Revised paper, 3 January 2011

The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the
views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Directors, or the governments they
represent. ADB does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement,
information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented, nor does it make any representation
concerning the same.

IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION ON

UPLAND POOR’S LIVELIHOODS :

CASES OF SOUTH KALIMANTAN (INDONESIA) AND SARAWAK (MALAYSIA) 1

By: Aris Ananta, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2

Background Paper for Conference on the “Environment of the Poor”, 24-26 November 2010,
New Delhi3

SUMMARY

The poor have often been blamed for environmental degradation, as being poor has
caused them to destroy the environment. However, this study concludes that poverty is not
the sufficient condition of the environmental degradation. It is only the necessary condition.
The sufficient condition is the existence of a third party (big companies) that destroys the
environment. The poor join the big companies because they see an opportunity to sustain
their livelihood or even increase their income.

1
This exploratory paper is based on the reports of the recently conducted two field studies, one in the
province of South Kalimantan (Indonesia) and another in the state of Sarawak (Malaysia), as well as a limited
literature study. The one in South Kalimantan was conducted and reported by Haris Fadillah, Ahmad Yunani,
Gusti Fahmi Adliansyah, and Danang Adhinata from Lambung Mangkurat University (UNLAM), Banjarmasin,
South Kalimantan; while the one in Sarawak, was by Wong Swee Kiong and Ling How Kee from Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Kota Samarahan, Sarawak. This paper has also benefitted from the comments
made by Evi Nurvidya Arifin (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore) and the assistance of Chua Cheng
Siew (National University of Singapore).
2
Aris Ananta is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. He can be
contacted at aananta@iseas.edu.sg, and arisananta@gmail.com . With Richard Barichello, he edited the book
Poverty, Food, and Global Recession in Southeast Asia. Is the Crisis Over for the Poor? Singapore: Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies, forthcoming (2011).
3
For more information, see the conference website:
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Events/2010/Environments-Poor/default.asp

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

We recommend three policies to be implemented simultaneously, in addition to the

full enforcement of the laws against environmental degradation. First is to create alternative
employment opportunities for the local people so that they do not depend on activities which
are harmful to their own environment. However, the people, including those from outside
their area, may continue contributing to the environmental degradation. The people may not
be able to resist joining the big companies in the environmentally harmful activities as long
as their own income will rise. We cannot expect them to have a long vision.

Therefore, we need the second policy, that is to create employment opportunities

which heavily depend on the bio-diversity of the environment. By doing so, it is for the
interest of the local people to protect and enhance their environment. They will protest and
resist companies and developmental projects which destroy their environment.

However, such a policy may not work well if those multi-national companies offer
incentives and other forms of compensation (“bribery”) to the local people. Thus, we need
the third policy, that is to enlist all goods produced by companies which destroy the
environment. The list of the goods is then published and disseminated to all over the world,
through credible sources such as international websites. The consumers have the right to
know whether the goods and services they consume are harmful to the environment and/or
are produced using environmentally harmful activities. The strong campaign to increase the
consumers’ awareness will greatly reduce the demand for such products and consequently
reduce profit of the companies. The decline in the profit will reduce the companies’
motivation to destroy the environment.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The issues of poverty reduction and environmental conservations are very closely
related. Comim, Kumar, and Sirven (2009), for example, even called the two issues as twin
goals in economic development. The poor depend so much on their natural resource base
and primary production sources that the degradation of the environment will have a negative
impact on their livelihoods.

However, the poor have often been blamed for environmental degradation, as being
poor has caused them to destroy the environment. This issue of poverty and environment
actually dates back to the time of Malthus in the 18th century, with population growth as the
main villain, in his publications on “An Essay on the Principles of Population”. Malthus
argued that poverty and having too many children had brought the poor surviving on
livelihoods that destroyed their own environment. As mentioned in United Nation

2
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Environment Programme (1995), the people’s constraints (education, information, health,

and income) made them unable to make a long term planning. Their choices are limited and
they have no control of their future.

Even, improvement in the environment may not be seen positively by the local
people, as they do not have better alternative livelihoods. Because they benefit from the
environmentally harmful livelihoods, they may often resist environment rehabilitation
programs. For example, Cao et al (2010) found that farmers, livestock grazers and forest
workers were disadvantaged by the “Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP)” in the
dry-land areas of Northern Shaanxi Province, China. The program had successfully banned
logging and grazing in the forest, and the people around the forest had lost their income as
logging and grazing were their main livelihoods. This study also showed that the poorer the
people, the more they suffer from the forest conservation program. Therefore, not
surprisingly, the youngest and oldest population as well as the women were those who
suffered the most from the conservation program. The study recommended that the
government provide economic assistance to compensate the loss of income due to the
forest conservation program.

Southeast Asia is a region where the timber logging industries have contributed
significantly to government revenues. For example, rents from timber had become an
important source for economic growth, government revenue and fiscal capacity in Malaysia.
A large group of Japanese companies imported a very large volume of forest and
agricultural resources from Southeast Asia. About 90 per cent of this import since 1970s
came from Indonesia, East Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah), and the Philippines. They built a
long chain of business linkages to evade taxes and royalties through a patron-client
networks, to maintain the low prices, resulting in destructive logging practices. This pattern is
especially seen in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines (Daniel, Lebel, and Nan 2009)

Large areas of Southeast Asia’s forest has also been replaced with oil-palm
plantation, which has recently become the world’s most highly demanded crop. On the
other hand, oil palm plantation has often destroyed the bio-diversity of the environment. It
results in habitat fragmentation and pollution, such as greenhouse gas emissions. It can
only support a smaller number of species compared to the support from forest and other tree
crops. Therefore, oil-palm industries can only be continued only if they can avoid their
destruction on the bio-diversity of the forest. (Fitzherbert et al 2008)

Southeast Asia is also a region where economic growth has been side by side with
over-exploitation of its environment. Economic liberalization and FDI (foreign direct
investment) have brought negative externality, which is seldom taken into account in their

3
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cost-benefit analyses. Southeast Asia has suffered from a crisis in its social-ecological sub-
system. As an illustration is the over-exploitation of forest resources in this region by
unwise, often greedy and corrupt, logging industries, who moved from one country to
another to maintain their timber markets. On the other hand, at the same time, the importing
countries, such as Japan, have worked hard to protect their own environment, including
forest. (Lebel 2009)

Another illustration is mining activities, which have changed the use and degraded
the quality of land. The soil fertility declined and the soil eventually became infertile (Ghose
2004).

Salafsky and Wollenberg (2000) recommended alternative employment

opportunities for people living near to areas rich of natural resources. An even better
alternative is to create employment opportunities that depend on the sustainability of the
environment. With this strategy, the micro view from the locals is compatible with the macro
view of the environmentalists. This policy will is also aid in the conservation program of the
natural resources. Therefore, as mentioned in Comim, Kumar, and Sirven (2009), any
effective policy on poverty reduction should be based on a full understanding on the very
close relationship between the environment and livelihoods of the poor.

This paper aims to have in-depth experience on the impact of change in environment
on the livelihoods of the communities, particularly in the province of South Kalimantan
(Indonesia) and the state of Sarawak (Malaysia). It tries to suggest some policy
recommendations to protect and improve environment through improving the livelihoods of
the people. It is an exploratory study which needs to be followed by deeper studies, to test
the wider applicability of the policy recommendations suggested in this paper.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS

As an exploratory study, this paper does not intend to be exhaustive on all impacts of
environment on poverty through changes in the poor’s livelihoods. It concentrates on the
Island of Borneo, the third largest island in the world, located south of the Philippines.
Politically, it comprises Brunei Darussalam, two Malaysian states (Sarawak and Sabah), and
four Indonesian provinces (South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and
West Kalimantan). It has a very large rain forest, but its biodiversity has been under serious
threat from logging, palm-oil plantations, and mining industries. The culture of the
population in the whole island is almost similar to each other.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

In particular, we carried out in-depth interviews with people in the province of South
Kalimantan in the Southern Borneo and the state of Sarawak in the Northern Borneo. The
two selected areas have something in common. Both have rich natural resources that
changed the pattern of livelihood of the communities. In South Kalimantan mining and
logging have become important sources of livelihood and therefore welfare of the local
community. In Sarawak development projects and logging have also been significantly
contributing to the way local people earn their living.

We interviewed the people in these two areas to find out the their perceptions on
environmental degradation, improvement in livelihoods, and their quality of life. The data
collections were mostly qualitative in nature, interviewing key-informants and villagers. The
field work in South Kalimantan was conducted in July 2010, interviewing 20 respondents,
mostly aged between 30 and 40 years old. Almost two third of the respondents had primary
school education, and more than two third worked as farmers. Most earned about Rp
2,000,000 (about US$220) a month. The field work in Sarawak was carried out in
September 2010 with 58 respondents, mostly aged 41 to 60 years, working as farmers, and
about a quarter had no education at all. Around one third of the respondents earned below
RM500 (about US$160) a month. Readers, however, should exercise caution in interpreting
this statistics since these statistics may not well represent these areas.

SOUTH KALIMANTAN

The province of South Kalimantan is the second largest producer of coal in Indonesia,
after the province of East Kalimantan, and yet, provision of electricity is still a big problem in
these two provinces. Most of the coal was exported. Only the remainder was available for
domestic use in Indonesia, including in South Kalimantan. In 2009 , mining and quarrying
contributed 21.47 per cent to the province’s GDP, after agriculture (24.63 per cent). Most of
the natural resources, forest, plantation, and mining are in Meratus Mountains and at the
foot of the mountains. Per capita income was about US$1,6134 and poverty rate was 5.12
per cent.

The mining industry has benefited much more to the betterment of societies, and yet it
has led environmental degradation suffered by all societies. For example, surface mining is
the preferred method of mining but this method has often led to soil degradation and forest
cover destruction. (Fatah 2008)

4
Assuming that US$1 is equal to Rp 9,000.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

The communities selected for the province of South Kalimantan are those living in
upland area, the Meratus Mountain Range. More specifically, the field study was
concentrated in three villages in the regency of Banjar: the village of Paramasan Bawah
(which is very far from mining activities, but close to the forest), the village of Rantau Bakula
(very close to mining activities) and the the village of Belimbing Lama (relatively far from
mining activities).

Actually, the regency of Banjar was not poor, with a poverty rate at 4.24 per cent in
2007. The three villages were selected simply for an exploratory comparison of effect of
environment degradation on livelihoods of the people and how the people reacted to the
environmental degradation.

Rantau Bakula Village

This village is very close, about 2 km, to the mining activities. It is relatively better off,
but its environment has been polluted, and the soil fertility has been degraded. However, the
respondents perceived that the environmental degradation had been over-compensated by
the much improvement in their livelihoods—through new employment opportunities and
lucrative compensation from the mining companies.

The people used to work primarily in subsistence agriculture. They seldom sold the
agriculture products. They used the output mainly for their own consumption. The arrival of
coal mining activities have changed their livelihood and economic conditions. Then, the
local people worked mainly in the mining activities, and some even sold their land for mining.
They worked mostly as daily workers, not contract workers. They could not work as
contract workers because of their low educational qualifications. They had to be satisfied
with working as daily workers. The contract workers were mostly people from outside the
areas. Yet, their salaries were relatively high about 1.7 million rupiah (about US$200) a
month, living in a mountain. As a comparison, a fresh graduate from a third tier university in
Indonesia, working at a call centre in a bank in Jakarta, earned only 1.6 million rupiah a
month. Living cost in Jakarta is much higher than that in the mountain.

The younger generation has improved their education, often completing their senior
high school education. The younger generation wanted to work in the mining activities,
while the older people were more likely to continue working in agriculture The young
generations saw relatively wealthier migrants working in the mining activities, and they

6
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

wanted to attain that prosperity. The head of the village even helped the companies to recruit
and train the local people.

The mining companies helped a lot in raising the standards of living of the local
people, by, for example, funding many facilities such as for sport, mosque, and roads in the
village. The roads in the village are in good condition. Figure 1 shows a paved road in the
village.

Figure 1. A Paved Road in Rantau Bakula

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

The local people had been relatively richer, seen from the appearance of their houses
(mostly with concrete), ownership of satellite TV dished, motor cycles, and cars. Figure 2
describes some houses in the village. The village also has schools (from primary school to
senior high school), a mosque, and a community health centre.

Nevertheless, the local people were also aware about the negative impact of mining
activities on their environment and livelihood. In particular, the mining in this village is the
surface mining, which usually destroys a large area of land or hills. Figure 3 shows some
hills in Meratus mountain before being flattened and mined. On the other hand, Figure 4
depicts other hills which have been flattened, ready to be mined.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Figure 2. Houses in Rantau Bakula

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

Figure 3. Hills, Before Being Flattened

Courtesy of Gusti Fahmi Adliansyah

8
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Figure 4: Hills, After Being Flattened

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

Coal mining was also a noisy process. They used grenade to destroy the hills. The
thunderous blast from this process was even heard in a village about 10 km from the
mining activities. It rattled the houses of the villagers. The process also polluted the
environment with ashes, dirtied the fruits and food sold in some eating stalls near the roads.
The ashes were flown by trucks shipping the coals from the mining areas.

The local people depended heavily on the river for their daily need of water. But, the
river was also then polluted, resulting in the decline in the number of fish. The respondents
were also aware that the soil fertility would decline and even become infertile after exposure
to the mining activities.

In short, the surface mining usually eroded the soil, produced dust and noise, as well
as polluted the water. It also disturbed the livelihood of the people, who depend heavily on
river.

Therefore, in another village, bordering with the Rantau Bakula Village, we found an
under-ground mining activities, expected to minimize the environmental degradation resulted
from the coal mining. The under-ground mining does not need to eliminate the surface of a
large area or a hill. The trees on the surface are not disturbed. This is a China owned
company which brings many workers from China. However, the head of the village of Rantau
Bakula is worried about the social impact of this under-ground mining activities. He said that
the workers from China practiced a different custom from the one which has been

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traditionally performed by the local people. The workers from China had irritated the local
people. Their behavior is very different from that of the people in the village of Rantau
Bakula.

However, the people in the Rantau Bakula village did not seem to care so much about
this degradation of the environment, because they perceived that they were better off
compared to the time before the arrival of mining activities. The effects of environmental
degradation would affect the local people in the long term, but they are only concerned
about the present and near future. The absence of alternative employment and their low
education may have resulted in this ignorance.

Belimbing Lama Village

The village has a nice and peaceful environment, but the people remained poor.
They were not as “wealthy” as the people in Rantau Bakula village. The village only had dirt,
unpaved, roads, as shown in Figure 5. Unlike the village of Rantau Bakula, this village is
located farther, about 8 km, from mining areas, but closer to the forest. Some respondent
also participated in mining activities, but these were small scale traditional gold mining
activities which did not affect the environment significantly.

Figure 5: A Dirt Road in Belimbing Lama

10
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

The people had not received much influence from the outside. Electricity was still
minimal. They used river as the main source of water (for all purposes: drinking, bathing,
laundry, etc.) They already had a primary school, a pesantren (Muslim school run by
religious leaders), and a community health centre, but their houses were mostly still poor, as
shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Houses in Belimbing Lama

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

On the positive side, the environment had not been polluted. The local people
continued working as farmers and hunting/ gathering forest products. They worked using a
traditional rotational cultivation system, with a regular cycle of clearing land. They also used
the forest products only for their own consumption. Therefore, their activities did not disturb
the bio-diversity of the forest.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

The people did not feel disturbed by the mining activities as the activities were
relatively far from them. The grenade blasts from mining activities in the Rantau Bakula
village was audible, but they did not care. The mining companies did not compensate the
local people either.

An exception is a respondent who lived relatively close to the mining activities.

Mining companies was obliged to reclaim the soil after being used for mining activities, so
that the soil can be used again for agriculture. He complained that the company did not
reclaim the area very well. The company only sowed the seed for akasia trees5. As a result,
he could not use the soil for other plantations, including rubber plantation.

However, not everybody remained as farmers. The rising traffic passing this village
from migrants working in the mining activities in the Rantau Bakula village has created a
business opportunity for a family in this village. Figure 7 shows a “warung”, something like a
“convenient store”, providing daily needs, including snacks, with opening hours from early
morning until late in the evening. The warung was also used for residence and the owners
opened the warung as soon as they woke up and closed the store only when they went to
sleep. It was an entrepreneurial activity, tapping the market opportunity arising from the
arrival and mobility of workers in the mining activities in the Rantau Bakula village.

Figure 7. “Warung” : an entrepreneur in Belimbing Lama

5
Akasia (acacia manggum) wood is very popular material to make furniture.

12
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Courtesy of Aris Ananta

Paramasan Bawah Village

This village has both a nice, peaceful environment and rich community. It is very far
from mining activities but close to the forest. The local people used to work on subsistence
farming. Additional income were earned from rotational plantations. While waiting for the
harvest, they also carried out small scale timber logging activities and traditional gold
mining. See Figure 8.

Figure 8 Traditional Gold Mining and Logging in Paramasan Bawah

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Courtesy of Gusti Fahmi Adliansyah

Changes happened after the existence of logging industries (1980-1993), though the
logging industries are no longer there now. The logging industry brought outsiders to come
and work in the village. The villagers were very open and friendly to the migrants, thus
allowing the migrants to quickly integrate with the village life The migrants have changed
the way of life of the people in the village. There were a lot of mixed marriages. The local
people also learned that employment opportunities were not limited to farming.

The respondents said that economic conditions of the village have been improving
in the last decade. The local government has helped with the improvement of the welfare of
the people. It provided electricity with diesel fuel and solar energy. It built a community
health centre, schools, a mosque, a weekly market, and a traditional community hall (rumah
adat). The houses equipped with a satellite TV dish, shown in Figure 9, illustrates the
wealth of the people in the village.

In short, the people in this village were relatively better off, though the houses were
mostly made from wood. Some of them had motor cycles.

Figure 9. Houses with a Satellite TV Dish in Paramasan Bawah

14
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Courtesy of Gusti Fahmi Adliansyah

Nevertheless, the migrants seemed to be richer than the locals. The migrants were
more likely to work in trade, motor-cycle workshop, as well as making window and door
frames, while the locals were still concentrated in the traditional employment, farming and
plantations as well as small scale gold mining. With the arrival of logging industries, they
also learned how to collect forest products for sale. Though the formal logging industries
have ceased their operations, the local people continued collecting forest products. Some
products were used to build their own houses, some were sold. Such activities were actually
banned by the local government, but they managed to bribe the officers.

The respondents did not say that the logging activities were excessive. They even
said that they took care the bio-diversity of the forest when logging. Nevertheless, from the
way they answered, we guess that they did not reveal the whole truth. We guess that they
knew the logging activities were excessive, but these activities were lucrative business and
they knew how to elude the rules and regulations. The village paved road, which connects
the village with other villages and the capital of the regency, has facilitated the fast
transportation of the products of illegal logging.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Furthermore, as the village is far from mining activities, the village’s environment did
not suffer pollution from mining activities. The village was s very scenic, though they started
polluting with “modern’ waste such as plastic, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Scenic Village of Paramasan Bawah, with “Modern” Waste

Courtesy of Gusti Fahmi Adliansyah

The village is an illustration where non-environmentally friendly mining activities in

another village have resulted in improvement in economic well being of another village
without at the same time suffering the negative externality from the environmental
degradation.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

SARAWAK6

Sarawak is a Malaysian state endowed with rich natural resources, particularly its
forest. The forest has generated a significant amount of revenue to the state through its
production of timber and timber-based/ wood-based products such as rattan and wooden
furniture. Sarawak is one of the largest exporters of hard-woods and timber in the world.
However, Sarawak is also one of the regions which experienced deforestation, particularly
because of logging and development of rubber and oil palm plantations.

Sarawak used to be an agricultural-based economy. The local people were

accustomed to depend heavily on land and forest products for their livelihoods. However, it
has changed to rapid industrialization in urban areas, particularly the wood-based industries,
petrochemical industries, and light to medium size construction companies. In rural areas,
the concentration was on large scale plantation cultivations such as oil-palm, carried out by
private large plantation corporations. In 2009, the per capita income was about RM 29,045
or US$8,623. “Mining and quarrying” and “manufacturing” had become the two most
important sectors to the economy, with each contributing 24.8 per cent to the GDP. Forestry
contributed only 3.5 per cent to the GDP. However, large projects such as the hydroelectric
dam, oil palm plantation, and logging activities have degraded the rainforest in Sarawak
significantly.7

Interestingly, the people had also been increasingly aware of their human rights.
They felt that they had become the victims of development, particularly related to logging
and plantation activities. As reported by Thien (2005), the traditional communities of Dayak
Selako and Dayak Lara in Sarawak had lost their native customary rights of lands to the
state or private agencies for the purpose of logging and plantation activities as well as other
development projects. Some of them had become active in a growing number of non-
governmental organizations (NGOs).

The study in the state of Sarawak is concentrated in an upland area in Lundu/

Sematan, North-western part of Sarawak. Specifically, the study was conducted in two
Bidayuh-Selako villages in the state of Sarawak, both at the foot of Pueh Mountain Range.
One is a relatively populated area, while the other is less populated. Logging activities at
Mount Pueh around the two villages have been going on since early 1970s.

These two villages are selected because they are located very close to the forest,
which used to be the main source for the livelihoods of the local people. They used to collect
forest products for both their own consumption and further production into handicrafts for

6
The names of the respondents mentioned below are not the real names.
7
The degradation of the soil can be seen from official statistics, satellite, and cartographic data.

17
Revised paper, 3 January 2011

sale. They consume things such as wild vegetables, herbs, fruits, wild boar, and fishery
products (fish, prawn, and crab). They also use the forest products to build their own houses.
Forest products were also used as raw materials for further production, such as rattan mats,
rattan basket, and decorative items for sale.

Nevertheless, timber logging and development projects near these villages have
resulted in the deforestation, diminishing the forest and fishery products. Some respondents
complained that they lost of their main source of income. A respondent, Billy, a married
man with lower secondary education aged 60 mentioned that logging activities have reduced
the source of food for the people in the village. He also said that he got lesser and lesser
forest pandan (screw pine) and rattan from the forest. Animals such as wild boar had also
declined in number because they had migrated to other areas. Figure 11 depicts one of the
forests they heavily depended for their livelihood.

Deforestation has also affected the livelihood of the people who depended on the fish
from the river. Figure 12 shows one of the rivers.

The logging activities have also resulted in serious erosion and shallower rivers in the
villages because of mixture of sediments and sands flown by the rain. These conditions
made the soil infertile and unsuitable for planting vegetables and other edible crops. People
who heavily depend on harvesting fishery products could no longer get their food from the
rivers like they used to. Those who caught fish from the river and sold them for their
livelihood had suffered great of income. The local people suffered economic loss because of
the logging companies which destroyed their livelihoods. There were even fighting incidents,
where the villagers fought with the workers of the logging companies. The government took
the sides with the companies and the villagers were arrested.

Figure 11. Forest as the Source of Various Resources for Villagers’ Livelihood

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Courtesy of Wong Swee Kiong

Figure 12. River as the Water Source for the Villagers’ Livelihood

Courtesy of Mustafa Abdul Rahman

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Agricultural development such as oil-palm plantation has also destroyed the

livelihood of the people by polluting the rivers, the main source of livelihoods for the people

Hamdan, a 46 years old man with primary education, complained that

“Pesticides, herbicide and insecticide used in oil palm estates had actually polluted
the rivers nearby the estates. A lot of fish in the river have become extinct due to
water pollution caused by change in environment due to agricultural development
projects”

Another serious problem faced by the villagers was the quality of their rivers, which
they had mainly relied on for their daily activities. The quality of the water has been
particularly affected by timber logging.

Kolisa, a married women aged 40, with an upper secondary education, shared

“Water pollution is the most serious problem to logging activities. The trees that had
been felled down had not been replenished with replanted trees. Consequently, water
at the catchment area on the mountain would was polluted with mud and sand each
time it rained. This had made the water not safe for consumption.”

Billy told us that

“The piped water became muddy and thus cannot be used for drinking, taking bath
and for cooking.”

Hamdan shared that

“The most significant effect of logging activities is water pollution. Water pollution has
caused water channelled to every household to become so muddy each time after
the rain. This has caused the water unusable for drinking or for cooking purpose.”

Figure 13 shows a river, which became muddy after raining. It could no longer be
used for household uses.

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Revised paper, 3 January 2011

Figure 13. A Muddy River (After Raining) Which Is Not Suitable for Household Uses

Courtesy of Mustafa Abdul Rahman

However, some people benefit from agricultural development projects such as oil
palm plantation. However, they did not want to work in the oil-palm plantation because they
perceived the wages were too low. They liked the oil-palm plantation because the
companies gave dividend to the people who allow the companies worked on their land.

Mathew, aged 24, married, with lower secondary education said that

“Oil palm plantation has less environmental effect to the villagers as the plantation is
rather far from the village. Indeed, the developer utilized abandoned, unused, land to
plant oil palm. The villagers also receive dividends from the company.”

Another respondent, Simon, a man of 60 told that

“Development of oil palm plantation in the village has improved the economic status
of the villagers as the developer paid dividend to the villagers who gave up their land
for development purposes. The oil palm projects have actually provided employment
opportunities to the villagers.”

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Interestingly, Hamdan, who complained about the loss of livelihoods from the
polluted rivers, actually also benefited from the oil-palm projects. He had a more
stable larger income (through the dividend paid by the companies) than from
harvesting the rivers. He also mentioned the improvement in village infrastructure as
another benefit of the oil-palm projects.

In short, the logging activities and oil palm plantation have changed the livelihoods of
the local people, from self-sufficiency to market economy. Easier access to various basic
facilities such as health and educational services has also raised the literacy rate among the
villages. The villagers changed from heavy reliance on forestry products to more viable
forms of livelihoods. Some switched to construction; some had their own farms to produce
foods for their own consumption and for sale to people outside the village. Some even
mentioned that they preferred the current livelihood, rather than hunting and gathering forest
products. Though initially they did not like the destruction of the environment, some
eventually did not mind the environmental degradation as they already became better off
economically by working in alternative employments.

Interestingly, some respondents had shown their strong resistance to the negative
impact of the development projects. They said that there would have been more timber and
other forest products available for them and their children, if there had not been any logging
activities and development projects.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Macro (environmental) views are often contradicting the micro, short run, views of the
people. It is not fair, however, to force the local, lowly educated, people to have a macro,
long term view. We cannot just expect the people to protect their environment for the benefit
of future generation, and that we all live in only one planet, without providing them with
alternative livelihoods. Their immediate concern is their everyday lives during this present
time. They are still struggling for their daily necessities. They want to climb the economic
ladder to follow the consumption pattern of those seen in television.

We have three policy recommendations which have to be implemented

simultaneously. The first policy is to provide alternative employment opportunities for the
people. Without alternative employment, they will continue their only source of livelihoods in
environmentally harmful activities. The challenge is that the alternative employment
opportunity must provide earning larger than their current earning, including the

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compensation (or “bribe”) from the large companies to continue their environmentally
harmful livelihoods.

Nevertheless, this policy alone will not guarantee the stop of the destruction of the
environment. Other people may still be recruited to work in the companies. Therefore, we
need the second policy, that is to create employment opportunities which depend heavily on
the bio-diversity of the environment. By doing so, they will not have the incentives to destroy
the environment. Furthermore, they will work hard to protect their environment because the
protected bio-diversity of their environment will allow them to climb their economic ladder
faster. The local people will blockade any attempt to have activities which destroy the bio-
diversity of their environment.

However, a large amount of compensation (or bribery) may still work to placate them
from protesting the destruction of the environment. Therefore, we also need the third policy,
that is to enlist all goods produced by companies which destroy environment. The list is then
disseminated to all over the world through credible sources such as international websites,
mass media, and other widely accessed publications. The consumers have the right to know
whether the goods and services they consume are harmful to the environment and/or are
produced using environmentally harmful activities. By doing so, the demand for these
products will decline, resulting in the decline of the profit from the companies. Eventually,
there will be no incentive for the companies to invest in the environmentally harmful
businesses.

Finally, it should be remembered that these three policies should be implemented

along with the strong implementation of the rules and regulations against any business
which destroys the environments.

SELECTED REFERENCES
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Comim, Favio, Pushpam Kumar, and Nicolas Sirven. “Poverty and Environment Links: an
illustration from Africa”, Journal of International Development, 21, 2009, pp. 447-469.

Daniel, Rajesh, Louis Lebel, and Sakkarin Na Nan. “Forest Use, Conversion and
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