A Description of Dayak Iban’s Traditional Knowledge on Customary Forest Management in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Deforestation and land tenure conflict are two of the biggest threats happening in Borneo and Kalimantan. Dayak Iban has been affected by the negative impacts of these threats, considering they are forest dwellers dependent on forest resources as their primary living resources. This study is aimed to describe the traditional knowledge and customary law of the Iban people on managing their customary forest and its resources sustainably. This study was carried out in Sungai Utik Hamlet, where a small Iban community inhabits the Kapuas Hulu Regency with diverse ecosystems and forest resources. This study has applied an inductive approach and in-depth interviews to obtain information from three informants and the results were described qualitatively. The Iban community in Sungai Utik is demonstrated to have customary laws on managing customary forests and practicing swidden cultivation to meet their food needs. The community has a way to pass the traditional knowledge to the next generations through traditional schools. Through preserving traditional knowledge, the Iban community proved to be able to survive and adapt in this modern era. The implementation and integration of traditional and modern forest management would protect the forest from threats and improve the community’s well-being significantly.

Land use dynamics under the Bolsa Floresta Program: a case study of the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve (Amazonas, Brazil)

ABSTRACT The effectiveness of a program of payment for environmental services (PES) in the Brazilian Amazon was analyzed through an accurate mapping of deforested areas. The Bolsa Floresta Program (BFP) in Amazonas state (Brazil) was chosen as an example of a PES program that aims to compensate farmers for their commitment to zero deforestation of primary forests while opening swiddens only in secondary vegetation areas. However, the official measurement of opened swiddens is not effective since only deforested areas larger than 6.25 ha are mapped, whereas most areas opened for cassava crops are approximately 1 ha in size. The effectiveness of the BFP was evaluated in the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve (SDR). We tested a methodology for mapping areas from 0.45 ha upwards that have been opened for cassava swiddens. The years 2006 (before the implementation of the BFP), 2011, 2015 and 2019 were analyzed. The results indicated that 88% of the areas opened for swiddens were between 0.45 and 6.25 ha in size. After the implantation of the BFP, the cumulative total deforested area decreased, and there was a reduction in deforested areas in primary forests. An intensification of swidden cultivation was also observed, which could cause a decline in productivity. The monitoring by land-use zoning showed that the majority of opened areas were located in intensive use zones, following the rules of the SDR management plan. The results show the efforts of local families to fulfill the BFP rules.

From conflicting to complementing: The formalisation of customary land management systems governing swidden cultivation in Myanmar

<p>Swiddening is a traditional and widespread agricultural system in mountainous regions of Southeast Asia. It is prevalent in Myanmar’s hilly border region. However, economic, political, demographic, social and technological drivers in this region are causing this form of land use to undergo significant transition. This transition is affecting the customary land use rights of swidden farmers. Throughout Myanmar’s tumultuous history, customary land management systems and the state land management system have been poorly integrated. This has led to customary land use rights receiving little formal recognition and left customary right-holders vulnerable to exploitation. Recent political and economic developments within Myanmar have prompted changes to the state land management system. The Myanmar government introduced the Farmland Law 2012 and the Vacant Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law 2012 which significantly altered how agricultural land is managed. However, these laws also contain minimal interaction with customary land management systems. In relation to swidden cultivation, the legislation is unclear how land under customary tenure is identified, how communally-held land is recognised and what swidden practices are legally permitted. The draft National Land Use Policy released in late 2014 reveals progress in addressing these issues. However, greater clarity is needed with regard to how the policy is implemented. Many lessons may also be derived from the experiences of surrounding Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines and Cambodia, in the way customary land use rights are incorporated into state legislation. The goal of this thesis is to propose how customary land management systems may be integrated into the state land management system in order for customary land use rights over swidden land to be recognised as comprehensively as possible by the state. The legislative framework should also allow sufficient flexibility for local farmers to adapt to changing circumstances. The identification of swidden land will be considered in the context of producing maps of customary land use, the management of swidden land under collective land-holding structures will be discussed with regard to pressures to individualise land-holding and the use of swidden cultivation practices will be considered in light of proposed development projects. The current political and economic climate in Myanmar indicates some willingness to acknowledge and address these issues. There is hope that customary land management systems and the state land management system will begin to complement, instead of conflict with, each other in order to enable swidden farmers to access their customarily held land into the future.</p>

From conflicting to complementing: The formalisation of customary land management systems governing swidden cultivation in Myanmar

<p>Swiddening is a traditional and widespread agricultural system in mountainous regions of Southeast Asia. It is prevalent in Myanmar’s hilly border region. However, economic, political, demographic, social and technological drivers in this region are causing this form of land use to undergo significant transition. This transition is affecting the customary land use rights of swidden farmers. Throughout Myanmar’s tumultuous history, customary land management systems and the state land management system have been poorly integrated. This has led to customary land use rights receiving little formal recognition and left customary right-holders vulnerable to exploitation. Recent political and economic developments within Myanmar have prompted changes to the state land management system. The Myanmar government introduced the Farmland Law 2012 and the Vacant Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law 2012 which significantly altered how agricultural land is managed. However, these laws also contain minimal interaction with customary land management systems. In relation to swidden cultivation, the legislation is unclear how land under customary tenure is identified, how communally-held land is recognised and what swidden practices are legally permitted. The draft National Land Use Policy released in late 2014 reveals progress in addressing these issues. However, greater clarity is needed with regard to how the policy is implemented. Many lessons may also be derived from the experiences of surrounding Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines and Cambodia, in the way customary land use rights are incorporated into state legislation. The goal of this thesis is to propose how customary land management systems may be integrated into the state land management system in order for customary land use rights over swidden land to be recognised as comprehensively as possible by the state. The legislative framework should also allow sufficient flexibility for local farmers to adapt to changing circumstances. The identification of swidden land will be considered in the context of producing maps of customary land use, the management of swidden land under collective land-holding structures will be discussed with regard to pressures to individualise land-holding and the use of swidden cultivation practices will be considered in light of proposed development projects. The current political and economic climate in Myanmar indicates some willingness to acknowledge and address these issues. There is hope that customary land management systems and the state land management system will begin to complement, instead of conflict with, each other in order to enable swidden farmers to access their customarily held land into the future.</p>

Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Ecological Pest Control and Post-Harvest Rice Conservation Techniques: Sustainability Lessons from Baduy Communities

With the impending threat of global climate change, the past decades have witnessed an increasing recognition of the potential contribution of indigenous knowledge to tackling global challenges of environmental sustainability. In this study, we used a qualitative analysis of data collected in September 2018 from key informant interviews and focus group discussion sessions in the Baduy communities in western Java to examine how their swidden cultivation, pest control and rice preservation techniques contribute to strengthening the sustainability of their livelihoods. The study also examines the potential for knowledge sharing between Baduy indigenous knowledge holders and outside scientific communities for mutual enhancement. Our analysis of collected data indicates that while the Baduy are open to sharing their ecological knowledge with outsiders for the sake of a greater environment protection, they remain wary of adopting external knowledge sources, as these external influences constitute a threat of disruption to their own epistemic system and way of life.

Strategi Peladang Berpindah di Routa Dalam Rangka Menguatkan Klaim Hak Atas Tanah Bekas Areal Perladangan Berpindah di Masa Lalu

Claims of rights to land formerly shifting cultivation areas in the past, as referred to by the terms orawu, anahoma, laliwata and osambu are now increasingly ineffective - one of which is because the former shifting cultivation area has been abandoned for a long time where the trees have grown as usual, until hardly leaving the slightest sign of former swidden cultivation areas. As a result, lands in the former shifting cultivation areas in the past are now being taken over and controlled by other parties. This research, which lasted for six months, was conducted in Routa District, Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province, considering that in this area a new phenomenon has developed in which land formerly cultivated areas in the past was re-opened by their descendants of current shifting cultivators in order to strengthen land rights claims. There are …. informants participated in this study, including shifting cultivators and descendants of shifting cultivators, government officials, and local law enforcers. Data collection techniques were carried out through interviews and observations. The study shows that the current strategy of the descendants of shifting cultivators in Routa is to re-open their parents' former shifting cultivation areas - this strategy is increasingly emphasized through planting growing crops, creating boundaries and legalizing land rights with both SKT and SHM. These strategies have proven to be quite successful in overcoming the encroachment of former shifting cultivation areas as well as providing new economic bases for shifting cultivators in the form of land and gardens.

What Determines Indigenous Chepang Farmers’ Swidden Land-Use Decisions in the Central Hill Districts of Nepal?

Swidden or shifting cultivation is a widespread yet controversial land-use in the tropical forest–agriculture frontier. In recent years, the extent of land under swidden and the people who rely on it for subsistence and income have declined. We report swidden land-use changes in two central hill districts of Nepal by indigenous Chepang communities—a stronghold of swidden cultivation in mountainous Nepal. Despite a common trend of swidden decline, as in other parts of South and Southeast Asia, we found that swidden is important in the life and livelihoods of smallholder rural Chepang farmers in the area. Swidden cultivation was found to be more important to farmers with limited off-farm opportunities and in areas where alternative land-uses were scarce. We discuss biophysical, socio-economic, institutional, and other key drivers affecting farmers’ decision to shift away from or continue with swidden in the area. Using linear mixed effect models, we also examined households’ attributes that may expedite swidden decisions in the area. Our study recommends greater access to alternative land-use(s) and other income-generating options for the wellbeing of smallholder indigenous Chepang farmers, as well as the sustainability of this age-old land-use practice.

Dayak Kaharingan di tengah perubahan sosial ekologi dan praktik perpindahan agama di pedesaan Kalimantan Tengah

This paper tries to explain the relation between social-ecological change and the phenomenon of religious conversion in a minority group in Indonesia. The case study is the Dayak community religion in Central Kalimantan, Kaharingan, with 'world' or 'official' religions such as Christianity, Catholicism, or Islam. The study of Kaharingan in this paper is placed in the context of Kalimantan as an object of resource expansion with massive intensity by the global economic capitalist chain. Forest exploitation and local gold mining activity from outsiders urged Dayaks to participate in new economic patterns, which caused swidden cultivation to become inaccessible to villagers and began to slowly be abandoned. This has implications for the transformation of the Dayaks in perceiving their relationship with the natural environment, a relationship that was previously the basis of Kaharingan religious beliefs and practices. Based on my ethnographic research in the rural Dayak community upriver Katingan, this paper shows that the religious conversion from Kaharingan to a new religion is more driven by social and economic morals that emphasize individual-household relations rather than the communal-collective pattern as before. This paper also argues that although traditional beliefs have slowly been abandoned, the practice of Kaharingan ceremonies is still held intensively for different purposes.Keywords: Minority religion, socio-economic and ecological change, religious conversion Abstrak Artikel ini berupaya menunjukkan relasi perubahan sosial-ekologi dengan fenomena perpindahan agama pada kelompok minoritas di Indonesia. Studi kasus dalam tulisan ini adalah agama masyarakat Dayak Kalimantan Tengah, yakni Kaharingan, dengan agama ‘dunia’ atau ‘resmi’ seperti Kristen, Katolik, maupun Islam di sana. Kajian mengenai Kaharingan di sini diletakkan dalam konteks Kalimantan sebagai obyek dari ekspansi sumber daya dengan intensitas yang massif oleh rantai ekonomi kapitalisme global. Eksploitasi kayu maupun pertambangan lokal dari pihak luar mendorong orang Dayak turut berpartisipasi dalam pola ekonomi baru menggeser perladangan berpindah ke posisi yang tidak menguntungkan. Hal ini turut mendorong perubahan orang Dayak dalam memaknai relasi mereka dengan alam sekitar, relasi yang sebelumnya menjadi basis kepercayaan dan praktik agama Kaharingan. Dengan mendasarkan pada hasil riset etnografi pedesaan Dayak di hulu Sungai Katingan, tulisan ini menunjukkan bahwa perpindahan agama dari Kaharingan ke agama baru lebih didorong oleh moral sosial dan ekonomi baru yang menekankan relasi individu-rumah tangga dari pada komunal-kolektif seperti sebelumnya. Tulisan ini juga ingin menunjukkan meskipun kepercayaan lama telah ditinggalkan, namun praktik upacara Kaharingan tetap digelar dengan intensif meskipun untuk tujuan yang berbeda. Kata kunci: Agama minoritas, perubahan material-ekologi, perpindahan agama

Towards a historical anthropology of Upland Laos

When travelling across Houaphan province in upland north-eastern Laos in 2010, I took with me a copy of James Scott’s (2009) Art of Not Being Governed. This thought-provoking book offered fresh perspectives to exploring this ‘Zomian’ landscape and its ethnolinguistically diverse population. Indeed a historical frontier zone of refuge and opportunity, Houaphan’s forested mountains always constituted an escape option for people facing (Siamese, Vietnamese, lowland Lao, or French colonial) imperial interventions (Boutin 1937; Tappe 2015). Even today, the different ethnic groups of Houaphan demonstrate a wide range of flexible livelihoods such as swidden cultivation that carried them through times of crisis and war at the margins of lowland state formations, often seeking creative ways to keep state authorities at bay.