Threats to OrangutansMore about Slash and BurnFor centuries “swidden” or slash and burn agriculture was practiced on Borneo without creating an ecological crisis. Swidden was developed in Finland and exported to other parts of the world. It involves a cycle of forest clearing (usually with fire), cultivation, and fallowing, called swiddening or shifting cultivation. Historically, this generally involved small plots that were used for a few years and that were then abandoned perhaps permanently or at least for several years. These small areas were surrounded by natural vegetation that could reintroduce itself from seeds or runners. It was especially suitable for areas of high rainfall where nutrients are quickly leached from the soils and are mostly stored in the biomass. Several major differences exist today that make the practice of clearing with fire more devastating. Significantly, the population of Indonesia has grown from an estimated 10 million people to more than 200 million in the past century. Population growth and the desire for economic development are creating pressures on the environment that have never occurred before. The slash and burn practices today can hardly be compared to the traditional Dayak “swidden” when the population on Borneo was much smaller and Dayak tribes were scattered. Because of the effort required and the fact that only hand tools were available, swidden plots were historically limited in size to 1 ha or less. In recent years, chain saws have made it possible for a family to clear a much larger plot. The increasing number of people concentrates the use and shortens the fallow cycle so much that regeneration often never progresses beyond pioneer vegetation. When we refer to “local people” it doesn’t necessarily mean Dayak. Many people have moved to Borneo from all over Indonesia, partly because of the national transmigration program and partly because many believe that there is opportunity on Borneo. Many of the villages of “local people” consist of transmigrants from Java, Sulawesi, Madura, etc. These are established villages of 2-4 generations and while they are not Dayak, they are still referred to as “local people”. This is causing heightened tensions concerning land use and life styles. The Dayaks are mostly animists or Christians while most of the transmigrant villages are Islamic. The Dayaks never really established land rights or staked out tribal lands; and now they are losing access to more and more land area as it is cleared for palm oil plantations, wood pulp plantations, and transmigration settlements. In a few areas, there is an incipient movement to make tribal land claims based on historic use, but the practice of swidden is one of the reasons why it is so difficult for Dayaks to prove land claims. By definition, areas subject to swidden have had no long-term tenure and the areas of use were patchy (not contiguous). Today the land clearing by slash and burn practices is far beyond the scale that occurred historically by the Dayaks. While using fire to clear the land for plantations is now illegal, laws are often ignored in Indonesia and fire is the cheapest way to accomplish the task. While timber and agribusiness firms are believed to be the major cause of fires on Borneo, the individual local farmers are also contributing. Whereas the Dayaks historically practiced subsistence farming as a supplement to their hunting, today many local people are farming for commercial purposes and therefore clearing larger areas and using them for longer periods. The environmental impacts from using fire have been exacerbated by a series of unusually dry years leading to uncontrolled fires that burn thousands of hectares. Where there is no cultivation, these areas are now dominated by alang alang grass which is too coarse and sharp for livestock to eat, has little nutritional value, is highly subject to fire (again), and which prevents the invasion of other more desirable species. It is difficult to imagine the scope of the fire problem in Indonesia. In late 1997, the smoke was so thick it was often difficult to see across the street. People suffered terrible respiratory problems. The drivers of speed boats crossing Balikpapan Bay could not see the opposite shore to navigate and would wander off course and sometimes end up in the open sea. Flights were often cancelled throughout Borneo, Malaysia and even in Singapore and the Philippines because of the haze that stretched from Singapore to the Moluccas. We recommend that you look at the website URL You might also read “Trial by Fire, Forest Fires and Forestry Policy in Indonesia’s Era of Crisis and Reform”, by Charles Victor Barber and James Schweithelm. It is available from the World Resources Institute and can be ordered online at http://www.wri.org
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