Malaysia Sustainable Community Forest Management in Sabah Malaysia Sustainable Community Forest Management in Sabah
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S AB YA AH MAJU JA MALAYSIA SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT IN SABAH MALAYSIA SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT IN SABAH S AB YA AH MAJU JA Published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Malaysia. © UNDP. All rights reserved. First published January 2008. ISBN 983-3904-06-8 United Nations Development Programme Wisma UN, Block C, Kompleks Pejabat Damansara, Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights, 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. www.undp.org.my A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of UNDP. The contents may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes with attribution to the copyright holders. Pictures and graphics are courtesy of UNDP. Maps are not authoritative on boundaries. Design: Thumb-Print Studio Sdn Bhd. Foreword orldwide, marginalized forest communities, mostly lacking the most elementary trappings of modern development, are among the most disadvantaged and underprivileged groups of people. Frequently W comprising indigenous people who are outside the mainstream of national economic and social life, they often live at a subsistence level that would be unacceptable to other rural and urban dwellers alike. For many such groups, the forests are crucial in enabling them to meet some or all of their basic needs through hunting-gathering or shifting cultivation. Although commonly regarded as unproductive, they provide environmental services important in combating climate change and protecting water sources, biodiversity, and the natural landscapes prized by the international community. Yet, despite having an important role in the conservation of natural resources, these groups encounter problems in preserving their lifestyles and maintaining access to the forests because of logging, clearing of forests for tree-crop plantations and other agricultural uses, as well as bureaucratic regulations that inhibit their survival. Assessed in terms of assets or incomes they often live in extreme poverty. The Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve Project was set up to assist one such group of people living in Sabah, the Orang Sungai, to make the most of the resources available to them and to establish cash crops and other activities that would help provide an income to meet the demands of their changing circumstances. The project is being undertaken jointly by UNDP and the Sabah Forestry Department over a period of 18 months. It is located in and adjacent to the Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve in the Tongod District of central Sabah. This district includes the western catchment of the Upper Kinabatangan River, Sabah’s longest river, and constitutes an area of high ecological significance. The project focuses on four kampungs or villages occupied by Orang Sungai who are amongst the poorest inhabitants in the whole of Malaysia. These villages are extremely isolated, reached by river or unformed and disused logging tracks, and apart from a school, lacking in most community facilities and amenities, such as reticulated electricity, water, and sewage. Farming, including shifting cultivation, constitutes the primary occupation of the households. Most families cultivate upland rice in rotation with a few other crops. Under the project, upland rice is being complemented by the planting of rubber trees that in about five or six years’ time will provide a steady financial return. Finding alternative ways of earning an income is difficult because of the poor roads, lack of other infrastructure and the difficulty of accessing suitable markets. The project is promoting the objectives of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, 2006–2010, which aims to eradicate hardcore poverty and halve overall poverty throughout Malaysia by 2010. Under the Plan, new and improved institutional mechanisms and welfare programmes are being pursued specifically to eliminate rural poverty and to generate projects and economic opportunities in disadvantaged areas, such as central Sabah. This project is setting precedents by its grassroots approach, working directly with the communities especially women, to establish particular needs, determine aspirations, support agricultural enterprises, and promote cottage industries. iii The UNDP and the Sabah Department of Forestry are cooperating on the Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve Project with the aim of bringing the problems encountered by forest communities to the fore and for them to be addressed in an integrated way as part of the state’s development agenda. The main objective is to help develop an enabling environment at the state and district levels to facilitate the implementation of community- based forestry involving greater participation of local communities in the sustainable forestry programme. Furthermore, concentration on these groups is providing a demonstration project for the development of rural impoverished groups in other parts of Malaysia and elsewhere around the globe. This volume is the fifth in a series of periodic publications that report on UNDP Malaysia’s work in its energy and environment practice area. The large range of projects being undertaken in this portfolio is designed to support Malaysia’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 1 and 7, to eradicate poverty and ensure environmental sustainability. I would like to thank the Sabah Forestry Department and the State government of Sabah, for their support in implementing this project. I would especially like to thank members of the State Project Steering Committee and the stakeholders from Kg. Mangkuwagu, Alitang, Sagoun and Tampasak for their commitment to the project. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to all project participants and members of the Project Team as listed on page viii, led by Ms. Ginny Ng, for their commitment to the success of the project and for putting this publication together. I sincerely hope that it will be widely read and will increase awareness of the critical importance of community forestry and its role in providing alternative livelihoods for reducing extreme poverty. Richard Leete PhD Resident Representative United Nations Development Programme Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam iv Contents Foreword iii Boxes, Tables, Figures and Map vi Abbreviations and Acronyms vii Participants viii Outstanding Economic Success is Distributed 1 Unevenly Across Malaysia Introduction Population Growth 4 A Profile of Sabah The Economy The People The Incidence of Poverty Sabah’s Forests Forestry is a Major Natural Asset Sabah’s Forestry Policy Forest Reserves Sustainable Forest Management 13 The Deramakot Forest Reserve Project Development of the Sabah government’s sustainable management strategy Community Forestry in Sabah 16 Programmes of the Sabah Forestry Department The Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve Project What is the Purpose of the Project? Which Communities are Involved? Life in the Villages Summary of the Key Issues of the Project 27 Progress So Far Complementary Projects Lessons Learnt 33 Challenges Sources of Information 34 Publications Internet Boxes, Tables, Figures and Map Boxes Box 1 Forests in Malaysia Box 2 Classification of Sabah’s forest reserves Box 3 Planned key outputs of the project Box 4 Education and literacy Box 5 Small Grants Programmes Tables Table 1 Population of Malaysia by region, 1957–2005 Table 2 Ethnic communities in Sabah Table 3 Poverty rates in states with the highest rates, Malaysia 2004 Table 4 Poverty among ethnic groups in Sabah, 2004 Table 5 Summary of Sabah’s forest reserve classes by area Table 6 Populations of the villages in the Mangkuwagu Project, March/May 2007 Figures Figure 1 Mean monthly household income per capita in Malaysia, 1985, 1990, 1999 and 2004 Figure 2 Importance of forest for different groups of people living or near them Map Map 1 States and state capitals of Malaysia Map 2 Forest reserves and other forest land in Sabah Map 3 Tangkulap-Sg Pinangah forest development project FMU no. 17 Map 4 Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve and villages vi Abbreviations and Acronyms CBO Community-Based Organization SEARCA SEAMEO Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture DANCED Danish Corporation on Development and Environment SFD Sabah Forestry Department DFR Deramakot Forest Reserve SFM Sustainable Forest Management EC European Commission SFMLA Sustainable Forest Management Licence Agreement FAO Food and Agriculture Organization SGP Small Grants Programme FMP Forest Management Plan SGP PTF Small Grants Programme for Operations FMU Forest Management Unit to Promote Tropical Forests GEF Global Environment Facility SGS Société Générale de Surveillance (global certification company) GRID Gana Resettlement and Integrated Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit German Agency for Technical Cooperation HCVF High Conservation Value Forest ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization JFM Joint Forest Management KFR Kelawat Forest Reserve LIGS Lembaga Industri Getah Sabah (Sabah Rubber Industry Board) NFC National Forestry Council NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLC National Land Council PPM Projek Perhutanan Malaysia SAFODA Sabah Forest Development Authority vii Participants Institutional Participants Executing Agency Natural Resource Office, Chief Minister’s Department, Sabah Implementing Agency Sabah Forestry Department State Project Steering Natural Resource and Environment Section, Committee Economic Planning Unit UNDP/SFD Team National Project Director Mr Jeflus Sinajin, Head, Sustainable Forest Management Division, Sabah Forestry Department Programme Manager Ms Ginny