The latest MLA related activity in Malinau, Kalimantan, Indonesia

Malinau Kalimantan |  Gunung Lumut - Kalimantan  |  Papua  |  Sumatra

Some villages downstream of the Malinau River have experienced flooding almost every year within the last decade. The two biggest floods took place in 1999 and 2006. We were interested to find out the impact that these floods have had on the different communities, considering local livelihoods, the landscape and forest products. Secondly, we consider if and how local perceptions on landscape importance have changed since the first MLA study in Malinau. Thirdly, we examine if local knowledge can be useful to help conservation practitioners to monitor biodiversity more effectively and efficiently.

Field work was carried out in Malinau in Nov 2007 and Jan 2008, in 7 villages where MLA study was previously done. We conducted community meetings, interviews as well as focus group discussion involving 4 groups of people i.e. old men, old women, young men and young women to:

• document the experience with and history of flooding in Malinau, through community meetings and interviews with key informants.

• collect information on what resources were damaged and how local livelihood has changed due to floods.

• evaluate people's perception on the importance of forests and landscape after the floods. Did anything change?

• Document important events that have happened and how people have responded 
• Understand if and how the role of forest has changed with time (after 7 years), including change on important species, sources of product and general forest condition.

In addition, during this field trip we tried to:

• identify with local community members where certain protected and threatened species may be expected (focus on the following sample species: meat flower, black orchid, sun bear, tarsier, slow lories, and clouded leopard).

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