Changes in Malinau, Kalimantan, Indonesia

We found that 5 important events caused significant impacts to local livelihoods in the seven villages during the last 10 years. Those events were

• development programs funded by the government (and partly by international finance agencies) at central, provincial and district level;

• activities by timber and mining companies;

• big floods in 1999 and 2006;

• plant diseases and pest attacks; and v

• illage settlement removal.

These have changed people’s perceptions, attitude, and relation to the landscape, in particular to forests and their products.

In addition to these important events, crises such as the Indonesian economic crisis (1998), and harvest failures (2006 and 2007)  have had their impact in the surveyed-villages. As a reaction to crop damage by floods, local people planted fast-harvesting crops (cassava, corn, peanuts, etc.) in their gardens situated in higher places. In order to survive, they also worked for family members or other people to earn cash, and they went to the forest for food and marketable products. A few people drew a loan from financial institutions like Credit Union/CU to pay for basic needs.

Especially local traders benefit from the existence of Credit Union in Loreh (a small town and Sub-District capital), as it helps them save, invest and manage their money. If people cannot pay back their loan, the CU will help them by selling some products they made such as mats, hats (kedabang) or other handicrafts.

Changes in the role of forests (and forest products) on local livelihood is closely related to other societal changes. An example of this is the use of forest resources (plants and animals) for medicinal purposes, which has diminished since 2004 when health insurance became available for people in all villages. We also recorded varied views among villager groups. For example, young men group in Langap and young women in Paya Seturan (bothof Merap ethnicity) mention that village and fallow land is currently more important than forest. The main reason they gave is that support from development programs, mainly the Gerbang Dema or 'Development program to achieve independent villages' focuses on the village, i.e. housing, school, health services and church construction.  Fallow land is rated more important  now, as people have improved knowledge from agricultural extension activities. Forests have become less important because fewer resources are said to be available and people have to walk further to find them. Villagers mention logging and mining company activities as the major cause for the decrease in forest resources .

However, local people underlined that forest remain important when serious crises such as floods hit their village. During a crisis people rely on the forest more than on any other land type, especially for food and marketable item. For instance, Punan people in Laban Nyarit and Punan Rian valued forest as the most important land type among the others. According to them, despite decreasing resources, forests still provided all their daily needs, including valuable products such as eaglewood which has high economic value.