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COMMUNITY FORESTRY CASE STUDY SERIES FU001/95

RECOFTC

REGIONAL COMMUNITY FORESTRY TRAINING CENTER

&

ASIA FOREST NETWORK

THE FOREST STEWARDS OF DIAK LAY

EAST

Prepared By

Cynthia Josayma

ASIA FOREST NETWORK

Based on:

M. Poffenberger and B. McGean (Eds.). 1993.

Community and Forest Management in : Pathway to Environmental Stability. "The Forest Stewards of Diak Lay."

This Case study has emerged is a cooperative effort between the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC) and the Asia Forest Network.

RECOFTC's main purpose is to organize and provide training in community forestry in the Asia Pacific region. In support of this mandate, RECOFTC undertakes and facilitates relevant research, technical assistance, exchange of information, workshops, and linkages with appropriate institutions and individuals.

The Asia Forest Network supports the role of communities in protection and sustainable use of the region's natural forests. The emphasis of the network's research includes the ecology of natural regeneration, the economics of non-timber forest product systems, conflict resolution, and the community organizations and institutional arrangement that support participatory management. The lessons stemming from this research are used to inform field implementation procedures, reorient training, and guide policy reform.

We would like to acknowledge the funding support for the development of the case study. Our thanks to OSDA Forest Service, USAID, Asia Bureau, Natural Resource Management Programme, and SEADO/ODA (Southeast Asia Development Division/ Overseas Development Administration).

BACKGROUND

Indonesia possesses 60% of all forested lands in Southeast Asia and an even greater proportion of the Page 2 of 7

remaining primary rain forests. 's forests are not only rich in biological diversity, but they also support millions of indigenous peoples who have historically resided in the outer islands, as well as a growing number of migrants from densely populated Java.

The province of East Kalimantan is currently the center of the commercial timber industry, supplying nearly 25% of the nation's commercial needs. The timber is produced by more than 100 concessionaires currently operative in the province. More than 50% of the province was leased to concessionaires in the early 1970s. Communities such as at the case study site, Diak Lay, had changed little until the past 20 years, when logging concessions began operation around their ancestral lands.

Forest utilization practices by concessionaires, developers, migrants, and local populations have led to a rapid process of forest degradation, especially in areas near roads and urban centers. While national planners view forest utilization as a way to stimulate economic growth and as a resource to Java's growing population, indigenous peoples view the forest as their ancestral home. Forest dwellers such as the Wehea Dayaks who reside in Diak Lay Possess a thorough knowledge of forest ecology and regenerative processes based on centuries of experience with Sweden cultivation. The case study examines how traditional forest Use systems differ from commercial timber operations and presents the Dayak view of how forest resources might be better managed in the future.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. How do the Diak Lay determine the suitability of now swidden fields?

2. Why do the Diak Lay reserve strips of natural forestland?

3. Which agricultural initiatives have the Diak Lay adopted to meet their economic needs?

4. How have different concessionaires worked with the Diak Lay?

THE FOREST STEWARDS OF DIAK LAY

Migration of the Dayaks

The Wehea Dayaks have a sophisticated understanding of the forest and river ecosystems. It is believed that the Wehea Dayaks migrated from the mountains of the Apo Kayam into the upper reachers of the over the past 400 years. As their communities have grown, they have moved progressively downstream, establishing new villages. In 1870, they sited a village approximately 10 km upriver from the current settlement of Diak Lay, constructing a large, traditional communal long house. By 1945, however, the village had become too large, and the council of elders decided to relocate the families into four new communities along the Telen and Wahou River. Diak Lay was one of the larger new communities, with 52 households The village council met to demarcate communal lands among the groups. The area allocated to Diak Lay was bounded to the north and south by streams feeding the Wahau. Since no other communities resided in the forest area or had prior claims, the community extended its range to the east and west for hunting and now swidden fields

During the past 120 years, the forests of Diak Lay have undergone a series of changes and current patterns. Initially, both sides of the Telen River were under primary forest. In the early 1900s, the Wahea Dayaks began opening fields along the bank of the river. By the 1920s, these abandoned fields along the river had been left to fallow and regenerate as secondary forests and fruit gardens. In 1945 the village of Diak Lay was established on the opposite bank. Over the next four decades, swidden fields were extended progressively into the primary forest, up to 6 km from the village.

Village leaders estimate that the traditional community lands of Diak Lay comprise approximately 920 km 2. Most of the area recognized as community land serves as territory for hunting and gathering. Lands more intensively managed for active, followed swidden fields, banana, rattan, or mixed fruit cordons, and boundary forests comprise at most 60 km 2 closest to the village, or less than one-tenth of the community's land.

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LAND USE SYSTEM

Selection of Swidden Sites

The Wehea Dayaks practice a number of agricultural, agroforestry, and forest management systems. Land resources are broadly divided: those used for swidden fields, either active or in a phase of successive regeneration; those converted to long-term use as banana, mixed fruit, or rattan gardens; and those permanently under largo or smaller tracts of secondary or primary forest. The selection of swidden sites (ladangs) occurs during a community meeting. During this meeting, possible sites are proposed by the village leaders. Other community members may also propose sites. Each proposal must be supported by a description of the characteristics which qualify the site as suitable for agriculture. The primary consideration in selecting a prospective site is whether sufficient natural forest regeneration and soil fertility recovery have occurred since it was last opened for agriculture. In general, if a forest has regenerated for more than 10 years, it is considered as being adequately rejuvenated in terms of soil fertility to support agriculture. Potential plots must be at least 1 ha in order to support several families. Most plots have previously boon used for swidden and are selected in regenerating secondary forests. The site histories and past productivity are considered. Once a field site has been proposed during the communal meeting, the committee visits the area to determine whether the site meets all the requirements. If so, the group will attempt to divide the area equally among the community members interested in forming it.

While primary forests often give somewhat higher yields initially, they are generally avoided due to the additional work involved in clearing larger trees. Fields are often opened by cooperative groups of 10 families. An adult male and female from each household travel to the site and provide one full day of labor to each member of the group of 10. This arrangement is usually enough to clear most of the larger trees and shrubs on the plot

Homegardens

The Wehea Dayak households have traditionally maintained several typos of gardens. The kebun gardens, are primarily dedicated to the production of fruit and rattan for income. Growing populations, interactions with other ethnic groups, and a desire to generate more produce for cash have stimulated the expansion of these gardens in Diak Lay. Generally planted on communal lands, once an individual has invested significant labor in planting fruit trees or rattan, the community recognized his/her rights to the produce.

The three types of gardens are differentiated according to primary produce, including rattan ( kebun rotan ), bananas ( kebun pisang ), and mixed fruit (kebun buah ) (Figure 1). Most gardens also shelter a wide variety of additional domesticated and natural forest species.

Rattan gardens were started in the early twentieth century in response to expanding commercial demands. Once on old Swidden is used for rattan or mixed fruit, the investment and care is substantial enough that it is rarely reverted bock to a field.

Rattan is usually planted in secondary forests with good canopy closure. The most serious threat to rattan gardens is fire. The East Kalimantan fire of 1962 caused extensive damage to the rattan gardens of Diak Lay. Although rattan gardens at full productivity con generate up to 5,000 kg/ha of cane annually, in Diak Lay most rattan gardens produce on overage only 500 kg/ha due to damage resulting from the fires of the 1960s.

Most of the rattan supply is purchased by a Kutai agent who owns the village store and handles trade in many forest products. Generally, operators of river taxis purchase rattan from family producers. Villagers and traders report that rattan markets and prices are uncertain. Demand for rattan is often driven by orders from furniture market and exporters in large urban centers. Nonetheless, most families in the village might earn US$75-150 per year from rattan.

While rattan is the primary product, these gardens contain a diverse mix of native and exotic species. Research in Diak Lay has documented more than 90 different species of climbers, herbs, trees, and other plants, many of which are useful subsistence goods. The prospects for sustaining rattan culture in Diak Lay ore promising. With natural reserves declining under increasing forest pressure, market opportunities for cultured rattan should increase. Rattan cultivation could continue to produce a reliable and expending source of cash.

Mixed fruit gardens as a land use appear to have evolved only in the past 30 years in response to growing markets for fruit downriver. particular species such as durian, guava, langsat, mango, citrus, pineaple, banana, rabutan, and kemiri nuts are cultivated for the market, while a much wider variety of fruits ore grown for home Page 4 of 7

consumption. Gardens are usually located near the village homesteads. Diversity inventories of mixed gardens in Diak Lay identified 150 6species of plants. Banana gardens, by contrast, tend to be much less biologically diverse and are characterized by a commercial orientation.

Homegardens ( pekarangan ), planted in the courtyard surrounding a house, produce goods solely for subsistence. These are planted with a variety of vegetables, ornamentals, spices, fruits, and plants for medicinal and ritual use. An inventory in Diak Lay found that those gardens average 200m 2 and support 122 species of plants. Social interactions, rituals, construction, and many other activities occur in the homogardens.

FOREST PROTECTION AN REGENERATION

The Wehea Dayaka believe that natural forest protection and regeneration are among the best ways to ensure the steady availability of fertile agricultural lands. Decreasing soil fertility in fields close to the village forces increasing distances to now fields or even relocation of the village. Both situations result in consider able expenditure of unproductive labor. Consequently, there are strong incentives to maintain the productivity of forestlands in close proximity to the village through long rotations and careful stewardship.

The Wehea Dayaks recognize that rapid regeneration can best be facilitated by selecting forest areas with sufficient soil fertility and minimizing disturbance when the swidden is opened and while crops are growing. The Daysks know that the relatively low general fertility status of the soils in the area prohibits more than one year of productive farming. They are also attentive in their use of fire. Certain swiddens which were fallowed and regenerating but later burned by spontaneous forest fires in the 1980s have succumbed to Imperata grass. When opening a field, the Dayaks of Diak Lay gather the slash into small piles to isolate the burn. Large trees are left as 'mother trees' to reseed swidden fallows. Tree stumps are not removed from fields, allowing their root systems to hold the soil or, with certain species, to produce coppice shoots which regenerate rapidly. By minimizing damage to the forest ecosystem throughout its preparation and use for agriculture, forest regeneration is facilitated in the fallowed fields.

The Wehea Dayaks also reserve strips of natural forest ( keledung ) to serve as a buffer (figure 1). Generally, the buffer forests are 20-3-m wide and as long as the swidden field. The natural forest buffer provides a seed source for the regeneration of fallowed swiddens and corridors for the movement of humans, birds, and animals. The areas also play an important role in enhancing natural regeneration by moderating the microclimate, reducing the temperature, and increasing the humidity. The forest strip can also slow the movement of pests from one swidden to another.

NON- TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS

Much of the community land within 5km of Diak Lay village is covered by young secondary forest. Further from the river, the land is under primary forest and mature secondary forest. Perceived by Dayaks as community lands, these forests are generally deemed too far away for swiddens and gardens and are used primarily for hunting and the collection of non-timber forest products. Any member of the village can freely collect forest products with the exception of bird's nests: harvesting rights to nesting caves are owned by individual families.

Bird's nest have been collected by Dayaks in the Kalimantan forests for centuries and sold to traders for the Chinese market. Controlled by seven households, there are of birds' nest caves in the Diak Lay area. Many cave claims date back 100 years and are passed on from generation to generation.

Owners must protect their caves or hire guards during each nesting cycle. Several male members of a family typically take turns guarding their caves, which are usually within a day's walk of the village. Due to the high value of the nests, theft attempts are common. Historically, conflicts have occurred over cave control, and the forests nearby are rumored to hold the bones of those who have struggled for this right.

Intensive collection of gahru ( Aquilaria spp. ) only began in 1990. Gahru is a fragrant wood product found in trees infected with a specific fungus. It is used as an ingredient in Chinese incenses and in traditional Chinese and Thai medicines. Middlemen purchase a collector's permit from the Ministry of Forests, the local government, and the police, and give the collectors a cash advance for field supplies. There are 11 middlemen who finance approximately 100 collectors each. Only an estimated 10% of the collectors are local Dayaks. Generally the local population is unable to compete with more experienced collectors who migrate to the area from other parts of Kalimantan. Page 5 of 7

In the Diak Lay area, an experienced collector can find gahru on average in one of every seven trees he fells. The trees are cut with axes, as it is too far to carry chain saws and fuel. The collectors' net profit of $150 per person (about $5 per day) is approximately what loggers or agricultural laborers receive for their labor. However, the search for gahru is more closely related to prospecting in terms of the risks involved. Many collectors remain in the forest for weeks without discovering any of the substance.

IMPACT OF CONCESSIONAIRES

The entry of timber operations initiated radical changes in land use patterns in Diak Lay. Due to sedimentation from erosion caused by eight timber concessions around the village, the river has turned a muddy brown. According to one Dayak leader, one concessionaire had seriously transgressed the concession boundaries, over-cut the forest, and caused considerable ecological damage during the extraction process. As a result of the subsequent soil erosion and compaction, very little natural forest regeneration has occurred. Instead of progression through the sequences of secondary succession after swiddens are fallowed, much of the logged- over forest has turned to Imperata grassland. Apparently, the concessionaire made no attempts to reforest the area, nor to carry out any environmental rehabilitation or community development program.

When concessionaires first arrived in the early 1970s, the villagers were hoping this would create new employment and local markets for their fruit and vegetables. Instead, few individuals have found steady work in the concessions, which tend to cut intensively and move quickly to new areas. Local Dayaks feel that the environmental costs of timber operations have been and unfairly borne by the local forest -dependent communities. The slow recovery of felled areas eliminates them from production for a period of time during which they cannot be used for swidden fields. At the same time, the availability of rattan, gum, and other important economic non-timber forest products has declined sharply in logged-over areas. Revealing the unequal power relationship and lack of communication among resident user groups, a concessionaire did not consult the Dayak leaders before beginning timber operations on Dayaks community lands. The villages were first visited by representatives of the timber company only when they came to recruit additional laborers for the felling.

In contrast, the Dayaks villagers expressed more satisfaction with a timber concession to the north which has tried to comply with the government's 1989 requirement that concessionaires conduct community development programs. This concessionaires sent two young extension workers to assist the community with agricultural development and educational projects. In Diak Lay, the extension workers are helping expand the school through the sixth grade and assisting in the construction of a road from Diak Lay to the subdistrict headquaters. The Community had identified both activities as priorities.

The Diak Lay villagers are less enthusiastic about the concessionaire's community program in the agriculture sector. The extension workers wanted to help the farmers move from rotational to sedentary agriculture, but their demonstration plots for soybean cultivation failed after a pest infestation. Furthermore, a company pesticide demonstration accidently killed household chickens in Diak Lay. The experience of outsiders with the nuances of ecological productivity in the area is limited, and it is uncertain whether the soils of Diak Lay can sustain annual cropping.

The extension workers have encouraged the villagers to work together with the local government to clarify their land boundaries. Community leaders have been reluctant, fearing that their lands may be restricted further due to the government's perceived sympathies with the concessionaires. The headman in Diak Lay explained that villagers are concerned that the concessionaires are taking over too much land. As Diak Lay's population grows, the community may not have adequate land to meet its needs for new swidden fields.

THE DAYAK VIEW

The Dayaks feel that the concessionaires should take responsibility for replanting the logged forests with a comparable mixture of valuable species which they have extracted, including rattan damaged during the process. The temporary logging roads left behind should be improved before the companies move on to facilitate development of the local transportation infrastructure. Along the same lines, local people have expressed their belief that former logging camps could be adapted so that Dayak communities could use them as bases for nursery and reforestation activities. Once the concessionaires have completed their operations, they should be required to repair their roads and camps and return the land to the authority of indigenous local communities, thus allowing the Dayaks to protect, manage, and utilize the area. Page 6 of 7

The headman of the Diak Lay recommends that management decisions regarding logged-over forestlands be based on consensual decisions emphasizing access control, natural regeneration, and enrichment planting to meet the long-term needs of future generations. Such land use decisions should be discussed and determined during open community meetings. In Diak Lay, he feels that individual households could be assigned use and protection responsibilities for specific tracts of forest, in similar fashion to their current allocation of rights and responsibilities over swiddens. However, the forestland should never be privately owned, nor should outsiders be allowed to enter or operate in these areas without the permission of the community. While usufruct rights can be sold and traded, the land should remain under the control of the community.

This case study is based on:

M. Poffenberger and B. McGean (eds.). 1993 . Communities and Forest Management in East Kalimantan: Pathway to Environmental Stability . "The Forest Stewards of Diak Lay," p. 40-56. Research Network Report Number 3. August. Southeast Asia Sustainable Forest Management Network. Center for South- east Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

Ms. Cynthia Josayma Asia Forest Network Center for Southeast Asia Studies International and Area Studies University of California, Berkeley USA

Artwork: Ann Higgins Cartographer: Jane Sterzinger

THE COMMUNITY FORESTRY CASE STUDY SERIES

The case study series on community forestry issues is developed as training material to address specific topics and issues in the field of community-based management of forest resources. The target group is trainers, extensionists, government, non-government and project personnel dealing with community-based forest management.

The case studies do not give answers or conclusions to the often complex situations presented and should as such be perceived as issue-oriented discussion material to which there is no single "right solution." The case study method of learning is intended to build on the experiences of the participants in a training session; through the discussions and the analysis and perspectives that come out in the discussions, participants learn from one another.

The case study series is continuously under revision and development, and we would like to encourage readers to submit new case studies covering different aspects of community forestry issues to RECOFTC for use as future training materials.

Case studies currently available in the following areas:

FOREST CO-MANAGEMENT Community Response to Diminishing Forest Resources-Philippines CMOO1/95 Emergence of Forest Protection by Communities-Kudada, South Bihar, India CM002/95 Community Management and Utilization: The Case of Dong Yal-Thailand CM003/95 Community-Based Forest Management in Southern Thailand CM004/95 Towards Forest Co-Management-Nam Sa, Northern Thailand CM005/95 Page 7 of 7

FOREST UTILIZATION The Forest Stewards of Diak Lay-East Kalimantan FUOOI/95 Traditional Forest Use and Contemporary Pressures-East Kalimantan FU002/95 NON-TIMBER TREE AND FOREST PRODUCTS Income Generation from Tree and Forest Products-Yunnan, Southern China NTTFPOO1/95

For further information please contact:

The Publications Officer RECOFTC Kasetsart University P.O. Box 11 I 1, 10903 Bangkok THAILAND Tel: (662) 579 0108, 561 4881, 562 0960 FAX: (662) 561 4880

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