Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Smallholder farmers and indigenous communities must cope with the opportunities and threats presented by rapidly spreading estate crops in the frontier of the agricultural market economy. Smallholder communities are subject to considerable speculation by outsiders, yet large-scale agriculture presen...

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Main Authors: Langston, James D., Riggs, R.A., Sururi, Y., Sunderland, Terry C.H., Munawir, M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: MDPI 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95209
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author Langston, James D.
Riggs, R.A.
Sururi, Y.
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Munawir, M.
author_browse Langston, James D.
Munawir, M.
Riggs, R.A.
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Sururi, Y.
author_facet Langston, James D.
Riggs, R.A.
Sururi, Y.
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Munawir, M.
author_sort Langston, James D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Smallholder farmers and indigenous communities must cope with the opportunities and threats presented by rapidly spreading estate crops in the frontier of the agricultural market economy. Smallholder communities are subject to considerable speculation by outsiders, yet large-scale agriculture presents tradeoffs that they must navigate. We initiated a study in Sintang, West Kalimantan in 2012 and have returned annually for the last four years, building the baselines for a longer-term landscape approach to reconciling conservation and development tradeoffs in situ. Here, the stakeholders are heterogeneous, yet the land cover of the landscape is on a trajectory towards homogenous mono-cropping systems, primarily either palm oil or rubber. In one village on the frontier of the agricultural market economy, natural forests remain managed by the indigenous and local community but economics further intrude on forest use decisions. Conservation values are declining and the future of the forest is uncertain. As such, the community is ultimately attracted to more economically attractive uses of the land for local development oil palm or rubber mono-crop farms. We identify poverty as a threat to community-managed conservation success in the face of economic pressures to convert forest to intensive agriculture. We provide evidence that lucrative alternatives will challenge community-managed forests when prosperity seems achievable. To alleviate this trend, we identify formalized traditional management and landscape governance solutions to nurture a more sustainable landscape transition.
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spelling CGSpace952092025-06-17T08:24:02Z Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Langston, James D. Riggs, R.A. Sururi, Y. Sunderland, Terry C.H. Munawir, M. farmers indigenous peoples agriculture community forestry landscape Smallholder farmers and indigenous communities must cope with the opportunities and threats presented by rapidly spreading estate crops in the frontier of the agricultural market economy. Smallholder communities are subject to considerable speculation by outsiders, yet large-scale agriculture presents tradeoffs that they must navigate. We initiated a study in Sintang, West Kalimantan in 2012 and have returned annually for the last four years, building the baselines for a longer-term landscape approach to reconciling conservation and development tradeoffs in situ. Here, the stakeholders are heterogeneous, yet the land cover of the landscape is on a trajectory towards homogenous mono-cropping systems, primarily either palm oil or rubber. In one village on the frontier of the agricultural market economy, natural forests remain managed by the indigenous and local community but economics further intrude on forest use decisions. Conservation values are declining and the future of the forest is uncertain. As such, the community is ultimately attracted to more economically attractive uses of the land for local development oil palm or rubber mono-crop farms. We identify poverty as a threat to community-managed conservation success in the face of economic pressures to convert forest to intensive agriculture. We provide evidence that lucrative alternatives will challenge community-managed forests when prosperity seems achievable. To alleviate this trend, we identify formalized traditional management and landscape governance solutions to nurture a more sustainable landscape transition. 2017 2018-07-03T11:02:35Z 2018-07-03T11:02:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95209 en Open Access MDPI Langston, J.D., Riggs, R.A., Sururi, Y., Sunderland, T.C.H., Munawir, M.. 2017. Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Land, 6 (1) : 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/land6010012
spellingShingle farmers
indigenous peoples
agriculture
community forestry
landscape
Langston, James D.
Riggs, R.A.
Sururi, Y.
Sunderland, Terry C.H.
Munawir, M.
Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title_full Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title_fullStr Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title_full_unstemmed Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title_short Estate Crops More Attractive than Community Forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
title_sort estate crops more attractive than community forests in west kalimantan indonesia
topic farmers
indigenous peoples
agriculture
community forestry
landscape
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/95209
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