El Nino, man-made disaster threaten Dayaks<\/p>\n
By Carol Colfer<\/p>\n
BOGOR (JP): Pictures of the dramatic flooding that
\ncharacterizes El Nino in the western hemisphere have been rampant
\nin recent weeks. But there is a different side of El Nino in the
\neastern hemisphere: drought. It may provide less dramatic
\ndisaster photographs but the effects on local people are just as
\nprofound.<\/p>\n
I first went to Kalimantan in 1979, to do ethnographic
\nresearch on the interactions between people and forests. I became
\na part of the Dayak community of Long Segar, in a sense, and have
\nmaintained my connections with the people and my interest in
\ntheir way of life ever since.<\/p>\n
One of my studies is land-use history, which looks at people's
\nuse of land and forest since the people first moved to Long Segar
\nfrom their homeland further inland, in 1962. I first did this
\nstudy in 1980, returned for an update in 1991, and yet again this
\npast June.<\/p>\n
El Nino did not prompt these studies, but its importance has
\nbeen obvious from the beginning. There was a serious El Nino in
\n1971 to 1972. The most obvious impact on local people can be seen
\nin their rice production, their most important food, crop and the
\nmain source of their subsistence. People averaged 72 kilograms of
\nrice per hectare in 1972 (in contrast to their overall average of
\n1.2 tons).<\/p>\n
In the 1982 to 1983 period, El Nino was more famous globally
\nbecause it resulted in serious forest fires that razed some three
\nmillion hectares, including the area surrounding Long Segar.<\/p>\n
They were able to save their village from fire only by heroic
\nefforts. That year, their rice harvests averaged 143 kg per
\nhectare.<\/p>\n
The increased destruction from the 1982 to 1983 El Nino was
\nobvious, even though rice yields were better than they had been
\nin 1971 to 1972, suggesting a possibly less severe drought. Could
\nthe added carnage be -- related to the fact that the surrounding
\narea had been logged in the interim -- drying out the forest and
\nmaking it more prone to burning?<\/p>\n
During their harvest festival in Long Segar in 1995, local
\nfarmers reported that it was their fourth year of drought, with
\npredictably bad harvests yet again.<\/p>\n
Was it an accurate commentary on their past four years or just
\na human tendency to exaggerate in the midst of misfortune?<\/p>\n
Some alarm bells rang though because now, in addition to the
\nlogging activity that had been underway since the mid-1970s,
\n53,000 hectares of nearby logged forest were being cleared for
\nindustrial timber plantations, part of the Indonesian
\ngovernment's policy to provide trees for pulp and paper
\nproduction.<\/p>\n
The company had cleared 23,000 hectares already and brought in
\nfour communities of transmigrants to work on this plantation.
\nSince the early 1980s, another huge transmigration area -- based
\non food and tree crops -- had sprung up north of Long Segar,
\nbringing thousands of families who appeared to be increasingly
\nreliant on shifting cultivation to meet their daily needs.<\/p>\n
My latest study raised a frightening specter. Rice harvests
\nsince 1991 have declined from the previous average of 1.2
\ntons\/hectare to one ton; the people lived through two successive
\nyears of harvests averaging only 0.7 ton\/ha; the third and fourth
\nyear's production were only 0.9 ton\/ha and 1.0 ton\/ha,
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
In the previous 28 year data set, there were only five years
\nwhere average production fell below 900 kg; and only one two-year
\nstretch of yields this low (1971 to 1972 and 1972 to 1973).<\/p>\n
There had been no declining trend in rice fields over time.
\nFrom a global standpoint, 1991 to 1992, 1994 to 1995 and now 1997
\nto 1998 have all been classified as El Nio years, with this year
\nshowing all signs of being a whopper.<\/p>\n
Fires have been blazing all over Sumatra and Kalimantan
\nthroughout September. Water levels in East Kalimantan's Mahakam
\nriver have been so low throughout the month that Samarinda has
\nbeen without piped water due to saltwater intrusion from the
\nocean.<\/p>\n
Airports throughout Borneo have regularly been closed because
\nof poor visibility related to the forest fires. The Straits Times
\nreported on Sept. 20, 1997, that pollution in the Bornean state
\nof Sabah surpassed the maximum 500 mark on the U.S. Environmental
\nProtection Agency's Pollutants Standard Index, registering 658 on
\nMalaysia's Air Pollution Index, and was endangering people's
\nhealth.<\/p>\n
Malaysia declared Sarawak a disaster area (International
\nHerald Tribune Sept. 20, and Sept. 21). Indonesia reported
\nevacuating people from one Riau village because of air pollution
\nlevels. Predictions are that the rains will not come until
\nNovember or December.<\/p>\n
I have no doubt that this year, rice yields will again be
\nbelow 100 kg per hectare. I fear even more devastating fires.<\/p>\n
In the past, the people of Long Segar, and other forest
\ncommunities, have had the surrounding forest as a back up food
\nsupply. Animals could be hunted, forest foods could be gathered
\n(ferns, palm hearts, edible leaves, fruits), forest fibers and
\nmedicines could be gathered for sale.<\/p>\n
But now, much of the forest has been cut (for government-
\nplanned transmigration and plantations).<\/p>\n
The forest people, whose much maligned "slash and burn"
\nagricultural systems allowed them to coexist with and benefit --
\nalong with the rest of us -- from the forest for centuries, may
\nnow genuinely be about to lose it and lose out completely.<\/p>\n
The writer is an anthropologist a the Center for International
\nForestry Research.<\/p>",
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