Reflections on the Heart of Borneo Borneo.indd 1 10/15/08 4:41:35 PM Borneo.indd 2 10/15/08 4:41:35 PM Reflections on the Heart of Borneo editors Gerard A. Persoon Manon Osseweijer Tropenbos International Wageningen, the Netherlands 2008 Borneo.indd 3 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Gerard A. Persoon and Manon Osseweijer (editors) Reflections on the Heart of Borneo (Tropenbos Series 24) Cover: Farmer waiting for the things to come (photo: G.A. Persoon) ISBN 978-90-5113-091-1 ISSN 1383-6811 © 2008 Tropenbos International The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Tropenbos International. No part of this publication, apart from bibliographic data and brief quotations in critical reviews, may be reproduced, re-recorded or published in any form including print photocopy, microfilm, and electromagnetic record without prior written permission. Layout: Sjoukje Rienks, Amsterdam Borneo.indd 4 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Preface This book contains a selection of revised papers that were presented during the Heart of Borneo conference in Leiden in 2005. This conference was organised jointly by the World Wide Fund for Nature (wwf Netherlands), the Internation- al Institute for Asian Studies (iias) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (cml) as a follow-up of another conference organised in Brunei in April 2005. During that meeting political leaders of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, together with scientists from the region, as well as representatives of the major interna- tional conservation agencies discussed the need to collectively take responsibility for the protection of the Heart of Borneo, the large transborder area of high con- servation value shared by the three countries. The meeting in Leiden aimed to bring together European and American scholars from various disciplines to discuss the state of scientific research and the contri- bution of science to the conservation goals of the Heart of Borneo initiative. The conference was opened by the rector of Leiden University, Prof. D. Breimer, and Prof. H. Udo de Haes, director of cml. The keynote speech was delivered by Redmond O’Hanlon, the author of the famous ‘Into the heart of Borneo’ (1983). During the first two days of the conference, these participants shared their often long-term interest and experience in various geographical parts of Borneo and reflected on the challenges of turning this initiative into reality. On the third day, the conference moved to The Hague where the preliminary rec- ommendations of the scholars were presented to and discussed with representa- tives of the private sector as well as governmental officials. Some heads of districts in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo) made a clear statement by an- nouncing that they would turn their districts into ‘conservation districts’. This conference would not have been possible without the financial support of the World Wide Fund for Nature (wwf Netherlands), the International Institute for Asian Studies (iias), the Institute of Environmental Sciences (cml), the Center for International Forestry Research (cifor) in Bogor, Indonesia. Tropenbos In- ternational in Wageningen, the Netherlands contributed funds for a number of participants from Indonesia and was willing to publish this volume in its scien- tific series. At a more personal level, we would like to thank Gerhard van den Top, Mirjam van Gool and Petra van Aken of wwf Netherlands, Wim Stokhof and Borneo.indd 5 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Marloes Rozing of iias, for their commitment and support. We also want to thank David Hymans and Rosemary Robson-McKillop for English language editing. The editors Borneo.indd 6 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Table of Contents 1 Introduction 9 Gerard A. Persoon & Manon Osseweijer Biodiversity 2 Biodiversity conservation in Borneo and the threat of large scale disturbance events 29 Danny Cleary 3 The use of avian guilds for monitoring Borneo lowlands forests: Methodology development for rapid assessment of avian communities 49 Hans de Iongh & Merlijn van Weerd Commercial natural resource use/extraction 4 The oil palm question in Borneo 69 Lesley Potter 5 Mobilizing against the ‘Cruel Oil’: Dilemmas of Organizing resistance against palm oil plantations in Central Kalimantan 91 Greg Acciaioli 6 Trade in Borneo’s orang-utans and gibbons 121 Vincent Nijman, Julia Ng & Chris R. Shepherd Community involvement in nature conservation 7 Whose Heart of Borneo? Critical issues in building constituencies for equitable conservation 131 Cristina Eghenter 8 Politics or tradition? Debating hak ulayat in Pasir 141 Laurens Bakker 9 Punan hunter-gatherers and the Heart of Borneo initiative 159 Agni Klintuni Borneo.indd 7 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM 10 Building conservation around local preferences: Concepts, opportunities and progress 175 Douglas Sheil, Miriam van Heist, Nining Liswanti, Michael Padmanaba, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Isamayadi Samsoedin & Rukmiyati 11 Everyday life and nature conservation: Comparing venues and interactions for natural resource management in the Philippines and Indonesia 197 Padmapani L. Perez About the authors 231 Borneo.indd 8 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Introduction Gerard A. Persoon & Manon Osseweijer 1 Borneo’s environment The third largest island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea, Borneo is situated in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean. It is ringed by the islands of Sumatra to the west, Java to the south, Sulawesi to the east and the archipelago of the Philippines to the northeast. With a landmass of nearly 740,000 square kilometres Borneo is sparsely populated by humans, but nevertheless it is host to some of the most surprising and most diverse ecosystems on this planet. A net- work of large rivers constitutes the main routes for communication and transport. The three longest rivers in Indonesia are located on Borneo: the Kapuas (1,143 km) flows to the west coast, the Barito (900 km) flows south and the Mahakam (775 km) of which the estuary is on the east coast. The majority of human settle- ments have been concentrated on the rivers and coastlines. Most of the lowlands are poorly drained and swampy. Borneo’s territory is divided between three nations. In the northwest the inde- pendent sultanate of Brunei Darussalam (usually abbreviated to Brunei) covers less than 6,000 square kilometres (about twice the size of Luxembourg). Brunei itself is divided in half by the largest state of Malaysia, Sarawak (covering 124,500 square kilometres), which is located along the northwest coast of the island. Sabah is the second Malaysian state (72,000 square kilometres) and covers the north- eastern tip of Borneo. However, the largest part of Borneo covering more than 500,000 square kilometres belongs to Indonesia and is called Kalimantan.1 The Indonesian part of Borneo is more than twice as large as the Malaysian territory and nearly one hundred times the area of Brunei. The provinces of Kalimantan make up just over 28% of Indonesia (wwf 2005a, b). Borneo’s flora is among the most diverse and plentiful to be found anywhere. The reason for this is the island’s unique geological and climatic history that encour- aged the development of such incredible diversity. Thousands of plants, many of them unique, are to be found in Borneo’s forests. There are up to 15,000 different 1 Kalimantan is divided into the four administrative provinces of East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timor), South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan), Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah) and West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat). 9 Borneo.indd 9 10/15/08 4:41:36 PM Reflections on the Heart of Borneo flowering plants in Borneo (MacKinnon et al. 1997). There are also more than 3,000 species of trees, including 267 species of Dipterocarps (large rainforest trees that produce valuable timber and resins) which are considered the most valuable group of commercial timber species in the region. Of these 155 are endemic to Borneo. Most plant species in Borneo can be found in forest habitats. There are lowland Dipterocarp forests, hill Dipterocarp forests, mangrove, peat swamp and freshwater swamp forests and ironwood forests. Just like the flora of the island, Borneo’s rich animal life reflects the geological and climatic history of the area. However in relation to its size, Borneo’s fauna is less diverse than in the neighbouring smaller island of Sumatra, largely because Bor- neo is situated farther away from mainland Asia. Nevertheless Borneo is home to a higher number of endemic mammals (44) than its neighbour (MacKinnon et al. 1997, Payne et al 2002). Each scientific expedition produces new discoveries or re- discoveries of species and sub-species (this is particularly true of Borneo’s fresh- water fish and amphibians (wwf 2005a). There are thirteen different primates on Borneo as well as several large mammals such as the banteng (Bos javanicus, a species of wild cattle), Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Moreover Borneo is well known for its orang- utan (Pongo pygmaeus) populations, an animal which is severely threatened (Rijk- sen and Meijaard 1999). Nijman et al in this volume describe that since the trade in apes derives largely from the destruction of habitat as the result of logging, conversion, and encroachment, addressing this trade in isolation is futile. Reduc- ing the trade in orang-utans and gibbons can only be achieved by protecting the remaining forest, a measure which must be enforced by the relevant authorities and implementing agencies of the Indonesian Government, land concession holders and landowners. Borneo also has its share of such carnivores and omnivores as the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), most of the endemic mammals are bats and rodents which play an important role in the island’s ecol- ogy as predators and by dispersing seeds throughout the forests (MacKinnon et al.