Traditional Life-Styles, Conservation and Rural Development
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v Traditional Life-styles, Conservation and Rural Development Proceedings of a Symposium organised by the Institute of Ecology, of Padjadjaran University, Bandung, and the IUCN Commission on Ecology held in Bandung, Indonesia, on the 4th and 5th of October 1982 Commission on Ecology Papers Number 7 p International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources 1984 Reprinted from The Environmentalist, Vol. 4 (1984) Supplement No. 7, ISSN 0251-1088. IUCN Commission on Ecology The Commission on Ecology of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is a scientific commis• sion of an independent, international, non-governmental organization. IUCN was founded in 1948 at a conference convened by Unesco and the French Government. The Union comprises today 58 governments as state members, 119 government agencies, and 316 non• governmental national and international organizations. This membership represents 114 countries. The Commission on Ecology was established in 1954 and reconstituted in 1979. At present it has 160 members from 46 countries in all the continents, carefully selected for their national and international scientific status and expertise. IUCN's Commission on Ecology provides scientific information and advice to ensure that action directed towards the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources, i.e. the implementation of the World Conservation Strategy, makes the best use of current ecological knowledge. The World Conservation Strategy, launched in 1980, provides an overall plan for action in this direction. Through its Working Groups, the Commission gives particular attention to: ecological problems of the open oceans, continental seas, coastal areas, mangrove ecosystems, coral reefs, inland waters, arid lands, tropical rainforests. It is concerned with problems relating to: oil pollution, environmental pollutants, ecological assessment, (re)introduction, animal migrations, mountain and river basin management. The Commission is also active in the field of human ecology, particularly in rural development and traditional life styles. For further information please contact: Executive Officer, IUCN Commission on Ecology, Av. du Mont Blanc, 1196 Gland, Switzerland. © IUCN Printed in Switzerland Cover design: M. Bijleveld and P. Virolle. Cover photos: P. Virolle and M. Depraz. Traditional Life-styles, Conservation and Rural Development Proceedings of a Symposium organised by the Institute of Ecology of Padjadjaran University Bandung, and the IUCN Commission on Ecology held in Bandung, Indonesia, on the 4th and 5th of October 1982 Commission on Ecology Papers Number 7 Edited by J. Hanks With the support of The World Wildlife Fund The United Nations Environment Programme The Netherlands Government The Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service The French Government Norwegian Agency for International Development International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources 1984 Contents Page Page 1. The Role of Governments and International Agencies in Conservation and Rural Develop• 10. Eco-Ethics as the Foundation of Conservation 45 ment 8 Raymond F. Dasmann Henryk Skolimowski 11. Conservation: Not by Skill Alone. The Impor• tance of a Workable Concept in the Conserva• 2. Natural Biological Compounds Traditionally tion of Nature 52 Used as Pesticides and Medicines 11 Herman D. Rijksen Sasongko S. Adisewojo, Sidik Tjokronegoro and Rukmiati Tjokronegoro 12. Conservation and Rural Development: Towards an Integrated Approach 60 3. Pranatamangsa. The Javanese Agricultural Cal• J. Hanks endar—Its Bioclimatological and Sociocultural Function in Developing Rural Life 15 13. The Role of Tropical Forestry in Conservation N. Daldjoeni and Rural Development 68 Gerardo Budowski 4. Traditional Classification of Plants 19 Gembong Tjitrosoepomo 14. The Study of Non-Timber Forest Products. ... 77 Marius Jacobs 5. Traditional Conservation and Utilization of 22 Wildlife in Papua New Guinea Navu Kwapena 15. Watersheds and Rural Development Planning 80 Lawrence S. Hamilton and Peter N. King 6. A House is a Tiny World 27 16. The Impact of Development on Interactions Aminuddin Ponulele between People and Forests in East Kaliman• tan: A Comparison of Two Areas of Kenyan 7. Marine Conservation in Relation to Tradi• Dayak Settlement 87 tional Life-Styles of Tropical Artisanal Fisher• K. Kartawinata, H. Soedjito, T. Jessup, A. P. men 30 Vayda and C. J. P. Colfer R. E. Johannes 17. The Talun-Kebun System, A Modified Shifting Cultivation, in West Java 96 8. Aboriginal People—Guardians of a Heritage 36 Otto Soemarwoto J. D. Ovington 18. Ecological Guidelines and Traditional Empir• 9. The Role of Religion in Conservation 40 icism in Rural Development 99 L. J. Webb and D. M. Smyth J. M. Boyd Vol. 4 (1984) Supplement No. 7 3 Introduction The essential message of the World Conserva• to threatened species or ecosystems. A pro• tion Strategy (WCS) is that conservation is con• gramme of sustainable rural development should cerned with human survival and sustainable devel• have as its target the breaking of the circle of opment. The goal of the WCS is the positive link• poverty, for unless this happens, population ing of conservation and development so that the growth rates are unlikely to decline, and the poor people of the world may all have a way of life and rapidly growing populations will continue to that is sustainable (IUCN, 1980). This new deplete their resource bases, and may encroach philosophy is a brave attempt to resolve conflicts into and even absorb adjacent wildlife sanctuaries. between conservation and development, and it What then, should be the role of traditional represents a significant departure from the com• life-styles in this new integrated approach? Are paratively rigid 'preservationist' attitude of the they an anachronism that should be swallowed traditionalists. up, phased out, or simply ignored in the interest As we move into the 1980s, the over-exploita• of a new philosophy for conservation? It was tion of certain natural resources is resulting more these and other issues related to the role of than ever before in a complex of environmental traditional life-styles in conservation and rural and population stresses that are becoming partic• development that were discussed at the Bandung ularly acute in rural areas in Third World coun• Symposium, and these Proceedings are an edited tries. Here, a vicious circle of poverty is develop• version of eighteen of the papers that were pre• ing which is characterized not only by degrada• sented. A relatively unstructured Symposium of tion of natural resources, but also by stagnating such a short duration cannot do full justice to agricultural production, low productivity, low such a complex and wide-ranging topic, but incomes, malnutrition, high birth and death rates, nevertheless the participants produced some and accelerating rural-to-urban migration. With• fascinating and highly relevant information that out doubt, this circle of poverty is one of the will be of great use to IUCN and other conserva• most difficult challenges facing conservation and tion planning agencies. The overall message development agencies, and more importantly to from the Symposium was quite clear—traditional members of the IUCN, it represents a real test of life-styles have an extremely important role to the efficacy of the WCS—is it realistic to talk of play in both conservation and rural development linking conservation and development in a situa• activities, and they should never be overlooked or tion of accelerating social, economic and environ• ignored. For example, Johannes described how mental stress? artisanal fishermen in the oceanic islands of the Such concerns have been exacerbated by the tropical Pacific have evolved traditional fishing dramatic changes in human population growth practices that deliberately or inadvertently func• and numbers that have occurred in the last 150 tion as conservation measures, these activities in• years, a period which experienced an increase in cluding the observation of fishing rights, a self- human numbers from one billion to over 4.7 bil• imposed closed season, closed areas, and gear lion in 1984 (United Nations, 1982). Recent restrictions. He made the very important point United Nations projections estimate that the pop• that management laws and conservation laws ulation is expected to increase still further to over which are compatible with such customs are more 6.1 billion in the year 2000 before becoming likely to achieve public acceptance than those stationary at 10.2 billion people in 2095 (United that are perceived as alien. Nations Secretariat, 1983). Ninety-five per cent Several participants stressed that traditional of the world's growth will probably occur in the life-styles may well have a much more significant currently less developed regions between 1980 role to play in sustainable conservation and and 2050, when their share of the total popula• development activities than has been acknowl• tion is expected to increase from 75 to 85 per edged in the past. Kartawinata et al.'s account cent. of the traditional shifting cultivators in the forests Against such a background, it should be self- of East Kalimantan emphasized that the Dayak evident that it is in the interest of conservation people are not reckless destroyers of the forest, organizations to promote programmes of sustain• but have evolved patterns of land use that are able rural development, especially in those cases sustainable.