116

20

0.25

Long Ayap

511.48

70

52

122

27

0.24

Source: BPS Berau 2007b

The Punan in Segah originate from Kemul Mountain in the northern part of East Kalimantan. They have been present in this area for hundreds of years, but their semi-nomadic way of life means that they have settled only sporadically. The Punan lived in Long Ayap until 1960. They moved to Long Keluh and Long Ayu in 1965 and 1966, respectively, and returned to their present location in 1967. Other Punan in Long Oking lived in Long Lamas in the 1940s, which is believed to be the origin of other Punan villages in this area. They then moved to Long Nung, and then to Long Oking in the 1960s. Their current village area is a formerly used location of PT Sumalindo Jaya, a timber company. The company used this location as a basecamp for its operational works. When it was abandoned, the Long Oking people moved in and occupied the dwellings.


69

The Dayak Gaai constitutes an ethnic majority in the upper Segah River area. Their presence in this area is assumed to have started in the eighteenth century (Lopulalan and Muhataman 2003). Two villages – Long Laai and Long Ayan – are the main locations of the Dayak Gaai people in the upper Segah area. Like the Punan, they are assumed to have originated from Kemul Mountain. Their dynamic migrations have also brought them to Long Bagun, Betal, Muara Segah and their current locations.12They could stay in each settlement for 30–50 years before the land resources had been depleted and they had to move on. Compared with other Dayak villages in the upper Segah River, Long Laai is more accessible. The logging road that was built in 2006 gave better access to the outside world. Moreover, a few people in the village now own pick-up trucks, which facilitate the transport of goods to and from the urban areas. For the villagers of Long Oking and Long Ayap, however, the river mode of transport is still essential for getting to the nearest town, or to reach the logging access road in Long Laai.

4.3.1 Dynamics in resource use systems The tribal communities in this area are highly dependent on natural resources, as evidenced by the fact that almost all of their livelihoods are based on extractive types of nature based systems, such as upland agriculture through shifting cultivation, hunting and forest products gathering. More recently, however, gold mining and perennial crops cultivation have become increasingly important means of livelihood. Shifting cultivation This non-permanent type of agricultural system is still applied in most Dayak communities, including the three research villages. The Dayak Gaai people are well known as agriculturists, and they applied the slash and burn system long before they moved to this area. The Gaai people have reportedly prompted the Punan people to apply shifting cultivation, in addition to hunting and forest products gathering as their main types of livelihood. The Punan started to practise shifting cultivation in the early 1980s13 and although not as skilled as their neighbours, they have continued to do so. The progressive decline of 12 More detailed migration histories of Dayak people in East Kalimantan can be found in Sellato 2002 and Okhusima 2006. 13 However, an interviewee in Long Oking also mentioned that some Punan have learned this system from Gaai people since the Japanese colonial period in the 1940s, but without proper maintenance of the field.

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certain forest products, such as sago and gaharu,14 has probably enhanced their transition to agricultural activities. A reciprocal labour system is still applied in this particular resource use system. The farmers usually constitute a working group of 5 to 10 households. The group is normally established on the basis of the location of their paddy fields. They work as a team and in a reciprocal system, called senguyun or gotong royong. Trees are cut in July, the debris is burnt in August, planting is carried out in September or October, and the crop is harvested in February or March. The cultivation period for each household on a recently cleared plot lasts no longer than one year, with a rotation period of 5–7 years, which means that they will return to the previously opened land after 5–7 years of cultivating other plots. The relative abundance of forests and lands surrounding the villages make this type of land use feasible, although the rotation period is certainly not long enough to maintain soil fertility in the long run. The rice harvests they produce are usually for subsistence purposes only; any surpluses are kept within the community. It is a major characteristic of the tribal farming communities that surpluses are not sold on the market but are reserved for relatives, ceremonies or next year’s crop. However, in more recent times, problems related to yield decline have been reported by various key informants. While under shifting cultivation, 1,000 kaleng15 of rice could be produced on 2 ha of land, they are now able to harvest only half that amount, at best. A similar result was already noted by TNC (2003), on the basis of the communities’ perception, when they compared the yields in 2003 with those in 1993. Deforestation in surrounding areas and damage by wild animals invading their cultivation area is considered some of the main causes. To some extent, the practice of shifting cultivation has been declining, as was observed during the household interviews: only 50 per cent of the respondents practised shifting cultivation in 2008. The rise of gold mining activities during the last decade is considered one of the main reasons for this decline. As an instant cash income, this activity has encouraged the local people to spend more time on it. Moreover, the activity that was previously performed between the cultivation seasons has now become a major source of income for several households. Instead, they prefer to buy their rice from the city or from the kiosk in their village. 14 Gaharu or agarwood is the resinous heartwood from aquilaria trees, large evergreens that are native to Southeast Asia. The trees occasionally become infected with mould and begin to produce an aromatic resin in response to this attack. As the infection grows, it results in a very rich, dark resin within the heartwood (Wikipedia 2008). 15

1 kaleng = 7 kg of rice.


71

Another reason found during the household interviews is that the cost of inputs for cultivating the field is sometimes too high. Although this system relies on communal-based activities, the land owner has to provide the money to buy food and fuel. With at least three rounds of senguyun activities on their land, it is not surprising that many farmers are becoming more reluctant to apply shifting cultivation. Moreover, even in a customary law (adat) perspective, practising shifting cultivation is no longer mandatory for them, since more permanent types of land use have emerged and cultivation rights may also be relinquished to others. A particular reason may also be related to the change in weather in recent years. The irregular rainy and dry seasons have a negative impact on the cultivation calendar. An early (and irregular) rainy season, for example, tends to disturb the planting time, because the farmers have to wait until the wood debris has dried and burns easily. Harvesting is then delayed as well, and as a result some fields cannot be harvested at the same time. This has reportedly caused some failed harvests due to the pest attacks the follow from these irregular harvesting activities. Therefore, instead of running that risk, the farmers with alternative sources of income prefer not to cultivate their land at all. Mixed forest gardens and perennial crops Perennial crops in mixed forest gardens are still relatively insignificant in the upper Segah River area, in terms of both area and yields. Dayak farmers traditionally plant some trees, mostly fruit trees, as a symbol of land ownership, rather than to develop a perennial garden or generate income. In recent years, however, some farmers have made more serious efforts to develop perennial crop plots after seeing their successfulness in other villages. In 2003–04, an extension programme run by World Education (an NGO based in Tanjung Redep) stimulated them to plant more perennial crops on their lands. The perennial garden is usually located not too far from their settlements, as this makes supervision and maintenance easier. Cocoa is the most common crop they have planted until now. Some farmers combine cocoa with other crops, like lemon and rubber. In the initial phase, they often combine these tree crops with some food crops, such as green beans and cassava. This system, however, does not seem to develop well. Most of the farmers planted the cocoa rather carelessly because the seed they received was free. Yet they seem reluctant to develop new cocoa plantations due to the increasing investments they have to make in both planting and maintenance.

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The most important factor preventing the expansion of cocoa cultivation is probably the increase in gold mining activities, which take up most of their time. Thus, most of the cocoa plantations are now abandoned or lack maintenance. Another problem is related to frequent attacks by pests and diseases on the cocoa plants. Since the NGO has terminated its programme in these communities, the farmers lack information about this problem. Moreover, no government extension officers have been sent to these isolated communities. All these problems have led to reluctance to establish larger plantations of cocoa or other perennial crops. Forest products gathering Forest products gathering is probably the oldest and most enduring type of resource use system in these Dayak communities. The Punan are known for their skill in this kind of activity, as are the Dayak Gaai. Gathering implies collecting all kinds of forest products, such as bird nests, gaharu, rattan, forest fruits, sago, honey and resin. The products collected have long been used for trading, and it was this activity that connected the communities with the outside world. They used to barter these products for other commodities, such as salt, tobacco, clothes and metal (for making knifes). Trade in these commodities was usually handled by Malay or Chinese traders in urban centres. Now, the collectors just need to sell their products to the middleman who has settled in their village or to traders who regularly visit their villages. Trading in forest products, however, is declining due to the depletion of natural stocks (deforestation). Consequently, more modern types of extraction, like logging and gold mining, are performed. The communities are also highly dependent on the forest for their sawn timber. Every year, some of the community households have to renovate their house, which explains the high internal demand for timber. Moreover, the Dayak use timber to build not only their houses, but also their communal infrastructure, such as churches, schools and bridges. This internal demand for timber can often only be met by using or renting labour from outside the household, which creates local employment opportunities. Most communities have now introduced the chainsaw and consider logging activities to meet local needs and orders for house building a new source of income. Yet, they maintain that they accept orders only from their own communities, and not from outsiders. For one cubic metre of timber, they charge around IDR 800,000/US$ 8916 for meranti and IDR 1,200,000/US$ 16

1 US$ = IDR 9,000.


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133 for ulin, which includes the fuel costs and other processing expenditures. They usually work in teams of up to three people. They mostly saw the timber in the forest and take the finished timber out to the village. Meranti (Shorea sp.) and ulin (Eusideroxylon zwageri) are among the most popular timber species for construction purposes because of their strength and durability. Ulin timber has now become hard to find, so members of the communities have to move further into the forest. The logging company that works around their villages is assumed to be the main cause of the decline in valuable timber species. Hunting Forest products gathering is usually combined with hunting and fishing. The later activities, however, are mainly carried out to supply their own diet with protein. The animal most commonly hunted as a source of livelihood for Dayak communities is the wild boar. On average, a household hunts down 3–10 wild boars a month. River fish is another source of food that can still be easily caught, even though some yields are declining. The activities in the upper stream areas, both by the logging company and the gold mining by the communities, are assumed by the communities to be major contributors to the degradation of the river water quality and the consequent decline of the fish stocks. Gold mining Gold mining is now the main activity to generate cash income in this type of community. The Punan and the Gaai have their own mining areas, usually in the upstream part of the main rivers or side rivers that are close to their village. In the upper Segah River area, gold mining was started a long time ago as an activity carried out between the upland cultivation seasons and was used as additional income only. As mentioned, some households have now made this a major source of income, even to the extent that they have started to neglect shifting cultivation activities – a development that may have been stimulated by the recent rise of gold prices in the world market. The Dayak still use traditional methods of gold digging. For this, they use a cone-shaped wooden tool (a dulang) and an iron bar or other digging tools. They use a dulang to filter and wash the gold from sand, mud and other soil materials. Most of the gold digging spots were located on the riverbanks. However, they have recently started using more modern equipment, including motorized pumps and a centrifuge machine like the alkonor the dongfeng. The pumps are used to remove the soil with high pressure water, as well as to draw

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the water from the hole they have created as a digging spot. These digging spots are mainly found in the riverbank areas. The modern equipment was introduced by external miners in 2000. At the time, gold mining was still open to the public, as the local communities had not yet claimed exclusive rights to this resource. Since then, however, the number of external miners has grown rapidly and the local communities have increasing difficulties to collect the gold in competition with the outsiders and their more modern tools. In 2007, the Dayak communities in this area decided to ban outsiders from their hinterland areas and exclusively claimed the gold mining fields for themselves. Gold mining is now mostly done by teams of 2–10 people and is usually organized by the machine’s owner. The working period varies from 2 to 4 weeks. For those who use the alkon machine, the group divides its yield equally among the group members after deducting the operational costs, such as food and fuel (machine and transport). However, the owner is counted as two persons. The dongfeng machine users, however, apply a different mode of cost and yield division. The yield is usually divided into two. Half is for the machine owner, who also pays for the fuel and maintenance. The other half is divided equally among the members, including the machine owner, after deducting their food and fuel costs. Gold mining is now mainly carried on by young males, although a few females and members of the older generation may also be involved. In some communities, including the Punan, the men take their families to the mining location. In addition to mining, working for a timber company or migrating to urban centres is another possibility for those who have the necessary skills. Yet, most of them are unskilled workers and consequently cannot find non-farm jobs. Moreover, most Dayak seem to have an aversion to performing wage work for longer periods, as they are not accustomed to the work discipline and it often interferes with their local social obligations. Consequently, some of them brought their families or relatives back from urban areas to the village to help them with their gold mining activities. As the economic crisis in 2008 has also affected many companies in Berau, including some locally based timber companies, they were often unable to continue their contracts with local workers, who then had to return to their villages. Thus, gold mining became the only way for these ex-workers to survive.


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4.3.2 Land tenure ‘Everyone here must own land’. These words from a respondent in Long Laai demonstrate the feelings of status and security associated with this resource in a tribal farming community. They have been living from this land and in this area since their ancestors settled there long before the state came into existence and applied a new formalization of land ownership. For them, the land is not only a matter of a combination of production factors for producing crops, but also a space for their livelihoods and pride, and for their beliefs and respect to their ancestors. Therefore, there is still a sense of communal ownership in addition to the now prevailing individual ownership system, as is clearly demonstrated by the fact that no individual land transfers are allowed to outsiders. For Dayak communities in the upper Segah River (and most Dayak elsewhere), the acquisition of land implies that they just need to open the forest, clear the land, cultivate it with rice or other food crops, and plant one or more trees to mark their ownership. Later, the community will recognize the ownership claim, even without a certified document or official letter. The household surveys conducted in these communities revealed that none of the lands cultivated have any legal claim. We therefore asked the respondent how secure their land ownership was. We used the status of officially certified and legalized land as the baseline (i.e. 100 per cent secure ownership). The result was quite high: on average, the respondents in the tribal communities mentioned 94 per cent as the security level of their land ownership. The tenure of land is therefore clear in our research communities. Land ownership is acknowledged through informal recognition by villagers, and is passed on mouth-to-mouth to each succeeding generation. The land can also be acquired from other members, as it can be inherited and later divided among offspring. Farmers seeking land may also rent it from others provided it is used only for food crop cultivation. Another important limitation on land ownership in upper Segah is that the ownership rights cannot be transferred to people living outside the community. Migrants who remain in the communities may acquire the same rights as the local community members. The migrants may take possession of the land as long as they are fulfilling a role in the community and have opened new areas, or have been granted land by someone in the community. They may also rent land from others and manage the land for food crops only. In our research area, however, both the flow and the number of migrants were small. They usually settle in the villages because they have married into the community,

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or to take up work as pastors/parsonsor government officials, such as teachers and health workers. Thus, there remain only a few vital aspects of the former communal tenure system that is typical of tribal societies, such as the prohibition on selling land to outsiders and the identification of sacred areas, such as graveyards, which are usually referred to as customary land (tanah adat). This is due to the advance of commercialization, which started with the New Order era at the end of 1960s, when the exploitation of forest areas was started as a way to increase the state’s income through logging activities. This had some farreaching implications for the local farmers’ access to their lands, since most had been classified as a state forest area. No recognition was foreseen of the land rights of indigenous people in these state forest areas. According to the Basic Forestry Law, no activities are allowed in a state forest area except forest-related activities, such as logging or the gathering of non-timber products. Thus, when local farmers opened their upland fields and cultivated it for food production from year to year, they violated the regulation. The local community also had no opportunity to manage the forest, as it was exclusively allocated for exploitation by big, private companies. Consequently; forestlands became a scarce resource for agricultural production, which increased farmland values and individual claims on land property. Nevertheless, the communities in the upper Segah area continue to cultivate their lands, and some farmers have opened new areas along the rivers. The riverbank has long been the most suitable place for agricultural activities because of its accessibility and for efficiency reasons, in particular with respect to land preparation and harvesting activities. The companies that managed the forest concession areas, moreover, have not dared to evict or chase the indigenous farmers from their settlements.

4.3.3 Access to market The communities are isolated from urban centres and consequently from markets. Access to the outside world used to depend on the river transport system, and it would take 3–4 hours to reach the nearest sub district town, Tepian Buah, and 8–9 hours to get to the capital, Tanjung Redep. Although the logging tracks now provide more access to the urban markets, their condition is far from good, particularly during the rainy season, which makes the tracks less passable than the river. A few people in Long Laai now own pick-up trucks and these have become the nearby communities’ mode of transport when they want to go to the city to trade or to buy fuel, building materials, etc.


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The improved accessibility has increased their opportunities to sell their agricultural surpluses. However, they still trade only in certain forest products and gold, which they were exchanging long before the logging tracks were constructed. Recently introduced perennial crops such as cocoa or lemon are hardly included in the trading transactions, since their yields are still unsatisfactory and these crops are often neglected. The main reason for this is that many of these tribal farmers are still dependent on their income from the much more lucrative gold mining activities, while agricultural activities are focused on rice farming for subsistence purposes only. On the other hand, improved accessibility has introduced new threats to these communities’ livelihoods. One example is the growing number of external forest product gatherers, which may create local resource shortages and harm the environment. It may also create conflicts, as happened in the gold mining activities. Some communities are also becoming more worried that the improvement of access to their village will allow more negative influences to enter the village from the outside world, such as the risk of robbery and of drug abuse among the youths.

4.3.4 Technological innovation and commercialization Both newcomers and local farmers were exposed to the introduction of new and often inappropriate technologies, like the use of chainsaws for cutting trees in shifting cultivation and logging practices. Yet, they still prefer the traditional tools for hoeing, and they use hardly any modern inputs or high yielding varieties, since they cannot afford them. This is also one of the reasons why they prefer to select a forested area for cultivation instead of grassland areas, since they know that the soil of a recently forested area is more fertile. As yields (particularly of rice) are mostly used for selfconsumption, issues of productivity and profit tend to be less important to farmers, and consequently their propensity to innovate is also less. For perennial crops, such as cocoa, the use of inputs was already low. High seedling prices, low market access and reluctance to make long-term investments are some of the major problems here. Thus, when pests and diseases attack their plantations, the gardens are usually abandoned. On the other hand, the use of new technology is strongly pursued in gold mining. Innovations in gold mining have advanced over the last 5 years, and it became clear that modern tools could increase the yields considerably. Thus, the use of machinery became a general phenomenon in addition to the traditional washing techniques. The need to maximize their monetary incomes

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to buy modern tools, engines, fuel and consumer goods has also grown, and some tribal farmers have recently even started to shift their livelihoods from agriculturists to gold diggers. Gold mining is consequently becoming more capital intensive, while at the same time undergoing increasing economies of scale and burdening the environment by increasing erosion and reducing the river water quality.

4.3.5 Social differentiation These tribal farming communities have also experienced some profound social transformations, and these affect their access to livelihood assets. The relatively egalitarian social structure that until recently characterized their small, isolated communities, is gradually being transformed into a more differentiated one under the influence of the processes and factors discussed above. As it was beyond the purpose of this research to analyse the intricate relationship between each of these factors/processes and the changing social conditions in the communities, we limit ourselves here to three concrete aspects. The first is the declining role of customary law (adat) in the public sphere, although each village still has an adat leader. Elements of adat are still common in marriage, funeral ceremonies, inheritance and some cultivation processes. Adat is also traditionally used to establish the location for cultivation practices (i.e. the ladang) and to arrange the joint activities before the planting season starts. A task group is composed by the owner of the planned cultivation plots (ladang). This group works together on the basis of reciprocity, from the clearing of the forest and the preparation of the fields up to harvesting. The exception is the adat leader, who usually only initiates the planting activities. Since most community members have now been Christianized, the role of adat has to some extent been displaced by religion, such as worshiping in the Christian way before the planting season starts. However, together with religion, adat may still play an important role as a force in implementing social cohesion in the communities, such as ceremonies and festivities, as well as in solving social conflicts, land issues and family matters. A second example of social change concerns the increase in social differentiation due to the unequal spread of education, commercialization and technological innovation. Although education rarely surpasses the level of elementary school, the ability to read and write, or to speak modern Indonesian, offers huge advantages in communication with the outside world, for example when dealing with traders and administrators, or handling modern machinery and


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communication media. Only those who have these abilities can be found in local administrative functions, or in positions as middlemen or the owners of production means (machines, cars, etc.).17 Their emergence as a potential local middle class is supported by the advancing process of commercialization of the village economy, due to the increasing need to find cash incomes to pay for modern tools, fuel, school fees, health care and consumer goods (textiles, batteries, TVs, radios). Moreover, when selling local products (timber, gold) or buying imported goods, the local people are often helped by the middlemen, who are often willing to pay money in advance or deliver on credit. In this way, however, the local people also tend to be bound and exploited by permanent indebtedness. The result might very well be an increase in social inequality in the near future. Finally, social change and differentiation are also being enhanced in these tribal communities by the spectacular rise of modern communication and mass media. Satellite telephone (at the village office), cell phones (outside the region) and parabolic TV antennas (powered by solar energy or batteries) have made the outside world accessible to people (like the Punan) who less than a generation ago were still roaming the rainforests. Especially the level of aspiration and lifestyle of the younger and better educated generations has been affected by these innovations, even to the extent that they become alienated from their traditional community life and its activities. Symptoms of these social processes of change are manifest by the increasing number of young people who are not interested in performing shifting cultivation practices, but prefer to switch to quick-yielding, money-earning activities like gold digging, logging or transport services. In a more general sense, the revolutionary change in external communications may also have affected family relations and consumer preferences, which not only show signs of external modernization of mode of behaviour, fashion wear, etc., but also a tendency towards individualization. Despite these incipient changes towards social differentiation and growing differences in income earning capacities, it should be noted that there are still few signs of large differences in wealth accumulation or exclusion from access to vital resources (land, forests and mining sites). The tribal farming communities still have sufficient social cohesion and resilience to external changes to prevent the development of large social inequalities. Both adat and kinship still play an essential role in guaranteeing community members access to vital resources, as long as they are willing to develop these resources themselves and/or with the 17 One of the big middlemen in Long Laai has recently been appointed as the new village head.

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help of relatives. Even for newcomers there are still opportunities to gain access to local resources if they have acquired community membership through real or fictitious kinship relations, that is, mainly through marriage or important public functions (teacher, parson).

4.3.6 Conflict over resources Especially in the beginning, companies often penetrated and exploited areas that were important for the local communities as forest reserves, agricultural resource areas, sacred areas, graveyards, etc. A recent example of this is the PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya IV, which moved into the upper Segah River basin and not only violated the tribal community’s belief system but also threatened their livelihoods. Some upland areas used either for shifting cultivation activities or newly planted cash crops were destroyed along with the primeval forest. The company was also blamed for applying poor forestry practices by neglecting obligations for reforestation and blocking the river with logs instead of developing a new bridge for road access. The latter action also neglected the fact that the river is a vital element of the community’s daily life. This rude intrusion soon triggered complaints from the local communities, which were also encouraged by the post-1998 spirit of reform. As a result, in 2001, the communities started to organize their opposition to the operations of the logging company in their area. The rally and subsequent protest actions were followed by a restriction for the company to access the related forest concession areas, and resulted in the operational stagnancy of the company until 2004. With the facilitation and help from a large NGO, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the communities and the logging company came to a mutual understanding on the basis of community-based forest management principles, including the redefinition of the company’s concession areas and the communities’ lands. Through this agreement, the company is not allowed to operate along the riverbanks: , a 1 km zone on both banks is reserved for community purposes, including sacral and agricultural purposes. The agreement also mentions several forms of support for the communities in terms of scholarships for the children, opportunities for local labourers to work for the company, the payment of compensation (IDR 2,500–3000/year) and a fee (IDR 20,000/year) for each m3 of timber harvested from the concession areas, the funding of generators


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and fuel (800 litres/month) and other incidental support, such as materials for building houses. Moreover, a joint management body (Badan Pengelola; BP) was established, consisting of representatives from the five villages and other stakeholders, such as the district government, PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya IV, the village customary law (Adat) body, TNC and the village administrations. BP is positioned as a mediator between the communities and the company, and is involved in designing a sustainable forest management plan. BP is also entitled to supervise the forestry practices of PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya IV. This agreement also deals with another point raised by the community: their objection to the development of estate crops in their habitat areas.

4.4 Peasant Farming Communities Another major type of agrarian community is the peasant community, which is sometimes presented as a transitional form between the tribal community and the industrial–capitalist type (Wolf 1966) and is therefore often ranked higher than the tribal community (Elson 1997). However, peasant types of community cannot merely be seen as an extension phase or a transformation of the tribal type, because in many cases it was the result of interventions by powerful world forces such as in colonialism. Peasant communities can sometimes also arise through the combined impacts of migration and modernization, whereby the migrants have to adapt to the changes in both economic conditions and the surrounding environment (Ellis 1988). By definition, and following Ellis (1988), peasant communities are considered to represent forms of social and production organization, ranging from relatively dispersed, isolated and self-sufficient communities, to fully integrated market economies. They are considered as consisting of farm households with an individualized access to their means of livelihood from land, utilizing mainly family labour in farm production (instead of reciprocal labour) and always embedded in a larger socioeconomic system. They are also characterized by partial engagement in markets that tend to function with a high degree of imperfection. Despite these changing social and production relations, however, these farmers are considered and categorized as peasants because of their small farms, which primarily produce for subsistence purposes, while their basic livelihood characteristics are very different from those in commercial farming communities. We chose two villages in the middle of Berau – Tumbit Dayak and Tumbit Melayu – to represent the peasant farming communities (table 4-2). Tumbit

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Dayak is located in Sambaliung subdistrict; the residents are mainly Dayak Gaai people and some migrants of Javanese or Timorese origin. Tumbit Melayu is located in Gunung Tabur subdistrict; its residents are Berau/Benoa (Malay) people and migrants of Buginese, Javanese and Sasak (Lombok) origin. Table 4-2. Area and population of research villages in the peasant farming communities, 2007 Village

Area (km2)

Male

Female

Total

Households


Tumbit Dayak

81.19

642

565

1,207

260

14.87

Tumbit Melayu

93.98

922

707

1,629

469

17.33

Source: BPS Berau 2007c

The establishment of these communities started at the beginning of the twentieth century when Dayak Gaai people from Long Bangun migrated to the upper Segah River and the Kelay River. The latter community settled in Emleang, which is now known as Merasak, and is a part of Tumbit Melayu. A fire then drove them to migrate to Lapit Humbak, the current location of Tumbit Melayu. In the 1910s, some Berau people (the ancestors of the current inhabitants of Tumbit Melayu) migrated to Lapit Humbak and settled there with the Dayak people who were already present. In the 1930s, another wave of migration of Benoa/Malay people to this location drove the Dayak people to move to nearby Long Gemil, which is their current settlement. Soon after, the two settlements were divided into two villages, Tumbit Dayak and Tumbit Melayu. The Dayak people were first influenced by Islam as a result of the immigration of Malay people, and later in 1972 by the Berau Religious Office. Since then, both communities have been dominated by Moslem culture and religion. In Tumbit Dayak, however, there is still an important Catholic minority with its own church. Both religious communities maintain tribal relationships through communal (adat) ceremonies and festivities. In the 1970s, some other migrants of Buginese and Berau origin migrated spontaneously to Tumbit Melayu. Most of them were former employees of timber companies who bought land from the local communities and cultivated it. At the end of 1980s, some migrants from Lombok, who were living in other transmigration project areas, were migrated to these villages. At the time, both villages wanted to increase their populations and so encouraged newcomers to settle in them. The availability of better alluvial soil conditions, open lands and nearby markets were some of the main pull factors for these newcomers.


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Finally, another large migrant movement occurred in 1994–96, through the planned transmigration programme of the central government. These new migrants were divided over the two villages, but the target number was not achieved since a considerable number of them returned to their places of origin. Some, however, were substituted by other migrants, mainly of Javanese origin, who had previously lived in failed transmigration settlements, either in Berau or in other areas in Kalimantan. Quite remarkably, this migration was based upon a request from both villages. Both wanted to increase their populations, raise production levels and improve access to their village. At the time, their main access was via the Kelay River; now, they are accessible by a paved road and can be reached from Tanjung Redep in 90 minutes by car. For bulky transport, however, the river transport mode is still widely used by both the Dayak and the Malay people.

4.4.1 Dynamics in resource use systems One of the important aspects that classify these communities as peasant types is their involvement in the exchange of agricultural products in a larger market system. Both communities regularly trade their agricultural surplus production at the market in Tanjung Redep. In general, permanent types of dry or upland farming systems are still the dominant types of resource use. In some favoured areas, rice cultivation is applied as a single cropping system, since the riverbank location enables this mainly rain-fed system, in addition to a few cases of shifting cultivation (i.e. land rotation). Here, rice cultivation is usually followed by the cultivation of secondary food crops (palawija) like maize, cassava, soy or ground nuts. The peasant farmers also cultivate other agricultural commodities, mostly perennial crops for trading, such as cocoa, banana, lemon and other fruit crops. Cocoa and banana plantations, which were started in the 1980s, have made this area well known as the main producer of these commodities, not only for the nearby urban market but also for the surrounding districts. Rice and upland cultivations Both the Dayak and the Berau people applied shifting cultivation long before they moved to this area. Moreover, their move was presumably also triggered by the need to find more land for food cropping in order to secure a living. Like in the upper Segah River, they opened their ladang fields close to the river, which facilitates access and the transport of the yields. This shifting cultivation was fully dedicated to the self-sufficient production of food crops (mainly upland rice), but due to the larger availability of land the farmers were able to apply a rotation cycle of up to eight years.

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However, the abundant supply of land is now history. Most shifting cultivators have sold their lands to new migrants, as they found it was the easiest way to generate extra income. Land shortages have consequently been increasing and the rotation of shifting cultivation has been reduced. It has also forced the remaining farmers to switch from their shifting cultivation practices to more permanent and intensive types of agriculture, using techniques like crop diversification, hoeing and weeding. The changing of the shifting cultivation system into more permanent types of agriculture was not only a result of increasing land scarcity but was also influenced by the arrival of new migrants, in particular the Javanese. The government gave these transmigrants 2 ha of land, which were initially mostly cultivated for paddy. They intensively cultivated the land and used it permanently, by rotating with secondary crops (ground nut, soy, maize, etc.) in the following season. Most of the rice yields are required for subsistence purposes, but surpluses are sold. The income is used not only for a living but also for investing in land preparation for the next cultivation season. After harvesting the rice field, they rotate with other cash crop commodities such as maize, soy or peanut for three months, as was commonly practised in Java. Much of this success of implementing permanent cultivation techniques was supported by the favourable soil conditions and the regular flooding of these riverbank areas. Their success with permanent cultivation has encouraged Dayak and Berau farmers to follow their example. This makes Tumbit Dayak and Tumbit Melayu one of most important agricultural supply areas for Berau. Most of the commodities that are distributed in the urban market originate from these two villages. Perennial crops Tumbit Melayu and Tumbit Dayak are well known as producers of certain perennial cash crops, such as cocoa and banana for the markets in Berau and East Kalimantan. Cocoa was introduced in the 1980s by some Buginese farmers and traders from Sebatik in the north-eastern part of East Kalimantan. Since then, cocoa has become a major commodity of most for Buginese farmers, and this has attracted many new migrants. The success of smallholder cocoa plantations encouraged other migrants, such as Javanese farmers and migrants from Lombok, to apply this system. Some Javanese farmers have converted their food crop land into perennial gardens,


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and planted cocoa, lemon or banana trees. This also encouraged them to buy land from local Dayak or Berau farmers, who as original food crop farmers were not initially interested in planting cocoa or other perennial crops. They ignored support from the local government in the form of cocoa seeds. However, after the great success of cocoa production by the migrants, farmers from the local communities started to copy the system. On some plots, they also mixed cocoa with other crops, in order to generate more income and spread the risks. However, monoculture cocoa plantations are still dominant. Among the Berau and Dayak communities, there are still some mixed gardens that were inherited from their ancestors. These gardens are composed of a variety of fruit trees, such as duku, durian and coffee, which also yield surpluses for the nearby market in Tanjung Redep.

4.4.2 Land tenure Before the migrants settled in this area, the property rights on land were more or less similar to those described for the tribal farming communities. Because abundant land was available, no strict rules were applied in land arrangements. Everyone was able to have land, as long as they were able to open the forests for cultivation or simply claim ownership after having performed a symbolic action. As a result, the locals could claim all the surrounding land as their property. Since there were no certificates, informal recognition through adat rules was applied, which remained effective for many years. The land rights were also transferable and inheritable within the community. Based on kinship relations, land could also be borrowed for food crops or rice cultivation, as long as the owner did not need the land for his own purposes. Remnants of this tenure system still exist, especially among the Dayak. Later, both migration and commercialization increased the value of land. Buginese migrants who bought the land for agriculture, continued to buy more land when their cocoa plantations became successful. The locally established communities first found the selling of surplus land an easy and instant way to generate money, since the demand for it was increasing. But when their reserves dwindled they started to value their land more and to buy it back. Even though most of the lands had no legal certification but only a management permit (surat garap) issued by the village head, this did not hamper the trading in land in this area. This also applied to the selling and buying of lands that administratively were located outside their owner’s village. Moreover, road improvements, which started at the end of the 1980s, caused a shift of land acquisition previously concentrated along the riverbanks to locations along the new road.

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The transmigrants, however, had already acquired legal ownership of their lands, since the transmigration programme allocates a certified 2 ha area to each household. Their desire to increase their yields and income was translated into acquiring more land. Buying the land from the local communities, even if entitled only by surat garap, was good enough for the migrants. This led to a mixed ownership system in this group. However, the local communities kept some of their remaining lands for themselves, since they needed them to expand their livelihoods. The increasing scarcity of land reduced the possibility to continue the shifting cultivation system and therefore pushed the locally established farmers to switch to more permanent types of agriculture.

4.4.3 Access to market The good road connection with the district’s capital, Tanjung Redep, has opened access to regional, national and even international markets. Most of these relations are maintained by middlemen (tengkulak), who come every day to buy the farmers’ vegetables, maize, peanuts, onions, onion leaf, long green beans, young bamboo, etc. There are also some traders who only come at certain harvesting times for such commodities as rice, soybean, cocoa, lemon and other perennial crops. The lack of information about commodity prices is an important problem for most farmers, as it has a direct impact on their income and crop selection. In trading, prices usually are decided by the middlemen, and the farmer is hardly able to influence this price. This is mostly caused by improper information about the market prices and the farmer’s dependence on the middlemen’s services. The middlemen also often give some advance credits to the farmers, which makes the farmers more dependent on them and leaves them no choice but to sell their product to the same middlemen. Although the farmers are allowed to sell directly at the market in Tanjung Redep, they must have access to the clients or traders there. In reality, it seems that all the traders at the urban market maintain a complicated access system, and often make the price not so much different from that of the tengkulak. Thus, instead of selling directly at Tanjung Redep, which would also involve paying the transport cost, the farmers prefer to sell to the tengkulak at the lower farm gate price. A comparison between the farm gate prices and market prices for some important commodities in Tanjung Redep is presented in table 4-3.


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Table 4-3. Farm gate and market prices, 2009 Commodity Rice

Farm gate price (in IDR)

Market price (in IDR)

5000/kg

7000/kg

500/piece

1000/piece

Yard-long beans

1000/kg

8000/kg

Soybeans

6000/kg

10,000/kg

Haricot beans

3000/kg

7000/kg

Eggplant

1000/kg

5000/kg

Tomatoes

4000/kg

10,000/kg

Spinach

1000/bunch

2000/bunch

Water spinach

500/bunch

1000/bunch

Chillies

10,000/kg

30,000/kg

4000/kg

8000/kg

Maize

Cucumbers Cacao Bananas

16,000/kg

n/a

2500/bunch

5000–10,000/bunch

Source: Primary data

4.4.4 Technological innovation and commercialization The cultivation of these diverse agricultural commodities is promoted not only by better access to the market but also by the use of modern agricultural technology, and much of this is determined by market mechanisms and price setting. These innovations may consist of the introduction of new cash crops (cacao, lemon, vegetables) or a combination of some high yielding varieties of food crops (rice, maize) with inputs such as fertilizers and herbicides, to intensify land use and increase levels of productivity. As part of the government programme, the support for the transmigrants included the supply of fertilizers, pesticides and the seed of high yielding varieties. Thus, since the beginning the migrants have influenced the local communities by introducing superior types of technology into their agricultural practices. The influence of external communication and the arrival of new communities, including the Javanese migrants, played an essential role in the implementation of modern technology among the local people. This applies in particular to the introduction of more permanent types of agriculture by hoeing, ploughing, crop rotation and weeding, and to the application of modern farm inputs or new cash crops like cocoa, which was introduced by Buginese migrants. Some innovation, like the introduction of herbicides already started in the 1980s when especially Berau people traded forest products such

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as rattan and gaharu to traders from Tawau, Malaysia, who then brought some chemical inputs with them. Together with the use of modern inputs by Javanese farmers, who were particularly successful in increasing food crop production, this has broadened the basis for a wide implementation of these inputs among the local people. The establishment of farmer groups also stimulated the dissemination of innovations among them, because through the group the farmers can share and learn from each other’s experiences. More recently, the Berau Coal Company, through its community development programme, developed and supported some farmer groups among local and migrant communities. Some of these programmes were implemented by supplying seeds, fish fry, cattle fattening programme and agricultural extension, in particular for the planting and postharvesting of cocoa. However, other farmer groups focusing on cocoa and banana, which were established by the local government, did not function as expected due to mismanagement and a lack of funding. Other important indicators of the level of commercialization of the village economy are the higher incidence of wage labour and non-farm jobs as contributors to household incomes. Wage labour is mostly performed in agricultural activities and thus represents an indicator of agricultural commercialization, while non-farm jobs are indicative of the diversification of a developing village economy. As permanent cultivation was established and improved, the demand for wage labour, besides family labour, increased. The rise of wage labour simultaneously reduced the opportunities for a reciprocal labour exchange system, except for performing some shifting cultivation activities, which are still practised by some local Dayak and Berau farmers. On the other hand, agricultural wage labour has created additional income opportunities for smallholders or near-landless farmers.18

4.4.5 Social differentiation Some groups in these peasant communities, for example the Dayak, still observe adat rules, although the influence of adat is decreasing on matters of resource use and resource allocation. The rules most commonly used are for performing some reciprocal activities in agriculture or in ceremonial events, especially among the Dayak. After independence in 1945, the adat system was abolished 18 On average, wage labour is paid around IDR 20,000–30,000 (US$ 2.2–3.3) per day excluding meals, or IDR 35,000–50,000 (US$ 3.8–5.5) all included. In paddy harvesting, wage workers are also sometimes paid in kind through a 2:1 share cropping system (the 2/3 portion belongs to the landowner). For some households, wage labour has become a major source of income, particularly for the landless or near-landless farmers, and for members of poor farm households.


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and converted into a more formal, national law system. The spread of Islam has also reduced the influence of adat in daily life, especially in farm management affairs. However, the local Dayak communities still have their adat leaders, in particular for arranging social matters in the community, including those in migrant communities. The role of adat in arranging access to land, however, has become much less relevant due to the general recognition of private ownership in these increasingly diverse and commercialized communities. As noted, the relatively favourable settlement opportunities in both villages with respect to soil fertility and marketing opportunities, attracted many migrants from various ethnic origins, which required new systems and rules for arranging access to resources and establishing effective social relations. These were usually provided by modern Indonesian law and administration – and to a lesser extent by the role of Islam and Christianity – which established new means of social cohesion beyond ethnic divides. As might be expected, the opportunities for social differentiation are much larger in peasant-type communities than in the other types. First, because the local livelihoods have become more differentiated by developing not only natural resource based occupations, but also service-based ones, such as teachers, civil servants, technicians, middlemen, shopkeepers, drivers, etc. Together with this increase in occupational diversity, we find increases in educational attainment, which are supported by the parents’ growing motivation and capacity to send their children to more advanced types of educational institutes, either in the villages or in the nearby urban centre. Here, the question arises to what extent these increasing occupational and educational differences have already engendered strong differences in wealth accumulation and thus also in social stratification. Although complete landlessness does not exist in either village, there is a sizeable group of farm households that cannot catch up with the advancing processes of innovation and commercialization because they lack the capital and labour to invest in new cash crops, land acquisition or modern farm inputs. Thus, a group of marginalized households has emerged, alongside a group of accumulating households that are able to exploit the market conditions to their own benefit. The causes and effects of this are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5, but the driving forces behind it are the increasing values of land and the increasing need for capital in commercial production. Problems may also arise when issues of social differentiation and stratification coincide with differences in ethnic identity and access to political power. Thus, the long established communities of Dayak and Malay (Berau) people

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seem to hold more influential positions in the village administrations than the newcomers. This often results in the latter’s discontent about political decisions favouring the established communities with development projects, support programmes and special funds. Some telling examples are presented by the allocation of financial support from the village land compensation programme of the Berau Coal Company and the road improvement programme of the district government. With respect to the former, the migrants complained that the funds were not equally distributed, as the communities of local origin usually got larger shares because they were better organized and politically more vocal. The unequal distribution of government project support, moreover, is due to the fact that the settlements of local and migrant communities tend to be physically separated at different subvillage levels. Consequently, development projects, such as road improvements, can be easily prioritized for the politically and economically more influential. These problems can be quite persistent, since the migrant minorities often prefer to keep quiet in order to avoid conflicts with the established communities.

4.4.6 Conflicts over resources As in the case of the tribal farming communities, the main cause of resource conflicts is not the local land tenure conditions, but corporate companies interfering with these conditions. In this case, it is the Berau Coal Company, the big coal mining company in the district, that possesses mining concession areas that are directly located in sites that were previously used by the local communities. Thus, to some extent, the company had to pay compensation for the land formerly used by the community. Some of this compensation was settled by negotiation, while some was paid as a result of conflicts. In all cases, however, this has reduced the space for local types of resource use, and contributed to a politically enforced change in the livelihoods in the affected communities. Considering the increasing demand for fossil fuels in the world market and the further claims of the coal mining company for concession areas, this type of development will certainly put more pressure on both people and environment in the near future. The conflict was also caused by the exploitation practices of the Berau Coal Company. The open-pit mining in combination with blasting techniques for quarrying made the communities suffer from the noise and dust. Subsequently, this increased their protest against these practices as they also noticed that the yields of cocoa and banana plantations were decreasing. The rumour soon spread that the blasting method and ensuing debris were harming the


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blossoms of the fruit trees and were thus the main cause of the decrease in crop productivity. As a result, some serious conflicts, including physical confrontations with the mining company, occurred in 2005 when the mining activities were blocked. Subsequent efforts were made to solve the conflict by regaining the communities’ support through the extension of a community development programme that already had started prior to the conflict. Moreover, Mulawarman University carried out research into the cause of the banana disease, and showed that there was no relationship with the mining methods. The company’s efforts seem to have defused the conflicts. Physical conflicts no longer occur and the company continues to operate in the area. However, some complaints are still circulating in the communities, as some farmers still do not believe the results of the university’s research. There are rumours that the university was paid to produce results favourable to the company. Yet, their economic dependence on the company has become so strong that the rumours remain subdued. Almost all the community’s large-and small-scale activities need the company’s financial support.

4.5 Pioneer Farming Communities This farming community is usually considered a variant of the peasant farming community that does not have stable features embedded in strong local traditions. A pioneer farming community originates from migration movements to a frontier settlement area where nature is being converted into cultivated land. It is therefore common only in some countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia where there are still unexploited forest resources. Frontier migration is usually a spontaneous process based on chain effects. In Lampung, for example, the migration of pioneer farmers was influenced by the success of their predecessors in coffee cultivation (Suyanto et al. 2005). In some developing countries, however, the idea of migration to frontier areas is still quite popular and is assumed to offer a valuable approach to regional development. The transmigration programme in Indonesia is a famous though controversial example whereby the government has been migrating people from the densely populated islands (Java and Bali) to the less densely populated outer islands for many decades (Hardjono 1986). As most pioneer farmers were originally landless, they usually belong to the lower social and economic strata in their villages of origin. The acquisition of land in the frontier area is therefore a major reason to migrate (Shrestha

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1989). They are usually assumed to have a subsistence orientation, and most of them are indeed self-sufficient in food production. They also have little connection with the market due to their isolated position, and are therefore not significantly influenced by external events and conditions. Pioneer farmers start to secure their food supply by applying, for example, shifting cultivation or bush fallowing systems in the frontier areas, while mostly ignoring the sustainability of the land (Grossman 1971, Suyanto et al. 2005). The research area is located in Kelay subdistrict. We chose two villages as units of analysis: Sido Bangen and Long Ghie. Located in the southern part of Berau, these two villages are bordered and divided by the Trans East Kalimantan Road. The population of Sido Bangen is mainly composed of Javanese, Madurese, Balinese and Sundanese people, but does include some local migrants (Dayak Kenyah). The other village, Long Ghie, is dominated by spontaneous Dayak Kenyah migrants, as well as by former members of Dayak Punan communities and some Javanese migrants who have settled along the main road. Long Ghie is much larger than Sido Bangen, but has a somewhat lower population density, as shown in table 4-4. Table 4-4. Area and population of research villages in the pioneer farming communities, 2007 Village

Total Household

Population density (Pop/km2)

Area (km2)

Male

Female

SidoBangen

15.50

402

293

695

175

44.84

Long Ghie

626.79

603

378

981

274

1.57

Source: BPS Berau 2007e

Sido Bangen is a typical transmigrant village some 135 km from the district’s capital, Tanjung Redep. Its accessibility is therefore is in the middle range, as in the last section from the Trans East Kalimantan Road to the village is a badly maintained dirt-track. The settlement was initially established to support the operational activities of a timber estate company, PT Belantara Pusaka, which was founded in 1993. The company established a timber plantation to supply Berau’s big pulp and paper company. The members of these settlement communities were intended to work for the company, from the stage of site preparation through to the maintenance of the tree plantations. In 1996, the company started to add rubber plantations to the concession area and later allocated the plantation to the workers as compensation for the loss of work due to its bankruptcy in 2002. Since then, Sido Bangen has developed into a community of independent pioneer farmers from many parts of Indonesia.


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Long Ghie has a different origin and structure. It is divided into two parts: the interior part is settled by Dayak Kenyah and Dayak Punan people. The main road passes through the other part, which is dominated by spontaneous migrants of mixed origin (Javanese, Dayak, Berau and others) and by some former workers of the surrounding timber companies. The first community to settle in Long Ghie was that of the Kenyah people. They had long-standing trading connections with the Sambaliung Sultanate; they supplied several forest products, such as rattan, gaharu and other products. In 1967, these Kenyah people moved to another settlement that is now known as Merasak village. In the 1980s, the government’s resettlement programme for secluded tribal people had moved the Punan from their previous settlement areas, which were located deeper in the forest, to the present village of Long Ghie. In 1985, however, the Punan started to return to their previous settlements. The lack of forest products in Long Ghie was most probably one of the main reasons, along with problems adapting to the sedentary living conditions. Butthe Punan people finally resettled in Long Ghie, due to increasing pressure from the government to stabilize and modernize their ways of living. In 2001, another Dayak Kenyah group migrated to Long Ghie. The group originally came from Batu Majang, in Kutai Barat district. The Dayak Kenyah people in Kalimantan are known for their social organization and for their migratory behaviour. They originated from Apo Kayan in Northern Kalimantan and migrated in 1979 to the upper stream of the Bok River. In the 1980s, they moved to Batu Majang following the government’s resettlement programme and stayed there for around 20 years. Since the Reform Era in 1998, however, the Kenyah people have lost much of their newly acquired land because it was reclaimed by the original tribal groups that had been living there before their arrival. Of the Kenyah’s land, all that remained was the 2ha per household that the government had allocated to them,and this was far from sufficient to meet the needs of a shifting cultivation system. This situation finally prompted them to find new settlements areas. They surveyed various potential areas, and decided to settle in Long Ghie. In 2002, almost all the Kenyah from Batu Majang moved to Long Ghie, where they now constitute a majority. A second part of Long Ghie is located right in front of the Dayak Kenyah settlement, and is separated from it by the Kelay River. Most of the migrants here had previously worked for the timber companies that operated in the surrounding areas. The operational stagnancy of these companies had triggered some employees to move into this new settlement area. Most of the community members here have become farmers and gatherers of forest products (gaharu).

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Some newcomers have also been attracted to this settlement to work as gaharu collectors. Another part of the village is located close to the Trans East Kalimantan Road (around 12 km from their main village) and is inhabited by some migrants from the fringe areas of Berau and from other islands (e.g. Java). They settled here along the main road and opened food stalls, restaurants and lodges serving the trans-local traffic. Since the construction of the government office, this part has also become the centre of Kelay subdistrict. Both developments have started to lend this part of the village a more urbanized appearance. More recently, members of various communities in Sido Bangen moved here. These are mostly Dayak Kenyah people, which make it easier to manage their (shifting) cultivation fields along the main road.

4.5.1 Dynamics in resource use systems The main reason for pioneer farmers to move to frontier areas is the expected abundance of natural resources (land, forest products, minerals) in comparison with the conditions in their overcrowded and overexploited areas of origin. This naturally leads to a tendency to exploit these resources as quickly and on as large as scale as possible, which in turn often leads to these exploitation methods having a speculative character. Important limiting factors under these frontier conditions are a lack of available labour in the households and a lack of marketing opportunities. The first aim of the newly established farmers is to secure enough food production for their families. This is usually achieved with low inputs of labour and capital, because much labour is required for forest clearing, house building, etc., while capital is still very scarce due to the scarcity of marketing and money earning opportunities. On the other hand, land is in relative abundance so pioneer farmers tend to switch to non-permanent types of swidden farming for food crops, while for monetary incomes they tend to be attracted to quick yielding extractive activities, like gold mining, logging or collecting valuable forest products. If they do try to develop cash crop incomes, they usually have to rely on perennial cropping systems that fit with the tropical rainforest conditions and do not require as much labour, such as coffee, cocoa and rubber. However, these farmers need secure land titles, because perennial cropping systems imply longterm investments in young trees or shrubs that have to grow for several years before being harvested.


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Shifting cultivation Similar to other Dayak communities in Kalimantan, the Dayak Kenyah in Long Ghie apply shifting cultivation for their main livelihood. Thus, it may be assumed that considerations of land fertility and forest cover also led their decision to open virgin forest land for cultivation in Long Ghie. Until recently, such land was in ample supply. With increasing population numbers and pressure upon forest land, however, the first signs of land scarcity near the settlement area are appearing. Their common rotation cycle for shifting cultivation is now 5–7 years, which is too short a period to be sustainable using the current techniques. Since many of the farmers have moved to this village only since 2001, most of their cultivated fields are still covered by secondary bushes. The cropping system is more or less similar to that of the Dayak Gaai and Punan in the tribal communities;that is, it is focused on producing a single upland rice crop, sometimes supplemented with a secondary crop of groundnuts or beans. Shifting cultivation has also been adopted by migrants in Sido Bangen. The possibility to find a quick way to secure food production by opening new land is considered one of the main reasons for them to adopt this system. The system not only fulfils their need for food, but has also become an initial step towards establishing and expanding rubber plantations. This is achieved by shortening the rotation cycle to only 2–3 years after planting one or two food crops. Soon after, the land is made suitable for planting perennial crops, like rubber or cocoa. For Dayak people in Long Ghie and Sidobangen, the reciprocal labour system in shifting cultivation is generally still applied, while this has most probably never occurred among the Javanese and other migrant communities. In the latter, family and wage labour have for many generations been applied in managing the food cropping system. However, what makes the pioneer farming system different from that of the tribal communities, and more similar to that of the peasant communities, is their involvement with the market. The farmers in both Long Ghie and Sido Bangen do not use the paddy yields only for subsistence purposes, but also sell their surpluses, depending on the size of their households. Another factor contributing to the commercialization of upland rice production is the rapid development of settlements along the main road, which has helped farmers to expand their fields near the road and to sell their rice surpluses to both local customers and middlemen from Tanjung Redep.

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Perennial crops In 1999, the economic crisis and mismanagement that hit the timber company led to the lay-off of some 25 per cent of the workers, and this decline continued until the company’s total collapse in 2004. However, the company also transferred one hectare of rubber plantation to each household as compensation for the loss of work. To begin with, the farmers in Sido Bangen did not understand how to manage these rubber plantations, because most of their time at the company had been spent working in the timber plantation and on related maintenance tasks. Thus, the company’s collapse created a rather chaotic situation among these farmers. Some sold their properties, including the rubber plantations, and went back to their places of origin. Later, some farmers started to manage their rubber plantations, with help from their relatives and networks in southern Kalimantan, more effectively. Southern Kalimantan is well known for its rubber plantations, and even now most of the yields are sent to processing factories in southern Kalimantan. Workers from southern Kalimantan were initially brought in to harvest the rubber and show the farmers how to manage the plantations. Thus, the pioneer communities started to change their livelihood pattern from company wage workers to independent farmers producing perennial cash crops for the world market. However, most pioneer farmers still focused on cultivating food crops for own consumption on the nearby ladang, following the shifting cultivation system. In the meantime, middlemen emerged from both within and outside the farming communities to collect the rubber latex from the farmers once in a month. Most of them are connected with rubber exporters and factories in southern Kalimantan. However, some also own local rubber plantations and have several farmers who work for them as sharecroppers. The sharecroppers usually receive half of the yields after deduction of the operational costs for inputs. Thus, the sharecroppers, and also other farmers who received support from the middlemen, are usually forced to sell the yields to them, while other farmers are free to sell to the middlemen who offer better prices. However, they usually maintain strong informal contacts with certain middlemen, which make it difficult for them to change their business relations as they are in debt to these middlemen. The economic crisis that hit the world at the end of 2008 led to a 50 per cent reduction in the price of rubber (from IDR 8000/US$ 0.9 per kg to IDR 4000/US$ 0.45 per kg). This, however, did not dampen the farmers’ desire to establish new plantation plots. When this research was conducted, most of them still believed that the market situation would improve in due course, which


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made it necessary to have their rubber plantation ready for harvesting. Yet, some young village members have reportedly migrated to other places to find jobs in mining and with estate crop companies. Cocoa is another perennial crop that also is commonly planted in these pioneer communities. Cocoa cultivation started before 2002 and increased drastically after the Farmer Field School Programme was introduced by World Education in 2002. In these two villages, the number of cocoa trees planted doubled in 2005 (World Education 2006). However, when the research was conducted in 2007–08, the area of cocoa plantation had decreased. Most of the farmers mentioned pests and diseases as the main reason for the decrease in cocoa yields. Some had converted their cocoa plantations into less vulnerable rubber plantations. Dry upland cultivation As mentioned, the pioneer communities have similarities with the peasant type of communities, particularly with respect to the diversification of their agricultural commodities. Here, they have also adopted the permanent upland cropping system by planting several commodities in rotation, such as maize, ground nuts, soybean, etc. The data from BPS Berau (2007) show that soybean in Sido Bangen is the main commodity for them, while some kinds of vegetables are also planted by several Dayak households in Long Ghie. Moreover, based on the survey, the transmigrants in Sido Bangen also seem to have started planting chilli as one of their sources of income. Like their counterparts in Long Ghie, they sell not only to their neighbours, but also along the main road where a lively market has developed and other migrants have settled. Planting vegetables is a new type of intensive cultivation practice that is becoming increasingly applied in these pioneer communities. In Long Ghie, this is mostly done by women, particularly Dayak Kenyah women. They usually start to plant vegetables in a corner of the ladang field after the harvesting season is over. For some people, however, it is a year-round activity. They tend to choose a planting area that is located not too far from their settlements, because vegetable cultivation is a labour-intensive activity and they need to watch out for pests and diseases. Some vegetable species are especially planted, such as long bean, mustard, cabbage and spinach. The production is then sold to the people in the village or to the restaurants along the main road.

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Gold mining Similar to the Dayak communities in Segah, gold mining is an important source of additional income in some pioneer communities. Especially inhabitants of Long Ghie are involved in traditional gold mining in the upper stream of the Ghie River. The migrants in Sido Bangen, and the non-Dayak communities in Long Ghie, however, do not appear to be involved in gold mining. This is not only because they are not interested, but also because they lack the skills. The household survey conducted in 2008 found that only 20 per cent of the respondents in Long Ghie were actively involved in this practice. The mining location can be reached by an 8-hour boat trip. In the beginning, this activity was seen as a complimentary activity carried out in addition to agricultural activities. Mining activities are usually performed between July and September, that is, during the relatively dry season. Some Dayak households now consider this activity their main source of income. Mining is dominated by men, although the Punan usually bring their entire families to the upstream area and leave their houses empty. Like in upper Segah, this mining activity is accessible only to the villagers. Some surrounding villages have their own locations attached to their settlements. As opposed to the Dayak Gaai in the upper Segah River, the gold diggers here use only traditional methods and tools, such as the propeller of their boat and the dulang. The propeller is used to remove the mud/sand/gravel from the river bed until the rock bottom is reached. They hope to find gold grains in the material they have removed. They also use the dulang to filter sandy soil and gravel, or they use plastic bottles to suck upthe sandy soil and then inspect it for gold fragments. They usually use the latter method, along with a pair of swimming goggles, in deep water. More modern tools, such as those used by the tribal communities in Segah, are not allowed, but that might be because in Long Ghie gold mining is limited to river bed excavation. Mining is usually done in teams of 2–3 people. The yields are divided up on the basis of the number of team members, after deduction of their operational and food costs. Each year, they usually undertake 2–5 trips, and each trip takes 2–4 weeks. Although some households derive most of their monetary income from these mining activities, they still consider this activity a complementary one. Forest product gathering The Punan have long been known as efficient gatherers of such forest products as gaharu, honey, timber, fruit, etc. However, the diminishing quantity of forest


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products around their permanently settled village has reduced their involvement in this activity. Most of them are now involved in gold mining, but at certain times they do enter the forest to harvest wild fruits. Gaharu collecting is now mostly done by migrants from Long Ghie. They commonly originate from Lombok, Javanese and Banjarese stock. Some used to work for the timber companies in the surrounding area. When they were dismissed, they stayed on in the village instead of going back to their places of origin. The decline in gaharu around the village forces them to travel to more remote areas of other village domains, and even to other subdistricts.They sometimes spend 20–40 days, working in a team of 2-3 people, mostly family members, on one trip. They usually travel together with other teams and explore similar locations. To some extent, this is a high-risk type of activity because they face threats not only from nature,diseases and wild animals, but also (according to some informants) from their own teams. In the previous three years, several collectors had been found dead or had gone missing as a result of either accidents or suspicious deaths. However, these risks do not diminish the collectors’ zeal for finding gaharu. If they are fortunate, one trip might net them IDR 10–20 million (US$ 1,111–2,222). This high income is a result of the high price of gaharu at the market, where high quality types may yield more than IDR 7 million (US$ 778) per kilogram, and the lower quality variant around IDR 1 million (US$ 111) per kilogram. Animal hunting This type of activity was carried out only by the Dayak Kenyah and Dayak Punan people in Long Ghie. Similar to their Dayak neighbours in the tribal communities, this activity is conducted to obtain protein, such as fish and wild boar, and not for commercial purposes. However, the frequency of animal hunting in these pioneer communities is now lower than in the tribal communities. A lack of animals in the forest and rivers could be the main reason for this. In addition, as the pioneer communities have more sources of livelihood, they have less time to perform this kind of activity.

4.5.2 Land tenure With respect to land acquisition and property rights, the Dayak in Long Ghie seem to have similar rules as the Dayak in tribal communities, even though most of them are recent migrants in a more loosely structured pioneer society.

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They are allowed to cultivate and own the land, as long as they open the new forest land themselves and do not occupy previously cultivated land. This encourages the opening of new lands, since the Dayak Kenyah apply shifting cultivation as their main livelihood and are thus always in search of more productive virgin lands. Moreover, it reflects the common pattern of pioneer farming communities expanding their cultivation areas rather than intensifying their cultivation methods. In 2007, the village government in Long Ghie allocated some lands along the main road of Berau-Samarinda to all entitled households in the village. Each household again received 2 ha of land, although they were only entitled with a management permit (surat garap) issued by the village head. Most of the households planned to plant the land with rubber trees. In addition, the pioneer community of Long Ghie became involved in an agreement with a nucleus estate company to establish smallholder rubber plantations in the forest area within their village territory. Each household has been promised a 2 ha plot, and the company will help them clear the forest, plant trees and perform crop maintenance. In return, the company will get a steady supply of rubber latex at a reduced price. The transmigrant communities in Sido Bangen, even though they had already received certified lands from the government, observe similar rules with respect to cultivation rights in forest land as the Dayak in Long Ghie. They are allowed to cultivate and own land only if they have opened new forest land. More recently, most of the transmigrants also bought land from the local Dayak people. The management permit from the village head that is attached to land use rights seems to offer enough official status and bargaining power for land to be sold and cultivated with permanent crops. As mentioned, the expansion of land use was also stimulated by the early success of the rubber plantations in Sido Bangen. This encouraged the various communities in both villages to open more land for rubber plantations, which are usually initiated by planting food crops in the early years of the rotation cycle and then switching to perennials like rubber or cocoa.

4.5.3 Access to market Long Ghie and Sido Bangen are separated by the main road to Samarinda.19 This used to be the logging road of several timber companies that operated in 19 The capital city of East Kalimantan.


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the neighbourhood. The road condition has now been considerably improved by using more permanent materials. Consequently, both villages have become more accessible and have been able to improve their marketing position. In Sido Bangen, this has facilitated the arrival of middlemen, mostly from southern Kalimantan, to buy the rubber directly from the farmers. Moreover, the number of middlemen has also increased, which means that the farmers can barter and get a better price. In Long Ghie, the improved access has also attracted more migrants, because the area along the main road is a good location for new economic activities, including non-farm activities. These migrants are dominated by Javanese and now constitute the main market for local agricultural products, such as vegetables and rice, as well as gold. Most of the migrants settled here are traders, as well as restaurant keepers and lodge owners, who cater to passing bus drivers and their passengers. However, larger market opportunities are an 8-hour drive away in Tanjung Redep. This may explain at least part of the slow development of cash crops besides rubber. Low demand and the high cost of transport have hampered the development of commercial commodities, such as cocoa, vegetables and other cash crops, and consequently the development of more permanent types of agriculture. However, some officials mentioned a lack of skills and the presence of pests and diseases as the main reason for this slow development of perennial cropping systems. In other cases, the high demand for rubber from factories in southern Kalimantan has encouraged the development of vast rubber plantations, but at the cost of the original land cover due to forest conversion in these areas.

4.5.4 Technological innovation and commercialization Although the large majority of the population in both villages consists of recently arrived spontaneous migrants, there are few signs of reluctance to invest in commercial crops due to insecurity of tenure. The early success of the rubber planters in Sido Bangen after the collapse of the timber company encouraged other pioneer farmers to follow their example, so that perennial cropping systems now produce the most important cash crops (rubber, cocoa, fruits). Another indication of the willingness to invest in farming activities is the widespread acceptance of fertilizers and pesticides, not only by the Javanese farmers, who have used these inputs for decades, but also by the Dayak in Long Ghie, who now use these chemical inputs ubiquitously. The household survey revealed that 77 per cent of the respondents were using fertilizers and pesticides in various quantities, which is not far behind the peasant communities, where

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88 per cent of the respondents use these inputs. However, in recent years, the rising cost of chemical inputs has prevented many farmers in both villages from applying them more intensively to their cash crops. Consequently, food cropping is still done in the traditional way, namely by shifting cultivation with very low labour inputs and no fertilization with either natural or artificial inputs. This implies that attempts to increase yields in either food crop or cash crop farming can only be achieved in these communities by expanding the areas cultivated. In a similar way, recent attempts to introduce a more exacting perennial crop like cocoa has largely failed, demonstrating that pioneer farmers are only willing to invest more labour and capital if land shortage forces them to do so, or market forces make these investments more attractive (like rubber).

4.5.5 Social differentiation The issue of social change tends to play a particularly important role in pioneer settlements, since most people had left their original and relatively homogeneous communities and settled in a completely new environment with very different types of communities, many of which are composed of various ethnic origins. Moreover, many of the livelihood practices and social arrangements in their old communities are not relevant in frontier settlement conditions. Here, people have to confront the full force of nature and secure their subsistence needs through their own and their households’ efforts. Especially if the pioneer farmers come from established peasant communities like those of the Javanese, Sundanese, Buginese and Dayak Kenyah, they have to make considerable adaptations in their agricultural practices and social arrangements, which require much more self-reliance. As noted, this applies in particular to the conditions in Sido Bangen with its multi-ethnic composition of at least 15 minorities from all over Indonesia. Yet, even here ethnic identity seems to be tenacious in maintaining some social order and security among the pioneer farmer groups, which finds expression in relations of mutual help, political affiliations and settlement patterns (as the various ethnic groups tend to flock together). A similar tendency can be observed in the much more homogeneous settlements of Long Ghie, where the large majority are Dayak Kenyah, with minorities of Dayak Punan and some Javanese migrants (the latter living only near the main road). Here, the dominant Dayak identity is expressed by the construction of a huge and impressive longhouse (rumah adat) for communal festivities and ceremonies. Considering the elaborate carvings and


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the materials (hardwood) from which it has been built, this hall is no less than a lasting cultural statement. It is also in Long Ghie that the role of adat in the regulation of access to resources is stills the strongest, although access is now based on community membership (territorially defined) and no longer on tribal affiliation (i.e. kinship). Considering the size and heterogeneity of the other pioneer communities, it is only natural that they rely completely on the regulations of the modern Indonesian administration, such as the management permit (surat garap). In making new fields for swidden cultivation, however, they tend to follow the unwritten rule of claiming only forest land that has been cleared by themselves or bought from others. Because of the recent settlement history of villages and the relatively open access to forest land and other resources, social differentiation in the pioneer communities is still low. In Sido Bangen, there are a few farmers with larger than average rubber plantations, because they were able to buy land from timber workers who left after the collapse of the company. There are also a few sharecroppers in this village who till the excess land of the first mentioned group. But these rubber plantation sharecroppers are usually just trying to accumulate enough wealth to buy (or open) more land for themselves. Thus, there are no signs yet of a clear social stratification on the basis of differences in land tenure, although there is some evidence of growing differences in wealth accumulation through the contribution from side-line activities,such as trading, taxi driving, gold mining and forest products collecting (particularly in Long Ghie). Only in the new administrative centre near the main road is there something like an emerging rural middle class consisting of civil servants, teachers, middlemen and other small-scale entrepreneurs. The modest level of social differentiation in the pioneering communities seems to be in line with the modest level of commercialization of the village economies. The relation between social differentiation and political power is more complicated. The ethnic heterogeneity of the pioneer farming communities and the endurance of ethnicities as a social safety network tend to initiate political rivalry and clientelism. The clear example is Sido Bangen. Although the village head is a Javanese farmer, the most influential group are the Dayak migrants, who see themselves as the original inhabitants (putra daerah). Moreover, they have wider formal and informal political networks, and are the most vocal in defending their interests and expressing their aspirations. This has created growing resistance among other non-Dayak members, since they believe that the adat head (a Dayak) is imposing his adat rules as a uniform system to the

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whole community. The discontent in this community s therefore quite similar to that among migrants in the peasant type communities, with minorities complaining about systematic neglect.

4.6 Coastal Communities The Berau coastal zone has long been the district’s main area of permanent settlement and economic activities. Settlement started in the 13th century when this area became a major gateway for traders from Makassar, the Philippines, China, India and Europe, some of whom later settled permanently and developed trade, fisheries and agriculture (Lopulalan and Muhtaman 2003). There are now 27 villages spread along the coast and the offshore islands. These communities can be divided into three subtypes, namely the coastal zone community, the small island community and the estuary community (Wiryawan et al. 2005). The communities usually consist of different ethnic groups, which may range from the semi-nomadic Bajau to people of Suluese, Buginese, Javanese, Mandarese, Makasarese, Butonese, Madurese, Manadonese, Timorese, Banjarese, Malay or Sasak origin. We conducted our research in four villages: TanjungBatu, Kasai, Pulau Derawan and Semanting. The first three are the most populated villages in the coastal zone, as the data show in table 4-5. Table 4-5. Area and population of research villages in the coastal communities, 2007 Village Tanjung Batu Kasai Pulau Derawan Semanting

Area (km2)

Male

Female

Total

Households

Population density (Pop/km2)

2,982.69

1,612

1,304

2,916

629

0.95

n/a

1,326

1,076

2,402

507

n/a

187

961

830

1,791

370

9.25

141.03

1149

122

271

56

1.86

Source: BPS Berau 2007f

Pulau Derawan, which is located on an island of the same name, is one of the few island communities in Berau. Most of the other coastal villages are located along the coast and the Berau River estuary. The original inhabitants of Derawan Island – the Bajau – came from the southern Philippines; they were also called sea nomads, who were often involved in piracy. They were expelled from their home area when the Spanish colonial government ruled the Philippines and tried to establish order in the Muslim southern islands. Pirates from the Philippines were still attacking the village as late as 1954,which


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prompted 70 per cent of the community to leave for Tanjung Batu. Thus, in 1955 the subdistrict capital was moved to Tanjung Batu. The first settlers in Tanjung Batu were Buginese migrants. In the 1950s, the village had only six households. The migration of Bajau refugees from Pulau Derawan swelled the population, and a large influx of Buginese fishermen in Tanjung Batu started at the end of 1970s when they came to work for a Chinese boss in Tanjung Redep. These migrants had previously worked in Pasir, a district in the southern part of East Kalimantan. Other migrants came from Maratua Island in the 1990s (due to local economic problems and a lack of fresh water supply), which affected the political situation in the village. The latest migration occurred in the early 2000s, when some Buginese migrants from Malaysia were expelled because of migration issues, and settled in Tanjung Batu. Similar to their former livelihood in Malaysia, these migrants started to establish the bagan (stationary lift net) system in Tanjung Batu, which became a big success. The increasing price of shrimp since 1998 has also stimulated people to migrate to this coastal zone area in order to make shrimp ponds in the former mangrove swamp areas. Kasai, one of the oldest villages in the area, is an example. The population here started to settle in the early 1990s. It increased only slightly until 1994, when the increase accelerated, to reach its peak in 1998. Most of the population in Kasai has migrated from Pasir and came for a similar purpose, that is, to develop fish and shrimp ponds in the mangrove areas bordering the Berau River. Finally, some of the original people of Berau have also settled in the coastal zone. It is reported that they have been living there since the start of Dutch colonial rule in the 18th century, when they settled mostly in the area previously called Teluk Pangku, that is, the northern bank of the Berau estuary. Some of them have now settled in Semanting village, located in the same area.

4.6.1 Dynamics in the resource use systems The types of resource use systems in the coastal area are mostly dominated by marine-based activities, such as open-sea fishing, bagan trap fishing, shrimp and milkfish ponds, and turtle egg collection. In 2000, it was noted that 70 per cent of the population in the coastal area worked in fishery-related activities. There are, however, some inland agricultural systems, such as perennial gardens and upland paddy fields, but the areas and numbers involved are not great and are therefore not discussed separately.

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Sea fisheries Fishing is one of the oldest resource use types in the communities,and particularly in the coastal communities. Moreover, it has long been connected with the market system. The barter and trading of fish was one of the main activities that connected the coastal communities with other communities, and it was these activities that induced the coastal communities to migrate and find richer fishing grounds. In the coastal communities of Berau, the most common fishing tools are the net/seine, hand-line (pancing), trawl, trammel net, bottom pot (bubu) and mini-trawl. The net/seine, pancing and bubu have for many years been the most common tools used by fishermen in the coastal area. Bubu is used in particular to catch grouper (kerapu) and red snapper, which have quite high prices, ranging from IDR 5,000 to IDR 120,000 per kilogram. The net, seine and trawl methods are used to catch not only groupers but also other commercial types of fishes and shrimps. Grouper is one of the main commodities in the coastal area, as shown in table 4-6. The fish are caught alive in coral reef areas and are sold to traders from Malaysia and Hong Kong. These traders arrived in the 1980s to find good quality grouper. In the late 1980s, traders from Bali, Surabaya and several places in Indonesia started to join the grouper trading market in this coastal area. Another expensive commodity sold to outsiders is lobster, most of which is caught by fishermen from the island villages. Most regular types of sea fish, however, are sold to local markets in Tanjung Redep and some neighbouring districts. Since the improvement of motorized boat transport and, more recently, the improvement of road accessibility, most of the middlemen come to the villages. Thus, the fishermen no longer need to take the fish to the fish auction or urban market, but this has made them more dependent on the prices set by these middlemen. Table 4-6. Main fish commodities in Berau, 2007 Fish

Amount (in tons)

Fish

Amount (in tons)

Anchovy (Teri)

737.6

Silver pomfret (Bawal Putih)

524.0

Grouper (Kerapu)

733.1

Jack travelly (Kuwe)

522.2

Frigate tuna (Tongkol)

570.0

Mullet (Belanak)

486.1

Giant sea perch (Kakap)

549.3

Black pomfret (Bawal Hitam)

467.9

Indian mackerel (Kembung)

547.8

Red snapper (Kakap Merah)

445.8

Source: Dinas Perikanan dan Kelautan Berau 2008


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A special note should be made on the catching of valuable species of coral reef fish, which for some fishermen is performed with illegal methods, namely by using fertilizer explosives or toxic materials (cyanides, pesticides). As these materials can be easily obtained on the free market, and simple diving gear to place the materials in position is not expensive, illegal fishing is very difficult to control, especially since much of the trade in illegal catches is with foreign fishing boats operating outside the territorial waters. Stationary lift net (Bagan) Bagan, the latest fishing method in Tanjung Batu, is a stationary lift net used to catch shoals of anchovy (Stolephorus spp.). At night, bagan are equipped with lights to attract fish. As shown in table 4-7, anchovy is the biggest fish commodity in Berau (737 tons in 2007). The first bagan was established in 2000 by Buginese migrants who migrated from Malaysia to Tanjung Batu due to immigration problems. They had already practised this fishing method in Malaysia. In the coastal area of Berau, bagan are found only near Tanjung Batu, where the physical conditions fit the requirements related to water depth and fish richness. Before erecting a bagan, a request must be submitted to the villagehead and the local fishery office, and permission must also be obtained from neighbouring bagan owners. The permit could cost around IDR 300,000 per year. Due to the recent overcrowding with bagan and overfishing, the issuing of permits has been limited. There are currently 600 bagan and the activity is still dominated by new Buginese migrants. The high cost of establishing a bagan is one of the main obstacles for local fishermen, since a bagan would cost them around IDR 10 million. Predictably, less than 10 per cent of the bagan’s owners are of local origin. A few bagan owners have recently added floating types of bagan, which are more expensive but have the advantage of mobility. One respondent said that he had to pay IDR 200 million (around US$ 22,000) to buy a floating bagan from a relative. Shrimp and milkfish ponds (aquaculture) Aquaculture – comprising shrimp and milkfish ponds (tambak) – is another booming activity in the coastal area. It started in the 1990s and is often mentioned as a major cause of degradation of mangrove forests in this area (TNC 2003). Kasai and Semanting are among the villages that actively developed tambak in their areas.

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In Kasai, the opportunity to establish aquaculture was the main reason for some people from Pasir (which is in the southern part of East Kalimantan) to settle there at the end of 1994. Their number has continued to grow. It grew particularly in 1998, when the price of shrimps was at its peak. By 2005, no fewer than 507 households had settled here, while natural population growth is also high. In Semanting, a village further down the estuary, only a few people own ponds, while some ponds are owned by outsiders who live in other villages or cities and bought the land to establish the ponds. The high cost of establishing a pond can also be a serious obstacle for the local people, who need around IDR 15 million to establish 2 ha of ponds. The total pond area in Semanting is much smaller than in Kasai due to a lack of suitable land. Much of the land suffers from a high content of toxic pyrites; moreover, here the northern shores of the Berau River are exposed to strong southerly winds and high spring tides, which damage the dykes and water inlets. The rising prices of and demand for aquaculture products (shrimps and milkfish) have induced communities to establish more ponds at the cost of the mangrove areas. Investors from outside the area use modern equipment, such as excavators, to open huge areas of ponds, and are threatening the ecological and morphological functions of mangrove forest and their soil conditions. Wiryawan and colleagues (2005) reported that the average land ownership for ponds in the coastal area varies from 0.50 ha (Merancang Ilir village) to 10 ha (Batumbuk village). This also reflects the recent shift in aquaculture development from smallholder to large-scale/corporate sector activity. The latter sector is able to mobilize more capital, develop less favourable sites and achieve higher yields. The smallholder fish ponds –as prevail in Kasai and Semanting – are usually exploited in a very labour- and capital-intensive way (as compared to the large-scale holdings). This implies that there is no technical water control (pumps), no salinity control, no aeration, only little fertilization (for algae growth) and little supply of fish food. Consequently, yields are low and fluctuate strongly. All the suitable land for fishpond development has been used up, and the existing ponds are showing signs of depletion and declining yields. A major problem is the lack of suitable water supply during seasons of flooding or drought, and the traditional techniques of water control and the lack of aeration (no electricity). Tourism as a new livelihood option Another source of income for the coastal communities is marine tourism. The biodiversity of the coral reefs in and around Derawan Islands is considered the


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second best in Indonesia, after the Raja Ampat Islands in Papua, and may even rank as the third in the world (Wiryawan 2005).This makes the Berau coastal area a major destination for marine tourism. The promotion of coastal resorts and tourist activities is now a major goal of the local government. Several types of recreation – such as diving, snorkelling, sport recreation, or just enjoying the splendour of the beaches, coral reefs and sea, which harbours large populations of huge manta rays, tuna fish and sharks – can be found here. Tourism is slowly becoming an alternative source of income for both the local population and the government. Some lodges, either managed by private persons or local community members, have been developed on several islands. Boat transport for visitors and restaurants is also increasingly becoming a new source of income for the coastal communities. Derawan and Maratua islands are examples that receive beneficial impacts from the emerging tourism sector through the exploitation of local lodges and tourist services. Some marine-based handicrafts are also performed, producing souvenirs for tourists. The promotion of Berau as a marine resort for foreign tourists, however, is dominated by the private sector. On the other hand, most of the visitors in community lodges are Indonesian tourists. Foreign tourists usually have only little interaction with the local people, while their payments in foreign currency are handled by banks and travel agents outside the region. The development of tourism is usually strongly determined by accessibility and international communication. Access to the coastal area used to be limited to the route across the Berau River. Consequently, transport was slow and costs were high. However, since 2006 the improvement of road accessibility from Tanjung Redep to Tanjung Batu has facilitated tourists to visit this coastal fishery town by car. From the newly built jetty in this town, there are direct speedboat services to the islands. However, transport to Berau is still difficult. For example, there are only two flights a day to Berau, and fares are expensive. More frequent, cheaper flights are required to boost the number of both domestic and foreign tourists.

4.6.2 Resource access To understand the functioning of the resource use system in coastal communities, it is essential to comprehend that sea and river are ‘open-access’ resources: access to these resources is boundless. This often makes the coastal communities seem quite flexible in coping with the impacts of factors of change – such as increasing levels of commercialization, population pressure and technological innovations – by maximizing their yields or catches. People usually respond to these factors by increasingly seeking access to the open

110


resources and by intensifying their exploitation, but without considering the long-term sustainability of these resources. However, this does not apply to aquaculture lands. In order to develop a pond, farmers need to buy the land or open available areas, which are mostly mangrove forests. For this, however, they need a permit from the village head. In most cases, however, the farmer opens the land and then applies for a permit. Now, though, the areas available for aquacultures are limited, and so the buying option is more commonly applied.

4.6.3 Access to market In the coastal communities, market systems have played an essential role for hundreds of years, that is, since the first migrants settled in the area. Since then, the trading of marine commodities like dried fish, sea cucumber and turtle eggs has been the main economic source of income for both local and regional communities, with the river and the sea as the main marketing outlets. The traders came from both nearby and farther away places, such as Samarinda, Tarakan, East Java and Bali. The local middlemen (who are known as punggawa here) play the most important role in the market system for the fishermen in the coastal area. According to the Berau Fishery Officer (personal communication), there are around 24 punggawa in the three villages of Tanjung Batu, Kasai and Semating. They are classified according to the types of fish they handle, such as dried fish, wet fish, live fish or shrimp. The construction of a new road from Tanjung Redep to Tanjung Batu five years ago has much improved the opportunities for commodity trading in this coastal area. This has both increased the number of middlemen at the local level, who mostly serve consumers in Berau (Tanjung Redep) and its neighbouring districts, and increased the demand for fresh fish. This in turn seems to have increased the internal market price for fresh fish, because the external middlemen usually pay higher prices. Increasing competition with external traders has therefore improved the yield prices for the local fishermen. On other hand, this has also disadvantaged the local middlemen who had already made investments, in terms of the operational costs of their dependents. The fishermen who sell their yields to other middlemen usually have their debt payments postponed, as there is no formal sanction for doing this. However, social sanctions maybe applied to them, by not giving them another chance to obtain a loan from the punggawa network.


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4.6.4 Technological innovation and commercialization With respect to production levels and methods, the increasing demand and prices for fish tend to be translated into maximizing yields by using more motorized boats, modern fishing gear and more trips to distant fishing grounds. In Pulau Derawan subdistrict, where the research was conducted, the data from the Berau Fishery Office show the increase in the number of motorized boats between 2001 and to 2005 (see figure 4-2), while the number of non-motorized boats decreased slightly. Consequently, the volume of fish production has also increased. The modernization of the fishing fleet is reflected not only in its advancing motorization, but also in the construction of larger boats with modern gear (e.g. for trawl nets). This requires more capital investment and usually leads to indebtedness to traders and moneylenders. The establishment of bagan dominated by Buginese migrants is another example of an important innovation impact. The migrants, who often bring their own capital and new technology, established their bagan and thereby increased not only their own incomes but also employment opportunities. Few locals (60

Basic school

50%

41-60 17%

33%

25-40

Unschooled

10%

15-25

Tribal communities

Javanese (34%) Buginese (22%) Dayak Gaai (17%) Beraunese (17%) Timorese (5%) Sundanese (2%) Sasak/Lombok (2%)

2%

17%

10%

63%

7%

17%

39%

41%

2%

Peasant communities

Table 5-3. Age, education and ethnicity composition of the farming communities

Javanese (31%) Dayak Kenyah (29%) Dayak Punan (12%) Sundanese (5%) Sasak/Lombok (2%) Timorese (2%)

7%

17%

14%

52%

10%

0%

43%

57%

0%

Pioneer communities

Buginese (43%) Bajaunese (38%) Beraunese (18%) Sundanese (3%)

0%

15%

20%

53%

13%

3%

38%

58%

3%

Coastal communities


133

134


The tribal communities are dominated by the Dayak ethnics. The household survey showed that the largest group (57%) of respondents were from Dayak Gaai origin, followed by another Dayak ethnic group, the Punan (21%). Other ethnic groups in the communities are mostly migrants who married Dayak people or are state employees (e.g. teachers) assigned to work in the villages. They are of Javanese (2%), Timorese (2%) and Dayak Kenyah (2%) ethnic origin. The peasant communities have a mixed ethnic composition consisting of people of local origin, that is, the Berau (Benoa) and Dayak Gaai, each contributing 17 per cent of the total number of respondents, in addition to a large group of migrants. The two biggest household groups are the Javanese and the Buginese,which represented 34 per cent and 22 per cent of the total number of respondents, respectively. These two groups migrated to the area through the official transmigration programme as well as by spontaneous migration, due to the attractiveness of the land and the resources in this area. The mixed composition also appears in the pioneer communities, which are composed of several ethnic groups, including Javanese (31%), Dayak Kenyah (29%), Dayak Punan (12%), Sundanese (2%), Sasak/Lombok (2%), Timorese (2%) and others. The Javanese mostly inhabit Sido Bangen and some parts of Long Ghie, while the Dayak Kenyah are mostly settled in Long Ghie. Finally, the population in the coastal communities consists of three large ethnic groups that have been migrating to this area since the 13th century, namely the Buginese, Bajau and Berau. They comprise 42, 37 and 18 per cent of the communities, respectively. The following sections concern the internal differentiation among these groups and how each group responds to the forces of change.

5.4 Resource access and acquisition Land tenure allocation is not yet a big issue in the tribal communities. As shown in figure 5-1, the access to such resources as land and other natural resources does not differ between the strategy groups. Under their customary system, it is possible for any community member to occupy forest or lands in the surrounding areas. They just have to open the forest, despite the legal insecurities related to land titles (as most of the area is now state forest area), and claim ownership. Thus, all lands are practically ‘self-owned’ without any legal claim, in terms of having a land certificate or management permit from the village head. Gold and forest products (except timber) are also open to access. However, the quantity of such forest products as gaharu, resin and fruit


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has slightly decreased and is usually not available for sale. Timber may be cut as long as it is for self-consumption, such as housing, church building and other public infrastructures. In comparison, the peasant communities have more limited access to natural resources. Here, the access to land, for example, is limited by access to capital, as most of the lands have market value. Farm households thus need to have money in order to control or manage land, since most of the suitable land is owned by other people. For the official transmigration households, some of their lands have already been legally certified, as this was one of the main incentives the government could offer for settling the communities in this area. However, other types of land that were mostly purchased from the local communities had been assigned only with a management permit (surat garap). The access to resources in the pioneer communities shows an intermediate position between the conditions prevailing in the tribal and the peasant communities. To some extent, farmers believe that whoever wants to open the forest may do so as long as the forest is still virgin or has not been exploited by other people. In this respect, the rule of open access to resources, in this case land, is similar to that applied in the tribal communities. However, most lands have been categorized as state forest areas, while in recent years the increase in population has reduced the amount of available ‘forestlands’. The continuous in-migration in recent years has increased the value of resources (particularly land) in this area. The local Dayak communities in this area previously had similar rules and rights with respect to resources as the tribal communities mentioned above, but in recent times their rules have changed slightly. There are now hardly any ‘open-access’ resources in the areas surrounding their villages, and increasing competition from migrants with other resource allocation systems is forcing the Dayak pioneer farmers to deal with a commercial system of land acquisition. Consequently, similar to the process in the peasant communities, the value of land has gradually increased, which has made land a tradable commodity among the farmers in these communities. For commercial reasons, some of these lands were also given management permits issued by the village head. In brief, access to land resources in the pioneer communities can be categorized as becoming more limited and needing some financial capital. The impacts of differences in the response flexibility of the strategy groups on land use patterns are presented in table 5-4. The table shows only three categories of land use, namely areas cultivated with food crops (annual), areas cultivated with perennial and other cash crops, and unused areas.

136


The strong feeling of security that land provides, as well as open-access resources in the tribal communities, does not mean that most are willing to invest in agricultural activities, for example through planting long-term perennial crop systems. As shown in table 5-4, the survival group and consolidation groups have larger areas cultivated with food crops than cash crops. In contrast, the accumulation group focuses on cash crops to increase income. This more or less corroborates the accumulation group’s preference for crop specialization, instead of producing food crops for subsistence purposes. Although land ownership is quite high and much land has been inherited from previous generations, the cultivated area in all strategy groups is quite low compared to the unused areas. Most land that is not used in these communities is usually fallowing land in the shifting cultivation areas. Compared with the tribal communities, the peasant communities have more and better developed agricultural resource use systems. The land use types range from upland and wetland rice systems, to perennial crop and dry food crop systems. The area dedicated to food crops is smaller among the survival group than among the other strategy groups. As the reciprocal labour exchange system is still applied in this system, the cost of land clearing and planting, as well as the increased price of required inputs, has also increased the reluctance of the survival group to apply this system. The accumulation group seems to use its land more effectively than the other groups, in terms of both specific crop areas and their total areas. Together with the survival and the advanced consolidation group, they also have relatively high average areas in cash crops (mainly cocoa). The establishment of these smallholder cocoa plantations, which have been attracting migrants to this area since the 1990s, triggers the increase in land value. It is interesting that, except for the starter consolidation group, most of the households have an average area of perennial crops greater than 2 ha. The high level of security associated with clearing and exploiting state forest areas, added to the unclear land status conditions in the pioneer areas and the low level of law enforcement for those who encroach on state land, has encouraged the pioneer farmers to engage in more permanent types of agricultural systems, in this case rubber planting. As shown in table 5-4, cash crops (mostly rubber plantations) occupy larger average areas of land among the pioneer communities. These areas are largest among households that apply an accumulation strategy. On the other hand, food crops occupy smaller average areas in all strategy groups. In 2008 (when this study was conducted), the accumulation group did not apply upland cultivation, as they focused mostly on the rubber plantations

1.4 1.3 0

Advanced consolidation

Accumulation

3.0

1.0

1.9

0.9

7.5

12.3

7.4

8.7

Not used

4.3

2.7

3.7

0.9

Food crops

2.4

3.1

1.3

2.6

Cash crops

3.0

3.9

3.6

1.4

Not used

Peasant communities

Food crops = annual crops mostly used for own consumption, but occasionally also for marketing. Cash crops = perennial crops/tree crops exclusively for marketing. Not Used = unused/abandoned/fallowing lands.

1.6

Starter consolidation

Cash crops

Tribal communities Food crops

Survival

Strategy groups

0

2.0

0.9

1.0

Food crops

7.5

3.4

1.7

2.1

Cash crops

3.9

5.2

4.0

2.9

Not used

Pioneer communities

Table 5-4. Land use patterns and average acquisition (in ha) by type of strategy group and community


137

138


It is still possible to distinguish specific response patterns between the strategy groups and communities. For example, the total areas cultivated tend to increase with the rising levels of the strategy groups and in all farming communities. The same applies to the increase in perennial cash crop areas, with the exception of the peasant communities, where accumulation households tend to switch to more lucrative types of non-farm activities (trade, credit, transport). It should also be noted that in peasant communities, food production is mostly also for commercial purposes (especially in the more advanced strategy groups). In the tribal and pioneer type communities, however, food production has become more or less irrelevant to the accumulation households. The pioneer community households show the strongest tendency to expand their cultivated area, and especially their cash crops area. The somewhat greater insecurity of land tenure in these pioneer areas hardly seems to play a decisive role in the cultivation of perennial cash crops. Finally, most of the natural resources in the coastal areas are also considered open access, in particular for fishery and other marine types of resource use. There is no restriction on any strategy group to enter the sea,and there is no limitation on catches. Here, only the owned capital distinguishes their yields. This open-access resource also allows external fishermen to fish within the Berau coastal zone. However, in recent years, the local fishery office has established provisions for these external fishermen when they enter the coastal areas. Yet, no limitation on technology is applied; thus, these external fishermen, who have better equipment and fish for longer periods, may generate more yields than the local fishermen. This open access also applies to coastal wetlands used for fish ponds or aquaculture, since they can be occupied freely as no-one had opened the mangrove forests. This regulation also applies to migrants who establish shrimp ponds in the coastal areas, subject to the availability of lands. In recent times, however, opening new land for aquaculture must increasingly be based on financial transactions due to the limited availability of suitable lands near the settlements.

5.5 Involvement in the market system The dynamic at the household level is also reflected in the degree of commercialization and involvement in the market, from subsistence to commercial level. As described in Chapter 4, improved road accessibility, government policy interventions and NGOs’ agriculture improvement

139


programmes are among the triggers of communities’ involvement in the market system. In most cases, the communities were hardly able to prevent the market system from intervening in their livelihood systems. Most of the farming communities in our study area are involved in the market at some level (see table 5-5). Table 5-5. Level of involvement in market systems among strategy groups in the farming communities Strategy group

Tribal Peasant Pioneer communities communities communities

Coastal communities

Survival

-

±

±

+


±

+

+

+


±

+

+

+

Accumulation

±

+

+

+

-= low scores ± = moderate scores + = high scores

The survival group in these tribal communities has a lower level of market involvement than the other strategy groups, also when compared to other farming communities. These survival households are not dominated by subsistence farmers, because some of them are also involved in the establishment of perennial crop gardens for additional income. However, a lack of inputs, pest and disease attacks, and a lucrative source of gold mining has reduced their interest in perennial crop systems. As a result, their farming commodity comes only from shifting cultivation (rice), which is for subsistence purposes. Other strategy groups in the tribal communities have moderate access to market. A lack of road accessibility and a larger focus on gold mining instead of perennial crops are two of the reasons why their market involvement is restricted to gold trading. In addition, few of them trade timber from the surrounding forests for housing. The survival groups in peasant and pioneer farming communities also have a lower level of market orientation (although not as low as in the tribal communities) than the other strategy groups. Some survival households still focus on the subsistence commodities instead of generating surplus from their farms. Similar to survival groups in the tribal communities, a lack of capital inputs is one of the main problems. Some of them also work other people’s land as workers or sharecroppers to fulfil their additional needs. However, other strategy groups in both farming communities are highly involved in the market, as their applied production systems allow them to do so.

140


All strategy groups in the coastal communities have a high-level involvement in the market system. Households in these communities have long been involved to a certain extent in commercial livelihood systems. The improved access to their villages has also increased the number of middlemen, and often also provided these fishermen with capital/money in advance. Thus, in order to pay off their debts, most of their fish catches are sold to traders/middlemen, with only small quantities left for self-consumption. It is sometimes quite difficult to find fresh fish in the villages, since all good quality fish is usually taken by the middlemen and sold elsewhere.

5.6 Management of resource use systems The increase in access to resources and the market system has resulted in changes to their management of resource use systems, including diversification or specialization of their farming products and the intensification of the resource use system in labour and/or capital inputs. The variations on these factors are shown in table 5-6. Although there is some tendency for higher diversification/specialization indices in all accumulation groups due to their propensity to specialize in a few lucrative activities, the differences are not always convincing (see e.g. the pioneer communities). It is quite remarkable that the starter and advanced consolidation groups show variation in their product diversification in all communities. This indicates deliberate attempts by these groups to build or expand their livelihoods by both opportunity seeking and risk spreading, leading to the diversification of income sources. On the other hand, accumulation groups more often tend to specialize in the production of cash crops and in profitable non-farm activities (including extractive activities using capital inputs). The diversification/specialization indices are relatively low in the poorer (survival) strategy groups due to a lack of opportunity to engage in activities other than subsistence food production and resource extraction (or in more commercialized communities, wage work). There seem to be no differences among the strategy groups in the tribal communities in terms of labour use in the shifting cultivation system. The reciprocal system applies to anyone who wants to practise the system regardless of the capital owned and the person’s socioeconomic position in the community. The customary system still plays a role in the shifting cultivation system, as discussed in the previous chapter. This type of labour relation, however, does not apply in the perennial cropping system. Households in the

± +



Accumulation

± +



Accumulation

+



Accumulation

-= low score ± = moderate score + = high score

-

Survival

LABOUR INPUT

-

Survival

CAPITAL INPUT

±

Survival

PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION/SPECIALIZATION

Tribal communities

±

-

-

-

+

+

+

±

+

+

±

-

Peasant communities

+

±

-

-

+

±

+

-

+

+

+

-

Pioneer Communities

Table 5-6. Differentiation of response patterns among successive strategy groups in the farming communities

+

-

-

-

+

+

+

±

+

±

±

-

Coastal communities


141

142


accumulation group use both family and wage labour, while most households in the remaining groups use family labour for planting and maintaining their perennial gardens. The survival households in the tribal communities have little opportunity to mobilize sufficient labour, capital and land to produce higher returns from their shifting cultivation fields (to cope with increasing pressures on land and increasing need for money/consumer goods). Yields are mainly for subsistence purposes and do not warrant investments in either food crops or perennial crop intensification. Consequently, the survival households show a strong preference for obtaining cash earnings from natural resource extraction (gold digging and hunting/gathering). The higher returns to labour of these extractive activities also discourage them from attempting to improve their farming systems through the introduction of perennial cash crops and cover crops (or other conservation measures), as these would increase their burden of labour inputs without matching the returns from extractive activities. The impacts of the major forces of change on the starter and advanced consolidation households are more or less the same: the households draw more income from extractive activities but pay more attention to agricultural activities, that is, to the cultivation of both food crops (rice) for subsistence purposes and perennial crops for commercial purposes. Especially the advanced consolidation group shows a higher propensity to increase labour and capital inputs in agriculture (in addition to extractive activities), although the income from this source is less than in starter consolidation group. This is mostly due to the control of larger cultivable areas and inputs of more labour (due to a more advanced lifecycle) to meet the requirement of higher consumer expenditures and investments (e.g. in perennials) by the growing family. The accumulation group in the tribal communities has been able to benefit most from the major processes of change by using income opportunities ranging from emerging non-farm activities and gold mining to perennial cash crop farming, while nearly completely abandoning subsistence farming on the basis of shifting cultivation practices. They have mostly been able to do so because of their favoured socioeconomic and political status and skills, but also due to lifecycle advantages. Although still a small group, these households might easily develop into a future class of ’progressive’ farmers, landowners and entrepreneurs (traders), controlling the local economy and political power relations when the tribal society develops further into a peasant type of society.


143

In general, the peasant communities apply more advanced types of permanent and commercial farming practices than the other types of communities. They have long been using inputs for their agricultural products. However, they are now facing a limited supply of natural resources due to rapid population growth, the encroachment of mining concession areas and the uneven distribution of land ownership. It is therefore not surprising that the use of inputs among the strategy groups shows significant differences. The survival group uses few inputs compared with the consolidation and accumulation groups. The high prices of several input commodities (e.g. pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides and several agricultural tools) in recent years, however, are the main reason for their limited use among the survival group households: more than 50 per cent of the households do not use any inputs, while more than 90 per cent of both consolidation groups used inputs in relatively small amounts. In contrast, more than 50 per cent of the accumulation group could provide sufficient inputs for their agricultural system, which explains the higher yields and incomes of the accumulation group. For the survival households, limited land and capital has prevented them from improving their yields and thus their incomes. Although most of their perennial crops have suffered from pests and diseases, which cannot be resolved because they cannot afford to buy pesticides or other inputs, this source still provides a significant contribution (21%) to their total income. The production of food crops is just sufficient to meet their subsistence needs. Together with the limited access to other resources, these conditions have forced them to seek employment in non-farm activities that require less skills and capital, such as handymen, construction workers, daily wage labourers, etc. The starter and advanced consolidation groups in the peasant communities, with their wider supply of labour and capital, seem able to create small surpluses and reinvest them in agriculture. They can therefore generate more income through more efficient and intensive types of better agricultural production. The best result, however, has been achieved by the accumulation group, where especially the bigger supply of capital has helped them to generate larger surpluses. These surpluses are used to invest in agriculture with high yielding varieties, fertilizers and pesticide, or to become middlemen for trading agricultural inputs and commodities in the villages. Thus, they generate much higher and more secure income levels, in particular by handling perennial crops. Another difference is in the use of labour in most of their agricultural activities. All the households in the accumulation group use wage labour (combined with family labour) to maintain their plots, while more than 90 per cent of the other groups are highly dependent on family labour to manage agricultural resources.

144


In both the consolidation groups, only a few households are able to hire wage labour. Moreover, the use of reciprocal labour is now hardly used in the peasant type of community. Most households in the pioneer communities, except those in the accumulation group, still apply shifting cultivation. In the survival group, most households use shifting cultivation exclusively for subsistence purposes. The survival group usually consists of households with limited areas for cultivation due to limited labour and capital supplies. The limited rice yields are therefore sufficient only for their daily use. The use of inputs is very low, except for some pesticides or weed killers, and no fertilizer is used. This situation more or less also applies to the starter and advanced consolidation groups, where most of the households make only limited use of pesticides and fertilizers in shifting cultivation. This is most probably due to the fertile conditions of recently cleared forest soils, as the farmers do not need to spend money on inputs. Both consolidation groups could sell some surpluses only because they had larger areas of cultivation than the survival group. With respect to the use of labour in shifting cultivation, the differences appear among ethnic groups and not between the strategy groups in the pioneer communities. Most Dayak people, no matter what their strategy, still apply the reciprocal labour system, whereby all the work from field preparation to harvesting is done together by a neighbourhood group. The other ethnic groups, such as the Javanese and Buginese, usually perform cultivation activities with family and wage labour. In both the perennial and the dry crop system, households in the survival group in the pioneer communities rely heavily on the use of family labour. None of them can use wage labour for planting and maintaining their crops. This situation also applies to most of the households in the two consolidation groups, where 70 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively, make use of family labour correspondingly. In contrast, the accumulation group uses more wage labour to carry out the agricultural activities. This is also because some of the household heads in the accumulation group also have other jobs and are thus not full-time farmers. We also studied the differences in the use of inputs in rubber plantations among the various groups. In both consolidation groups, the use of inputs varies according to ethnic origin: the Javanese migrants apply more inputs than the Dayak people. The Javanese migrants are believed to have more advanced (and more commercial) agricultural techniques than the Dayak. Moreover, most of the plantations belong to Javanese migrants (mostly in Sido Bangen) and are of


145

productive age. Therefore, the inputs required are also more than in the younger plantations of their Dayak neighbours in Long Ghie. Most of the rubber plantations in Long Ghie are still unproductive as they were planted in 2006– 07, and thus the input requirements are still low. A similar situation applies to the accumulation group, where most of the households are of Javanese origin. Here, they have already used inputs in the preparation and early planting stages. The farmers’ capital and more advanced knowledge/skills enabled them to apply inputs in an early stage. The accumulation and advanced consolidation groups had sufficient capital to buy or open new areas and convert them into rubber plantations. They usually diversify their incomes through non-farm jobs, which provide them with surpluses to invest and to expand into rubber plantations. The accumulation group sometimes also enlarge their rubber plantations by buying productive plantation areas developed by others. The starter consolidation and survival households are also involved in the expansion of rubber plantations in the areas. However, most of their plantations are still unproductive and thus cannot fill their current income needs. Members of the survival group tend to supplement their incomes by performing extractive activities like gold digging. The starter and advanced consolidation groups are also engaged in this extractive activity, but their dependence on gold mining as a share of their total income is not as high as that of the survival group. However, the advanced consolidation groups may also enjoy the benefits from gaharu collection, since this activity requires some financial capital, which might not be available to the survival and starter consolidation groups. Finally, the coastal communities are facing both the forces of change and an increasing demand for fishery products, marine pollution due to sedimentation in the estuaries, and continuous migration following the impacts of economic development in the coastal areas. The increased numbers of fishermen and the polluted seawater have slightly decreased fish catches in the coastal waters. This situation is most unfavourable for the survival households with their limited capital means, as they are not able to afford the rising prices of fuel, tools and other supporting inputs. The fish-line method does not require much capital, compared with the net method. It also requires less fuel, as the operation is mostly carried out in reef areas, which are located not far from the shore. Although the yields are not as big as the fish-net method, the income may be higher if they can catch some valuable fish species, such as grouper and red snapper. The net method requires more expensive tools, and fuel, because most of the fishing grounds are located far from their villages. The amount of fish that can be caught is also higher than with the fishline, but the price they receive for the fishes is lower.

146


Bagan fishing, a relatively new method in these coastal communities, is a capital-intensive method. At least IDR 10 million (US$ 1000) is needed to establish a bagan platform. This investment is the main obstacle for most of the households in the coastal communities, and particularly for those who apply a survival strategy. In the accumulation group, they not only own the bagan (and sometimes also work on it), but also have some employees to work for them. Some of these accumulation households have more than one bagan and also the most expensive type of mobile bagan. Compared with the bagan system, the aquaculture system requires more capital to invest in and maintain the ponds. In recent years, the high maintenance costs, the decreasing level of water quality and the lower yields have led more and more people to abandon their ponds. One respondent in the advanced consolidation group was a migrant from South Sulawesi who lives with only his sons as pond workers; the other family members had returned to their place of origin. Another respondent in the accumulation group had also started to reduce his pond area by switching to non-farm sources of income as a middleman and kiosk owner, due to the high costs of maintenance and unsatisfactory yields. The ponds still generate some income, but far less than previously. In recent years, practically all methods have been facing some threat of yield reduction due to overfishing and the use of illegal methods (explosives and poison) by not only outsiders, but also the local fishermen. The rapid invasion of the coastal waters by outsider fishermen has reportedly also created increasing competition among the fishermen and, consequently, has reduced the quantity of their yields. Most households, particularly those in the survival group, cannot afford the new technologies and are showing signs of increasing marginalization and, in the worst case, getting involved in low-cost, illegal methods to keep their income at a survival level.

5.7 Income distribution and diversification The responses to and differences among the factors mentioned above are reflected in the groups’ income distribution and diversification in table 5-7. In the tribal communities, with respect to land-based resource use systems, shifting cultivation is still considered one of main sources of livelihood for


147

all strategy groups23 except the accumulation group, which concentrates their agricultural activities in the perennial crop system to generate more income. However, there was less shifting cultivation in 2008 than in earlier times. This could also have been caused by increasing input requirements and rising input prices in farming activities, and was then becoming another underlying reason to shift their source of income from farming to mining. This seems to apply also to the declining time investment made in perennial cropping systems. For all strategy groups, gold mining has provided the bulk of the total income in each group. The accumulation group (and some households from both consolidation groups) used their capital and assets to organize their activities with machinery and paid labour. Some also provided credits to members of other communities to join and increase their participation as wage workers in gold mining, thereby developing themselves as potential entrepreneurs. One interesting difference between the tribal communities and the other communities is the former’s non-monetary incomes from hunting, for example, wild boars and fish. The amount derived from this source was quite high in all strategy groups, as the households could regularly hunt (3–5 wild boars per month and 1 kg of fish per day on average). The abundant availability of these animal resources offers households a regular supply of their daily protein needs. These sources of income also show their high dependence on natural resources. For the peasant communities’ livelihood, on-farm agriculture plays a vital role, including rice cultivation, perennial crop systems and dry food crop system/ upland. The latter system is also sometimes used as a rotation system with upland rice cultivation. Especially some households in the starter consolidation and accumulation groups specialize in this permanent type of cultivation to gain main livelihood income. In contrast, this system is not applied by the survival group as its cultivation requires more inputs and costs. Income from agricultural activities in the survival group is significantly lower than in the other strategy groups, in terms of both percentage and amount. Moreover, although the average area for perennial crops for the survival group was quite high, their income from this system was lower than in the advanced consolidation group, which quite remarkably has a lower average area of perennial crops. It seems that especially the lack of inputs hampered the combatting of pests and diseases in the cocoa plantation.

23 Although their shifting cultivation is only for subsistence purposes, the research assumed these food crops as part of their income.

32,909,794

TOTAL

131,429

3,642,857 614,286 848,857

7,361,476

Livestock/vegetables

Non-farm

Wage labour

Other

TOTAL

0

Perennial crop (fruits)

0

1,531,905

Perennial crop (cocoa)

Upland cultivation

Rice cultivation

592,143

2,064,286

Other

PEASANT COMMUNITIES (n = 41)

7,894,286

Non-farm

438,571

12,857,143

Forest product

Hunting

8,500,508

0

1,155,000

IDR

Survival

Gold mining


Shifting cultivation

TRIBAL COMMUNITIES (n = 42)

Sources of income

100

12

8

49

2

0

21

0

8

100

6

24

39

1

26

0

4

%

19,345,920

4,310,000

270,000

6,010,000

1,144,000

0

2,074,800

1,972,220

3,564,900

44,759,883

2,795,091

6,672,727

20,305,909

611,364

7,896,974

1,230,545

5,247,273

IDR

Starter Consolidation

100

22

1

31

6

0

11

10

18

100

6

15

45

1

18

3

12

%

780,800

1,761,667

IDR


23,744,550

1,433,400

454,000

12,179,000

444,000

276,000

6,221,000

40,000

2,697,150

54,298,661

2,220,000

6,893,333

27,062,667

2,802,667

12,777,527

Table 5-7. Share of income per household per year in the farming communities (in IDR)

100

6

2

51

2

1

26

0

11

100

4

13

50

5

24

1

3

%

31,952,512

1,633,571

17,857

10,115,714

320,000

2,486,786

9,732,929

3,933,393

3,712,262

157,133,124

5,100,000

40,800,000

14,130,000

5,775,000

86,563,125

4,764,999

0

IDR

Accumulation

100

5

0

32

1

8

30

12

12

100

3

26

9

4

55

3

0

%


1,557,143

5,842,857

1,028,571 642,857

14,852,857

Hunting

Non-farm

Wage labour

Other

TOTAL

6,492,857

1,442,857

22,010,119

Non-farm

Other

TOTAL

0

2,814,405

Aquaculture

Stationary life net

11,260,000

Sea fishery

Rice cultivation

0

342,857

Forest product

COASTAL COMMUNITIES (n = 40)

4,285,714

Gold mining

0

Perennial crop (rubber)

0 52,857

Upland cultivation


1,100,000

IDR

Survival


PIONEER COMMUNITIES (n = 42)

Sources of income

100

7

29

13

0

51

0

100

4

7

39

10

2

29

0

0

0

7

%

44,923,424

1,572,727

10,973,455

10,927,879

0

21,373,000

76,364

17,106,662

2,293,214

1,442,857

6,007,857

1,330,000

1,419,571

304,286

1,744,286

311,769

755,107

1,497,714

IDR

Starter Consolidation

100

4

24

24

0

48

0

100

13

8

35

8

8

2

10

2

4

9

%

59,732,083

2,718,750

2,250,000

16,187,917

12,631,50

25,944,167

0

42,381,750

1,874,375

1,350,000

12,735,000

1,857,500

9,135,156

1,501,438

6,901,875

993,750

1,416,125

4,616,531

IDR


100

5

4

27

21

43

0

100

4

3

30

4

22

4

16

2

3

11

%

135,564,286

36,280,000

77,302,857

21,101,429

880,000

0

0

99,614,400

4,000,000

0

72,448,800

0

0

0

19,093,000

67,200

4,005,400

0

IDR

Accumulation

100

27

57

16

1

0

0

100

4

0

73

0

0

0

19

0

4

0

%


149

150


The hypothesis that settlers in pioneer communities primarily come to find new opportunities for their agricultural livelihood quite surprisingly did not fully apply to the survival and starter consolidation groups. In fact, the share of income from agricultural activities for the survival group is lower compared to other sources, such as gold mining. A similar condition was found among the starter consolidation group, where the biggest share of income came from non-farm activities. In contrast, for the accumulation and advanced consolidation groups, the shares from agricultural activities, in particular perennial crop (rubber), showed a quite significant contribution (16 and 19 per cent, respectively). Another agricultural system in these pioneer communities is the upland cultivation system. All strategy groups, except the survival group, practise this system. The commodities commonly planted include chilli, soybean and vegetables. Most of the households, however, intend to convert their upland (and shifting) cultivation lands into rubber plantations and leave only a few old cultivation areas for food production. A large share of income for the advanced consolidation group was also derived from forest products gathering, in this case gaharu. The latter type of forest product is difficult to find and, consequently, fetches a good price, which makes it profitable for some members of the communities to exploit and trade gaharu. The Dayak people in the pioneer communities often hunt wild boar and fish to eat. Since other ethnic groups in the pioneer communities rarely hunt, the average income share from natural resource extraction is not as high as in the tribal communities. Nevertheless, this still shows that the dependence of the Dayak on natural resource extraction as part of their total income. With respect to income distribution in the coastal communities, the biggest share of income is derived from marine fishery, in particular for the survival, starter consolidation and advanced consolidation households, which contributes more than 64 per cent of their total average income. Even the accumulation group is very dependent on natural resource extraction, as most of its non-farm income is deriving from activities as fish traders or middlemen. A new and large-scale type of development in resource use in the coastal communities is aquaculture (fish and shrimp ponds) and stationary lift net fishery (bagan). Aquaculture can offer huge income opportunities as compared to other types of coastal activities. However, large investments are required and only households with a lot of capital can afford to make them. Therefore, only the advanced consolidation and accumulation households have adopted this system. Similarly, income from bagan is derived only by the starter and advanced consolidation groups, and the accumulation group. Only a few


151

households in the survival group are able to benefit from bagan, and most of them work as shared labour instead of as the bagan’s owner. Small-scale agriculture is an initial alternative for the coastal communities, and is mostly applied by the starter consolidation group. With limited capital means and surpluses, they may engage in rice cultivation to supplement their growing need for staple food. In the near future, this activity will most likely increase, especially in the dry upland areas where there is still unused land available that might also be used for perennial cash crops. However, we cannot ignore the role of non-farm activities in these farming communities. Non-farm incomes in varying average amounts have contributed significant shares of the total income for the various types of groups. These may include incomes from jobs as state employees (village government staff or teachers), private employees, taxi drivers or kiosk owners. In the tribal communities, this is a quite important source of income for the accumulation group and, surprisingly, the survival group. Some respondents in the survival group even work as village government staff and receive a salary, which contributes to the share of income from non-farm activities. The company employees are usually labourers for forestry companies, such as night guards, loggers and operators of simple machines. For the peasant and pioneer communities, non-farm activity contributes the highest share to survival households whose members are low-level village officials and consequently receive a monthly salary. Other non-farm income is generated by wage labourers, carpenters or temporary company workers. In the consolidation and accumulation groups, non-farm incomes are derived from jobs as state/private employees and middlemen. These middlemen mostly focus on vegetable trade and production, and most also have their own production plots. Some accumulation households that owned cars worked as taxi drivers and earned considerable income from this sector. In the coastal communities, non-farm activities play an important role particularly for the accumulation groups, as most of them work as middlemen. Middlemen also play important role in the communities as providers of credit to other fishermen and as innovators of the economic situation in the communities. Another interesting feature shown by table 5-7 is the distribution of average total incomes by strategy group in the respective types of communities. This information suggests that income polarization has advanced most in the more commercialized peasant and pioneer types of communities. The figures also suggest that the relatively large survival groups in the tribal and coastal

152


communities are better off than those in the peasant and pioneer communities, which may be because in open-access resource communities there are more opportunities to supplement low incomes on a subsistence basis (by fishing, hunting and collecting).

5.8 Conclusion The different response patterns of the households per strategy group and type of community are summarized in more qualitative terms in table 5-8. Each cell in the matrix shows the variations in responses in the strategy groups by type of community and corresponding livelihood systems. This presents not only a qualitative overview of the ways in which the households get access to vital resources, but also their differences in flexibility in coping with external pressures on their livelihoods. In the tribal communities, for example, there is increasing neglect of shifting cultivation practices (especially in survival, starter consolidation and accumulation groups) and only a slowly increasing interest in perennial cash crop cultivation (among advanced consolidation and accumulation groups). This neglect is at least partly due to a parallel shift to extractive activities for earning monetary incomes to buy modern consumer goods, tools and inputs. This increased diversification of activities/income opportunities has especially occurred among the consolidation households through engaging in perennial cash crop cultivation, extractive activities and non-farm activities. In the future, the tendency to increase income differences and to privatize land property rights/resource claims most will likely increase social polarization/ inequality among the household strategy groups in the tribal communities. To this should be added the impact of the high and continuous dependence on resource extraction activities, which tend to increase the pressure on the local environment. On the other hand, limited resources and limited local opportunities for permanent agriculture have stimulated the peasant communities to focus on commercial farming systems rather than on the extraction of local resources. The limited access to resources has forced the farmers in these communities to intensify their agricultural practices. However, for those who cannot afford to buy the inputs, a shift to non-farm activities and, in the long run, the abandonment of their farmland seems most likely. The farmers who are able to maintain or improve their position, however, will find it increasing necessary to invest in the further intensification and commercialization of agriculture and will thus probably increase pressures on the local environment.

• Small farm size (2 ha). • High use of inputs. • Use of wage labour is common. • Gold mining is the main source of income both for middlemen and diggers. • Perennial crops provide higher average income than in other groups. • Shifting cultivation is rarely practised. • High dependence on natural resource.

Accumulation


153

• • • •

Small farm size (2 ha). No use of inputs. Mainly family labour. Farming makes small contribution to income. • High share of income from gold mining and non-farm activities. • High dependence on natural resource extraction.

• Small-scale fishery is main activity. • High use of family labour. • Little use of modern capital inputs. • Largest share of income is from fishing. • High dependence on marine resource extraction and middlemen (for credit).

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

Survival

PIONEER COMMUNITIES

Type of farming communities • Large farm size (>7 ha). • Moderate to high use of inputs. • High use of wage labour. • High share of income from perennial crop and non-farm activities. • High investment in new perennial crop lands (still waiting to become productive). • Low dependence on natural resource extraction. • Non-farm (fishery related) is main activity. • Both family and wage labour are used. • High use of modern capital inputs. • Bagan provides significant amount of income. • Largest shares of income from non-farm activities, particularly as middlemen. • Small-scale fishery is main activity. • High use of family labour. • Moderate to high use of modern capital • Largest share of income from fishing. • Bagan provides significant income inputs. • Aquaculture provides 21 per cent of income. • High dependence on marine resource extraction and middlemen (for credit).

• Small-scale fishery is main activity. • High use of family labour. • Moderate use of modern capital inputs. • Largest share of income from fishing. • Bagan provides significant amount of income. • High dependence on marine resource extraction and middlemen (for credit).

Accumulation

• Moderate farm size (>4 ha). • Low use of inputs. • Both family and wage labour are used. • Income diversifications: farming, gold mining, forest product gathering, nonfarm activities. • Moderate dependence on natural resource extraction.


Strategy groups • Small farm size (2 ha). • Low use of inputs. • Both family and wage labour are used. • Income diversifications: farming, gold mining, forest product gathering, non-farm activities. • Moderate dependence on natural resource extraction.




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The forces of change confronting the pioneer communities have stimulated them to use the various natural resource use systems, ranging from extractive to non-extractive types. The ample availability of these resources in the frontier zones have induced them to expand their tree crop farming system, rather than intensify it through the application of inputs and other innovative technologies. This has enabled them to combine pioneer farming with commercial aims and display similar patterns of production relations as the peasant communities. However, the increase in population puts the environment under heavy pressure, because the agro-economic conditions aim at production increases through area expansion rather than intensification. The open access character of sea resources has made sea fishery the main resource use system for most of the coastal communities, and in particular for the survival group households. Unlike the land-based activities, however, this open-access resource use system still requires capital to buy inputs and tools. With increasing surpluses and better economic prospects, consolidation groups invest in bagan fishery and in aquaculture, both of which require much more capital. The accumulation households, with better economic conditions, can often position themselves as middlemen and provide capital loans to other community members. To a larger extent than the consolidation groups, the former group could focus on bagan fishery, which generates more income and often labour opportunities for other people (as wage workers). Thus, the ability of accumulation households to provide this capital has also created larger social differentiation, as more inputs and better tools tend to provide larger yields and, consequently, larger incomes. On the other hand, for those who cannot afford the inputs and modern equipment, engaging in illegal fishing activities through the use of explosives and poison seems to be the only instant solution, thereby starting processes that further harm the sustainability of natural resources. Table 5-8 presents comparative information on the same type of strategy groups across the farming communities. The survival groups in all communities seem to share some similarities, including the dominant use of family labour, limited (or no) use of inputs/modern tools, and small areas of actively cultivated land. In the tribal, peasant and pioneer communities, non-farm activities and other extractive resources (such as gold) have become alternatives for the survival groups. This particularly appears when income from farming is no longer possible due to the high cost of inputs, or even because this activity is no longer attractive as a source of income generation. However, the situation is a little different if alternative income sources/resources are limited, such as those in the coastal communities. Here, households sometimes have to get into debtor practise ‘illegal’ activities just to survive or sustain their income. In all

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communities, the survival groups have the lowest average income compared with the other strategy groups. Although the starter and advanced consolidation groups were distinguished as separate groups on the basis of cluster analysis (because of the variations that might occur within these large groups), they share similar characteristics in most of the communities. To some extent, these consolidation groups show a wider range of variation of sources of income than the survival or accumulation groups in each of the farming communities. They are also still dominated by family labour, even though some of them have started using wage labour in their production systems. Another aspect differing from the survival group is that the surpluses generated, although not as large as in the accumulation group, are mostly used to invest in their farming or fisheries activities. However, some starter and advanced consolidation groups have not been able to escape from their involvement with the middlemen, such as those in the tribal and coastal communities. Their dependence on natural resources and on middlemen is high and, consequently, the opportunities for improving their socioeconomic position remain limited. In general, the accumulation group also shows similar characteristics in all types of communities. The members’ sources of income do not seem to be as diverse as those of the consolidation group, because it shows the specialization they have made to generate income. In the farming system, they usually opened large areas and invested adequate inputs to increase the yields per area unit (and thus their income). But their preferred activity seems to be engaging in non-farm activities; many of them act as middlemen and mostly provide credit to other households or producers. The middlemen themselves now play an important role in the village economy through the tools and credits they can provide. They are also interested in some extractive activities that provide high returns, such as gold mining and timber production. Thus, it is not surprising that this group in all communities has the highest average income. Both vertical and horizontal analysis show that in communities with abundant natural resources, especially open-access resources, farmers/households tend to focus on the exploitation of these resources. The survival groups in the farming communities perform extractive activities because their limited capital makes them reluctant to engage in agricultural activities. Later, the profits generated by extractive activities might be used to invest in agricultural activities or the education of their children, or even be reinvested in the same activity. Other types of households (consolidation and accumulation strategies) with enough or abundant capital and the opportunity to exploit


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these open-access resources, also engage into these sources of income. Some might invest the profits and surpluses in new agricultural activities with advanced inputs, while others will stay in the same activity by generating more yields and reinvesting the surpluses in more advanced technology. In most of these cases, the relative abundance of resources seems to have reduced the level of social differentiation within these communities. On the other hand, in communities with limited resources, or at least limited access to resources, the survival group has no choice other than to take on nonfarm jobs or work as a wage labourer or sharecropper. The consolidation and accumulation groups with their higher surpluses can usually invest in land or inputs to generate more income. Some also prefer to invest in their children’s education or luxury commodities. In addition, with their skills and education levels, they tend to be able to perform some non-farm jobs with better income opportunities. Under these conditions of increasing inequality, it is not surprising that social differentiation in these communities is also increasing. Thus, farming households in the various communities are far from homogeneous in composition and response patterns. The different types and responses of household strategies also have different potentials to either improve or degrade natural resources in their direct environment. These potentials at the household and community levels must be identified in order to develop proper local policies and make resource management more sustainable, as well as to improve the community’s welfare. This might also contribute to the wider economic development at the district level. In the following chapter, we explore the sustainability and potentials of the resource use systems applied in the four types of farming communities. This sustainability assessment describes the impact of resource use systems, as results of social transformation and the strategies applied in these farming communities, on the local resources.

6. Sustainability of Resource Use Systems

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6.1 Introduction Regional/local sustainability is considered the foundation of global sustainability. Behaviour and social changes at the regional/local level are an indicator of whether global sustainability will be achieved (Goñcz et al.2007). However, little is known about the sustainability aspects of local resource use systems (Ostrom 2009). In addition, various communities have differences in resilience and flexibility in the face of increasing external pressures and stresses upon their respective livelihood conditions. Thus, the sustainability of a specific local resource system will also produce different outcomes among the communities, and consequently provide different impacts on the local environment. This chapter focused on the sustainability aspects of these small-scale resources use systems in each Berau farming community. Berau farming communities have developed their own resource use systems to build their livelihoods, as shown in Chapters 4 and 5. Some of these systems have existed for a long time, while others were established due to external factors, including the global market demand, government policies or initiatives from migrant communities. These resource use systems, however, have different impacts on the condition of their local resources, where its sustainability depends on several intrinsic properties of the respective systems, beside critical factors like differences in income-generation levels, social relations of production and environmental requirements. In order to establish the proper balance between the various resource use systems, a comparative assessment of the various types of resource use systems is needed.

6.2 Assessing sustainability resource use systems In agrarian societies, local resource use systems have also been called agroecosystems (Conway 1985) because of their complex combination of socioeconomic and ecological elements. The development and transformation of an ecological system by human beings in order to produce food and income for their needs, clearly also involves some social and economic aspects, in terms of both cooperation and competition. Thus, human conditions (socioeconomic and health) and environmental factors are the main elements underlying the various types of agro-ecosystems (Yiridoe and Weersink 1997). Conway (1987) stated that the agro-ecosystem’s main aim is to increase social value. He related this social value to its function to produce goods and services


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and to meet human needs, as well as to arrange the allocation of goods and services among the human population. Four properties are used to measure the social value of complex agro-ecosystems. These properties – productivity, stability, sustainability and equitability – also show the status of the system in terms of agricultural development or agricultural performance (Conway 1985, 1987; Conway and Barbier 1988). The trade-offs among these four indicators tend to occur on either a local or broader level of management (Conway and Barbier 1988). On the other hand, Ostrom (2009) also mentioned all the humanly used resources as the social-ecological system (SES), which is composed of a complex subsystem that includes resource systems, resource units, users and governance systems. In assessing the level of sustainability of SESs, he underlined the importance of identifying and analysing the relationships among these complex systems. Ostrom (2009) provides the complexity of subsystems with multiple second-levels of variables, including economic development, demographic trend, political stability, government resource policies, market incentives, and media organization. Having generated ideas from the above assessments, we started to assess the sustainability of local resource use systems, with the economy as the basis for the analysis, and to relate it to the social and ecological dimensions. These three dimensions sometimes overlap and interlink with each other. Each dimension concerns long-term processes. We consequently found it necessary to assess the differences in relative weight among these criteria as realistically as possible, namely by using both qualitative and quantitative assessment methods, which mutually support each other. Farm households tend to weigh the combined impact of these dimensions against those of the other two dimensions. The economic dimension usually weighs the heaviest, as it concerns the coverage of basic needs (food) in the short term, as well as of essential services, consumer goods and production inputs in the longer term. In assessing the economic dimension, we mainly focused on the attractiveness of the resource use systems for the farm households and communities. This attractiveness is assessed in terms of total income contribution and the marketing potential of the respective resource use or cropping system. Every livelihood activity contributes differently to total household income, as the production method, levels and inputs required are very different. These will ultimately cause the different income contributions from the respective type of activities to total household income, and show how important and relevant a certain resource use system is compared with other resource use systems in the respective communities. Another assessed aspect is the marketing potential of

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commodities. In view of domestic and world market prices, and the accessibility of markets in general, the marketing potential is assumed to indicate the ability of a certain commodity to sell on the market. The information also shows the level of commercialization of commodities produced, that is, the amount of yields sold on the market and the impact of external forces on the local economic situation. The social dimension is mainly based on maintaining standards of equity and social cohesion in the community, in order to secure access to vital resources for all by preventing social polarization and conflicts. The aspects used in our research were income distribution analysis and the role of institutional arrangements of resource use systems. The level of equity is primarily based on the income distribution (equitability) effects of resource use systems. Income distribution is strongly related to equitability, which is determined by the evenness of distribution of the systems among beneficiaries. It refers, for example, to the distribution of the value of goods or services or net income generated by activities or resource use systems among the households, village members or wider populations involved in their production. The institutional system shows how the allocation and access to resources is arranged and how the social networks function in relation to their application. These two aspects involve aspects of social cohesion and differentiation/stratification as an impact of the applied system within the community. Together these social indicators contribute to either more equity or more polarization within the communities. The ecological dimension is based on the intrinsic properties of the ecological stability of the respective resource use/cropping system. The analysis was based on the assessment of several indicators, such as soil conservation, hydrological conditions and the biodiversity of the resource use system that affect the environmental condition in general. Qualitative information about the ecological impact of resource use was often directly obtained from observations and comments by local farmers, fishermen, etc. Moreover, in the case of specific local observations, we added general information from ecological case studies and secondary sources of information from references/ researches applying to similar resource systems. Finally, the sustainability assessment of the resource use system was completed by using a scoring system for each of the above mentioned aspects. Three value levels were assigned to indicate the strength of the aspect’s impacts in each resource use system: low (= 0), moderate (= 1) and high (= 2). The procedure for assessing each aspect according to these scores is presented in Appendix C. A simple mathematical calculation was then used to establish the rank order of total scores among the activities in the resource use systems. In the following


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sections, the sustainability analyses of the resource use systems are presented for each of the three dimensions in the respective communities.

6.3 Variation of resource use systems in the farming communities Based on Chapters 4 and 5, resource use systems in four farming communities are presented in table 6-1. The lists resulted from income analyses of the household survey that calculated both the monetary and the non-monetary incomes of respondents’ livelihood systems. However, the lists did not include income-generated activities that are not directly linked to the management of local natural resources, such as remittances, temporary wage labour, trading, working as a driver, being a state employee and performing other non-farm activities. However, the impacts of these latter sources on the sustainability of local resources are included later in the analysis and final discussion. Table 6-1. Resource use systems in Berau farming communities Tribal communities

Peasant communities

Pioneer communities

Coastal communities


Rice cultivation


Sea fisheries

Perennial crop (cocoa) Upland food crops

Upland food crops

Stationary lift net (Bagan)

Gold mining


Perennial crop (cacao)

Aquacultures

Forest products

Perennial crop (others)


Animal hunting


Gold mining

Forest products

Hunting

The sources of household income generated from natural resources in tribal communities are shifting cultivation, cocoa plantation, gold mining, forest products gathering, and hunting. The peasant communities seem to have a similar nature resource based income when compared with the tribal communities, including wet rice cultivation, upland food crops, cocoa plantations and livestock/vegetables. Vegetables and livestock are produced both for consumption and marketing. The pioneer communities show a larger variety of natural resource based activities than the other communities. At least seven types of natural resource

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based activities were identified, including shifting cultivation, upland crops, cocoa and rubber plantations, gold mining, forest products gathering, and hunting. Last, as a type of community that mainly deals with marine resources, the coastal communities have various sources of income ranging from sea fisheries, stationary lift net fishery, aquaculture, and non-farm activities that are related to fisheries. Real land-based activities have only recently been started and are quite rare. Each of these resource use systems has its economic, social and ecology dimensions, which determine their level of sustainability. The following sections show that these dimensions of sustainability essentially also reflect the main dilemmas faced by farming communities/households when using their local resources for longer periods with the purpose of safeguarding their existence and utility for the next generations.

6.4 Shares of resource use systems to total income As mentioned, every resource use system contributes differently to total household income. The decision made by households and communities to practice the respective resource use system highly depends on local economic, social and ecological conditions, as the production method, levels and inputs required are very different. These factors create different income contributions to total household income. We believe that this composition shows how important and relevant a certain resource use system is compared with other resource use systems in the respective communities. Table 6-2 shows this income distribution for all farming communities at the research site. Table 6-2. Shares of total income of the farming communities Average income per household (IDR/year)

Share of total income (%)

Hunting

19,942,024

40

Gold mining

13,587,214

27


2,388,452

5

Forest products

1,582,262

3

828,048

2

Non-farm*

8,783,810

18

Other sources*

2,455,857

5

Income source TRIBAL COMMUNITIES

Cocoa plantation


Average income per household (IDR/year)

Share of total income (%)


5,608,350

25

Rice cultivation

2,896,028

13

Upland cultivation

1,833,895

8

Perennial crop (fruits)

916,463

4


519,024

2

Wage labour

287,561

1

Non-farm*

8,512,439

38

Others*

2,103,561

9


5,483,690

15

Forest product

4,010,393

11


2,441,250

7

Hunting

1,410,476

4

Gold mining

1,387,690

4

Upland cultivation

1,268,012

4

Wage labour

1,166,667

3

Income source

165

PEASANT COMMUNITIES

PIONEER COMMUNITIES


503,878

1

Non-farm*

16,452,714

45

Others*

2,061,786

6

Sea fisheries

15,007,408

27

Stationary lift net

10,920,542

20

Aquacultures

2,680,250

5

21,000

0

Non-farm*

19,268,200

35

Others*

7,830,250

14

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

Rice cultivation

* Although the assessment focused on the incomes from natural resource uses systems, the incomes from both sources were included in the calculation. Moreover, the role of non-farm activities is also presented in the discussion.

In the tribal communities, hunting plays an important role in the average household income: it contributes 40 per cent of a household’s total income. Hunting (in this case wild boar and river fish) provides the households’ main source of protein. This shows how vital it is for the tribal communities that the forests and rivers remain healthy. Forest products gathering, which contributes 3 per cent of total income, also shows the importance of forest resources for their daily needs. Gold mining is the second most important resource use

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system in this type of communities: it contributes a 27 per cent share of total income. The high price and the availability of gold has increased the role of this commodity in the household’s income composition even though it was started just 5–6 years ago. In contrast, the role of shifting cultivation and perennial crop (cocoa) systems contribute only small amounts to total income (5 and 2 per cent, respectively) compared with other systems. The main reason the cocoa plantations produce such low yields is due to a lack of maintenance. In terms of natural resource based activities, cocoa plantations generate the highest income share of all activities in the peasant communities: around 25 per cent of total income. This is because the area is one of the main potential areas for cocoa cultivation in Berau. Fruit tree plantations (orange, rambutan, mango and durian) comprise another type of perennial cash crop, which is planted in either monoculture or mixed garden systems. Their role, however, is less important, as this type only contributes 4 per cent of the total income. Rice cultivation and upland food crops generate 13 and 8 per cent, respectively. The remaining sources, that is, livestock/vegetables and wage labour, contribute 2 and 1 per cent of the total income, respectively. In other words, incomes from productive activities in the peasant communities show a typical focus on commercial cash and food crops besides a surprisingly high contribution from non-farm activities. The latter sector’s contribution reflects the relatively advanced level of economic diversification in these more commercialized types of communities. Perennial crops also dominate the natural resource based incomes in the pioneer communities; in this case, it is rubber plantations, which contribute 15 per cent. Other sources include shifting cultivation, upland crops, gold mining, animal hunting and wage labour, which together comprise less than 8 per cent of the total income. Cocoa provides only 1 per cent of the total income in this type of community. As discussed, pests and diseases have reduced the yields of this recently introduced crop, as well as the enthusiasm to plant or maintain more cocoa in these communities. In the coastal communities, sea fisheries contribute 28 per cent of the total income, while stationary lift net (bagan) fishery contributes 19 per cent. Brackish water aquaculture (shrimp ponds) contributes only 5 per cent of the total income. This low contribution is caused by the locally stagnating number of ponds and their low productivity in recent years. It is also interesting to see that income from non-farm activities is now making a significant contribution to the total household income in these farming


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communities. This income could be high because we summed up all nonfarm activities, including incomes generated from middlemen, kiosk owners, car rental/taxi drivers, employees’ salaries (state and private institutions), etc. Thus, we cannot ignore the fact that these activities are becoming increasingly important for the farming communities due to the external forces of change. In the peasant, pioneer and coastal communities, moreover, these activities provide higher contributions than other activities. For the pioneer communities, for example, this surprisingly high share of non-farm activities is probably closely related to their strategic location. The increase in road access to their settlement areas has also created new opportunities for non-farm jobs, for example restaurants, kiosks, car rental/drivers, and middlemen. In particular, these types of activities have created more incentive for new migrants to come to this area. Moreover, there are various types of non-farm jobs, for instance village government staff positions that are mostly recruited from higher social strata, that is, from among those with higher levels of educational attainment. In the coastal communities, these non-farm activities are also growing, since the local government is now developing coastal areas as a main tourism destination.

6.5 Marketing potential of commodities Gold is undoubtedly the commodity with the strongest demand and the highest profitability in terms of returns to labour. This is shown in its high value per product unit and high marketing potential compared to other commodities produced, in particular for the tribal and pioneer commodities. However, for the tribal and pioneer communities, this is not the case for timber, as it is mostly harvested from state forest areas and is therefore an illegal action. Although the local government seems to apply more loosely defined regulations, this extraction is mainly not for commercial use. Thus, the commercial trading of timber occurs only within the communities. In addition, timber transport from the isolated inland communities to the urban areas is both quite difficult and expensive. Consequently, the marketing potential of this commodity is also considered low. As the production is more commercially oriented for the peasant farming communities, most agricultural commodities are aimed for the market. Most products from upland food crops commodities (maize, ground nut, chilli, soybean, tomatoes, spinach, etc.) are for trading in the nearby urban market. These facts are also supported by the graph in figure 6-1, which presents the price movements of some vital agricultural commodities in Indonesia from 1995 to 2008. During the last five years, most food crops, cocoa and rubber have increased in price.

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

24 http://faostat.fao.org. last accessed: 12 January 2011

Figure 6-1. Price movements of some agricultural commodities in Indonesia from 1995 to 2008 (Source: FAOSTAT24 2011)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Tomatoes

Rice

Natural rubber

Maize

Groundnuts

Cocoa beans

Chillies



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Rice, however, has a more stable price level, since the price of this staple food is controlled by the government. Most of the yields from rice cultivation in the peasant and pioneer communities are for subsistence purposes, while the remainder is sold. Different from the peasant communities that sell their rice to the market, the demand for rice in the pioneer communities comes only from within the community area, such as roadside restaurants or kiosks, which have recently been growing in numbers. Thus, in terms of marketing potential, this commodity has only a modest potential to offer profits to the pioneer farmers. In contrast, paddy in the tribal communities has a low marketing potential compared with the other commodities. This is because the commodity has a high value for achieving subsistence security and almost 100 per cent of the paddy is used for self-consumption. The same applies to the animals that are hunted. For the pioneer communities, the agricultural commodities mentioned above are still considered to have lower marketing potential compared to rubber and cocoa plantation. The long distance to the market in the capital city makes these upland crop commodities subject to some distribution problems. In most cases, the farmers have become strongly dependent on local traders, which tend to reduce the farmers’ profits. The market for rubber is far away, in South Kalimantan. Once in a month, middlemen come to collect the yields. They have established long-term trading relations with the farmers, and advance credit. This means that the pioneer areas in Berau can still benefit considerably from the improvement of both infrastructure and marketing relations. Cocoa is also another commodity with good potential, particularly for the peasant communities, as its demand both for domestic and export purposes is quite high. Most of the cocoa production in Berau is exported to Malaysia. However, this is not the case for tribal and pioneer communities: low yields caused by a lack of maintenance, by pests and diseases, and by low input use make the cocoa trading system unattractive and poorly functioning. Finally, in the coastal communities, sea fish and shrimp undoubtedly have a high marketing potential. The demand for these commodities comes not only from the local market but also from the national and international markets. Some larger fishing boats from China and Malaysia also anchor in the coastal waters of Berau and buy the catches of certain fish species (especially reef species).

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Every day, a large amount of anchovy is caught and traded not only to Tanjung Redep but also to other cities and islands in Indonesia. The anchovies are usually is traded in Indonesia as dried fish, so that its distribution is not bound by time or location. Sea fishery, including dried anchovy, provides 42 per cent of the total district income from fishery. At the regional level, fisheries provide only 3 per cent of total district gross regional product. However, with a 15 per cent annual increase in productivity, this sector will play an increasingly important role in both the subdistrict and district economy in the coming years (BPS Berau 2003b). This good marketing potential, however, means that the amount of fish sold in the village or used for self-consumption is declining. Fishermen prefer to sell their catches to realize money to cover household needs, including rice. Besides, indebtedness to middlemen often forces them to monetize their yields as much as possible.

6.6 Level of income inequality Income distribution analysis is used to describe the level of inequality in farming communities and is determined by the evenness of distribution of the systems among beneficiaries as presented in table 6-3. For this research, the income distribution was analysed by using the decomposition of income inequality method by calculating Gini coefficients25. This method has been widely used by many authors, including Fei, Ranis and Kuo (1978), Shorrocks (1983), Stark, Taylor and Yitzhaki (1986), Adams (1999) and Suyanto, Khusyusiyah and Leimona (2007). This analysis has provided some data about the role of a certain income source in a community group, such as the level of income contribution of a certain activity (k) to the total income, the inequality level of income source k in a community group, and the correlation of income source k to the total income. This analysis also allowed us to identify the relative concentration coefficient of income source k to overall income inequality, and provided information on the impact of a small exogenous change in the income sources to overall income inequality (Stark et al. 1986; Adams 1999). Table 6-3 shows the level of inequality in the tribal communities with a value of total Gini coefficient of as much as 0.331, which is lower compared with 25 A more detailed description of the methods and formulas is presented in Appendix B.


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values in the other farming communities. From this value, it turned out that gold mining and animal hunting (43 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively) offered the highest contribution to total inequality in the tribal communities compared with the other sources of income. Other resource use systems make little contribution to total inequality (less than 4 per cent), while non-farm activities contribute 14 per cent to the total inequality. This type of activity requires more skill from the communities to join (private employee and state employee such as teacher) and sometimes also a higher social status (such as staff of village government). Similarly, the income inequality in the peasant communities is also relatively low (G= 0.385). In these communities, non-farm activities and cocoa plantations contribute 51 and 24 per cent, respectively, to total income inequality. Other perennial tree crops contribute only 5 per cent to the total inequality, which is somewhat lower than the impacts of rice cultivation and upland food crops (8 and 7 per cent, respectively). Compared with other communities, the pioneer communities show the highest level of total income inequality (G=0.452). As shown in table 6-3, non-farm activities contribute most (59 per cent) to the income inequality. In natural resource based income activities, rubber plantations and forest products gathering are the two income sources that contribute most to income inequality (18 and 14 per cent, respectively), while each of the other sources contributes less than 2 per cent. Finally, with a total Gini coefficient of 0.454, the decomposition analysis for the coastal communities shows some variety in the size of the Gini coefficient in each type of income source. This also can be seen as the impact of income specialization in the respective communities, where every household focuses only on several marine and non-farm income sources, because the new land based income sources (such as food crops cultivation and, later, oil palm plantations) are still in an initial stage. Table 6-3 shows that non-farm activities contribute 44 per cent of the total income inequality in the coastal communities, while bagan fishery contributes 19 per cent. Other sources, like sea fisheries and aquaculture, make much lower contributions (8 per cent each) to the total income inequality. Table 6-3 also shows the inequality increasing or decreasing role of each source of income (g). In the tribal communities, four activities – shifting cultivation, cocoa plantation, hunting and non-farm activities – are the inequality decreasing sources with a g 1, as these would increase the level of total inequality if the income from these activities increased. In the peasant communities, non-farm activities and other perennial crops are the inequality increasing sources as their g >1. Other sources of income – such as rice cultivation, wage labour, livestock/vegetables, cocoa plantations and upland crops – have inequality reducing effects. Similarly, in the pioneer communities, non-farm activities, rubber plantations, and forest products gathering are considered to increase the inequality, with g > 1. The remaining sources (shifting cultivation, hunting and gold mining) have a decreasing impact on income distribution. For the coastal communities, aquaculture and non-farm activities are the inequality increasing sources, while sea fisheries and bagan fishery are inequality decreasing sources. With all these increasing and decreasing inequality levels, a 1 per cent increased income from each resource use systems would increase/decrease the total inequality within the respective farming communities. As shown in table 6-3, an increase of 1 per cent in income from shifting cultivation, cocoa plantation, hunting and non-farm activities in the tribal communities would reduce income inequality by as much as 4.5, 0.7, 3.3 and 4.1 per cent, respectively. In contrast, an increase of 1 per cent income from gold mining and forest product gathering would increase the total inequality in the tribal communities by as much 15.3 and 0.6 per cent, respectively. This suggests that especially the development of typically extractive types of activity tends to increase inequality. In the peasant communities, non-farm activities and other perennial crops would increase inequality by as much as 13.9 and 0.9 per cent, respectively, if income from these sources increased by 1 per cent. A 1 per cent increase in income from rice cultivation, wage labour, livestock/vegetables, cocoa plantations and upland crops would decrease inequality by 4.9, 3.4, 2.2, 1.0 and 0.9 per cent, respectively. In the pioneer communities, every 1 per cent increase in income would increase the overall inequality by as much as 13.6 per cent (non-farm), 3.0 per cent (rubber plantation) and 3.1 per cent (forest product gathering). A 1 per cent increase in income from shifting cultivation, animal hunting and gold mining would reduce income inequality by 4.8, 3.4 and 3.3 per cent, respectively. The results in the peasant and the pioneer communities demonstrate once again that both agricultural commercialization and economic diversification tend to increase social differentiation. Finally, a 1 per cent increase in income from aquaculture and non-farm activities in the coastal communities would increase the inequality by 3.0 and 9.3 per cent, respectively. In contrast, for sea fisheries and bagan fishery, a 1


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per cent increase would decrease the inequality by as much as 19.4 and 0.6 per cent, respectively. The reason for the latter’s unexpected negative impact on inequality is that to some extent, bagan fishery creates working opportunities, as the exploitation of bagan requires workers or sharecroppers who are paid by sharing the yields. Consequently, the establishment of a new bagan would also distribute more income among the community. All this information will help the government/local government to identify which policy should be formulated or addressed in order to improve the distribution of rural incomes, because these tend to affect the community’s overall conditions of inequality and welfare (Adams 1999).

6.7 Institutional arrangements in resource use system In the tribal communities, although the role of customary law (adat) has been eroded since the introduction of Christianity, the reciprocal system in hunting and shifting cultivation still supports the social cohesion in the communities. Adat rule in this regime, however, has never been forced on the communities in a rigid way. It first of all arranges agricultural activities in food production, that is, from land allocation to the establishment of working groups, and the timing of the planting and harvesting. A reciprocal system of labour allocation is still applied in all stages and involves anyone who registers to join in this activity, whether both locals and migrants. Considerable amounts of social capital are invested in these reciprocal systems that regulate food production and offer social security to all members of the communities. In addition, the dominance of kinship relations in hunting means that the yields are often shared reciprocally, and therefore offers another case of mutual support and food security. Wealth accumulation in these activities is relatively low, as surplus yields are shared with relatives or preserved for subsistence purposes. Concomitantly, social differentiation is also low, as the access to resources and land for these activities is open to anyone and is guaranteed by the existing social norms and adat. The pioneer farmers, in particular Dayak people, to some extent also still maintain the reciprocal labour system and the adat arrangements needed to conduct shifting cultivation. Adat regulates the allocation of land and the formation of working groups before cultivation is started, and includes time arrangements for field preparation and planting. Similarly, the reciprocal system is also applied to hunting similar to the Dayak people in tribal communities. The hunters operate either individually or in groups, and the

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yield is usually shared among the participants. Although adat still prevails in these communities, it is not as strong as adat in the tribal communities. One explanation is that the access of resources is based on territorial claims and no longer on kinship. In addition, some Javanese farmers apply similar joint cultivation systems, although they are not included in the Dayak institutional system and they establish their own arrangements inspired by their own culture. This is not surprising, as a number of the various ethnic groups in these communities also establish their own systems/arrangements in agricultural practices, depending on their habits and previous experiences. The kind of institutional arrangements discussed above are not found in the other resource use types. In both tribal and pioneer communities, gold mining and forest products gathering are conducted in working group and constituted on the basis of employer and employee relations. Both parties divide the yield/ profit upon agreement. The employers are usually those with machines or capital. This also applies to other cropping systems, such as upland food crop cultivation and rubber and cocoa plantations. In these systems, and in line with commercial objectives, both family and wage labour (mostly in the pioneer communities) are commonly applied instead of the reciprocal system. It is also interesting to see how the role of institutional arrangements in the peasant communities affects social conditions, since the role of adat in resource use matters is clearly decreasing. This is demonstrated by rice cultivation, where the role of institutional arrangements is less than in the tribal and pioneer communities. Some local people in the peasant communities (Dayak and Berau people) to some extent still apply a rudimentary form of reciprocal labour system in their rice cultivation, but limited access to land in the area has forced them to engage in more permanent types of rice cultivation, as the migrants usually do. This permanent type of rice cultivation is based on more individual labour relations and ownership arrangements, and commonly makes use of wage labour and credit arrangements. Similar arrangements are also applied in all other types of resource use systems in the peasant communities. Even in upland crop and perennial crop cultivation, the reciprocal labour system is now hardly found, and as a consequence the use of wage and family labour is ubiquitous. Similar to the pioneer communities, the coastal communities in Berau are also composed of various ethnic groups. This means that common institutional arrangements, in terms of adat rules for resource allocation and management, are completely lacking. In general, the middlemen in the coastal communities play a dominant role in all marine-based activities, including sea fisheries,


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aquaculture, and bagan fishery. In sea fishery, the middlemen provide inputs and capital for the fishermen, who in return must sell their catches to the middlemen. It is therefore not surprising that the fishermen, who most of the time have a debt-bonding with the middlemen, have no power to influence the market price or even to switch to other middlemen who can offer higher prices. Stationary lift net fishery (bagan) and aquaculture are the most capital-intensive types of systems and only people with enough capital are able to establish these resource use systems. In the Berau coastal areas, both systems are commonly practiced by people from South Sulawesi. Some of them are middlemen or bagan owners who employ workers, most of whom are brought from their area of origin in South Sulawesi. These workers work as sharecroppers and receive a salary based on the monthly yields, namely usually half of the revenues. As the owners prefer to have workers from their areas of origin rather than local people, these workers will contribute to increasing the size of the population and compete with the local workers, thereby potentially creating social tensions in the future.

6.8 Impacts on ecosystem and biodiversity conditions In the research communities, the clearing of forests on previous virgin land is almost always done in areas close to the river, and almost all former shifting cultivation fields are located near the river. Most of the cultivation areas are thus located on valley slopes without the application of soil conservation, such as bench cultivation or contour strip methods. When the cultivation area is opened, the burned logs are usually left on the spot without any further treatment or clearing of the land. Although the burned logs may sometimes be laid horizontally, limited tillage activities tend to further increase the erodibility of the plots, which are usually located directly on the valley slopes and erode easily. This happens particularly during heavy rains, which create a high river discharge and erode the riverbanks. On the other hand, the limited use of chemical inputs means that the river is less polluted. Interviews with key persons also disclosed that present-day shifting cultivation practices are carried out in a less careful way than in former times. The conversion of forests into agricultural systems usually has significant effects on the erosion level (Sidle et al. 2006) and the hydrological conditions. The shifting cultivation system, however, usually coincides with low levels of erosion and sedimentation, as referred by Lal (1987), Hatch (182) and Forsyth (1984) in Neergaard and colleagues (2008). Sidle and colleagues(2006) referring to

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research done by Morgan (1995), for example, mentioned that on a shifting cultivation plot with a slope of 25°, the rate of soil loss was 0.038 t/ha/year, which was not much different from a secondary forest cover with a soil loss of as much as 0.0033 t/ha/year. The short period of soil exposure before the planting, is considered one of the major causes of this low erosion level. Moreover, the use of burned logs laid horizontally and limited tillage activities may further reduce the erodibility of the plot. In addition, the limited use of chemical inputs makes the river less polluted, as most of the shifting cultivation areas are located on the river banks or not too far from them. It undeniable that the conversion of forest into shifting cultivation areas has decreased the level of biodiversity (de Jong 1997). Although after several years of fallowing the biodiversity is expected to regenerate, the level remains far below the previous conditions. This is related to the fact that in recent times the average fallowing period has been shortened to only five years. The shifting cultivation system itself offers a monoculture crop system with a very low level of biodiversity. Some additional tuber crops or some trees for marking the ownership do not improve the level of biodiversity as such. However, changing shifting cultivation areas into more permanent but monoculture types of agricultural system will only reduce the biodiversity level even further. Upland food crop and rice cultivation, as practised by peasant and pioneer communities, can in certain cases cause soil erosion. Sidle and colleagues (2006) presented some research in the Philippines (Presbietro et al.1995; Paningbatan et al.1995; Craswell et al.1999; and Poudel et al. 1999) showing that on slopes of 8° to 27°, soil erosion by upland crops (such as tomatoes, cabbage, maize and potatoes) ranges from 39 to 140 t/ha/year. Dry paddy fields in Thailand, on slopes of 12° produced 3.9 t/ha/year of soil erosion (Nishimura et al. 1997), while in Vietnam in 10 plots this crop produced 1.78 t/ha/year of erosion (Tran Duc Vien 1997). However, the erosion levels are expected to be much lower if the farmer applies soil conservation methods, such as terracing, contour tillage and strip cropping (Linden 1983, Midmore et al.1996, Dijk 2002 in Sidle et al.2006). Most cultivation areas are on relatively flat riverbanks and lower slopes. Most farmers therefore do not apply any soil conservation methods as mentioned above. The annual floods occurring in the villages, however, often destroy their crop areas and may even cause harvest failure. Fortunately, the flooding also deposits mud that is rich in minerals and favours the growth of successive crops. Thus, flooding frequently stimulates the harvest in the next season.


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However, compared with the tribal communities, the peasant and pioneer communities use much more chemical fertilizers and pesticides for both their upland crops and rice cultivation in order to increase their yields. On average and per hectare of land, upland food crops require 25 kg of fertilizer (such as NPK) and 2 litres of pesticide (such as Round-Up); these amounts are sometimes even higher when applied to mature cocoa plantations. This increases the risk of water pollution in the rivers and on most of their agricultural land. Moreover, the danger of soil destruction and depletion may also arise with the increasing use of chemical fertilizers, which leads to fertilizer addiction. To some extent, perennial cropping systems may offer better soil protection than shifting cultivation or seasonal upland cropping systems, because they cover the soil throughout the year, even if in initial years the perennials are still small and the soil cover is still insufficient for protection against heavy rains (Hartemink 2006). Research done by Hashim and colleagues (1995), and also mentioned by Hartemik (2006), showed that the level of soil erosion loss in cocoa plantations (monoculture system) was 0.011 t/ha/year, which is lower than in shifting cultivation systems. This level may become even lower when the cocoa is planted together with cover crops in mixed gardens (Hashim et al.1995). Most of the cocoa plantations in the tribal communities are located close to the village and are planted on previous shifting cultivation areas. As in shifting cultivation, the farmers never apply any soil conservation practice to their cocoa plantations. Thus, in the initial planting periods, the risk of erosion is still large. From our observation, it is clear that most of the plantations are now mature and potentially could avoid erosion. But because the plantations are dominated by a monoculture system this advantage has not been fully achieved. Some fruit trees are also present, but these are usually only the marker of land ownership from previous generations. This perennial system is therefore considered to offer a low level of biodiversity. Similarly, the cocoa plantations in the peasant communities are dominated by a monoculture system. However, the peasant communities also expand their plantations more into the hinterland areas, as the amount of available farm land along the river is limited and is usually reserved for annual food crops. Changing land use from shifting cultivation or upland cultivation into rubber plantation has also occurred in the pioneer communities. Even though rubber plantations may offer a positive alternative to shifting cultivation, Ziegler and colleagues (2009) demonstrated in China that such change does not necessarily improve the environment. Research by Sunarti and colleagues (2008) in Jambi (Indonesia) showed that the conversion of forest into rubber monoculture

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caused the highest soil erosion level compared with other types of land use, such as oil palm and mixed rubber–forest gardens. In addition, and compared with forests and mixed rubber agroforestry plots, this rubber monoculture also causes a lower biodiversity level. It also causes carbon loss and hydrological impacts due to the forest clearing and conversion process (Ziegler et al.2009). In the pioneer communities, the rubber plantations are mostly established as small plots of monoculture systems. The mature plantations are part of a former timber plantation concession and grow in between plantations of Paraseriantehs falcataria, Gmelina arborea and other timber species. The latest rubber plantations have also been established as larger monoculture systems and are mostly conversions of secondary forest and agricultural areas. Hardly any mixed rubber plantations are found in this area. In the form of mixed agroforestry rubber or jungle rubber, the plantations according to Gouyon and colleagues(1993), could be considered to have similar characteristics and environmental impacts as secondary forests. Foresta (1991) in Beukema and colleagues (2007) also compared the level of vascular plants in forest, jungle rubber and monoculture rubber, and found that the decline of species richness in monoculture rubber was higher than in forest and jungle rubber. The other systems that have been practised for ages are hunting and forest products gathering. In terms of ecological impact, and as long as the communities apply local wisdom, both are still considered quite stable. Local wisdom is applied, for example, when timber is used just to supply their own needs for renovating their houses or other infrastructures, and not for sale outside the community. The same restriction applies to hunting for food. These extractive activities have been carried out for generations with limited use of modern tools like firearms. However, as forest areas outside the direct tribal reserve areas are increasingly affected by logging companies and plantations, the game reserves maybe reduced and, together with the increasing pressure of local population, this might reduce the supply of game in the near future. In contrast, gold mining in the tribal communities involves the use of modern tools such as high pressure water sprayers and modern pumps. Compared with the traditional method, which used only the dulang (a cone-shaped wooden tool), the newest system has more potential to destroy the environment and especially the river banks. The modern tools allow them to open more forest land and dig bigger holes, and thus later allow more mud to flow into the river. The respondents acknowledged that this activity had caused the deteriorating condition of their rivers in recent years, and had also reduced the quantity of fish catches.


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However, gold mining as an extractive system in the pioneer communities has different characteristics from the tribal communities. The tools used, for example, are not as modern as in the tribal communities. They commonly use a boat’s propeller to dig a hole in the bottom of the river and a plastic bottle to suck the potential gold grains using their mouths. The advantage of this method is that it hardly threatens the environment. At least for the moment, the gold diggers are still able to resist the need for more modern tools, while the yields do not yet show any signs of decline. Another extractive system in the pioneer communities is gaharu collection in the forest. The decline in gaharu yields from the surrounding forest has forced the collectors to go deeper into the forest, often far beyond their village areas. In theory, gaharu can be cultivated, but the communities prefer to extract it from the natural forest. To collect gaharu, which grows inside the timber, they have to log the timber. Consequently, this is a speculative system and therefore the collectors sometimes also have to cut trees with only juvenile gaharu within. Finally, the negative environmental impact has also occurred in the coastal waters and areas. These open access resource areas are interesting for fishermen not only from the surrounding coastal areas, but also from more faraway areas. With their larger availability of capital, the more successful fishermen are able to improve their fishing boats and gears, and consequently increase the pressure on local marine resources. As discussed, this has also caused social differentiation in the coastal communities, as not all fishermen are able to modernize. This has stimulated some island dwellers to engage into illegal activities, such as bomb and poison fishery in the reef areas to gain more income. This cheap and instant type of practice has obviously become a serious threat to marine biodiversity in the coastal areas. The danger of overfishing is also related to practices in bagan fishery. Some of our respondents raised this issue, as bagan fishers usually use large nets with a small mesh size and thus catch all species of trapped fishes. A similar problem was noticed in Raja Ampat (Papua) by Amarumollo and Farid (2002): the floating/boat bagan can catch more fish than the fixed bagan and, consequently, promotes overfishing. On the other hand, Ainsworth and colleagues (2008) believe that anchovy in Raja Ampat, as reported by both fishermen and researchers, was not yet over exploited. The decline was assumed to be more seasonal and localized to only some inshore areas. Moreover, they suggested that the decline might be caused by the variable nature of small pelagic stocks, due to variations in temperature, salinity and current patterns. However, maintaining the amount of anchovy fish stable (not heavily fluctuating) is important, as this species is also a key prey for higher level predators. This means that the quantity of this species influences the quantity of other species,

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such as birds or pelagic fishes (Ainsworth et al.2008; Skewgar et al. 2007 in Bailey et al. 2008). In addition, it is not fair to attribute the decreasing amount of fish solely to bagan and sea fishery practices, because the increase in sedimentation and pollution (urban and industrial waste) from the activities in the upper stream areas have also contributed considerably to the decreasing yields in the coastal waters. The increasing area devoted to fish ponds and aquaculture in the coastal areas is also suspected of contributing to the level of sedimentation along the coast, as the mud resulting from the construction of the ponds flows into the river at low tide. Aquaculture has also destroyed the mangrove forests in the coastal areas. As discussed in the previous chapter, the area of mangrove forest fell from 53,500 ha in 1997 to 49,000 ha in 1999 (BFMP 2000), while the area of shrimp ponds rose from 162 ha in 1997 to 3,480 ha in 2005 (Fishery and Marine Service Office 1998-2006).

6.9 Comparison of sustainability in the farming communities The overall sustainability of resources use systems is presented in table 6-4, which provides a comparison of five aspects of the natural resource based activities that are practised in the farming community. These aspects represent economic, social and ecological dimensions (i.e. share of total income, marketing potential, role in income equality, contribution to social cohesion, and degree of supporting better ecological condition) and reveal the level of sustainability in the farming communities. As mentioned, each aspect was assessed with three value levels (low = 0, medium = 1, high = 2). For share of total income, an aspect’s value was assigned on the basis of its contribution to the total income. The marketing potential was assessed through the potential of commodities to be sold on the market. The value of income equity contribution was derived from contributions of increasing income resource use system to the total inequality. The ability of the resource use system to maintain social cohesion among communities was observed to provide values. Finally, how these resource uses system would support or damage local ecosystem and biodiversity condition was used to measure the last aspect from the ecological dimension. More detailed descriptions and the reasoning behind valuing these aspects are presented in Appendix C.

HIGH

Animal hunting

LOW


Perennial crop (others) LOW LOW LOW MED LOW

Shifting cultivation (rice)

Upland food crops

Perennial crop (cacao)


Gold mining

PIONEER FARMING COMMUNITIES

LOW HIGH

Upland food crops

MED

Permanent rice cultivation

PEASANT FARMING COMMUNITIES

MED LOW

Forest products

LOW

Gold mining

LOW


HIGH

HIGH

LOW

MED

MED

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

MED

LOW

LOW

HIGH

LOW

LOW

HIGH

LOW

MED

HIGH

HIGH

MED

MED

MED

HIGH

HIGH

MED

LOW

MED

HIGH

Contribution to income equity

LOW

LOW

LOW

LOW

MED

LOW

LOW

LOW

MED

MED

LOW

LOW

LOW

HIGH

Maintain social cohesion

Social

Ecological

MED

HIGH

HIGH

MED

MED

HIGH

HIGH

MED

MED

MED

MED

LOW

HIGH

MED

Support ecosystem and biodiversity condition

Dimensions and aspects of sustainability assessment Marketing potential

Economic Share of total income

Shifting cultivation (rice)

TRIBAL FARMING COMMUNITIES

NATURAL RESOURCE USE SYSTEMS

Table 6-4. Comparison of sustainability aspects of resource use systems in the tribal farming communities

5

5

3

4

5

5

7

5

6

6

4

3

3

5

TOTAL


183

LOW

Animal hunting

MED LOW

Stationary lift net (Bagan)

Aquacultures

Value: low=0, medium=1, high=2

MED

Sea fisheries

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

MED

HIGH

HIGH

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

Marketing potential

Economic Share of total income

Forest products

NATURAL RESOURCE USE SYSTEMS

LOW

MED

HIGH

HIGH

LOW

Contribution to income equity

LOW

LOW

LOW

MED

LOW

Maintain social cohesion

Social

Ecological

LOW

MED

MED

HIGH

LOW


Dimensions and aspects of sustainability assessment

2

5

7

5

3

TOTAL



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In the tribal communities, hunting is amongst the most sustainable of activities. Hunting provides the community throughout the year with a supply of protein and contributes a considerable share of total household income. In terms of ecological support, hunting would normally balance the needs of the population with the stock of animals in the forest and rivers. As long as the communities hunt with traditional methods and tools, the ecological balance will be more or less maintained. However, natural population growth and the decrease in forest areas surrounding their settlements and increasing river pollution are predicted to disturb the animal food chain and thus also the food supply. A similar situation applies forest products gathering, in this case timber. Deforestation in their areas will decrease the availability of timber for their houses, boats, village infrastructures, etc. Buying building materials from outside/urban centres is costly and time consuming. Therefore, timber from surrounding forests is still the main construction material required by these tribal communities. Shifting cultivation seems to have only a modest priority and relatively low levels of sustainability in the tribal communities. Shifting cultivation for food crops now offers only low levels of productivity and a minor share of the total income. Nevertheless, the cultivation system is continued for reasons of food security. Moreover, the cultivation system is strongly rooted in the social system and may reduce inequality among the communities. It is because of the adat and reciprocal labour system that this activity tends to reduce social differentiation in the tribal communities. Consequently, even though shifting cultivation is slightly diminishing in recent times, the practice will not easily vanish as long as the adat rules are observed and food security remains a vital aspect of production. Planting perennial cash crops, in this case cocoa may in theory provide a better score on sustainability. But in reality, this is not an option for the tribal communities because only a few people are willing to maintain or plant cocoa plantations. As discussed in Chapter 4, the local government and NGOs supported the farmers with seeds, fertilizers and technical training to establish cocoa plantations, but the success soon dropped to almost nothing. Thus, the fact that cocoa may offer high sustainability scores is of little value if there is no more support from local institutions to improve and maintain the plantations that have already been planted, especially if there are other nearby opportunities to earn quick money with relatively little effort or investments, like gold mining. Gold mining has one of the lowest scores on social and ecological sustainability in the tribal communities, but gold mining is also the most popular activity.

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The high productivity and income contributions of this activity seem to be the main reasons for the community to get involved in it. However, this activity promotes the highest inequality in these communities, as people with capital buy more modern tools and thus generates more income. Even more striking are the negative ecological impacts of gold mining caused by the increasing use of modern and heavy tools, which damage the land and forest on the river banks. It is reported that the river, as a main source of local diet (fish), is becoming increasingly polluted and murky. The communities realize that this is not only caused by the activity of logging companies operating in the upper river areas, but also by their own gold mining activities. Yet, the high returns of income from this activity make them reluctant to change their practices. In the peasant communities, cocoa plantations scored high on most aspects in the sustainability assessment. The profit gained from this activity was the main reason for many migrants to move to this area in the 1980s. However, cocoa plantations tend to increase social equity in these peasant communities. As cocoa is mostly planted as a monoculture system, it is still possible to improve the system by introducing mixed plantations, whereby cocoa is planted together with other tree crops. This would not only be a good way to improve the overall ecological conditions, but also might provide a more secure income if the cocoa harvest fails or the cocoa price falls. Rice cultivation, upland food crop cultivation and fruit tree plantations score lower than cocoa plantations. However, in general these three activities show a moderate level of sustainability for the near future. These is related to the good ecological conditions for and marketing potential of these cropping systems, while most of the farmers still have enough access to land for food crop cultivation and commercial farming. Some resource use systems in the pioneer communities display similarly high scores on sustainability, namely shifting cultivation, gold mining and hunting. In the first two activities, adat and reciprocal labour relations still play a role in both livelihood systems (although less than in tribal communities) and thus help to reduce inequality in the pioneer communities. In terms of ecological support, pioneer communities still use traditional tools to mine gold. As this simple technology helps to preserve the environmental conditions in the area, this activity received a medium score on ecological support. With respect to hunting, the activity offers enough supplies of protein, but it also helps to reduce inequality and is ecologically more or less harmless. This, however, also demonstrates the dependence of pioneer farmers on good forest management and a good river condition for a continuous supply of game and fish – and this


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applies even more to forest products gathering, in this case gaharu, which they have to search for far beyond their surrounding forest areas, as this precious commodity is now practically exhausted in nearby forests. This is also a reason why the latter activity receives a low score on sustainability. Another resource use system with a high sustainability score in the pioneer communities is rubber plantation. On the other hand, the conversion of forest land into rubber plantations has increased strongly in the pioneer communities. This activity, moreover, is increasing due to its significant contributions to total household income and its good marketing potential, although to some extent it also contributes to more inequality. In an ecological sense, the conversion of forest into rubber plantations is a better option than other types of land use, such as upland food crops or rice cultivation, because rubber plantations have ecological characteristics that fit into the rainforest conditions. The result might have been even better had rubber plantations been established together with other tree crops in mixed forest gardens, which ecologically would imitate the closed canopies and undergrowth of secondary forests and economically would diversify the communities’ income sources. Similarly, this mixed forest garden system could also apply to cocoa plantations, although cocoa plantations in the pioneer communities receive a lower sustainability score than rubber plantations. This is particularly due to the less dense growth of cocoa trees and their sensitivity to pests and diseases, which often reduce the yields and quality, and ultimately reduce the marketing potential of this commodity. Finally, in the coastal communities, the three activities of sea and bagan fisheries and aquacultures have similar scores in terms of high marketing potential and low involvement of institutional arrangements. Aquaculture, however, contributes strongly to income inequality, which is mainly because this system requires high investments and does not supply the farmers with regular incomes. The decreasing yields and unfavourable ecological conditions are among the main reasons for the farmers to abandon their ponds. As these ponds require many inputs and much capital for construction and maintenance, their yields do not match the investments and efforts by the pond farmers. In addition, aquaculture does not support better environmental conditions. This reflects both its negative impacts on the mangrove forests as well as the locally unfavourable environmental conditions for establishing fishponds in the delta. Consequently, aquaculture might not be a viable system to support the coastal communities. Interestingly, bagan fishery shows a weak tendency to decrease income inequality in these coastal communities if the income from this source increases. This is possibly because the capital-intensive bagan development would increase

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income differences, which however would be compensated for by increasing employment opportunities among the communities. However, increasing the number of bagan would not offer a good solution, as it would certainly lead to overfishing and increase the number of migrants competing for work. As we have seen, this may even create another social problem among these coastal communities. In addition, what makes these fishery activities differ is their specific threats to the ecological conditions. In sea fisheries, as long as some fishermen still apply explosives or poison and also reduce the available fish stocks through overfishing, the ecological conditions will always be under threat. The decreasing amount of fish might also occur with the bagan system, as the large, fine-meshed nets catch massive amounts of anchovy and often also other fish species. If there is no limitation on the number of bagan platforms, the available fish stock will decline below replacement level. Finally, aquaculture is especially considered to threaten the existence of mangrove forest in the coastal zone. Moreover, the traditional types of exploitation of shrimp ponds and locally unfavourable ecological conditions also lead to a low value on economic support.

6.10 Conclusion The analyses of the sustainability impacts of resource use and development revealed considerable differences within and between the respective types of communities. None of the resource use types achieved the maximum sustainability score of 10 points and most fall far behind, with average scores ranging from 3 to 7 points. In interpreting the total sustainability scores, however, we should make two cautionary notes. The first is that these scores only indicate sustainability under the present conditions of resource use. The second is that total scores are useful only for comparing differences in sustainability among types of resource use systems and communities, if all aspects of the respective dimensions (economic, social and ecological) that contribute to the total scores are included in the comparative analysis. In relation to the first point, the score has no predictive value if the conditions are changing radically through, for example, increasing population pressure, government intervention or corporate sectors activities. Thus, the high score sustainability score for hunting in the tribal communities, for example, does not suggest that this resource use system will remain stable if the forest reserves declining rapidly due to the establishment of plantations and/or the spread


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of logging concessions. The high score can only show that hunting is a stable and important resource use system under the present conditions of access to forest areas and game reserves. In other words, the total scores should not be treated as though we are dealing with static conditions and intrinsically stable systems. They can only show the relative differences in the sustainability and the importance of the systems under present condition. The second point is that perennial cropping system (cocoa) in the peasant communities received a much higher score than the same system in tribal and pioneer communities. This cannot be understood without including the role of the economic indicators in the comparison. The same applies to the comparison of the different sustainability scores for shifting cultivation systems in the pioneer and tribal communities. Similarly, the total scores differ because of the different contributing factors/aspects. With respect to the sustainability conditions in the communities, it might be assumed that the tribal communities would be most dependent on natural resource exploitation and therefore would be the most strict in observing the rules of sustainability (rooted in adat). Considering the moderate average total score (i.e. 5.3), this is not the case. One of the main reasons is that the available resources are also claimed by external forces (state and corporate enterprises), which might further reduce the possibilities for sustainable resource use in these communities. Moreover, there is the impact of competing types of extracting resource use by the villagers themselves. Shifting cultivation – the oldest and originally most stable system in the tribal communities – now offers only a moderate level of sustainability. This system is no longer the most favoured one as a result of the emergence of gold mining, although its main role in increasing social cohesion and achieving food security will keep the system going, as long as sufficient land is availability for this system. Cocoa as a promising cash crop was also neglected for similar reasons. Interestingly, in the peasant and pioneer communities the ecologically welladapted perennial crop systems offer both the highest and the lowest scores on sustainability. Rubber plantations scored high on sustainability in the pioneer communities, while the cocoa plantations received the highest scores in the peasant communities and the lowest scores in the pioneer communities. In both types of communities, permanent agricultural practices with higher yields and returns to investments seem to have become dominant, and probably will continue to develop by using more land (through extensification) or more inputs and technology (intensification) due to the advancing processes of commercialization.

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Of all the farming communities, the peasant communities received the highest average total sustainability score (5.8), which is a result of the relatively high sustainability scores for all their permanent agricultural systems discussed before. However, much continuing population growth (in-migration), and rising demand for commercial crops from the urban and export markets, will increase the pressure on agricultural resources and might very well induce a further decline in the sustainability of their resource use systems. However, the pioneer communities have a remarkable flexibility in adapting to increasing pressures on resources, due to for example increasing population (in-migration) and advancing commercialization. Much of these increasing pressures might be compensated for by introducing labour-extensive types of perennial cropping systems, as well as improved upland food cropping systems. Thus, it is not surprising that, in terms of sustainability score, these communities received smaller average total scores (4.3) than the other communities. It is also possible that, sooner or later, the younger and newer migrants will look for new opportunities in the nearby open forest areas, thereby invading the region’s last natural forest reserves. As a consequence, the sustainability of resource use systems in these pioneer communities will decline. The marine-based resource use systems of the coastal communities also received lower than average sustainability scores (4.6), as the aquaculture system received the lowest sustainability score. However, sea and bagan fishery offer relatively high values of sustainability assessment despite increasing signs of overfishing. This is mainly due to the open resource character and rich stocks of fish in the coastal waters, but also to the possibility to expand the operational fields even further into the open seas. Moreover, the coastal communities are more specialized in their activities, due to the extractive nature of these activities and the specific skills they require. The land-based activity of aquaculture, on the other hand, provides only a low level of sustainability due to its insecure yields and low scores on the social and ecological dimensions. The flexibility of coastal communities is determined by both natural resource endowment and open access characteristics. The richness of these resources, however, is not infinite. The rising population pressure in the coastal communities (through increasing in-migration) will therefore have to be accommodated by developing other types of resource use. Taking into account that aquaculture does not offer a good alternative in these coastal areas, the only way to diversify the local economy is by developing sustainable types of landbased resource use. There are sometimes opportunities to develop sustainable types of land use in the hinterland areas of the coastal communities, namely by


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introducing agro-forestry (fruit tree) plantations and oil palm plantations in the often degraded uplands. In the framework of accommodating increasing pressures on resources in the various types of communities, we should therefore not ignore the role of nonfarm activities. In particular the natural resource related non-farm activities might play an important role in most village economies, because they already provide significant shares of total income in all communities. However, these resource-related non-farm activities will also have indirect impacts, both positive and negative ones, on the environmental conditions. The middlemen in the tribal and coastal communities, for example, provide capital/money for the communities to produce gold, fish, timber or other raw materials in their own areas. Thus, the environmental conditions also depend on the presence and dynamics of these externally induced types of extractive activities. In the coastal communities, the most promising of these diversification opportunities are probably the development of non-farm activities, related to the processing, trading and storing/transporting of fish products, as well as to boat/gear maintenance and engine repair. Another increasingly important non-farm activity might be the development of beach and reef tourism, although this sector might also attract more skilled workers from other areas. In addition, in most communities, the non-farm activities, such as middlemen, kiosk owners, taxi drivers and government/company employees tend to create more social differentiation. The main reason for this is that only people with capital and certain skills can practise these types of activities. On the other hand, the non-farm activities may also offer good opportunities for diversifying the local economy, for example by developing activities based on the trading and processing of local farm surpluses and offering local services, or by performing additional jobs in the nearby urban centres. This tends at the same time to increase the flexibility of the communities towards growing pressures upon resources in a more sustainable way. It may thus be concluded that when deciding on a development strategy for farming communities, policymakers should look at this comparative sustainability assessment from a comprehensive perspective. The government’s approaches should also take account of the variations among communities, as no single and uniform solution can be applied to all types of farming communities. Furthermore, the sustainability analyses show how important it is to include the economic, social and ecological dimensions, as they are strongly interlinked. A system with high values in only one of the dimensions does not necessarily achieve a better total score, as the other dimensions may provide

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much lower values. Thus, balancing the combination of these three dimensions is imperative in assessing the overall sustainability characteristics, and in exploring ways to improve the sustainability of the respective systems. Finally, one should be aware that an activity with a high sustainability value in community A cannot simply be substituted in community B (or be expected to have similar effects). This is because that activity should first of all fit into the community’s resource use system for all three dimensions. The different role of cocoa plantations in the tribal, peasant and pioneer communities can be used as an example. This perennial crop system might offer a high value of sustainability in the peasant communities, yet the total value of sustainability in other communities might show the contrary. This system undoubtedly has a high potential for supporting the environmental condition in these three communities, but the lower values in the economic and social dimensions make the total sustainability score for cocoa plantations in the tribal and pioneer communities much lower than in the peasant communities. Vulnerability, low productivity and low marketing potential are some of the main reasons for these lower sustainability scores.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

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In this final chapter, we formulate the conclusions by linking the external forces of change at the district level to the different responses at the community and household levels. Later, the sustainability of local resource use is discussed as the impact of these dynamics. Before reaching the final conclusion, two subchapters are included with recommendations about the sustainable use of local resources use and policy implications for especially the local government.

7.1 External forces of change in Berau During the last 35 years some major processes of change have occurred in Indonesia. In line with the objective of the New Order government to boost the state’s economy from the late 1960s onwards, a natural resource based economy was developed all over Indonesia, including in Berau. During this period, natural resource management was a top-down policy, from the national to the local level. Logging, tree plantations, coal mining, and pulp and paper were among the most important industries that shaped Berau’s characteristics and economic performance. The implementation of the decentralization policy in 1998–2000 has strengthened the power of local governments to manage their own regions and natural resources. However, economic development using local natural resources remained the main strategy of the local government to boost their revenues, and was dominated by large-scale companies. Activities include timber harvesting, timber plantations, coal mining and, especially in the early 2000s, oil palm plantations and aquaculture have increased. These activities have increased the district’s economic performances and improved employment opportunities. The real and perceived increase in employment was accompanied by a sustained growth of the population. It actually started in the early 1980s with the deployment of the government’s transmigration programme, which was then followed by spontaneous in-migration. The latter sharply increased from the mid-1990s as a result of Berau’s improved economic performance and subsequent chain migration effects. Thus, population development turned out to be another important factor affecting economic development in Berau in general as this has led to increased pressure on the absorption capacity of the population.


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7.2 Social transformation and flexibility of the farming communities Because of the developments mentioned above, the communities and their households often had to face the full force of externally induced changes in their livelihood conditions and perspectives without being able to exert any control over these forces. It may be concluded from our research that no farming or fishing community has been left unaffected by these forces and have adapted or even transformed their resource use systems, access to livelihood assets and level of commercialization, as well as their social systems, namely social cohesion/differentiation and institutional arrangements. The adaptations and transformations show the directions of the development and their possible effects on the flexibility of the communities in coping with the changes. Flexibility here is defined as the capacity to adapt to changing production relations (e.g. market orientation, property and labour relations), production techniques, and the possibility of new activities in a sustainable way. The tribal communities The tribal communities are slowly moving away from subsistence production of food crops to more commercial activities. An increasing need for monetary income to buy modern tools, fuel and consumer goods, or pay for school fees and health expenses, have driven the households in these relatively isolated communities to find short term income opportunities. These remain, however, based on natural resource extraction. Gold mining and logging are among the most important activities. At the same time attempts were made by some NGOs and the local government to improve local food crop farming practices and introduce perennial cash crop (cocoa). Neither of the latter attempts to establish more profitable and sustainable farming systems, however, has been successful, because of the greater attractiveness of still possible extractive activities, which offer higher returns to labour. The traditional types of food crop farming and hunting still yield enough to supply a sufficient level of food security to the majority of the population. It would be too optimistic, however, to assume that this situation will continue in the near future, taking into account the continued growth of the population and the progressive decline of the area required for sustainable food production (because of the increasing pressures and claims from logging, mining and estate companies).

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The persistent role of adat law in maintaining social cohesion and regulating access to resources (land and labour) and securing food production for larger sections of the population has certainly suppressed social differentiation which usually is associated with advancing commercialization. We may conclude that the tribal communities have not yet shown any signs to develop a more peasant type of economy, by producing larger agricultural surpluses for the market or using more wage labour in farming practices. The situation is almost similar as mentioned by Panda (1999) in her research on two tribal communities in eastern India. Forest degradation has reduced production through shifting cultivation. Rather than applying some new agricultural techniques, because of limited capital and skills, the communities prefer to expand the cultivated area and shorten the fallow period. Only in gold mining more business-like labour relations have developed, which, however, tend to be based on sharing arrangements rather than on fixed wages. External opportunities for earning additional incomes with wage work (in logging or estate companies) are usually shunned, not only because of lack of skills, but also since long-term wage work relations do not fit with the labour calendar and social obligations of the tribal communities. The peasant farming communities In contrast, the peasant farming communities have shown a high flexibility towards the impact of external forces. These communities have already been involved in the market since long, and the improved road access to the urban centre has increased their market engagement even more. They have direct relations with middlemen from within and outside the communities, can quickly respond to changing market situations and have diversified market production. Not only perennial crops like cocoa, but also some upland food crops like maize, soybean, chilli and even banana leaves are becoming sources of income for the communities. Increasing commercialization has led to intensification, including the use of high yielding varieties and chemical inputs. Besides, non-farm activities have also emerged, like kiosks, transportation and delivery services (including agricultural commodities), and jobs that require more skills and education, including teachers, doctors, mechanics, as well as middlemen. As a result, the use of wage labour both in farming practices and non-farm activities is becoming more common, partly on the basis of a yield sharing system.


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The advancing commercialization tends to transform the communities into commercial farming communities. However, to become real commercial farming communities, as mentioned by Bates (1984) and Smelser (1963), they should still improve their business attitude, that is, become more profit seeking, for example by using simple book keeping and providing contractual agreements. Currently, the peasant communities in our research area are still too dependent on middlemen who have better access to information and more economic power, and consequently dominate the distribution chain. The pioneer farming communities Despite the unclear status for most of their land, the pioneer communities have shown a remarkable flexibility to the forces of change. This appears, among others, from the diversification of resource use systems, which range from extractive and non-extractive resource use systems, to various types of non-farm activities. Subsistence agriculture is still part of their livelihood, but the increase of some upland and perennial crops also shows their market involvement, not to mention the use of inputs and technology in these farming systems. Rubber trees are becoming a main source of income, albeit that this resource use system has grown at cost of forest conversion. As also noticed by Koninck (2000), the pioneer farmers were identified as one of the main actors in the process of deforestation and environmental degradation. Compared to the tribal communities, better road access has also stimulated them to focus more on agriculture practices. However, some extractive activities like gold and gaharu are also practised but to a limited extent, when compared to the tribal communities. The aforementioned aspects, including the fact that road access has increased the number of non-farm jobs in restaurants, lodges, transportation and many more, show that commercialization have also occurred in these pioneer communities. Undeniably, however, some limitations on the access to markets and unclear land tenure situations still exist. Another consequence is the slight increase in social differentiation among the communities, not only because of the commercialization process but also because of the fact that these communities are composed of various ethnics. The adat regulations of Dayak people cannot maintain the social cohesion of the whole pioneer communities, since other Javanese and Buginese people would probably refuse that situation. Thus, it is the task of the local government to introduce adequate regulations on access to resources, also in order to avoid greater social conflicts in the future.

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The coastal communities The coastal communities also have a mixed population, since they include various ethnic groups. As mentioned, there are no dominant local customary regulations in these communities regarding resource management. The sea is an open-access resource, or as Hardin (1968) called it ‘the commons’, accessible to everyone. To some extent, this has caused the coastal communities to become highly socially differentiated compared to other types of communities. Loose arrangements concerning open access resources allow people with more capital to generate more profits than others. The process has been taking place for years and has significantly contributed to further commercialization in the coastal communities. The improved market access, increased global demand, competition with external fishermen operating in the same waters, and continuous in-migration are among the drivers of transformation in these communities. The flexibility of the people with regard to these forces of change is illustrated by their application of more modern fleets, which can only be afforded by those with sufficient capital. Other community members rely on systems of debt bonding to middlemen or on illegal practices to survive. The arrival of migrants, however, has also led to the introduction of alternatives on resource use systems in the coastal communities. These include stationary lift nets (bagan) and various types of aquaculture. Unfortunately, many of these new technologies can be used only by those who have enough capital to invest in them in such a way that they generate satisfactory profits. Again, social differentiation might be the result. The recently introduced land-based farming, such as oil palm cultivation, will not have a significant impact on the local households in the short run, as it is beyond their skills and experiences. The presence of oil palm plantations, for example, will only increase the number of migrants (external workers) and might create more social conflicts. What we have described above can, according to Ajami (2005), be labelled village transition (transformation). She mentioned some indicators, including changes in the system of agricultural production, diversification of the occupational structure and shifts in social stratification. Some authors also believe that the transformation process first pushes households into specialization in cash crops; they then invest their growing surpluses in both farm and non-farm activities, while wage labour tends to replace family labour.


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The decline in the use of family labour may also be caused by mechanization and the rise of non-farm activities (Roberts 1978, Hayami 1996, Ajami 2005).

7.3 Internal differentiation and responses at household level within the farming communities The previous section showed the variations in the transformation taking place in the farming communities. However, all the farming communities we studied are composed of various types of households, which consequently show different responses to the forces of change. In other words, the farming households within the respective communities are far from homogeneous in either composition or response patterns. To identify the differentiation, we adapted White’s (1991) types of livelihood strategies (see also Titus 2002, Burgers 2004), namely survival, starter consolidation, advanced consolidation and accumulation groups. The survival households in the tribal communities tend to focus their activities on gold mining, as they can earn money with simple means. They are also still involved in shifting cultivation for subsistence purposes, but rarely cultivate perennial cash crop like cocoa, which require too much capital and attention. The households in the starter and advanced consolidation groups also focus on gold mining, but intend to reinvest part of their income surpluses in improving their agricultural activities. The starter consolidation group has the highest average income from food and perennial crop cultivation. Similar responses were found among the accumulation households, which benefited most from emerging non-farm activities in addition to gold mining, for which they use more machinery. It is therefore not surprising that this category of households has completely abandoned subsistence farming on the basis of shifting cultivation. In the peasant communities, farm income from both subsistence and commercial crops still plays a dominant role. However, non-farm income has started to play a vital role in all households. Unsurprisingly, the survival households have the lowest income from agricultural production, due to their limited resources and limited local opportunities. They consequently have to focus on labour-intensive agriculture, producing mainly subsistence crops (rice, maize) as well as perennial crops (cocoa). Additional needs are covered by local wage work. The starter and advanced consolidation groups, however, have a greater supply of land, capital and family labour and therefore perform much better in agricultural production, as is shown by their higher income

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from both food and cash crops. The best performance in both farm and nonfarm activities is achieved by the accumulation households. This, of course, is the result of their capacity to generate more surpluses and raise more capital to buy necessary inputs and supporting technology and services. These inputs and services (labour) are essential not only for producing large rice harvests, but also for maintaining high yields from upland crops and cocoa plantation, and, ultimately, for investing in more profitable types of non-farm activities, like trade, processing and credit services. The abundance of natural resources has stimulated the households in the pioneer communities to exploit, and often overexploit, these resources. In general, this means that pioneer households are more inclined to expand their cultivated area for either food crops or cash crops, rather than to intensify their cultivation methods by using capital and labour, which is scarce. This is particularly shown by the starter and advanced consolidation strategy groups, who manage to expand and diversify their income sources by extending their activities from rubber plantations to gold digging and forest products collection, without having to make large investments. The survival and accumulation households, in contrast and for different reasons, tend to specialize in a few types of resource use systems. The survival households with limited means, for example, tend to focus on subsistence food production through shifting cultivation, and on extractive activities like gold digging and hunting. From the modest incomes gained from the latter types of activities, some survival households are able to start a young rubber plantation, either on new forest land or on existing cultivable land. The problem that might arise in the near future for these households, however, is whether they will be able to provide the required inputs. However, the accumulation households, which have larger amounts of capital and hired labour, are able to manage their perennial crops in a more efficient way, and they expand their plantations by buying additional land from others or by opening up new land. Beside these sources, accumulation households are often also involved in non-farm activities that may be used for developing perennial crop plantations, or that are carried out in order to earn money to invest in commodity trading, transport or roadside restaurants. Finally, in the coastal communities, the survival households experience most difficulties in coping with the consequences of increasing competition, technological modernization and overfishing. They thus often fall victim to permanent debt bondage to their middlemen. These middlemen also play an important role for the starter and advanced consolidation households, as they are still very dependent on their services, which mainly comprise supplying


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credit and means (fuel, fishing gear) for fishing. On average, however, the consolidation households are still able to maintain their position as independent producers, while making small productive investments. Households with accumulation strategies in the coastal communities, on the other hand, have been able to diversify their main activities. They tend to invest in larger boats with modern equipment, or in expensive bagan platforms (which may be shared with others). Most striking, however, is their tendency to switch to non-farm activities, namely to engage in fish and/or shrimp trading, processing and financing activities, or investing in improved road and sea transport facilities to nearby urban markets and reef islands. Some of them have also started to invest in traditional fishponds, because they can afford to put more inputs and labour into maintaining the ponds. With respect to the variation that appeared, it is interesting that the livelihood strategies in each community share some similarities. The survival groups in all communities mainly use family labour, limited (or no) inputs and/or modern tools, and small areas of cultivated land. Moreover, and logically, the survival groups seem to have the smallest average income compared with the other strategy groups. A similarity between the starter and advanced consolidation groups is that they have various sources of income compared with other strategy groups, and still mainly use family labour and little wage labour in their production system. What makes them different from the survival group is the surpluses generated for investment in agriculture or fishery activities, although they are not as large as those of the accumulation group. The main characteristic of the accumulation households in all types of communities is that most of them practise specialized activities to generate income. As for farming, they usually opened up large areas and adequately invested inputs to increase yields per hectare, and thus income. Most of them also engage in non-farm activities, in particular as middlemen, provide credits to other households and are actively involved in activities with high returns. Thus, it is not surprising that the accumulation group has the highest average income compared to others. Another perspective is resource access. Farming communities with abundant natural resources, in particular with open access to them, tend to focus on the exploitation of these resources. Ostrom also noted this phenomenon in many of her researches. In an environment where resources have open access, most households in the survival groups will focus on extractive activities rather than on agricultural activities because of capital limitations. In the coastal communities, the lack of capital tends to force some survival households into illegal fishery activities (poison and explosives). In most of these cases, the

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relative abundance of resources that can be tapped into by anyone seems to have reduced social differentiation. In contrast, in farming communities with limited resources, or at least limited access to resources, the higher surpluses group such as the consolidation and accumulation groups can invest in land or inputs to generate more income. Some also prefer to invest in their children’s education or in luxury commodities. The survival group, on the other hand, has no choice but to look for non-farm jobs, or to work as wage labourers or sharecroppers. Under these conditions of growing inequality, it is not surprising that social differentiation in these communities is increasing.

7.4 What about the sustainability of resource use systems in the farming communities? The preservation of natural resources, the maintenance of resource stocks in more stable amounts, and the maintenance of ecological processes and life support continue to be the main objectives of sustainability strategies and policies. In other words, the ecological approach to sustainability emphasizes the need and ability to prevent or reduce the destruction of the environment, by conserving natural resources, optimizing and enhancing the use of land and other resources, and preserving biodiversity either at the local or the global level (DFID 2000). Sustainability, however, also has an important social dimension when it refers to the allocation of resources and its access within society. Put another way, sustainability also has everything to do with the distribution of goods and services in relation to human needs and the allocation mechanisms among its population (Conway 1987, Leach et al. 1999). It means that social conditions should not exclude too many people from access to resources and/or facilities and should not increase the differences (or even gap) in wealth between and within communities by safeguarding principles of equitability (Sen 1981). Our research has also shown that sustainability should be regarded as a more complex dynamic development that combines all relevant economic, social, ecological, technological and cultural aspects, instead of from a linear mechanistic point of view. In terms of subsistence impacts of the main forces of change, we saw that in the tribal communities the traditional subsistence activities like hunting or fishing are still practised by most households and remain relatively unaffected considering its high sustainability score. The reason for this is, first of all, that they can still provide essential proteins. But it also shows that deforestation and river pollution, despite gold mining, have not yet endangered the survival


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of animals or fish. However, this may change in the near future, because of the expansion of large-scale activities, like oil palm and logging or even mining. The moderate to low level of sustainability for shifting cultivation in the tribal communities might be quite surprising for such a long-established and balanced type of land use, but it can be fully explained by the progressive reduction of available land, as well as by the increasing competition from the more rewarding gold mining activities, which inevitably lead to a neglect of shifting cultivation. This applies in particular to the disappointingly low sustainability score achieved by cocoa growing, although this perennial tree crop might fit very well with tropical rain forest conditions and has good marketing prospects. Gold mining itself also only achieves a low to moderate level of sustainability, as intensive exploitation will exhaust the resource and cause more and more river pollution. It has, however, quite high scores on economic performance criteria. In the peasant communities, the picture is different. Here, gold mining cannot be practised, and cocoa plantations are important. They play a more balanced role in terms of economic, social and ecological criteria with their stronger emphases on profitability and maintenance, and score highest. High scores of sustainability can also be noticed for rice production, upland food crops and other perennial crops, showing that agricultural commercialization does not necessarily harm sustainability criteria, as long as the communities remain stable in size or are able to extend their land base. The major environmental impact in the pioneer communities is irreversible and progressive deforestation for practising shifting cultivation and developing smallholder plantations. This is even more so since the pioneer farmer households tend to expand their cultivated area rather than to intensify land use. However, it should be noted that the sustainability scores of rubber plantations in the pioneer communities are higher compared to similar resource use systems in our research area. This is due to the economic gains made possible by good marketing possibilities, stable rubber prices, equity-promoting impacts and, last but not least, the intrinsic ecological qualities of this perennial tree crop. These qualities stand in sharp contrast to the low sustainability scores for cocoa plantations, which require more maintenance and are more vulnerable to pests and diseases; hence, external input use is relatively high for cocoa plantations. Cocoa plantations are consequently neglected or avoided by the relatively poor pioneer farmers. Finally, the sustainability of resource use in the coastal communities shows different outcomes, with sea fishery still scoring the highest and aquaculture the lowest. This may seem a surprising outcome for sea fishery considering the

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frequently mentioned overfishing and malpractices in reef fishery. However, the large majority of fishermen still use traditional and environmentally friendly methods, while overfishing is largely caused by a small group of external actors using modern equipment (trawl net, for example). With respect to the impacts of bagan fishery, however, the number of platforms has already exceeded the carrying capacity level of sustainable species replacement. In the long run, both types of fishery will become non-sustainable with advancing levels of commercialization and technological innovation and increasing numbers of boats operating in the coastal waters. An additional problem is that none of these coastal communities consists of a homogeneous population that is willing and able to develop institutions for managing communal resources. Consequently, proper fishery management can only be achieved by law enforcement and a larger supervising role of the local authorities; interventions that should be organized in dialogue with the local communities (see e.g. the turtle egg conflict).

7.5 Towards sustainable local natural resources The facts on the sustainability of local resource use systems summarized above indicate how policymakers should carry out a comparative sustainability assessment. The differences described are proof that no single and uniform solution can be applied to all types of communities. Another fact is that it is important to include economic, social and ecological dimensions in the sustainability assessment, in order to gain insight into its total sustainability values. Yet another fact is that an activity with a certain sustainability value in community A will have a different value in community B, because the nature of the three dimensions in every community might be different. From this starting point, the strategies to improve the sustainability of the whole resource use systems in the respective communities can be explored. When considering the relatively modest to low levels of sustainability achieved by both farming and the extractive types of activities in the various types of communities, it is evident that there is a pressing need to increase their resilience by improving or changing these resource use systems into more sustainable directions. This becomes particularly urgent when these systems have to deal with increasing pressures upon the main type of resources (land, sea) due to, for example, population growth and corporate sector development, as well as further commercialization. In exploring the possibilities for improvement, however, one should always consider the different production


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relations and processes of social transformation in the various types of communities, as well as their environmental settings. In the tribal communities, both the traditional food crop farming and the perennial cash crop systems turned out to be vulnerable to increasing pressures upon land and labour due to the rise of more lucrative types of extractive activities. The only explanation for the continuation of shifting cultivation probably lies in its vital role of offering food security and its potential to reduce inequality for especially the poorer segments of the population. The low level of productivity in food crop farming can, in principle, be improved by introducing more balanced crop rotation systems. In view of the needs of a growing population, the diminishing availability of land and the expansion of corporate sector activity, such an attempt to intensify agricultural production would be highly desirable. Indeed, like other types of extractive activities, gold mining will sooner or later experience a shortfall in supply due to resource depletion. This would be the only reason for the tribal communities to abandon this resource use system in favour of other sources of income. An alternative would be to enforce legal obligations on the exploitation of state owned resources like gold and other valuable raw materials, since the issuance of permits and the levying of taxes will also reduce local interests. In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts with the local communities over traditional rights to exploit natural resources, however, consultations and dialogues should first be held with them. The purpose of this policy would, of course, be to increase the cost of production and participation in extractive activities for the majority of the local population, thereby making more labour available for other activities such as sustainable farming. A new issue at the global level, such as climate change, might also provide additional benefits for the local communities, and in particular for tribal communities that are highly dependent on the forests. Some financial value schemes for the carbon stored in forests like Reduction of Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), the Voluntary Carbon Market system and other programmes are now opening more room to the communities to get involved in forest protection and management, which consequently will provide benefits. Although the mechanism is still being developed, the income opportunities offered by these conservationist programmes could become a main alternative for the tribal communities to generate a steady source of income without destroying their natural resource base. Although the previous discussion has shown that the peasant farming communities were most flexible in coping with the major forces of change,

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this does not imply that these communities do not need help to improve their livelihood systems. Considering the continuing impacts of population growth, rising demands for food and cash crops, and the increasing need to intensify land use, the need for sustainability in resource use is becoming ever more pressing also in this type of farming communities. As the emphasis in peasant farming is on smallholder cultivation of annual food crops and perennial cash crops for the urban and export markets, it would be wise not to introduce any large-scale corporate sector plantations in these communities. They would lead not only to vulnerable monocultures, but also to the eviction of many successful smallholders. Moreover, local government efforts to introduce cocoa on smallholder plantations have already met with considerable success in these farming communities and, consequently, there is little reason to assume that this success could not be repeated with other perennial crops like fruit trees, sugar palm, clove or black pepper, all of which fit very well into stable agro-forestry systems. At the same time, the cultivation of upland food crops could be improved by integrating animal husbandry with agricultural activities, that is, by keeping draught animals, goats and poultry and using their stable dung to manure the upland crops, a large part of which can be used as green fodder. An additional advantage would be the reduction in the use of artificial fertilizers, which tend to increase fertilizer addiction on upland soils and to destroy the soil structure. Given the nearby location of urban markets, there also seem to be good prospects for the marketing of animal produce, that is, to diversify commercial farming activities. Another way to improve sustainability in the peasant farming communities is to stimulate non-farm activities, which not only may support the agricultural sector but also diversify the village economy. This measure could include the promotion of agricultural processing activities and the improvement of marketing by offering better transport facilities and cheap credit systems. The latter may help to reduce the dominant role of middlemen in establishing farm gate prices and the dependency of farmers on debt bondage relations. Like the peasant farming communities, the pioneer farming communities also showed considerable adaptation to rising population pressure, market demand and economic integration. However, there still is a great need to and scope for improving the sustainability of the activities, taking into account the continuing claims of the growing migrant population on local forest reserves, which mostly belong to the state, and the tendency to expand the cultivated area rather than


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to intensify cultivation methods. Until recently the state was quite lenient about small-scale colonization activities on state forest land, but the increasing claims from both corporate concession holders and local pioneer farmers will in the long run certainly clash with the conservationist aims of the state. In improving the local resource use systems of the pioneer farmers, however, there are a few structural impediments. The first is the structural lack of capital and labour in these types of communities, which are trying to establish new livelihoods in a frontier area with limited means and labour (especially among the younger households). This implies that proposed improvements in sustainability should not be too exacting in terms of labour demand and capital investments. Specific measures to improve the sustainability of farming should aim at both the perennial (tree) cropping systems and the upland food cropping systems. The first type is the most dynamic and commercialized one, producing rubber, timber and cocoa, and seems to offer special opportunities for cooperation with the estate sector. One may particularly think of the partnership type of exploitation, in which private sector capital cooperates with smallholder farmers in establishing large plantations of rubber, oil palm or other industrial cash crops (pulp wood) around a nucleus estate with its processing industry and demonstration plots. It would be wise, however, not to copy this partnership model without making some fundamental modifications, although it might offer interesting opportunities to quickly develop more sustainable and productive forms of perennial cropping in degraded forest areas. A major adaptation of the partnership model would be the severance of the processing and/or marketing system from the land conversion and the farm management system, so that the farmers can obtain a more independent position. This might be achieved by separating the credit for land conversion from the estates’ investments by, for example, offering individual credit to the farmers through rural development bank loans. In that case, farmers would also be free to organize themselves into production cooperatives, counterbalancing the economic power of the estate companies. One could even have the processing and/or marketing no longer organized by large companies, but to support smaller processing facilities operated by cooperative organizations. New ways of processing biofuels (ethanol) from palm sugar (Arenga pinnata), for example, created interesting opportunities for developing local and small-scale processing facilities for perennial cash crop (Rasmussen 2011).

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As noted in the previous section, the flexibility of the coastal communities in coping with the major forces of change was seriously hampered by their singular orientation towards the extractive exploitation of the sea as an open access resource. Increasing the sustainability of the livelihood systems of these coastal communities therefore seems highly relevant, but also difficult to achieve in view of the limited opportunities in these communities. One of the most plausible measures would be to attract more capital and know-how in order to modernize the local fishing fleets and lift nets, so that the fishermen could increase their catches while out-competing fishermen from other villages. Such, however, would be exactly the wrong response, as it would lead to more overfishing and competition for local resources – unless such modernization measures were accompanied by strong regulations on how and where to use the modern boats and fishing gear. Thus, modern fishing vessels should only be allowed to operate outside a ten-mile zone in the open sea, thereby sparing the coastal fishery waters and their nursery functions, as well as leaving room for marginal fishery activities by small fishermen. Moreover, the use of trawl nets, explosives and toxic materials by traditional fishermen operating in the reef areas should be strictly forbidden. Certain areas, especially those around the reef islands, should be converted into marine parks, where fishing and collection activities are prohibited. Another way to strengthen the resource base of the coastal communities would be to promote and improve aquaculture, especially the cultivation of shrimps in brackish water ponds. As far as the traditional fishponds are concerned, there are only very limited opportunities to exploit them in a more sustainable way. It seems that the fresh water quality in the Berau river delta is often polluted by mining activities, urban wastewater and organic waste from the big paper pulp factory, while the mangrove forests have been completely destroyed. Therefore, it might be wise to restore the original status of the abandoned fishponds by replanting them with mangroves and convert them into semi-natural breeding grounds (or nurseries) for shrimps, as naturally grown fry are more resilient than the cultivated species from hatcheries and potentially increase local employment as well as complementary income opportunities (Barraclough and Finger-Stich 1996). Considering the aforementioned limitations on improving the livelihood conditions for the fishery communities, there remains only one major way out for the poorer households: the diversification of the local economy away from fishery. This could be achieved not only by promoting local trade, transport and services, or by processing industries related to fishery, but also by developing beach and reef tourism, and the cultivation of permanent cash crops. The latter


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activity could be developed in the hinterland of the coastal zone, much of which consists of degraded uplands resulting from deforestation. These areas might be converted into agro-forestry systems producing cash crops like fruits, cloves, black pepper and palm sugar, as well as palm oil, rubber and pulpwood.

7.6 Policy implications for local government The role of local governance in determining local resource use and the flexibility of the communities have increased enormously since the implementation of decentralization policy in the late 1990s. The local government acquired much more authority in managing both natural and financial resources in its district, and became directly responsible for improving the living conditions of the majority of its population. In theory, the establishment of regional autonomy and decentralization should have created ideal conditions for the regional government to play a mediating role between the interests of local communities and those of the corporate sector or the central government. In practice, however, the local authorities often seem to be more interested in maximizing revenues from large-scale resource development, than in the often slow and cumbersome development at the level of communities. At the same time, it should be evident that the majority of the population (i.e. the electorate) are responsible for most of the local food production (including fishery) and occupy large tracts of environmentally vulnerable land along the coasts and river valleys. Recent views on local economic development (LED) show the vital role of small-scale activities in promoting development at the community level (Helmsing 2003), provided that a right balance can be struck between efficient local governance, the role of local entrepreneurs, civic groups and private sector capital. The following are some suggestions for solving the dilemmas with which the local government at the district level is faced. The possibilities are focused on improving the livelihood conditions of the communities, and in particular on the sustainability of their responses to a number of policy changes. Here, the role of local government is not only to enforce regulations for managing resources and their access, but also to avoid greater social conflicts in the future. 1. Local government should pay attention to the problem of unclear/ insecure land titles. Although this issue does not yet pose much of a problem in the tribal and pioneer communities (considering the role

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of local permit systems), it will become a problem in the near future as a result of increasing population pressures and increasing claims on land from both the state and corporate concession holders. The growing insecurity of land tenure that arises from this development, may of course also negatively affect the farmers’ willingness to invest in permanent and sustainable cropping systems. It would consequently be wise to establish as soon as possible a land registration system. Another useful policy measure might be the prevention of large-scale migration flows to the resource frontier areas, although this will be far from easy in view of the more or less uncontrollable flows of chain migrants following the original settlers. 2. Local government agencies should pay more attention to a proper zoning of land use types and land designation. This is particularly important for creating more security for both the local communities and the corporate sector investors. Smallholder farmers should be guaranteed that their livelihoods will not suddenly be destroyed by corporate sector interests reducing their resource base or forcing them into completely different types of livelihood (e.g. as sharecroppers or wage workers). On the other hand, large investors need to be certain about their operational facilities and profitability, which often require vast concession areas. The current practice of spatial planning in the district is still rather biased towards corporate sector interests and follows rather coarse outlines. Although the planning document distinguishes various types of areas – namely state forest areas, plantation areas, food cropping areas and urbanindustrial land use areas – it does not clearly indicate borders between farmlands exploited by communities and corporately exploited land, which often leads to a clash of interests between the two major players in land use, causing troubles for local development and local administrators. Much of this could be prevented by creating sufficiently wide buffer zones between the corporate concession areas and the smallholder farming areas. Moreover, land use planning should create more security over time by establishing plans for longer periods. At present, the practice is to adjust the plans every few years by earmarking ever larger areas for conversion forests, thus opening the possibility for indefinitely expanding corporate sector activities, while reducing the opportunities for pioneer smallholder cultivation and/or local resource extraction. There is also a need for a more precise zoning of land use from a conservationist point of view. Current land use and conversion is still planned to follow the major river valleys and traffic arteries running inland from the coast (BAPPEDA Berau 2005). Although this is


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understandable from the point of view of population distribution and market accessibility, this approach tends to contribute to a clash of interests between large and small producers, because the latter are concentrated in the communities in these valleys. It might therefore be better to focus efforts to improve community-based land use systems on the populated river valleys, which due to their sloping river banks are also the ecologically most vulnerable areas. Large-scale corporate sector development should be restricted to the degraded plateau areas, which are less erosion prone and, due to heavy leaching, are often difficult to recover with their original forest without heavy investments. When following this model, however, the planning authorities should careful not to create large monoculture areas, which disturb biodiversity. In order to prevent this type of development, the concession holders should be obliged to create forest islands amidst their plantations and concession areas, and to connect these islands by means of ecological corridors in order to allow for the mobility of plants and animals. Similar zoning measures might be taken in the maritime areas by establishing marine parks around, for example, the reef islands, delineating buffer zones (for selective fishing and/or collecting), and differentiating between fishery zones within and outside the 10-mile border, determining the types of vessels and fishing gear used. 3. The local government should shift its attention from promoting largescale development, to giving small producers from local communities a larger role and more participation in development. This could be achieved by improving these communities’ accessibility (roads, markets), establishing public facilities (health, education, energy, water) and introducing production services (extension, credit and/or subsidies). Most important, however, will be the government’s awareness of the different potentials of the various types of communities with their different livelihood systems, social organizations and environmental conditions. Only by recognizing and identifying these fundamental differences between the communities will it be possible to take decisions that will support their livelihood systems in a sustainable way. The recent Agricultural Production Centre Programme, developed by the Berau Regional Planning Office (BAPPEDA Berau 2005), has tried to identify different areas of commodity specialization for smallholders, but this programme is still focusing too much on the potential of physical areas for specialization, instead of on the role of different community characteristics and potentials.

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Another reason for the desirability of a policy change in favour of smallholder production is related to their structural weakness when confronted with the overwhelming power of corporate enterprises like mining, logging or estate companies. This applies in particular to conflicts over land and/or forests, due to the expanding claims of these concession holders, which often maintain good relations with the higher echelons of the local government. Taking into account the right of survival of the local communities and their established rights on local resources inherited from the past, the local government has a prime responsibility in safeguarding these rights and defending them against stronger players, or should at least play a mediating role in finding viable solutions. 4. The local government agencies should only promote sustainable forms of resource use and management that can be handled by the local smallholders and that are sufficiently promising from an economic perspective. Most smallholder farmers and fishermen operate within dominant types of resource exploitation systems that determine their absorption capacity for innovations. Therefore, tribal farmers engaged in shifting cultivation will find it difficult or impossible to adopt labour- and capital-intensive types of continuous cropping systems (horticulture or wet rice farming), because these do not fit into their rotating field system and require too much labour, and thus conflict with other activities like gathering and hunting, or with ceremonial obligations. Similarly, the introduction of cover crops to shorten the fallowing periods, or cocoa as a perennial cash crop, failed in these communities because of competition from more lucrative types of resource extraction (gold digging, logging). Perennial cash crops may fit very well into the shifting cultivation system especially if they are not very labour demanding. This has been the case with the general adoption of rubber tree planting by pioneer farmers and to a lesser degree with the planting of fruit and timber trees. The planting of these tree crops is usually done on recently used swidden farm fields, and thus may contribute to the stabilization of the farming system. Cocoa as a perennial crop failed because of its vulnerability to pests and its relatively high demand for maintenance during the gestation/maturing periods. At the other end of the spectrum, the introduction of industrial cash crops such as rubber, oil palm or pulp wood seems completely out of place among peasant farmers who tend to specialize in multiple cropping with higher value food crops and in tree crops (cocoa) for the urban and export markets, and tend to intensify their cropping systems on a gradually narrowing resource base (due to growing population pressure and further


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commercialization). Here, all efforts should be directed at supporting the intensification process by supplying improved production services and methods for more sustainable land use by, for example, promoting improved crop rotation, the integration of agriculture and animal husbandry, irrigation, ploughing, etc. Similarly, the coastal fishing communities should not be primarily stimulated to indulge in an enforced process of modernization of their fishing fleets and fishing gear, nor to adopt capital-intensive types of aquaculture, but rather to adopt intermediate forms of technological innovation and, above all, to diversify their activities away from fishery. The above-mentioned cases and experiences should show the local authorities that a uniform and top-down approach to modernizing agriculture or fishery only tends to produce adverse effects, especially if sustainability in resource use is to be achieved under a wide variety of local environmental, social and economic conditions, while pressures upon resources are quickly building up and lead to very different responses among the various types of communities and their households. The local authorities should also try to involve the local population in joint management agreements by offering alternatives to what they see as the abolition of traditional rights on common resources. Here, the lessons learned from the prohibition of turtle egg collection in Derawan may offer some relevant guidelines. Instead of completely forbidding any traditional right on local resource extraction, it might be wiser to allow the limited and controlled exploitation of these resources in buffer zone areas by issuing concessions to local communities, but with the provision that these can never be transferred to outsiders. The local concession holders could then be held responsible for maintaining minimum standards of sustainability and pay a modest tax on their collection rights. 5. The local government agencies/authorities could improve the capability of smallholder farmers to achieve sustainable development by offering institutional support. This applies in particular to regulations that increase the security of access to land and other basic resources, as well as to extension and credit services, marketing facilities and cooperative organizations. Ill-defined communal rights of tribal communities on local land, for example, often conflict with those of the state or corporate concession holders, and thus need official recognition and delineation in order to offer

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the smallholder farmers a minimum of subsistence security and a motive for improving the sustainability of their current cropping systems. This can only be achieved by guaranteeing them sufficient space to practise sustainable forms of shifting cultivation, which should them be exempted from the rules applying to state forest land, or from corporate sector claims. Similar adjustments should be made in the pioneer communities, where the occupation of new land usually occurs at the expense of state forests and where increasing claims can be expected from logging companies and other concession holders. Here, the farmers should be allocated formal land titles, also in order to stimulate them to invest as soon as possible in more permanent and stable types of cropping systems. With respect to the role of extension workers and credit services, much could be improved by establishing permanent branch offices and better trained officials in the villages, or if this is not possible, by stationing itinerant officials at regular times in these villages so that they are readily available and can regularly visit their customers and check crop conditions in their villages. The supply of supportive services and subsidies is particularly important for introducing perennial cash crops, which require long-term investments and sustained maintenance before they start to yield. Furthermore, the supply of cheap credit and subsidies on inputs is also essential for controlling or counterbalancing the dominant role of middlemen in producing and marketing the commodities. When controlling local resource extraction (mining, logging, fishing), authorities should first try to convince the local producers and collectors by inviting them to draw up sustainable management plans, especially when the extractive activities concern resources that have traditionally always been seen as common property (forests, gold deposits, fishery waters and reefs). Except for areas designated as nature reserves or marine parks, it might be possible to define buffer zones that allow limited exploitation according to fixed rules, and can only be exploited by local concession holders who pay a modest tax for their exploitation rights and are held responsible for maintaining certain minimum standards of sustainable management. Such an approach might prevent tension between the local communities and the authorities, and would give better results than the imposition of rigid rules on the use of areas and resources that are still viewed as common pool resources by the local population.


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6. Finally, the proposed shift in the local government’s attention to the role of small producers and communities in sustainable development should not preclude a possible role for the corporate sector in achieving this aim. First, the authorities should ensure that the large companies involved in the exploitation of natural resources respect the traditional rights of the local communities, as well as the rules of environmental management agreed upon with the local government. The main reason for this is that the local government is the only agency that is able to counterbalance the power of corporate enterprises and play an intermediate role in defending the position of local communities. In the case of environmental management affairs, the companies should observe agreements on restoring the damage caused by, for example, open pit mining. This could be done by covering the pits with new earth for replanting, or by securing water circulation in the submerged pits or reservoirs to prevent malaria. Logging companies should be regularly controlled not only on the use of selective cutting methods, but also on the obligation to replant commercially valuable species. Similarly, estate companies should be forced to replant the cleared forest areas for conversion into commercial crop land, since many of them tend to cut and sell the timber and then abandon the concession area. In replanting the estates, they should observe the obligation to spare large enough areas for forest islands and ecological corridors, which will help to restore local ecological functions. The local authorities might also help to improve the integration of specific smallholder activities with corporate interests in order to benefit from certain economies of scale. Smallholder activities usually concern the production of industrial crops like rubber, palm oil, pulpwood or coconut, but may also include certain fishery products. These commodities might benefit from large-scale storage, processing and marketing facilities offered by corporate sector companies. The integration, however, does not need to go as far as a partnership system, which often reduces the position of the smallholder to a sharecropper or wage worker on his own land. To achieve this objective, the local government should offer specific credit, subsidy and extension services that enable the smallholders to maintain their position as independent producers. In some extreme cases of heavily degraded lands that require high investments for conversion into productive land, nucleus estates might offer the only viable option and, thus, should be actively supported by the local government.

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7.7 Final conclusions A community-oriented approach based on the dominant characteristics of production and social relations turned out to be most fruitful in tackling the heterogeneity issue. As far as our experience in a very mixed type of resource frontier area like Berau is concerned, it was not very difficult to identify the main differences in production modes and relations between the various types of communities, nor to include the main differences in environmental conditions, including market location and accessibility. It was more difficult, however, to cope with the internal differentiation in social structure, ethnic origin and livelihood conditions of the respective types of communities. In order not to obscure the differences in vulnerability and resilience of these various segments of the local population vis-à-vis the major forces of change, we followed a livelihood analysis approach. As this approach especially focuses on the capabilities of households to access resources and to use them effectively (Ellis 2000), it is possible to identify different types of livelihood strategies at the household level. By separating out these households in the various types of communities, it was possible to cover the main differences in livelihood strategies among these types of households. A major issue was how to assess the sustainability aspects of the livelihood strategies, in terms of current resource use and possible improvements in the near future. We especially benefited, however, from the differentiation between the economic, social and ecological aspects of sustainability. We assessed the weight of each of these aspects through a simple scoring system that was based on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, so that we gained an insight into which aspects of sustainability were responsible for the persistence or decline of the respective resource use systems. We paid special attention to the frequent discrepancy between the economic aspects of sustainability and the ecological–environmental requirements, which often tend to be overruled by the farmer. Clear examples of this were found in the relative neglect of shifting cultivation and cocoa plantations among the tribal farmers, and in the persistent overfishing in coastal communities, which were due to competing extracting activities and to the presence of easily exploitable open access resources, respectively. At the same time, this sustainability assessment enabled us to identify major bottlenecks and opportunities to improve the local resource use systems and turn them in a more sustainable direction. We achieved the latter aim by combining the results of the livelihood analyses by type of community and household strategy, with the outcomes of our sustainability assessment. Here, the discussion focused mainly on the differences


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between types of communities and households in adopting sustainable types of resource use, considering their present conditions of flexibility and/or resilience in view of their wider (social, economic, political and environmental) contexts. It turned out that the peasant, pioneer and coastal farming communities were the most flexible in adopting sustainable types of resource use change, whereas the tribal type of communities were much less prepared for such changes. Finally, we paid special attention to the role of local governance and the policy changes that are needed in order to develop more sustainable resource use. This discussion showed that there are ample opportunities to adapt and improve local policies as long as the local government pays more attention to the important role of local communities and small producers in sustainable development.

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Appendices

Appendix A. ANOVA from the cluster analysis Table A.1. ANOVA from the cluster analysis using 3 groups in each type of farming community TRIBAL COMMUNITIES – 3 GROUPS Cluster

Error F

Sig.

39

0.000

0.000

39

4.110

0.024

.228

39

0.203

0.817

2

.117

39

41.515

0.000

0.844

2

.089

39

9.530

0.000

0.128

2

.189

39

.676

0.514

Income diversification

3.035

2

.216

39

14.044

0.000

Saving/credit

1.587

2

.178

39

8.914

0.001

Expenditure level

4.329

2

.200

39

21.595

0.000

F

Sig.

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources Diversification/specialization

0.000

2

.000

0.955

2

.232

Market orientation

0.046

2

Capital input

4.860

Labour input Labour participation

PEASANT COMMUNITIES – 3 GROUPS

Cluster

Error

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources

0.000

2

0.000

38

0.000

0.000

Diversification/specialization

4.762

2

0.221

38

21.595

0.000

Market orientation

1.177

2

0.249

38

4.733

0.015

Capital input

3.069

2

0.175

38

17.555

0.000

Labour input

1.969

2

0.172

38

11.425

0.000

Labour participation

4.271

2

0.325

38

13.159

0.000


3.516

2

0.248

38

14.205

0.000

Saving/credit

4.620

2

0.171

38

26.940

0.000

Expenditure level

7.883

2

0.162

38

48.805

0.000

236


PIONEER COMMUNITIES – 3 GROUPS Cluster

Error F

Sig.

39

0.000

0.000

39

6.888

0.003

0.151

39

6.615

0.003

2

0.360

39

8.943

0.001

2

0.193

39

10.678

0.000

3.144

2

0.210

39

14.975

0.000


8.098

2

0.225

39

35.969

0.000

Saving/credit

1.526

2

0.264

39

5.791

0.006

Expenditure level

4.363

2

0.216

39

20.217

0.000

F

Sig.

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources Diversification/specialization

0.000

2

0.000

2.150

2

0.312

Market orientation

1.001

2

Capital input

3.219

Labour input

2.060


COASTAL COMMUNITIES – 3 GROUPS

Cluster

Error

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources

0.000

2

0.000

37

0.000

0.000


5.015

2

0.213

37

23.583

0.000

Market orientation

0.000

2

0.000

37

0.000

0.000

Capital input

2.096

2

0.421

37

4.976

0.012

Labour input

4.176

2

0.109

37

38.175

0.000


12.226

2

0.095

37

128.369

0.000


0.364

2

0.353

37

1.031

0.367

Saving/credit

3.878

2

0.260

37

14.917

0.000

Expenditure level

3.074

2

0.026

37

119.418

0.000

237


Table A.2. ANOVA from the cluster analysis using 4 groups in each type of farming community TRIBAL COMMUNITIES – 4 GROUPS Cluster

Error F

Sig.

38

0.000

0.000

38

12.614

0.000

0.182

38

3.794

0.018

3

0.106

38

32.164

0.000

3

0.087

38

7.019

0.001

0.161

3

0.188

38

.858

0.471

3.248

3

0.125

38

25.942

0.000

Saving/credit

1.025

3

0.185

38

5.530

0.003

Expenditure level

2.616

3

0.227

38

11.524

0.000

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

F

Sig.

Access to resources

0.000

3

0.000

37

0.000

0.000


3.018

3

0.239

37

12.620

0.000

Market orientation

0.951

3

0.242

37

3.929

0.016

Capital input

2.296

3

0.159

37

14.421

0.000

Labour input

0.825

3

0.217

37

3.812

0.018


4.450

3

0.203

37

21.872

0.000


2.912

3

0.208

37

13.987

0.000

Saving/credit

2.712

3

0.206

37

13.172

0.000

Expenditure level

6.151

3

0.093

37

65.948

0.000

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources

0.000

3

0.000


1.826

3

0.145

Market orientation

0.690

3

Capital input

3.416

Labour input

0.611

Labour participation Income diversification

PEASANT COMMUNITIES – 4 GROUPS

Cluster

Error

238


PIONEER COMMUNITIES – 4 GROUPS Cluster

Error F

Sig.

38

0.000

0.000

0.195

38

15.445

0.000

0.157

38

4.074

0.013

3

0.276

38

12.091

0.000

3

0.162

38

11.322

0.000

2.562

3

0.179

38

14.337

0.000

4.994

3

0.263

38

18.985

0.000

Saving/credit

.676

3

0.297

38

2.273

0.096

Expenditure level

3.213

3

0.197

38

16.267

0.000

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

F

Sig.

Access to resources

0.000

3

0.000

36

0.000

0.000


3.854

3

0.176

36

21.893

0.000

Market orientation

0.000

3

0.000

36

0.000

0.000

Capital input

2.729

3

0.322

36

8.476

0.000

Labour input

2.802

3

0.111

36

25.260

0.000


7.881

3

0.120

36

65.508

0.000


1.581

3

0.251

36

6.304

0.002

Saving/credit

2.725

3

0.256

36

10.664

0.000

Expenditure level

2.057

3

0.026

36

79.754

0.000

Mean Square

df

Mean Square

df

Access to resources

.000

3

0.000


3.017

3

Market orientation

.641

3

Capital input

3.333

Labour input

1.832

Labour participation Income diversification

COASTAL COMMUNITIES – 4 GROUPS

Cluster

Error


239

Appendix B. Computation of Gini coefficient and correlation Referring to formula and equation in Stark et al. (1986), Adams (1999) and Suyanto et al. (2007), the Gini coefficient (G) is calculated using the formula: K

G=

∑S G R k

k

(1)

k

k=1

Sk is the share of income source k to the total income and is defined as:

Sk = µk / µ

(2)

Gk is the Gini coefficient that showing the inequality in the distribution of income source k in a community group. The coefficient is generated from equation:

Gk=

2 cov[Yk ,F(Yk)] µk

(3)

Rk is the Gini correlation of income source k with the total income. This correlation is formulated from:

Rk=

cov[Yk ,F(Y)] cov[Yk ,F(Yk)]

(4)

where µk is mean of income from source k, µ is total mean of income, Yk total income from source k, F(Y) is the cumulative distribution of total income and F(Yk) is a cumulative distribution of income from source k in a community group. Later, the potential of income source k to be inequality-decreasing or inequalityincreasing can also be explored (gk). This is used the basis of the increase in an income source k would increase or decrease the overall income inequality in a community group, assuming that increase in income source k are distributed the same manner as original units (Adams 1999). The inequality-decreasing sources would have g1. These sources would increase the level of total inequality when the income from these activities is increasing. On the basis of equation (1), the relative concentration coefficient (gk) is formulated as:

gk = Rk

Gk G

(5)

Based on the formulas above, the total result of income distribution analysis is shown in the Table B below.

0.835

0.699

0.783

0.435

0.770

0.306

0.331

Cocoa plantation

Gold mining

Forest products

Animal hunting

Non-farm

Other sources

TOTAL

0.610

0.897

0.694

0.940

0.874

0.706

0.897

0.766

0.385

Rice cultivation

Upland food crops


Perennial crops (others)


Non-farm

Wage labor

Other sources

TOTAL

PEASANT COMMUNITIES

0.646


TRIBAL COMMUNITIES

SOURCE

1.000

0.370

-0.730

0.748

0.015

0.506

0.533

0.382

0.388

1.000

0.391

0.330

0.698

0.502

0.734

0.224

0.034

1.000

0.093

0.013

0.375

0.023

0.040

0.247

0.081

0.128

1.000

0.050

0.177

0.402

0.032

0.2741

0.017

0.048

Gini Gini correlation Share in coefficient with total total for income income income source rankings (Sk) (Gk) (Rk)

0.385

0.026

-0.008

0.198

0.000

0.019

0.091

0.028

0.030

0.331

0.006

0.045

0.122

0.013

0.141

0.003

0.001

Contribution of income source to overall income inequality (Gk.Rk.Sk)

100

7

-2

51

0

5

24

7

8

100

2

14

37

4

43

1

0

Percentage contribution to overall income inequality (%)

Table B. Result of income distribution analysis in Berau farming communities

1.000

0.736

-1.701

1.371

0.034

1.234

0.960

0.890

0.614

1.000

0.362

0.768

0.919

1.189

1.553

0.566

0.067

Relative concentration coefficient of income source (gk)

0.000

-0.009

-0.013

0.054

-0.009

0.004

-0.004

-0.003

-0.019

0.000

-0.010

-0.014

-0.011

0.002

0.050

-0.002

-0.015

Absolute change in overall Gini coefficient by 1 percent change in income source

0.0

-2.4

-3.4

13.9

-2.2

0.9

-1.0

-0.9

-4.9

0.0

-3.2

-4.1

-3.3

0.6

15.2

-0.7

-4.5

Percentage change in Gini coefficient


0.891

0.922

0.860

0.924

0.935

0.719

0.729

0.929

0.486

0.452

Upland food crops



Gold mining

Forest products

Animal hunting

Non-farm

Wage labor

Other sources

TOTAL

0.975

0.861

0.673

0.972

0.778

0.886

0.454

Rice cultivation

Stationary lift net

Sea fisheries

Aquacultures

Non-farm

Other sources

TOTAL

COASTAL COMMUNITIES

0.681


PIONEER COMMUNITIES

SOURCE

1.000

0.794

0.740

0.761

0.189

0.512

0.590

1.000

0.454

0.041

0.802

0.073

0.616

0.067

0.633

0.401

0.238

0.189

1.000

0.141

0.346

0.048

0.269

0.196

0.000

1.000

0.057

0.032

0.455

0.039

0.111

0.038

0.152

0.014

0.035

0.067

Gini Gini correlation Share in coefficient with total total for income income income source rankings (Sk) (Gk) (Rk)

0.454

0.099

0.199

0.036

0.034

0.086

0.000

0.452

0.013

0.001

0.266

0.002

0.064

0.002

0.082

0.005

0.007

0.009

Contribution of income source to overall income inequality (Gk.Rk.Sk)

100

22

44

8

8

19

0

100

3

0

59

0

14

1

18

1

2

2

Percentage contribution to overall income inequality (%)

1.000

1.548

1.268

1.627

0.280

0.969

1.265

1.000

0.489

0.084

1.295

0.116

1.275

0.137

1.204

0.819

0.469

0.285

Relative concentration coefficient of income source (gk)

0.000

0.035

0.042

0.014

-0.088

-0.003

0.000

0.000

-0.013

-0.013

0.061

-0.016

0.014

-0.015

0.014

-0.001

-0.008

-0.022

Absolute change in overall Gini coefficient by 1 percent change in income source

0.0

7.7

9.3

3.0

-19.4

-0.6

0.0

0.0

-2.9

-3.0

13.4

-3.4

3.1

-3.3

3.1

-0.2

-1.9

-4.8

Percentage change in Gini coefficient


241

242


Appendix C. Procedures for assessing the sustainability aspects Table C. Description of sustainability aspects in the scoring system Sustainability Description aspect

SCORE LOW = 0

MED = 1

HIGH=2

0 – 10 %

11% - 30 %

>30 %

Share of total income

Percentage of total income

Marketing potential

Level of yields sold to For subsistence the market purpose or hard to sell to the market

Support to income equality

Percentage change to increase inequality by 1 per cent increase in income

> 1%

Support to social cohesion

Focuses on the rules allocating resources/ work/ produce in communities, both adat (customary) and modern formal rules

No rules or arrangements within the communities

The rules still hold but are no longer widely used or are applied in a reduced form

The rules still hold and the communities generally apply them


Impact of the system in supporting better environmental conditions

Resource use clearly damages the environment

Less damage or the damage does not directly impact on the communities

The damage cannot be seen and has no impact on the communities

Only small amount of yields can be sold to the market -1% to 1 %

All yields can be sold to the market < -1%

Summary

This study concerns the use of natural resources in the Berau District of East Kalimantan (Indonesia), where environmental conditions are considered at risk. Policy change, rapid economic development and the inflow of various population groups have important implications for the access to and control by local populations, forest products, land, marine products, and other natural resources. We investigated the consequences of increasing environmental stress for sustainable resource use and people’s capacity to build sustainable livelihoods. Understanding the link between population and their environment and, more particularly, the multidimensional notion and context-related interpretation of sustainability are the main objectives of this study. Economic development started in Indonesia in the late 1960s. In line with the objective of the New Order government to boost national economy, a natural resource based economy was developed in East Kalimantan, which also influenced the characteristics and dynamics of Berau district. The implementation of decentralization policy in 1999 was another important factor of change. This process strengthened the authorities and the power of local governments in managing problems related to their own regions and resources. These economic and political processes have been accompanied by a sustained growth of the population. This growth started in the early 1980s with the deployment of the government’s forced transmigration programme. This was followed by a period of spontaneous migration, which increased sharply after decentralization as a result of Berau’s improved economic performance and subsequent chain migration effects. Thus, population growth is another important factor affecting economic development in Berau in general. The above processes have both positive and negative impacts at the district level. On the other hand, the communities and their households are facing the full force of externally induced changes in their livelihood conditions and perspectives, without being able to exert control over these changes.

244


Nevertheless, the communities react in different ways, as revealed by our research in four types of communities, namely tribal, peasant and pioneer farming communities in the interior, and fishing communities on the coast. Within these communities, we made a distinction between four types of households (survival, starter consolidation, advanced consolidation and accumulation households) and assessed their local resource use in terms of sustainability. The tribal communities The tribal communities have been especially affected by the government’s policy on forest management, which began in the 1970s by granting large logging concessions to both state and private companies. The logging activities not only opened up and deforested large tracts of forest land, but also improved access to urban centres, which stimulated the process of commercialization and technological innovation in the communities. The money required to buy tools and consumer goods was usually not provided by commercial crops, but by selling products from more rewarding extractive activities (gold, timber, gaharu, etc.). The logging activities led to various conflicts between the logging companies and the local population over land exploitation rights, which have now been limited to narrow zones along the river bank, thereby reducing the land available for shifting cultivation and shortening the fallow periods. As a consequence, the productivity in food crop cultivation (rice) is declining, despite unchanged levels of technology and labour input. In addition, interest in shifting cultivation has also declined since the rise of gold mining in the upper river basin areas. This type of activity is, in principle, accessible to all community members and provides much higher returns than farming, and does so more rapidly. It tends to absorb large numbers of labourers and siphon off capital and attention from other economic activities, including the cultivation of perennial cash crops like cocoa. The price of gold has increased dramatically, making it much more attractive to buy rice and other foodstuffs rather than cultivate them. However, the fact that shifting cultivation continues to be practised despite income alternatives indicates the vital role of this livelihood system in guaranteeing food security and maintaining social cohesion in the tribal communities. This, however, does not apply to the more vulnerable cultivation of cash crops like cocoa, which is based on individual investment and efforts, and usually requires continuous care to in order to combat pests and diseases.


245

Compared with the other types of communities, both the level of commercialization and the degree of social differentiation in the tribal communities are still low. This is mainly due to the role of kinship and customary law (adat) in these communities. These communal resource allocation mechanisms primarily regulate access to traditional vital resources like shifting cultivation and hunting for subsistence purposes. Looking at the livelihood strategies of the various households, we found that the survival households tend to focus their activities on gold mining. To some extent, they also still practise shifting cultivation for subsistence purposes, but rarely grow perennial cash crops like cocoa, which require too much capital and attention. More or less the same response is shown by households of the starter consolidation and the advanced consolidation groups. They also focus on gold mining, but tend to invest some of their income surpluses in improving living conditions (housing and agricultural activities). The starter consolidation group had the highest average income from food and perennial crop cultivation. Finally, similar responses were found among the accumulation households, which benefited most from emerging non-farm activities in addition to gold mining, for which they have more machinery. It is not surprising, therefore, that this category of households completely abandoned shifting cultivation for subsistence purposes. Taking into account the changes that have occurred in Berau, it was surprising to see that the traditional subsistence activity of hunting and fishing is still practiced by most households and remains relatively unaffected considering its high sustainability score. The main reason for this is that it provides protein. That hunting and fishing are still carried out shows that deforestation and river pollution, despite gold mining, have not yet endangered the existence of game and fish. However, this may soon change as a result of large-scale logging and mining activities or the establishment of large plantations. The moderate to low level of sustainability of shifting cultivation might be quite surprising for such a long established and balanced type of resource use, but has everything to do with the progressive reduction of available land in these growing communities, as well as with the increasing competition from the more rewarding gold mining activities, which inevitably lead to a neglect of other activities. This applies in particular to the disappointingly low sustainability score achieved by cocoa plantation, although this perennial crop fits very well with tropical rainforest conditions and shows good marketing prospects. Gold mining also scores low to moderate on sustainability, which besides its ecologically devastating impacts might be explained by its relatively high scores

246


on economic performance criteria. There is little doubt, however, that in the long run this type of resource use will have very negative direct and indirect impacts on the sustainability of the communities’ livelihood systems. The peasant communities Unlike the tribal communities, the peasant communities include people of various ethnic groups, in addition to the nucleus of local Berau and Dayak people. Since the 1980s, migrants have arrived in lower Kelay river valley and introduced more modern and permanent types of agriculture, as practised in their home areas. Favourable environmental conditions along the river banks together with good access to the nearby urban market offered opportunities for permanent agriculture and have enabled urban middlemen to organize commercial production by local farmers, who also practise subsistence-oriented activities. The most important commercial crops produced are wet rice, upland food crops (e.g. maize, soybeans and ground nuts), horticultural crops (chilli and vegetables) and perennial cash crops (fruits). More recently, migrants also introduced modern agricultural inputs, such as high yielding varieties and fertilizers and new perennial crops like cocoa, which now is a major income source for most farmer households. As a result of the increasing level of commercialization and rising numbers of migrants, the value of land has increased. Moreover, in contrast to the tribal communities, property rights on land have been privatized and legalized through the issuing of land certificates and management permits. Land is consequently becoming a scarce resource, and the increasing pressure on land is forcing most farmer households to intensify cultivation. The growth of commercialization is also evidenced by the fact that increasing production surpluses are creating an increasing number of non-farm jobs in the trading, financing, processing and transporting of farm products, as well as in the distribution of inputs and consumer goods. Moreover, all work in both the farming and the non-farming sector is now performed as wage work, while farm work may also be done within the framework of tenancy relations (usually on the basis of sharecropping). As expected, these processes have contributed to further social differentiation. Income from both subsistence and commercial crops still plays a dominant role in the peasant households. But it is equally striking that non-farm income has started to play a vital role in all strategy groups. Members of the survival


247

households perform simple wage work for other farmers or entrepreneurs, while the accumulation households mostly derive their additional incomes from non-farm activities or enterprises. Many of these activities or enterprises have been financed partly with earnings from commercial farming, since non-farm investment tends to be more profitable. However, the starter and advanced consolidation households, with their wider supply of land, capital and family labour, usually perform much better in agricultural production, as is demonstrated by their higher incomes from both food and cash crops. The best performance is shown by the accumulation households, both in farm and non-farm activities. This is partly explained by their capacity to generate larger surpluses and raise more capital to buy the necessary inputs and supporting technology and services, and partly because they can make investments in more profitable types of non-farm activities, like trade, processing and credit services. In terms of sustainability impacts, the contrast with the tribal communities is particularly striking in the different position of cocoa growing, which scores highest in the peasant communities. This is not only because of their relative neglect in the tribal communities, but also because of the more balanced economic, social and ecological situation in the peasant farming communities, which put a stronger emphasis on profitability and maintenance. A high score on sustainability can also be noted for rice production, upland food crops and other perennial crops, showing that agricultural commercialization does not necessarily harm the environment. However, this does not exclude the possibility that continuing commercialization will increase pressure on the environment in the long run by using more chemical inputs, high yielding varieties, and precious land and water resources. The pioneer communities Pioneer farming is predominantly a matter of migrant households attracted by the relative abundance of natural resources compared to their areas of origin. There are two types of migrants in the research areas of the upper Kelay River, namely forced migrants (transmigrants) and spontaneous migrants. The pioneer communities earn their livelihood by converting forest land into cultivated land. In other words, their coverage of subsistence needs is strongly based on the exploitation of local natural resources by extensively using the still abundantly available land. What is remarkable, however, is that besides the expected types of resource use – like shifting cultivation for food crops and extractive activities (logging, gold digging, gaharu collection) – the pioneer farming households have also developed perennial types of cash crop cultivation, like rubber and cocoa plantations, and the commercial cultivation

248


of upland food crops (maize, vegetables and chilli). Most of them already applied modern inputs and high yielding varieties in their area of origin before migrating to the frontier areas, and continued to do so in Berau. Rubber plantations are now the most important source of income for these communities, as the demand for latex is quite high and middlemen are willing to come to the village and buy the yields directly at the farm gate. Other crops are also grown, but only the more valuable perennial cash crops have access to a wider market. Poor to moderate road connections make the transport cost of food crops like rice, maize and chilli, too high, so that their market is limited to local kiosks, roadside restaurants and lodges. Smallholder rubber plantations and other agricultural activities in the pioneer farming communities have inevitably been realized at the expense of the forest. Initially, the conversion of forest land into cultivated land did not cause any landownership problems. However, the land allocation system broke down in the face of increasing numbers of people from different areas of origin. As no single adat system could be applied and land was increasingly becoming a commodity, a new type of land arrangement had to be developed. This resulted in the acknowledgement of land management permits issued by the village head, which offer sufficient security of tenure but often are at odds with the official regulations concerning State Forest Areas. With the increasing claims from logging and plantation companies, this may easily become a source of social and legal conflicts. As mentioned, the abundance of natural resources has stimulated the pioneer households to exploit these resources as much as possible, both for extractive and non-extractive production. In general, this means that pioneer households are more inclined to expand the cultivated area for food or cash crops, rather than to intensify cultivation methods by using capital and labour, both of which are scarce. This is particularly shown by the starter and advanced consolidation strategy households, which manage to expand and diversify their income sources by extending their activities from rubber plantations to gold digging and the gathering of forest products, without having to make large investments. The survival and accumulation households, in contrast and for different reasons, rather tend to specialize in a few types of resource use. The survival households, which have limited means, tend to focus on, for example, the production of basic food through shifting cultivation, and on extractive activities like gold digging and hunting. From the modest incomes gained from the latter activities, some survival households are able to start rubber plantations, either on new forest land or former fields. The accumulation households, however, which have larger supplies of capital and hired labour, are able to manage the growing


249

of perennial crops in a more efficient way, and they expand their plantations by buying land from others or clearing new land to generate more income. In addition, accumulation households are also frequently involved in non-farm activities that may be used for developing perennial crop plantation, or be invested in, for example, commodity trading, transport or roadside restaurants. The major environmental impact of the pioneer settlements is, of course, irreversible and progressive deforestation resulting from the establishment of smallholder rubber plantations. This is the more so, since the pioneer farmer households tend to expand their cultivated areas rather than to intensify land use. However, it should be noted that the sustainability score of rubber plantations is higher than that of similar resource use systems elsewhere. This is because of the good marketing possibilities, stable prices, equity promoting impacts and, last but not least, the intrinsic ecological qualities of this perennial tree crop. These qualities stand in sharp contrast to the low sustainability scores for cocoa plantations, which require more maintenance and are more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Consequently, cocoa growing is especially neglected or avoided by poorer pioneer farmers. The coastal communities The livelihood systems of the coastal communities are, of course, mostly marine-based and, as such, they are mostly dependent on fishery in open access areas, that is, the coastal waters and river delta waters of Berau. Most of the coastal communities are composed of migrants from other islands in Indonesia who have been settling here since the thirteenth century. The latest large-scale in-migration occurred in 2000, when a wave of Indonesian labour migrants, dominated by Buginese fishermen, arrived after being expelled from Malaysia for political reasons. When comparing the means of livelihood in the coastal communities with those in the land-based farming communities, it becomes clear that the marinebased system is much more specialized and commercialized, due to the fact that it is hardly possible to subsist only on fish catches. This, however, should not obscure the fact that the fishery activities show considerable differences in technology and levels of investments and productivity. Most important are traditional methods of open sea fishery from sailing or motorized boats, using fishing lines, nets, hooks, etc. Since the recent settlement of Buginese fishermen from Malaysia, a new technique that requires a large investment has emerged: the stationary lift net (bagan). Another type of fishery has also emerged in the coastal communities: land-based aquaculture in brackish water fishponds. It started in 1997 in response to the rising demand for shrimp on the world

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market, and the availability of brackish water areas in the mangrove forests of the Berau river delta. The development of production relations in the coastal communities is strongly determined by increasing technological innovation and commercialization, and by open access to the seas as a common pool resource. Continuous pressure exerted by the need to commercialize and pursue technological innovation has recently driven most fishery households to modernize their equipment and boats by using machinery and modern fishing gear. However, competition from better-equipped fishing boats from elsewhere or even from abroad has increased, so that the life of the local fishery households is far from easy. The further modernization of the fishing fleet also requires more capital from money lenders and/or traders, and this causes increasing social differentiation between the ‘bosses’ (punggawa) – who own the capital and the boats or bagans – and the crew members, who work on a ‘sharecropping’ basis. Especially the households in the poorer strata are often unable to cope with the increasing pressures, and they therefore resort to less sustainable (or even illegal methods of fishery, which usually include the use of cheap explosives and toxic materials to catch valuable species of reef fish). The illegal practices and increasing overfishing due to the modernization of the fishing fleets have induced the district authorities to implement Marine Protection Area policy measures. Not all communities agree with that policy, as fishing methods and areas have been restricted and income sources – like turtle egg collection and the use of explosives – are now forbidden. The disagreement even caused an open conflict with an institutional NGO, which supported the socialization and implementation of the local government policy. Particularly the survival households experience serious difficulties due to increasing competition, technological modernization and overfishing. As a consequence, they often fall victim to permanent debt bondage to their middlemen. These middlemen also play an important role for the starter and advanced consolidation households, as they are equally very dependent on their services, namely supplying credit, equipment and other means (fuel, fishing gear, etc.). On average, however, the consolidation households are still able to maintain their position as independent producers. Households following an accumulation strategy, on the other hand, have been able to diversify their main activities and to invest in larger boats with modern equipment, or in expensive bagan platforms. Most striking, however, is their tendency to switch to nonfarm activities, that is, to engage in fish and/or shrimp trading, processing and financing activities, or to invest in improved road and sea transport of fish


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products to nearby urban markets and reef islands. Some have also started to invest in traditional fishponds, because they can afford to put more inputs and labour into maintaining them. As in the other communities, the impact of the developments on the sustainability of resource use shows wide differences, with sea fishery still scoring the highest and aquaculture the lowest. This may seem a surprising outcome for sea fishery considering the frequently mentioned overfishing and malpractices in reef fishery. However, the large majority of the fishermen still use traditional and environment friendly methods, while overfishing is largely a consequence of external actors and their modern equipment (e.g. trawl nets). With respect to the impacts of bagan fishery, however, the number of platforms has already exceeded the carrying capacity level of sustainable species replacement. In the long run, both types of fishery will become nonsustainable because of advancing levels of commercialization and technological innovation, and increasing numbers of boats operating in Berau’s coastal waters. An additional problem is that none of the coastal communities consists of a homogeneous population that is willing and able to develop institutions for managing communal resources. Consequently, proper fishery management can only be achieved by law enforcement and a larger supervising role of local authorities, interventions that should be organized in dialogue with the local communities. In conclusion No farming or fishing community has been left unaffected by the changes that have occurred in the area, as each of the changes has had an impact on the main resource use systems, the livelihood conditions, and the levels of commercialization and social differentiation. In addition, none of the communities can be conceived as a closed unit of analysis, or even as a homogeneous social entity, because each includes different types of households and different strategy groups, and each reacts differently to the processes of change. Some responses are strongly related to their socio-cultural background, while others are determined by the flexibility of their resources use systems. As a result, the communities show considerable mutual and internal differences in coping with the major factors of change and in managing their natural resources as a result of these changes. Furthermore, the various sustainability analyses have shown how important it is to include economic, social and ecological dimensions, as they are strongly

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interlinked. A system with high values in only one of the dimensions does not necessarily achieve a better total score, as the other dimensions may provide much lower values. Thus, a balancing of the combination of these three dimensions is imperative in assessing the overall sustainability characteristics, and in exploring ways to improve the sustainability of the respective systems. Later, when deciding on a development strategy for farming communities, policy makers should see this comparative sustainability assessment in a comprehensive view. The government’s approach should also take into account the differences between communities, as no single and uniform solution can be applied to all types of farming communities.

Ringkasan

Penelitian ini mengkaji penggunaan sumberdaya alam di Kabupaten Berau, Provinsi Kalimantan Timur (Indonesia)yang lingkungan hidupnya berada pada situasi yang beresiko. Perubahan kebijakan pemerintah, pembangunan ekonomi yang cepat dan aliran perpindahan penduduk berpengaruh pada akses dan kontrol masyarakat lokal, produk yang berasal dari hutan dan laut, lahan dan sumber daya alam lainnya. Kami meneliti konsekuensi peningkatan tekanan terhadap lingkungan terhadap penggunaan sumber daya alam yang berkelanjutan dan kapasitas manusia untuk membangun mata pencaharian yang berkelanjutan. Memahami hubungan antara penduduk dan lingkungannya, khususnya, aspek multidimensi dan pemahaman terhadap sistem yang berkelanjutan merupakan tujuan utama penelitian ini. Pembangunan ekonomi di Indonesia dimulai menjelang tahun 1970. Sejalan dengan kebijakan pemerintah di masa Orde Baru yang bertujuan meningkatkan perekonomian nasional, pembangunan berbasiskan sumber daya alam mulai dikembangkan di Kalimantan Timur, yang juga mempengaruhi karakteristik dan dinamika di Kabupaten Berau. Implementasi kebijakan desentralisasi di tahun 1999 merupakan faktor penting lain yang menyebabkan perubahan di Berau. Kebijakan ini memperkuat otoritas dan kekuasaan pemerintah daerah dalam mengelola permasalahan yang berkaitan dengan wilayah dan sumber daya alamnya. Proses ekonomi dan politik ini diiringi juga oleh peningkatan jumlah penduduk. Peningkatan dimulai pada tahun 1980an ketika pemerintah menerapkan kebijakan transmigrasi ke luar Pulau Jawa. Perpindahan penduduk ini pun diikuti oleh migrasi spontan yang semakin bertambah setelah masa reformasi akibat membaiknya kondisi perekonomian di Kabupaten Berau, dan sebagai dampak ikutan dari rantai perpindahan penduduk. Hal ini membuat peningkatan jumlah penduduk sebagai salah satu faktor penting yang mempengaruhi pembangunan ekonomi di Berau secara umum.

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Proses tersebut di atas memiliki dampak positif dan negatif di tingkat kabupaten. Di sisi lain, masyarakat harus menghadapi dorongan dari luar tersebut yang mengubah kondisi dan perspektif mata pencaharian mereka, tanpa mampu untuk mengontrol penyebab perubahan tersebut. Masyarakat akan bereaksi dengan cara yang berbeda-beda, sebagaimana yang dihasilkan oleh penelitian kami terhadap empat tipe masyarakat pertanian, yaitu masyarakat petani tribal, peasant, dan perintis di darat dan masyarakat nelayan di pesisir pantai. Di setiap masyarakat petani ini, kami juga mengklasifikasikan mereka berdasarkan tipe rumah tangga yaitu tipe rumah tangga survival, konsolidasi awal, konsolidasi lanjutan dan akumulasi. Selanjutnya, kami meneliti berbagai macam penggunaan sumber daya alam di masing-masing masyarakat dan dampaknya terhadap keberlanjutan (sustainability) sumber daya alam lokal. Masyarakat tribal Hal utama yang mempengaruhi masyarakat tribal adalah kebijakan pemerintah yang berkaitan dengan pengelolaan hutan negara yang dimulai sejak tahun 1970an melalui pemberian hak pengelolaan hutan kepada para perusahaan besar, baik swasta maupun milik negara. Kegiatan mereka tidak hanya membuka dan menyebabkan deforestasi besar-besaran di kawasan hutan, namun juga meningkatkan akses ke pusat-pusat kota, yang mempengaruhi proses komersialisasi dan inovasi teknologi di dalam masyarakat. Uang yang diperlukan untuk membeli barang-barang dan kebutuhan sehari-hari tersebut biasanya bukan berasal dari penjualan hasil-hasil komoditas pertanian, namun berasal dari ekstraksi sumber daya alam seperti emas, kayu, gaharu dan lain lain. Kegiatan penebangan hutan tersebut juga menimbulkan berbagai konflik antara perusahaan dengan masyarakat lokal yang berkaitan dengan hak atas lahan, yang saat ini terbatas pada lahan-lahan di sepanjang bantaran sungai, sehingga mengurangi areal untuk perladangan berpindah dan memperpendek periode pengelolaan. Sebagai konsekuensinya, produksi beras ladang menurun, selain karena memang tidak ada perubahan dalam hal asupan pupuk dan teknologi. Di sisi lain, kegiatan perladangan berpindah pun semakin menurun akibat semakin meningkatnya kegiatan penambangan emas di bagian hulu sungai. Kegiatan ini, pada prinsipnya, terbuka untuk semua anggota masyarakat di desa dan menyediakan hasil yang lebih banyak dan lebih cepat dibandingkan hasil-hasil pertanian. Kegiatan ini cenderung menyerap banyak tenaga kerja dan juga mengalihkan modal dan perhatian kegiatan ekonomi lainnya, termasuk perkebunan cokelat. Harga emas yang meningkat cepat memang membuat sebagian masyarakat tribal lebih memilih membeli beras dan kebutuhan lainnya dibandingkan


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menanamnya. Namun, bagi sebagian masyarakat lain, mereka tetap melaksanakan perladangan berpindah. Hal ini menunjukkan pentingnya kegiatan ini bagi ketahanan pangan masyarakat dan juga menjaga hubungan sosial di antara mereka. Hal tersebut tidak berlaku untuk jenis tanaman lain seperti cokelat, yang lebih didasarkan pada investasi dan usaha individu, dan biasanya membutuhkan pengelolaan yang lebih intensif untuk mengatasi hama dan penyakit. Dibandingkan dengan tipe masyarakat pertanian yang lain, tingkat komersialisasi dan perbedaan sosial di dalam masyarakat tribal masihlah rendah. Hal ini disebabkan peranan kekerabatan dan adat yang ada di dalam masyarakat ini. Mekanisme alokasi penggunaan sumber daya alam secara kolektif mengatur akses terhadap sumber daya alam penting seperti lahan untuk perladangan berpindah dan perburuan untuk konsumsi sendiri. Melihat strategi mata pencaharian berbagai tipe rumah tangga, kami menemukan bahwa rumah tangga survival lebih memusatkan kegiatan mereka di penambangan emas. Beberapa dari mereka masih menerapkan perladangan berpindah untuk memenuhi konsumsi pribadi, namun sangat jarang menanam jenis tanaman lain seperti cokelat yang membutuhkan modal dan perhatian yang lebih banyak. Respon yang hampir serupa juga ditunjukkan oleh rumah tangga konsolidasi awal dan lanjutan. Mata pencaharian mereka juga terfokus pada penambangan emas, namun surplus yang didapat diinvestasikan dalam bentuk perbaikan rumah dan asupan pupuk untuk pertanian. Kelompok konsolidasi awal bahkan memiliki rata-rata pendapatan tinggi dari pertanian tanaman pangan dan tanaman tahunan. Terakhir, respon yang sama dilaksanakan oleh kelompok akumulasi,, yang memiliki peralatan dan mesin lebih banyak. Sehingga, bukan hal yang mengejutkan jika mereka memilih untuk tidak melaksanakan perladangan berpindah dan sistem pertanian lain. Melihat perubahan yang terjadi di Berau, menjadi suatu hal yang mengejutkan bahwa kegiatan berburu binatang dan memancing ikan masih dilakukan oleh sebagian besar masyarakat tribal dan sama sekali tidak terusik karena tingginya nilai keberlanjutan.Juga karena potensi sebagai sumber protein bagi masyarakat. Kegiatan ini pun bisa menjadi indikator tingkat deforestasi yang belum mengkhawatirkan, walaupun kemungkinan untuk berubah sangatlah terbuka mengingat laju kegiatan penebangan kayu, penambangan emas dan pembukaan lahan perkebunan besar yang semakin cepat. Tingkat keberlanjutan yang rendah hingga sedang untuk kegiatan perladangan berpindah mungkin agak mengejutkan untuk sebuah sistem penggunaan sumber daya alam yang telah ada sejak lama. Berkurangnya sumber lahan yang memungkinkan ataupun persaingan dari kegiatan lain yang lebih menawarkan sumber keuangan yang cepat, secara tak terelakan membuat perladangan

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berpindah, sedikit banyak terabaikan. Hal yang serupa juga berlaku pada kebun cokelat, walaupun sistem ini sebenarnya sangat cocok dengan kondisi hutan tropis dan prospek pemasaran yang baik. Di satu sisi, penambangan emas memiliki nilai keberlanjutan yang rendah hingga sedang, karena walaupun tingkat kerusakan ekologinya sangat tinggi, kegiatan ini memiliki keuntungan ekonomi yang tinggi. Diperkirakan, bahwa di masa mendatang kegiatan ini akan membawa dampak negatif yang langsung dan tidak langsung terhadap keberlanjutan sistem mata pencaharian masyarakat. Masyarakat peasant Tidak seperti masyarakat tribal, masyarakat peasant terdiri dari berbagai macam suku, di luar kelompok suku asli yang berasal dari Berau dan Dayak. Sejak tahun 1980an, pendatang telah bermukim di bantaran hilir Sungai Kelay dan memperkenalkan sistem pertanian yang modern dan permanen, sebagaimana dilakukan di daerah asal mereka. Kondisi lingkungan yang mendukung ditambah dengan akses mudah ke pasar di perkotaan membuat sistem pertanian permanen mudah berkembang di sini. Hal ini membuat banyak tengkulak bermunculan dan membeli hasil pertanian masyarakat, walaupun sebagian hasilnya masih untuk dikonsumsi sendiri. Hasil pertanian komersial yang paling penting adalah padi sawah, tanaman ladang (seperti jagung, kedelai dan kacang tanah), tanaman hortikultura (cabai dan sayuran) dan tanaman tahunan (buah-buahan). Selain itu, keberadaan pendatang juga membawa perubahan terhadap jenis tanaman tahunan, yaitu cokelat yang saat ini menjadi sumber pendapatan terbesar sebagian masyarakat. Sebagai dampak dari meningkatnya komersialisasi dan peningkatan jumlah pendatang, nilai lahan pun semakin meningkat. Selain itu, berbanding terbalik dengan masyarakat tribal, hak kepemilikan atas lahan menjadi lebih indiviadualis dan dilegalkan dengan adanya surat kepemilikan tanah dan surat garap. Sebagai konsekuensinya, lahan menjadi sumber daya alam yang terbatas, dan keterbatasan tersebut membuat banyak petani melakukan sistem intensifikasi pertanian. Peningkatan level komersialisasi juga dapat dilihat bahwa meningkatnya keuntungan hasil pertanian telah menciptakan pekerjaan di bidang-bidang seperti perdagangan, pembiayaan, prosesing, dan transportasi hasil-hasil pertanian, demikian juga dengan distribusi pupuk and barang-barang harian lainnya. Lebih jauh, semua pekerjaan yang berkaitan dengan bidang pertanian dan non pertanian, saat ini sudah didasarkan pada upah, ataupun dengan sistem bagi hasil.


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Sebagaimana yang diperkirakan, proses-proses tersebut meningkatkan perbedaan sosial di dalam masyarakat. Pendapatan baik dari produk pertanian subsisten (konsumsi sendiri) ataupun komersial masih memegang peranan penting dalam masyarakat peasant. Namun, hal yang cukup mengejutkan adalah pendapatan yang berasal dari non pertanian telah memegang peranan yang cukup penting di semua kelompok strategi masyarakat. Kelompok rumah tangga survival menyediakan tenaga mereka bagi petani atau pekerja lain. Sedangkan kelompok rumah tangga akumulasi sebagian besar mendapatkan pendapatan mereka dari kegiatan non pertanian atau usaha dagang mereka. Sebagian dari kegiatan dan usaha dagang tersebut dibiayai dari pendapatan hasil pertanian komersial, karena investasi di bidang non-pertanian terlihat lebih menguntungkan. Bagi kelompok konsolidasi awal dan lanjutan, dengan kondisi lahan, modal dan tenaga kerja keluarga yang lebih banyak dari kelompok survival, jauh lebih berhasil di bidang pertanian, sebagaimana yang diperlihatkan oleh tingkat pendapatan yang berasal dari tanaman pangan dan komersial. Namun, performa terbaik dihasilkan oleh kelompok rumah tangga accumulation, baik dalam bidang pertanian dan non pertanian. Hal ini dapat dijelaskan dari kapasitas mereka mendapatkan keuntungan yang jauh lebih banyak dan sebagi konsekuensinya akan mendapatkan lebih banyak modal untuk membeli asupan bagi tanaman pertanian termasuk teknologi yang lebih baik. Selain itu, mereka juga dapat menginvestasikannya pada kegiatan nonpertanian seperti berdagang, pengolahan dan jasa kredit pembiayaan. Dalam aspek keberlanjutan, kontras dengan masyarakat tribal, kebun cokelat di masyarakat peasant justru mendapatkan hasil yang tertinggi. Hal ini bukan hanya karena kebun cokelat banyak diabaikan oleh masyarakat tribal, namun karena sistem ini mendapatkan keseimbangan ekonomi, sosial dan ekologi di masyarakat peasant, yang banyak menitikberatkan pada jumlah keuntungan dan pemeliharaannya. Hasil keberlanjutan yang tinggi pada padi sawah, ladang, dan pertanian tahunan lain juga menunjukkan bagaimana sistem pertanian komersial tidak harus menghancurkan lingkungan. Namun, hal ini tidak akan berlanjut apabila dalam jangka panjang sistem pertanian tersebut masih menggunakan asupan kimiawi, jenis benih hasil rekayasa, ataupun menghabiskan sumber daya air. Masyarakat perintis (pioneer) Masyarakat perintis pada dasarnya adalah kelompok pendatang yang berpindah akibat daya tarik sumber daya alam yang lebih melimpah dibandingkan dengan tempat asli mereka. Ada dua macam kelompok pendatang, yaitu transmigran dan pendatang spontan.

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Masyarakat perintis memperoleh mata pencaharian mereka dengan mengubah hutan menjadi lahan pertanian. Dengan kata lain, untuk memenuhi konsumsi rumah tangga diperoleh dari ekstraksi sumber daya alam dan lahan yang melimpah. Hal yang mengagumkan, selain mata penggunaan sumber daya alam yang sudah biasa diperkirakan, seperti perladangan berpindah dan kegiatan ekstraktif lain (menebang kayu, penambangan emas dan pengumpulan gaharu), masyarakat perintis juga membuat sistem pertanian tahunan seperti kebun karet dan cokelat, dan ladang pertanian komersial seperti jagung, sayuran dan cabai. Sebagian besar dari mereka sudah menggunakan asupan pupuk dan pestisida modern dan bibit kualitas tinggi di tempat asalnya, dan melaksanakan hal yang sama di Berau. Kebun karet saat ini menjadi sumber pendapatan utama bagi sebagian besar masyarakat ini, akibat tingginya permintaan lateks dan banyak tengkulak yang datang ke desa dan membeli langsung dengan harga petani. Walaupun komoditas lain berkembang, namun hanya jenis tanaman tahunan yang mendapatkan pasar yang lebih luas. Kondisi jalan yang tidak dapat dikatakan terlalu baik, membuat biaya transport untuk tanaman pangan seperti jagung, cabai ataupun beras menjadi terlalu tinggi sehingga pasar mereka hanya terbatas pada warung-warung, rumah makan pinggir jalan dan penginapan-penginapan di sekitarnya. Kebun karet rakyat dan kegiatan pertanian lain tanpa bisa dihindari berpengaruh juga pada berkurangnya jumlah luasan hutan. Pada awalnya, konversi hutan menjadi lahan pertanian tidak menimbulkan permasalahan berkaitan dengan kepemilikan lahan. Namun, peningkatan jumlah penduduk telah mempengaruhi sistem alokasi lahan di tempat ini. Karena tidak adanya sistem adat yang dapat diterapkan dan lahan terlah berubah menjadi komoditas maka sebuah sistem baru penggunaan lahan pun dibuat. Salah satu tipe izin yang ada adalah surat garap yang dikeluarkan oleh kepala desa, yang memberikan kepastian pengelolaan lahan walaupun sebenarnya bertentangan dengan aturan resmi karena berada di dalam kawasan hutan negara. Dengan keberadaan konsesi hutan dan perkebunan kelapa sawit, hal ini sangat berpotensial menjadi sumber konflik lahan dan sosial. Sebagaimana yang telah disampaikan, sumber daya alam yang melimpah telah membuat para petani perintis untuk mengekploitasinya sebanyak mungkin, baik untuk ekstraktif maupun non ekstraktif. Secara umum, hal ini berarti para petani perintis lebih memilih untuk memperluas area dibandingkan melakukan intesifikasi melalaui penambahan modal atau tenaga kerja, yang mana keduanya terbatas. Hal ini terutama terlihat pada kelompok strategi konsolidasi awal dan lanjutan, yang lebih memilih memperluas areas dan memiliki keragaman


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sumber pendapatan mulai dari perkebunan karet, penambangan emas, hingga pengumpulan gaharu, tanpa membuat investasi yang besar. Kelompok survival dan accumulation, di sisi lain, dengan tujuan yang berbeda lebih memilih untuk melakukan spesialisasi dalam mengelola sumber daya alam. Kelompok survival, dengan keterbatasan modal dan lain-lain, berfokus pada perladangan berpindah dan ekstrasi sumber daya alam seperti emas dan berburu. Dari kedua sumber pendapatan yang terakhir disebutkan, mereka mampu membuka kebun karet secara kecil-kecilan, baik di hutan baru ataupun di lahan bekas ladang. Kelompok akumulasi, dengan jumlah modal dan tenaga kerja yang bisa dipekerjakan mampu mengelola perkebunan karet secara lebih efisien. Mereka juga mampu memperluas lahan dengan cara membeli ataupun membersihkan lahan bekas perladangan. Sebagai tambahan, kelompok accumulation juga terlibat dalam kegiatan non pertanian, dan keuntungan yang didapat diinvestasikan dalam kegiatan perkebunan karet, perdagangan, transportasi ataupun rumah makan. Dampak utama terhadap lingkungan bagi masyarakat perintis adalah berkurangnya luasan hutan akibat pembukaan lahan kebun karet. Ini akibat, kecenderungan memperluas areal dibandingkan melakukan intensifikasi pertanian. Namun, satu hal yang harus menjadi catatan, nilai keberlanjutan sistem perkebunan karet di kelompok masyarakat perintis lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan sistem serupa di kelompok masyarakat lain. Hal ini karena potensi pemasaran yang lebih baik, harga yang lebih stabil, mendorong tingkat keadilan pendapatan di masyarakat, nilai intrinsik kebun karet di saat tanaman sudah berumur dewasa. Kualitas tersebut berbanding terbalik dengan rendahnya nilai keberlanjutan kebun cokelat di masyarakat ini, yang lebih membutuhkan pemeliharaan intensif, dan lebih rentan terhadap hama dan penyakit. Sebagai konsekuensinya, kebun cokelat banyak diabaikan oleh para petani perintis. Masyarakat nelayan (coastal) Sistem mata pencaharian masyarakat nelayan, tentu saja lebih banyak yang berkaitan dengan laut dan karena mereka adalah nelayan di kawasan yang masih memiliki akses terbuka seperti perairan laut terbuka dan delta sungai Berau. Sebagian besar masyarakat nelayan terdiri dari pendatang luar pulau yang telah bermukim sejak abad 13. Perpindahan penduduk yang cukup besar terakhir kali terjadi pada tahun 2000, ketika serombongan pekerja pendatang yang berasal dari Malaysia, sebagain besar adalah orang Bugis, tiba di Berau akibat terusir dari Negara Malaysia karena permasalahan politik.

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Ketika membandingkan bentuk mata pencaharian antara masyarakat nelayan dengan masyarakat yang berbasiskan lahan pertanian, jelas terlihat bahwa masyarakat nelayan jauh lebih terspesialisasi. Mereka juga lebih komersial, karena bukan masyarakat subsisten yang makan hanya dari hasil tangkapannya. Tentu tidak sulit untuk melihat adanya perbedaan yang nyata dalam penggunaan teknologi dan tingkat investasi dan produktifitas. Salah satu yang membedakan adalah metode traditional penangkapan ikan dengan menggunakan pancing, jaring, bubu, dll dibandingkan dengan kapal layar dan perahu bermotor. Sejak kedatangan pendatang Bugis dari Malaysia, teknik baru penangkapan ikanpun bertambah yaitu bagan.Tipe penggunaan sumber daya alam yang lain adalah tambak udang atau bandeng yang dimulai pada tahun 1997 sebagai respon dari tingginya permintaan udang di tingkat global dan ketersediaan areal di kawasan hutan mangrove di delta sungai Berau. Perkembangan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan mata pencaharian di masyarakat nelayan juga diakibatkan oleh peningkatan inovasi teknologi dan komersialiasi, dan kondisi laut sebagai sumber daya dengan akses yang terbuka. Tekanan yang terus-menerus diakibatkan oleh kebutuhan komersialisasi dan inovasi teknologi telah mendorong sebagian besar nelayan untuk mengubah peralatan dan perahu mereka dengan menggunakan mesin dan peralatan modern. Saat ini, persaingan dengan nelayan luar yang memiliki peralatan yang jauh lebih baik semakin meningkat, sehingga kehidupan nelayan lokal pun tidak menjadi lebih mudah. Modernisasi peralatan seperti itu juga membutuhkan modal yang bisa didapat dari punggawa ataupun peminjam uang. Lebih lanjut, hal ini memperbesar perbedaan sosial antara pemilik modal, bagan atau perahu dengan para nelayan yang bekerja sebagai anak buah yang bekerja dengan sistem bagi hasil. Masyarakat dari kelompok strategi survival adalah kelompok yang seringkali tidak mampu bertahan dengan tekanan-tekanan tersebut di atas, (dan beberapa dari mereka mengambil jalan keluar dengan melakukan penangkapan ikan yang cenderung tidak sustainable atau bahkan ilegal, seperti menggunakan bahan peledak). Kegiatan-kegiatan ilegal dan penangkapan ikan secara berlebihan akibat modernisasi tersebut telah mendorong pemerintah daerah menerapkan Kawasan Konservasi Laut Berau. Tidak semua masyarakat setuju dengan kebijakan tersebut, karena aturan tersebut dianggap telah membatasi cara mereka bekerja dan pendapatan seperti pengumpulan telur penyu dan penggunaan bahan peledak. Perbedaan pendapat tersebut bahkan telah menimbulkan konflik dengan lembaga-lembaga konservasi yang mendukung penerapan kebijakan tersebut. Secara khusus, kelompok strategi survival mengahadapi masalah serius berkaitan dengan kompetisi, modernisasi teknologi dan penangkapan ikan


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yang berlebihan. Sebagai konsekuensinya, mereka seringkali menjadi korban hutang dari para tengkulak/punggawa. Para punggawa ini juga berperan penting bagi kelompok strategi konsolidasi awal dan lanjutan, karena mereka masih bergantung pada jasa yang diberikan termasuk kredit, alat-alat, dan bahan bakar. Namun, rata-rata, kelompok ini masih dapat menjaga posisi untuk tidak terikat kepada pemilik modal. Bagi kelompok akumulasi, mereka mampu mendiversifikasi mata pencaharian mereka dan menambah investasi di perahu, peralatan ataupun bagan mereka. Selain itu, mereka juga terlibat dalam kegiatan non-pertanian seperti perdagangan ikan atau udang, menjadi sumber pembiayaan, dan mengambil keuntungan dari akses jalan yang semakin baik dengan menjualnya ke daerah perkotaan. Beberapa juga melakukan investasi di tambak-tambak tradisional karena mereka mampu menyediakan asupan dan tenaga kerja dalam pemeliharaannya. Seperti yang juga terdapat di masyarakat lain, dampak pembangunan terhadap sustainability berbagai penggunaan sumber daya alam juga memperlihatkan perbedaan yang cukup nyata, di mana perikanan laut memiliki nilai yang tertinggi dan tambak menjadi yang terendah. Hal ini agak sedikit mengejutkan karena sejak awal selalu disebutkan mengenai penangkapan yang berlebihan dan penggunaan bahan peledak dalam kegiatan perikanan laut. Namun, sebagian besar masyarakat masih menggunakan cara-cara yang tradisional dan ramah lingkungan sementara penangkapan berlebihan adalah konsekuensi dari faktor eksternal dan peralatan mereka (sebagai contoh: jaring trawl). Berkaitan dengan bagan, bagaimanapun, jumlah bagan yang berdiri telah melebihi kapasitas yang dapat mendukung keberlanjutan. Di masa mendatang, kedua jenis kegiatan perikanan tersebut akan menjadi tidak berlanjut akibat semakin tingginya komersialisasi dan teknologi, juga karena semakin banyaknya nelayan yang akan mencari ikan di laut Berau. Permasalahan lain yang timbul adalah kurangnya aturan adat yang berlaku di kelompok masyarakat nelayan karena keragaman suku yang ada di sana. Konsekuensinya, pengelolaan perikanan yang baik hanya dapat dicapai melalui penerapan hukum dan pengawasan dari pemerintah yang lebih baik. Intervensi yang dilakukan harus melalui serangkaian diskusi pendahuluan dengan masyarakat. Kesimpulan Tidak ada masyarakat pertanian ataupun perikanan yang tidak terkena dampak oleh perubahan yang terjadi, baik dalam bentuk penggunaan sumber daya alam, kondisi mata pencaharian, tingkat komersialisasi dan perbedaan sosial. Selain

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itu, tidak satupun kelompok masyarakat yang bisa dikatakan sebagi kelompok tertutup ataupun kelompok sosial yang homogen, karena masing–masing ternyata memiliki kelompok rumah tangga dan strategi yang berbeda-beda, dan bereaksi secara berbeda terhadap proses perubahan. Beberapa respon berkaitan dengan latar belakang sosial budaya mereka, sementara yang lain ditentukan oleh fleksibilitas sistem sumber daya alam mereka. Sebagai akibatnya, masyarakat menunjukan perbedaan yang besar untuk bereaksi terhadap faktorfaktor perubahan dan dalam mengelola sumber daya alam sebagai hasil dari perubahan tersebut. Lebih lanjut, berbagai analisis keberlanjutan juga memperlihatkan pentingnya memasukan dimensi ekonomi, sosial dan ekologi, karena ketiganya terkait satu sama lain. Sebuah sistem dengan nilai yang tinggi dalam sebuah dimensi tidak berarti memiliki total nilai yang baik, apabila memiliki nilai yang rendah di dimensi lain. Sehingga, menyeimbangkan kombinasi dari ketiganya sangatlah penting untuk mendapatkan semua karakteristik sustainability dan mencari solusi untuk meningkatkan keberlanjutan dalam sebuah sistem penggunaan sumber daya alam. Lebih lanjut, pembuat kebijakan harus melihat penilaian keberlanjutan secara lebih lengkap dalam membuat keputusan yang berkaitan dengan pembangunan di masyarakat pertanian. Selain itu, pendekatan pemerintah juga harus melihat perbedaan di dalam masyarakat, karena tidak ada solusi tunggal dan seragam yang bisa diterapkan kepada semua jenis masyarakat pertanian.

Samenvatting

Deze studie gaat over het gebruik van natuurlijke hulpbronnen in het Berau district van Oost-Kalimantan (Indonesië), een gebied dat te maken heeft met snelle veranderingen en toenemende milieudruk. Veranderend beleid, snelle economische groei en de komst van verschillende bevolkingsgroepen hebben er belangrijke implicaties gehad voor de toegang tot en de controle door de lokale bevolking over het bos, de bosproducten, het land en andere natuurlijke hulpbronnen. Wat zijn de gevolgen van de toenemende druk op het milieu voor het duurzaam gebruik van de hulpbronnen en daarmee voor de mogelijkheden van de bevolking een duurzaam bestaan op te bouwen? Het verkrijgen van inzicht in de relatie tussen bevolking en omgeving en, meer in het bijzonder, de multi-dimensionele notie en de context-gerelateerde interpretatie van duurzaamheid vormen de belangrijkste doelstellingen van deze studie. De economische groei begon eind jaren ’60 en in lijn met de doelstelling van de Nieuwe Orde-regering om de nationale economie aan te zwengelen, werd in Oost-Kalimantan een op de natuurlijke rijkdommen gebaseerde economische ontwikkeling gestimuleerd, die ook invloed had op de kenmerken en dynamiek van het Berau district. De implementatie van een decentralisatiebeleid in 1999 was een ander belangrijk feit dat voor verandering zorgde. De lokale overheden kregen hierdoor aanmerkelijk meer bevoegdheden en mogelijkheden om de hulpbronnen van hun regio te benutten en zelf problemen op te lossen. Deze bestuurlijke en economische ontwikkelingen gingen gepaard met een aanhoudende groei van de bevolking, die begin jaren ’80 een aanvang nam door het overheidsprogramma van gedwongen transmigratie. Deze bracht ook de spontane migratie op gang, die aanzienlijk toenam naarmate de economische situatie in het district verbeterde als gevolg van het decentralisatiebeleid en die na enige tijd ook ging leiden tot kettingmigratie. Daarmee werd de bevolkingsgroei een derde belangrijke factor die van invloed werd op de economische ontwikkeling in Berau.

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Voornoemde veranderingen hebben positieve en negatieve uitwerkingen gehad op districtsniveau. Een van de effecten was dat de lokale gemeenschappen en de daartoe behorende huishoudens te doen kregen met van buitenaf in gang gezette veranderingen in hun bestaanssituatie en bestaansperspectieven zonder dat ze in staat waren op de veranderingen enigerlei invloed uit te oefenen. Ze reageerden op uiteenlopende wijze, zoals is aangetoond door ons onderzoek in verschillende soorten gemeenschappen. Op basis van de belangrijkste kenmerken van de manier waarop ze hun productie vorm hadden gegeven bestudeerden we tribale gemeenschappen, die van kleine overwegend zelfvoorzienende boeren (peasants) en die van kolonisten in het binnenland, alsook die van vissers in het kustgebied. Binnen deze gemeenschappen hebben we verschillende typen huishoudens onderscheiden: survival households (gericht op overleven); starter consolidation households (gericht op behoud en consolidatie); advanced consolidation households (gericht op vervolgconsolidatie) en, tenslotte accumulation households (gericht op verbetering en accumulatie). We beoordeelden hun gebruik van de lokale natuurlijke hulpbronnen in termen van duurzaamheid. De tribale gemeenschappen Het zijn vooral de tribale gemeenschappen die de gevolgen hebben ondervonden van het overheidsbeleid met betrekking tot bosbeheer, dat in de jaren ’70 begon met het verlenen van omvangrijke houtkapconcessies aan zowel staats- als particuliere maatschappijen. De houtkap zorgde niet alleen voor ontsluiting en verdwijning van grote arealen oerwoud, maar verbeterde ook de toegang tot de stedelijke centra, waardoor de commercialisatie en de technische innovatie in de gemeenschappen gestimuleerd werden. Het geld dat nodig was voor de aanschaf van werktuigen en consumptiegoederen kwam meestal niet van commerciële gewassen, maar vooral van de verkoop van producten van meer opleverende extractieve activiteiten (goud, hout, gaharu etc.). De houtkap leidde tot verschillende conflicten tussen de houtkapondernemingen en de lokale bevolking met betrekking landgebruiksrechten, die inmiddels beperkt zijn tot smalle stroken langs de rivieren en daardoor hebben geleid tot een afname van het land dat voor zwerflandbouw beschikbaar is en tot een verkorting van de braakperioden. Als gevolg daarvan vertoont de productiviteit van de voedsellandbouw (rijst) een dalende tendens, ondanks het feit dat de toegepaste techniek en de aanwending van arbeid niet zijn veranderd. Daar komt bij dat de belangstelling voor het uitoefenen van zwerflandbouw is verminderd door de opkomst van de


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goudwinning in de bovenstroomse delen van de rivierbekkens. Deze activiteit kan in beginsel door alle leden van de gemeenschap worden uitgeoefend en verschaft aanzienlijk hogere inkomens dan de landbouw, en bovendien sneller. De goudwinning absorbeert een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid arbeidskracht en onttrekt ook kapitaal aan - en vermindert de belangstelling voor - andere economische activiteiten, inclusief de verbouw van meerjarige handelsgewassen zoals cacao. De prijzen voor goud op de wereldmarkt hebben de belangstelling voor de goudwinning zodanig vergroot dat het veel aantrekkelijker is om rijst en andere voedselgewassen te kopen dan om deze te verbouwen. Het feit dat er nog steeds zwerflandbouw wordt uitgeoefend wijst erop dat deze bestaansbron nog altijd een essentiële rol speelt als het gaat om voedselzekerheid en de handhaving van sociale cohesie in de tribale gemeenschappen. Dat geldt echter niet voor de meer kwetsbare teelt van handelsgewassen zoals cacao, waarvoor individuele investeringen en inspanningen nodig zijn, alsook voortdurende zorg ter bestrijding van plagen en ziekten. Vergeleken met de andere bestudeerde gemeenschappen zijn zowel de mate van commercialisatie en de sociale differentiatie in de tribale gemeenschappen nog altijd gering. Dat is voornamelijk het gevolg van het nog steeds in deze gemeenschappen vigerende verwantschaps- en gewoonterecht (adat). Het zijn vooral deze communale allocatiemechanismen die de toegang tot traditionele en vitale bestaansbronnen zoals zelfvoorzienende zwerflandbouw en jacht reguleren. Als we een vergelijking maken tussen de bestaansstrategieën van de verschillende soorten huishoudens, kunnen we vaststellen dat de survival households zich vooral concentreren op goudwinning (met weinig investeringen kan relatief veel geld worden verdiend). Ze beoefenen nog steeds zelfvoorzienende zwerflandbouw, maar verbouwen zelden meerjarige gewassen zoals cacao, die te veel kapitaal en zorg vereisen. Min of meer hetzelfde beeld vertonen de huishoudens behorend tot de starter consolidation en de advanced consolidation groep. Ook zij richten zich op goudwinning, maar vertonen de tendens een deel van hun inkomenssurplus te investeren in de verbetering van hun leefomstandigheden (huisvesting en landbouw). De starter consolidation groep bleek zelfs het hoogste gemiddelde inkomen te hebben uit de verbouw van voedsel- en meerjarige gewassen. Soortgelijke reacties vonden we bij de accumulation households, die het meest geprofiteerd hebben van de zich verruimende bestaansmogelijkheden buiten het landbouwbedrijf, inclusief goudwinning (met meer materieel). Het is daarom niet verwonderlijk dat deze groep huishoudens de zwerflandbouw voor zelfvoorziening geheel heeft opgegeven.

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Gegeven de veranderingen die zich in het district hebben voltrokken, lijkt het verrassend dat de zelfvoorzienende jacht en visserij nog steeds door de meeste huishoudens worden beoefend en relatief ongewijzigd zijn gebleven. De voornaamste reden is dat beide activiteiten belangrijke leveranciers van proteïnen voor het dagelijks dieet vormen. Overigens blijkt er ook uit dat de ontbossing en de riviervervuiling (als gevolg van de goudwinning) nog niet zodanig zijn voortgeschreden dat het wild- en visbestand daardoor bedreigd wordt. Daar kan in de nabije toekomst snel verandering in komen als gevolg van grootschalige houtkap en mijnbouw of door de vestiging van uitgestrekte plantages. De matige tot lage duurzaamheidscore voor de zwerflandbouw is tamelijk verrassend omdat het gaat om een al lang bestaand en in beginsel uitgebalanceerd type van hulpbrongebruik. Dit heeft alles te maken met de groeiende afname van beschikbaar land in de tribale gemeenschappen evenals met de toenemende concurrentie van de meer opleverende goudwinning; dit leidt onvermijdelijk tot een verwaarlozing van andere activiteiten. Dit geldt in het bijzonder voor de teleurstellend lage duurzaamheidsscore voor cacaoteelt, hoewel deze meerjarige boomcultuur heel goed past bij tropische regenwoudomstandigheden en goede marktperspectieven vertoont. Voor de goudwinning is het duurzaamheidniveau matig tot laag, wat behalve door de negatieve milieueffecten ook wordt bepaald door de relatief hoge scores op basis van economische criteria. Op langere termijn zal dit soort hulpbrongebruik ongetwijfeld alleen maar zeer negatieve uitwerkingen hebben op de duurzaamheid van de bestaansbronnen van de gemeenschappen, zowel direct als indirect. De gemeenschappen van kleine zelfvoorzienende boeren (peasants) In tegenstelling tot de tribale gemeenschappen, bestaan de gemeenschappen van de peasants uit verschillende etnische groepen, naast de kern gevormd door de lokale Berau en Dayaks. Vanaf de jaren ’80 hebben zich in de benedenloop van de Kelay rivier migranten gevestigd die vanuit hun herkomstgebied kennis over modernere en meer permanente vorm van landbouw meebrachten. Gunstige natuurlijke omstandigheden langs de rivier en goede toegankelijkheid tot de nabije stedelijke markt boden de mogelijkheid tot het uitoefenen van permanente akkerbouw en maakten het voor stedelijke tussenhandelaren aantrekkelijk om de commerciële landbouw van de plaatselijke boeren te stimuleren, naast zelfvoorziening. De belangrijkste handelsgewassen die nu worden geproduceerd zijn (natte) rijst, voedselgewassen van niet geïrrigeerd land (zoals maïs, sojabonen en aardnoten),


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verschillende tuinbouwgewassen (pepers en groenten) en meerjarige gewassen zoals fruit. Wat meer recentelijk gingen de migranten ook over op modernere agrarische productiemiddelen zoals hoogproductieve variëteiten en kunstmest en nieuwe meerjarige cultures zoals cacao, dat voor de meeste huishoudens nu een belangrijke inkomstenbron is. Naarmate de commerciële gerichtheid en het aantal migranten toenam, ging de prijs van het land omhoog. Anders dan in de tribale gemeenschappen, zijn de eigendomsrechten op land volledig geprivatiseerd en gelegaliseerd via uitgifte van landcertificaten en vergunningen. Land is daarom een schaarse hulpbron aan het worden. De toenemende druk op het land dwingt de huishoudens ertoe om het gebruik ervan te intensiveren. De toenemende marktgerichtheid blijkt ook uit het feit dat het groeiende productiesurplus zorgt voor een toenemend aantal arbeidsplaatsen buiten de landbouw in de handel, de financiering, de verwerking en het transport van landbouwproducten, alsook uit de verkoop van bedrijfsmiddelen en consumptiegoederen. Ook is het zo dat zowel in als buiten de landbouw nu al het werk wordt gedaan als loonarbeid, terwijl werk in de landbouw ook wordt verricht in het kader van pacht (meestal op deelpachtbasis). Zoals te verwachten hebben deze ontwikkelingen bijgedragen aan een verdere sociale differentiatie. Het inkomen uit zowel de zelfvoorzienende als de marktgerichte akkerbouw speelt nog steeds een dominante rol in de peasanthuishoudens. Maar het is opmerkelijk dat ook niet-landbouw inkomen een vitale rol is gaan spelen voor alle door ons onderscheiden strategie-groepen. De leden van de survival households verrichten loonarbeid voor andere boeren of voor ondernemers, terwijl de accumulation households hun additionele inkomen overwegend verkrijgen van niet-landbouw activiteiten of ondernemingen. Deze activiteiten of ondernemingen werden gedeeltelijk gefinancierd met inkomsten uit de commerciële landbouw, aangezien investeringen buiten de landbouw meer winstgevend beginnen te worden. De starter en advanced consolidation households, die over meer land, kapitaal en gezinsarbeid beschikken, doen het vaak beter in de landbouw, wat blijkt uit hun hogere inkomsten uit zowel voedsel- als handelsgewassen. De beste prestaties zien we bij de accumulation households, zowel binnen als buiten de landbouwsector. Dit moet ten dele worden toegeschreven aan het feit dat ze grotere surplus kunnen voortbrengen en dus meer kapitaal kunnen genereren om zich te voorzien van de benodigde bedrijfsmiddelen, ondersteunende technologie en diensten. Maar ook aan het feit dat ze investeringen kunnen doen in meer lucratieve niet-agrarische activiteiten zoals handel, verwerking en kredietverlening.

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In termen van duurzaamheid, is het verschil met de tribale gemeenschappen vooral opmerkelijk waar het gaat om de uiteenlopende betekenis van de cacaoproductie. Deze scoort het hoogst in de peasant-gemeenschappen. Dit hangt enerzijds samen met het feit dat deze in de tribale gemeenschappen relatief verwaarloosd wordt, maar ook met de evenwichtiger economische, sociale en ecologische situatie in de peasant-gemeenschappen waar meer nadruk ligt op winstgevendheid en verzorging. Rijstteelt, de verbouw van droge voedselgewassen en andere meerjarige gewassen (naast cacao) laten een hoge duurzaamheidscore zien en tonen aan dat agrarische commercialisatie niet noodzakelijkerwijs schadelijk is voor het milieu. Dat sluit niet uit dat verdere marktgerichtheid op langere termijn de druk op het milieu verhoogt door toenemend gebruik van landbouwchemicaliën, hoogproductieve variëteiten en schaarse hulpbronnen als land en water. De kolonistengemeenschappen (pioneercommunities) De pionierslandbouw is hoofdzakelijk een aangelegenheid van migrantenhuishoudens die werden aangetrokken door de overvloed aan natuurlijke hulpbronnen vergeleken met die in hun herkomstgebied. In Berau district identificeerden we in de onderzochte gebieden aan de bovenloop van de Kelay rivier twee groepen migranten: gedwongen migranten (transmigranten) en spontane migranten. De pioniersgemeenschappen die door vestiging van de migranten zijn ontstaan hebben hun bestaan nog niet zo lang geleden gevonden in de omzetting van bos in cultuurland. Hun behoeften worden, met andere woorden, in hoge mate gedekt door de exploitatie van lokale natuurlijke hulpbronnen, meer concreet door de extensieve benutting van nog steeds overvloedig aanwezig land. Opmerkelijk is dat de kolonistenhuishoudens naast de voor de hand liggende vormen van hulpbrongebruik, zoals zwerflandbouw voor de productie van voedselgewassen en extractieve activiteiten (houtkap, goudwinning, gahuru verzameling), ook meerjarige cultures voor de markt hebben ontwikkeld, zoals rubber- en cacaoplantages, en voor verhandeling ook niet-geïrrigeerde voedselgewassen zoals maïs, groenten en pepers, zijn gaan verbouwen. De meeste kolonisten gebruikten al in hun gebied van herkomst moderne bedrijfsmiddelen en hoogproductieve variëteiten en bleven dat doen na vestiging in het Berau district. Anno 2012 zijn de rubberplantages de meest belangrijke bron van inkomsten, ook doordat de vraag naar latex vrij groot is; tussenhandelaren komen naar de dorpen om de oogsten direct op het landbouwbedrijf op te kopen. Er worden


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ook andere gewassen verbouwd, maar alleen voor de meer hoogwaardige meerjarige cultures is er een ruimere markt. Slechte tot matige wegverbindingen maken de transportkosten voor voedselgewassen als rijst, maïs en pepers te hoog, waardoor hun afzet beperkt blijft tot nabije kiosken, wegrestaurants en logementen. De aanleg van rubberplantages en andere agrarische activiteiten zijn in de pioniersgemeenschappen onvermijdelijk ten koste gegaan van het bos. Aanvankelijk leidde de omzetting van bos in cultuurland niet tot landeigendomsproblemen. Naarmate de bevolking, uit verschillende herkomstgebieden, verder groeide functioneerde het traditionale landallocatiesysteem steeds minder adequaat. Door de afkalving van het adatsysteem, en de toenemende commercialisering, wordt landregulatie steeds noodzakelijker. Landbeheersvergunningen, verstrekt door het dorpshoofd zijn vaak strijdig met de officiële regelgeving betreffende Staatsbosgebieden. Met de toenemende claims van grote houtkap- en plantageondernemingen kan dit in de toekomst gemakkelijk een bron van sociale en wettelijke conflicten worden. Zoals eerder vermeld, heeft de overvloed aan natuurlijke hulpbronnen de kolonistenhuishoudens ertoe gebracht deze zo veel mogelijk te benutten, zowel voor extractieve als niet-extractieve doeleinden. Dit betekende dat de kolonisten meer geneigd waren het areaal land voor de verbouw van voedselof marktgewassen verder uit te breiden dan om de productiemethoden te intensiveren door aanwending van meer (schaars) kapitaal en arbeid per oppervlakte-eenheid. Dit ziet men vooral bij de starter en de advanced consolidation huishoudens, die hun inkomstenbronnen verruimen en verbreden door hun activiteit te spreiden van rubberplantages tot goudwinning en de verzameling van bosproducten, zonder gerichte investeringen. De survival en de accumulation households, daarentegen, geven er om uiteenlopende redenen de voorkeur aan om zich op een beperkt aantal vormen van hulpbrongebruik te concentreren. Zo neigen de survival households, die over weinig middelen beschikken, ertoe zich vooral te richten op de productie van basisvoedsel door middel van zwerflandbouw en op extractieve activiteiten zoals goudwinning en jacht. Met de bescheiden inkomsten die ze uit laatstgenoemde activiteiten verwerven bleken sommige survival households in staat om een rubberplantage op te zetten (op nieuwe bosgrond of vroegere ladangs). De accumulation households, die over meer kapitaal en ingehuurde arbeid beschikken, zijn relatief vaak in staat geweest om de verbouw van meerjarige gewassen op een meer efficiënte wijze te organiseren en hun plantages uit te breiden door land van anderen op te kopen of nieuw land te ontginnen en op die manier meer inkomen te genereren. Ook profiteren de accumulation households relatief vaak

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van inkomensdiversificatie: inkomsten uit niet-landbouw activiteiten worden gebruikt voor de ontwikkeling van meerjarige cultures, of geïnvesteerd in, onder meer, handel, transport of wegrestaurants. Het voornaamste milieueffect van de pioniersgemeenschappen is vanzelfsprekend de onomkeerbare en voortschrijdende ontbossing vanwege de aanleg van kleinschalige rubberplantages. Dit geldt temeer daar de kolonistenhuishoudens vaak geneigd zijn het areaal cultuurland te vergroten (in plaats van het bodemgebruik te intensiveren) Aan de andere kant blijkt de duurzaamheidscore van de rubberplantages hoger te zijn dan die van vergelijkbare vormen van hulpbrongebruik elders. De verklaring ligt in de goede afzetmogelijkheden, de stabiele prijzen, de gelijkheid bevorderende uitwerking en, niet in de laatste plaats, de intrinsieke ecologische kwaliteiten van deze meerjarige boomcultuur. Deze kwaliteiten staan in schril contrast met de lage duurzaamheidscores voor cacao plantages, die meer verzorging vereisen en veel gevoeliger zijn van plagen en ziekten. De verbouw van cacao wordt daarom door de armere kolonisten bewust beperkt of vermeden. De visserijgemeenschappen Het laatste type gemeenschappen onderscheidt zich van de drie voorgaande doordat de bestaansbronnen overwegend zijn gebaseerd op visserij in vrij toegankelijke kustwateren en de rivierdelta’s. De meeste kustgemeenschappen bestaan uit afstammelingen van migranten van andere Indonesische eilanden die zich sinds de dertiende eeuw in Berau hebben gevestigd. De laatste omvangrijke migrantenstroom dateert uit 2000, toen een groep Indonesische arbeidsmigranten, voornamelijk Buginese vissers, in het gebied arriveerde, nadat ze om politieke redenen gedwongen waren om Maleisië te verlaten. Vergelijken we de kustgemeenschappen met de akkerbouw gemeenschappen, dan blijkt het van de zee afhankelijke bestaanspatroon meer gespecialiseerd en gecommercialiseerd te zijn. Dit neemt niet weg dat de visserij aanzienlijke verschillen in gebruikte techniek en in investeringen productiviteitsniveau laat zien. Het belangrijkst zijn de traditionele vismethoden in open zee met zeil- of motorboten, waarbij standlijnen, netten, haken e.d. worden gebruikt. Na de recente vestiging van de Buginese vissers uit Maleisië is ook een nieuwe techniek geïntroduceerd, die aanzienlijke investeringen vereist, te weten die met ophaalbare netten op een vaste locatie (bagan). Naast de open zee visserij is bovendien nog een andere vorm van visvangst in de kustgemeenschappen ontstaan en wel de aquacultuur, op het vasteland in brakwater visvijvers. In 1997 werd hiermee een begin gemaakt als respons op de toenemende vraag naar (tropische) garnalen op de wereldmarkt en kon die kans worden benut dankzij


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de aanwezigheid van brakwatergebieden in de mangrovebossen van de Berau rivierdelta In de kustgemeenschappen worden productieverhoudingen verregaand bepaald door enerzijds technische innovatie en commercialisering, en anderzijds de toegang van de viswateren als gemeenschappelijke hulpbron. De voortdurende noodzaak van commercialisering en technische innovatie heeft de meeste huishoudens de afgelopen tijd ertoe gebracht hun boten en bijbehorende uitrusting te moderniseren door machines en moderne vislijnen te gaan gebruiken. Tegelijkertijd is ook de concurrentie van beter uitgeruste vissersboten van elders of zelfs vanuit het buitenland toegenomen, zodat het bestaan van de plaatselijke vissers nog steeds verre van eenvoudig is. De verdere modernisering van de visserijvloot vereist bovendien meer kapitaal van geldschieters en/ of handelaren en leidt tot toenemende sociale differentiatie tussen ‘bazen’ (punggawa), die kapitaal hebben en eigenaar zijn van de boot of bagan, en de bemanning die op deelpachtbasis de uitrusting exploiteert. Vooral de armere huishoudens blijken vaak niet in staat te reageren op de toenemende noodzaak van investering en zien zich daardoor genoodzaakt hun toevlucht te nemen tot minder duurzame en zelfs illegale vismethoden, meestal het gebruik van goedkope explosieven en toxische stoffen om commercieel aantrekkelijke soorten rifvis te vangen. De illegale praktijken en de toenemende overbevissing als gevolg van de modernisering van de vissersvloot hebben de lokale autoriteiten er toe gebracht beschermende maatregelen te nemen. Vanzelfsprekend waren niet alle gemeenschappen hiermee ingenomen, aangezien deze leidden tot een beperking van de gebieden waar mag worden gevist en de methoden die gebruikt mogen worden; inkomstenbronnen zoals het verzamelen van schildpadeieren en het gebruik van explosieven werden geheel verboden. Het veroorzaakte zelfs een openlijk conflict met een institutionele NGO, die achter de implementatie van het lokale overheidsbeleid stond. Kijkend naar de diverse huishoudens, blijkt vooral voor de survival households het bestaan erg moeilijk is geworden, als gevolg van toenemende concurrentie, technische innovatie en overbevissing. Deze huishoudens verkeren daardoor vaak in een permanente schuldrelatie met hun tussenhandelaren. Ook de starter en advanced consolidation huishoudens blijken erg afhankelijk te zijn van de diensten van de tussenhandelaren, die hen voorzien van krediet, uitrusting en andere benodigdheden zoals brandstof en vislijnen. De consolidation households blijken doorgaans redelijk goed in staat om hun positie als onafhankelijke producenten te behouden door zoveel mogelijk in hun bestaansbron te investeren. De accumulatie-huishoudens zijn er vaak in geslaagd om hun

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activiteiten te verbreden en om te investeren in grotere boten met moderne uitrusting of in dure bagan platforms. Het meest opmerkelijk is hun neiging om over te schakelen op andere activiteiten dan de visserij, zoals de handel in vis en/of garnalen, de visverwerking en de financiering, of te investeren in verbeterd transport (over de weg of over zee) van vis naar de nabije stedelijke markten en rifeilanden. Sommigen zijn ook begonnen om te investeren in aquacultuur (visvijvers), omdat ze het zich kunnen veroorloven de benodigde bedrijfsmiddelen en arbeid in het onderhoud van de visvijvers te steken. Zoals ook het geval is in de andere gemeenschappen, blijken aanzienlijke verschillen te bestaan in de uitwerking van recente ontwikkelingen op de duurzaamheid van het hulpbrongebruik. De zeevisserij scoort in dit opzicht het hoogst, de aquacultuur het laagst. Dit lijkt voor de zeevisserij een verrassende constatering gezien de vaak genoemde overbevissing en de kwalijke praktijken bij de rifvisserij. Het is ook zo dat verreweg de meeste vissers nog steeds traditionele en milieuvriendelijke methoden gebruiken en dat de overbevissing grotendeels op conto komt van externe actoren die moderne uitrusting gebruiken (zoals sleepnetten). Met betrekking tot de bagan visserij kan nu al worden geconstateerd dat er sprake is van overexploitatie (teveel platforms). Op langere termijn zullen beide soorten visserij het label van duurzaamheid verliezen, gegeven de toenemende commercialisatie, de verdere technische innovatie en het groeiend aantal boten dat in de kustwateren van Berau opereert. Een bijkomend probleem is dat de kustgemeenschappen geen homogene bevolking hebben die bereid en in staat is zelf instituties te ontwikkelen voor een adequaat beheer van de communale hulpbronnen. Een dergelijk beheer zal er alleen kunnen komen via wettelijke maatregelen en een grotere toezichthoudende rol van de lokale overheden, maar dat zijn interventies die tot stand moeten komen in dialoog met de lokale gemeenschappen. Ter afsluiting Uit ons onderzoek kan worden geconcludeerd dat alle gemeenschappen intensief beïnvloed zijn door de snelle veranderingen die hebben plaats gevonden; elk van die veranderingen heeft uitwerking gehad op het gebruik van de beschikbare hulpbronnen, de bestaanswijzen, het niveau van commercialisatie en de mate van sociale differentiatie. Het onderzoek heeft ook aangetoond dat geen van de gemeenschappen mag worden beschouwd als een gesloten analyse-eenheid, of als een homogene sociale entiteit, omdat ze alle bestaan uit verschillende typen huishoudens, zelfs behorend tot verschillende etnische groepen, die ieder op zich uiteenlopend hebben gereageerd op de veranderingsprocessen. Sommige responses vertonen een duidelijke relatie met


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de sociaal-culturele achtergrond, terwijl andere meer bepaald worden door de flexibiliteit in de wijze van hulpbrongebruik. De gemeenschappen vertonen daardoor onderling en intern aanzienlijke verschillen in de manier waarop ze het hoofd boden aan de voornaamste veranderingen en in de wijze waarop ze omgingen met hun natuurlijke hulpbronnen als gevolg van die veranderingen. De diverse duurzaamheidanalyses hebben verder laten zien hoe belangrijk het is om economische, sociale en ecologische dimensies in die analyses te betrekken; het zijn dimensies die nauw met elkaar samenhangen. Een systeem met hoge waarden voor één van de dimensies hoeft uiteindelijk niet een goede totaalscore op te leveren, aangezien andere dimensies lagere waarden kunnen hebben. Het is daarom nodig een balans van de combinatie van alle drie dimensies op te maken om het algehele duurzaamheidkarakter te kunnen beoordelen en mogelijke wegen te verkennen ter verbetering van de duurzaamheid van de respectieve systemen van hulpbrongebruik. In een later stadium, als beleidsmakers een beslissing moeten nemen aangaande een ontwikkelingsstrategie voor de gemeenschappen, zullen zij deze comparatieve duurzaamheidbeoordeling integraal als uitgangspunt moeten nemen. Ook zal het overheidsbeleid rekening moeten houden met de verschillen tussen de gemeenschappen; een enkele uniforme oplossing voor alle soorten gemeenschappen is onmogelijk.

Curriculum Vitae

Rizki Pandu Permana was born on 15 January 1976 in Bogor, Indonesia. He started his Bachelor degree programme at Bogor Agricultural University in 1994, majoring in Forest Management. After graduating in 1999, he spent almost a year doing field training with a timber plantation company in Indonesia. This gave him real experiences of and new perspectives on forest management and its problems in Indonesia. In 2000, Permana joined the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) as a socioeconomic researcher for the Forest Fire Project, a joint research programme between ICRAF and the Center for International Forestry Research. His research focused on the socioeconomic causes of forest fires in Indonesia, including some issues related to changing livelihoods, migration, resource conflicts and land use changes. The project took him to several places in Indonesia, including Riau, Jambi, South Sumatera and Lampung Provinces. In 2003, Permana was granted a fellowship to pursue his Master’s at Wageningen University under the Netherlands Fellowship Programme scheme run by Nuffic (Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education). He majored in Forest and Nature Conservation within the university’s Socio-Economic and Policy Group Programme. His Master’s thesis was on the role of land tenure right transfer in Lampung Province (Indonesia) as a form of payment for environmental services. Permana graduated from Wageningen University in 2005 and joined Birdlife Indonesia as a research and communication officer. This job required him to provide analyses in support of strategic decision-making, lesson learning and innovation within Birdlife Indonesia. His tasks included developing and maintaining a network of contacts and information sources. After 15 months with Birdlife Indonesia, Permana returned to the Netherlands to start his PhD degree at the Department of International Development

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Studies, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University. He joined the East Kalimantan Programme (EKP), a research project funded by WOTRO (Science for Global Development; a subdivision of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research). The project was conducted under the cooperation of several organizations in the Netherlands – namely Utrecht University, the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation of ITC, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Undersea Research, and the Netherlands Institute for Ecology – and in Indonesia, that is, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, the National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping, the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, the Centre for Data and Information on Energy and Mineral Resources, Bandung Institute of Technology and the University of Mulawarman. Permana focused his research on the socioeconomic aspect of the programme through the exploration of the dynamic interaction of communities and natural resources in the Berau river basin area (Indonesia), from the upstream to the coastal communities. Permana is now working for the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group) as a social and community forestry specialist. His consultancy work focuses on socioeconomic issues, including conflicts over resources, policy on natural resource management, community–company partnerships, and community forest management in Indonesia. He also temporarily works for the Dutch company CO2 Operate BV for the Voluntary Carbon Market project in Indonesia. This work mainly involves developing the concept and management of CO2 compensation projects in Indonesia through a pro-poor agroforestry mechanism. In his free time, Permana continues to pursue his passions: writing, cooking and photography. He is co-author of two novels – Negeri van Oranje (Land of Oranje) and Empat Musim Cinta (Four Seasons of Love) – and has had several travel articles published in magazines.