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Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation in Indonesia: Steps Toward Overcoming Confusion in the Debate

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Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation in Indonesia: Steps Toward Overcoming Confusion in the Debate RURAL DEVELOPMENT FORESTRY NETWORK Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation in Indonesia: Steps Toward Overcoming Confusion in the Debate William D. Sunderlin Network Paper 21b Summer 1997 The author wishes to thank Carol Pierce Colfer for insightful comments and Kate Schreckenberg and David Brown for helpful editorial suggestions on a draft of this article. The author is responsible for any errors of fact or interpretation that remain in the text. William D. Sunderlin may be contacted at: CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) P.O. Box 6596, JKPWB Jakarta 10065, Indonesia Tel: +62 251 622 622; Fax: +62 251 622 100 E-mail: [email protected] ISSN 0968-2627 (formerly Social Forestry Network ISSN 0951-1857) Shifting Cultivation and Deforestation in Indonesia: Steps Toward Overcoming Confusion in the Debate1 William D. Sunderlin Summary The role of shifting cultivation in deforestation in Indonesia has been an area of great debate. Some claim this farming system is the main cause of forest cover loss. Others claim that – far from being damaging – it is a key means for the conservation and sustainable management of remaining forests. The two sides of the debate are talking past each other, because each refers to different farming systems at opposite ends of what might be called the ‘forest farming continuum’. Recently, there has been progress in clarifying the meaning of certain terms but the debate remains confused. In order to better understand the causes and extent of forest cover change in Indonesia, it is necessary to clearly identify the different forms of agency affecting forests and also to define key terms and concepts such as ‘forest’, ‘deforestation’, ‘degradation’, and ‘causation’. Based on these definitions an analysis of forest cover change over time can then be carried out. Introduction Indonesia has one of the largest areas of humid tropical forests in the world (ranking third behind Brazil and Zaire) and has 10% of what remains of this resource. The most influential studies on deforestation in Indonesia have assumed that about one million ha of the country’s approximately 100 million ha of remaining forest are lost each year (World Bank 1990; FAO 1990). 1 This is a modified and abridged version of a paper titled ‘Rates and Causes of Deforestation in Indonesia: Towards a resolution of the ambiguities’, by William D. Sunderlin and Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo, CIFOR Occasional Paper No. 9, Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia. Rural Development Forestry Network Paper 21b, Summer 1997 ODI, Portland House, Stag Place, London SW1E 5DP, UK RDFN Paper 21b, Summer 1997 There are essentially two poles in the ongoing debate over the causes of deforestation in Indonesia. Some authors argue that smallholder production and the growing number of such producers – notably shifting cultivators – is the main cause of deforestation (FAO 1990; World Bank 1990; Barbier et al. 1993; Fraser 1996). Other authors, while acknowledging the significant role of smallholder production in deforestation, give greater emphasis to the role of government and its development projects, and to the timber sector (Dick 1991; WALHI 1992; Ascher 1993; Dauvergne 1994; Porter 1994; Thiele 1994; World Bank 1994; Angelsen 1995; Dove 1996; Ross 1996). Observers in this latter group tend to argue that the effects of shifting cultivation on forest cover have been overstated in past studies. Some claim that traditional shifting cultivation – far from being a danger to forests – is important for the future conservation and management of Indonesia’s remaining forests (Zerner 1992; Colfer with Dudley 1993; Hasanuddin 1996; de Jong 1997). This paper examines the confusion surrounding this debate and proposes steps necessary for understanding the role of shifting cultivation and other factors in forest cover change in Indonesia. The first section explores the different ways in which the term ‘shifting cultivation’ has been used. This is followed by a discussion of recent developments in the debate and in research on shifting cultivation. The next section argues that the role of shifting cultivation must be examined within the context of all relevant influences on forest cover change, and that major terms and concepts must be clearly defined. The paper concludes with ideas on key questions that need to be addressed in further research. The Forest Farming Continuum How is it that the views on the role of shifting cultivation with respect to forests in Indonesia can be so sharply polarised? How can some people insist that shifting cultivation is the fundamental cause explaining forest cover loss, while others consider it a minor problem, and still others maintain it is essential to future efforts to protect remaining forests? The answer is that the various proponents in the debate are referring to entirely different kinds of farming systems (see Figure 1). While some authors specify the kind of shifting cultivation they are referring to, many do not – a tendency that has introduced considerable confusion into the debate. 2 Long fallow Short fallow shifting cultivation shifting cultivation Forest pioneer farming P long fallow rotation • short fallow rotation • no rotation • traditional • semi-traditional • modern • mainly subsistence crops • mixed subsistence & cash crops • mainly cash crops • mainly self-generated capital • mixed capital sources • mainly outside capital • far from urban area • intermediate distance to urban area • close to urban area FOREST FARMING CONTINUUM Figure 1 Idealised typology of farming systems on the forest farming continuum. Adapted from Sunderlin, 1997 The ‘forest farming continuum’ presented in Figure 1 is based on the conceptual separation of ‘shifting cultivation’ (sometimes referred to as ‘swidden cultivation’ or ‘slash-and-burn agriculture’) and ‘forest pioneer’ farming systems (also known as ‘truck farming’) suggested by Weinstock & Sunito (1989). Weinstock & Sunito (1989:20-21) define ‘shifting cultivators’ as people “who practice a form of rotational agriculture with a fallow period longer than the period of cultivation... Unless faced with population pressure or other constraints, land is used only one to three years and fallowed for a relatively long period (up to 20 or more years)”. ‘Forest pioneers’ are defined as people “who may utilise slashing and burning of the existing vegetation but with the primary intention of establishing permanent or semi-permanent agricultural production. Although some subsistence food crops may be planted, the planting of cash crops (most often perennials) is the primary focus of attention. Land is usually not fallowed but is used continuously and is abandoned only after total or near total exhaustion of the native fertility of the soil since there is no long term plan to again return to the same site”. Implicit in the concept of the ‘forest farming continuum’ is the view that culti- vation practices become less sustainable as: (I) rotation of fallow plots is shortened or eliminated; (ii) tradition gives way to modernity; (iii) subsistence crops are replaced by cash crops; (iv) family capital is replaced by external funding; and (v) farms are close to urban areas. In the real world, there are, of course, many deviations from the idealised ‘forest farming continuum’. Thus, ‘traditional’ shifting cultivation may include cash crops, just as some forms of forest pioneer farming may rely heavily on subsistence crops. The intent of the concept is not so much to record or predict actual tendencies, but rather to summarise the principal arguments made with respect to various forest farming systems. Those who argue that shifting cultivation is essential for the long term conservation and management of remaining forests have tended to restrict their argument to the traditional, long-fallow shifting cultivation at the left end of the continuum. In contrast, those who argue that shifting cultivation is a threat to forests are actually referring to the short-fallow shifting cultivation described in the middle column of Figure 1, and the ‘forest pioneer’ farming on the right-hand side of the continuum. In fact, ‘forest pioneer’ farming systems have often been included in the term ‘shifting cultivation’ even though they involve no cyclic rotation of lands. Why have the various parties to the debate tended to ignore the great diversity of farming systems, and assumed instead that there was a common understanding of the term ‘shifting cultivation’? Partly it is because each side has tended to assume that ‘shifting cultivation’ as they view it (whether long-fallow, on the one hand, or RDFN Paper 21b, Summer 1997 short or no rotation, on the other) is the dominant form and that other farming systems are relatively insignificant. In fact, there are no data that clearly demonstrate the relative proportions of households in each of the three broad categories of farming systems illustrated in the forest farming continuum. This lack of information facilitates selective and questionable interpretations of the process of forest cover change. To combat this problem, Weinstock & Sunito (1989) called for a survey of the many farming systems operating under the term ‘shifting cultivation’. Unfortunately, no such survey has been carried out. Instead, there have been widely diverging informal assessments of the relative ‘weights’ of the various farming systems. The World Bank (1994:19), for example, claims that “traditional communities may be much larger than previously thought”. Other observers,
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