KOTA KINABALU: A study that covered 185 villages throughout the island of Borneo (Malaysia and Indonesia) found that the majority of its communities were against large scale forest clearance.
The study, undertaken by the Borneo Futures Initiative, found 65 per cent of the villagers interviewed said large scale clearing of forests led to negative impact to their community, income, the environment and access to forest products.
The study’s lead investigator Dr Erik Meijaard said in a statement here yesterday the forest was seen as a ‘health giver’ with 67 per cent of interviewees stating that the forest was an important source of cures for the sick as well as for general well-being.
Dr Marc Ancrenaz of the Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme (Hutan) said the study would provide useful insights for national and local governments in their development plans such as creating large scale plantations and mining.
He said some villages near established oil palm plantations were found to be supportive of large scale clearing of forests because they associated it with employment opportunities and the possibility of compensation and improved infrastructure.
However, other villages were against this type of development because of the negative impact this would have on their forest resource use, he said.
“Seeking out lands where the local community is most receptive to such plantations could significantly reduce social conflicts,” he added.
Identifying patterns of where villages are supportive and not supportive of forest clearance is also increasingly recognised by Borneo’s governments and developed into policies that take people’s forest use requirements into consideration such as Hutan Hak (Rights Forest), Hutan Adat (Customary Forest), Hutan KeMasyarakatan (Social Forest), Hutan Desa (Village Forest) and tree-planting initiative called Hutan Tanaman Rakyat in Indonesia and Sustainable Community Forest Management Programme in Sabah, Malaysia. — Bernama