Experts fear forest will turn to desert

Experts fear forest will turn to desert

Here and there in the mountainous East Kalimantan province,
beds of white sand are making their way into the thinning forests
and housing areas.

It is a scene that gives rise to a sense of dread among
experts and environmentalists, who do not want to see the krangas
-- the local name for the white sand -- as it is a nemesis of
forests.

"When the big trees are gone, the land is bound to turn into
krangas. Nothing can grow on it. In the not-so-distant-future,
the whole land could become a desert," the comanager of the
Samarinda-based Center for Social Forestry, G. Simon Devung, told
The Jakarta Post.

Ramon Janis, director of East Kalimantan's Coordinating Body
for Natural Resources Protection (BKSDA), said the krangas
phenomenon started in the early 1990s, when the trade in forest
products was booming.

That is why Ramon insisted on handing over management of the
forests to the local people, whom he said have traditional wisdom
in dealing with the environment.

"Otherwise, we will have to pay the cost (for destroying the
environment) the rest of our lives."

Most of Kalimantan is covered with immature soils such as the
leached red and yellow podzolik soil and peaty soil. The fertile
layer at the top of the soil is approximately as thick as the
palm of a grown man's hand.

For three centuries now, indigenous Dayak people have lived in
the forests. Their livelihood has largely depended on the
forests.

To subsist, they open small plots of agricultural land, hunt
and fish, and take building materials, firewood and medicine from
the forest.

Their traditional nomadic slash-and-burn farming technique has
made them an easy scapegoat for forest fires and unchecked
logging, which are rampant in East Kalimantan.

Devung, who is also an anthropologist and social education
expert at Mulawarman University, said the farmers burn their
farmland after several harvests in a bid to keep the soil
fertile.

"Before burning the land, they first mark a plot to be burned
to localize the fire so it will not burn the rest of the forest.
In no way would they burn the whole forest because the forest
provides the proper humidity needed to grow paddy.

"They will move in circles and will return to the starting
point after two or three decades, never going deep into the
forest, which the people consider sacred," Devung said.

"This traditional way of managing the forest still exists.
Based on the fact that no hot spots have ever been found along
their trails, especially during the disastrous 1997 and 1998
forest fires, the government should recognize the indigenous
people's rights to the forests," he said.

Kalimantan's forests were badly damaged in the 1997 and 1998
fires, which recurred in 2001. Most of the hot spots were located
along the coastal areas, where 70 percent of the population is
non-Dayak, such as the Malaique Kutai people, who make their
living farming and trading.

Most of the non-Dayaks do not have as harmonious a
relationship with the forests as the Dayaks. The Kutai people,
for example, tend to view the forest as a source of cash and
allow timber companies to manage the forests.

Devung suggested that the central government establish
community forests in non-Dayak areas.

"Allowing the community to have a bigger role in managing the
forests instead of companies means we could protect the
environment and at the same time still be able to produce
nontimber forest products," he said.