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International Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016, pp. 6-14
http://www.aiscience.org/journal/ijepm
ISSN: 2381-7240 (Print); ISSN: 2381-7259 (Online)
* Corresponding author
E-mail address: bafana_20@yahoo.com (M. A. Shaleh)
Local Understanding of Forest Conservation in
Land Use Change Dynamics: Evidence from the
Orang Asli Jakun Community Living in Tropical
Peat Swamp Forest, Pahang, Malaysia
Muhammad Adha Shaleh
1, *
, Miriam Karen Guth
2
, Syed Ajijur Rahman
3, 4, 5
1
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University of
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
Roland Close, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
3
Department of Food and Resource Economics, Section of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
4
School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
5
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, West Java, Indonesia
Abstract
The success of local forest conservation program depends on a critical appreciation of local communities. Based on this
understanding, the present study aims to explore people’s perspective of forest conservation in a context of changes in their living
landscape at South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest (SEPPSF), Malaysia. Nine in-depth interviews were conducted with Orang
Asli Jakun living in SEPPSF using open-ended questions. Local communities have positive perspectives toward the forest
conservation program, despite massive environmental changes in their living landscape. This study suggests that a successful
forest conservation program in SEPPSF will require an in-depth understanding of the Jakun people livelihood and their needs in
their living environment. Findings from this study provided an avenue for future researchers to carry out studies of the
relationship between the Jakun people and SEPPSF.
Keywords
Peat Swamp Forest, Orang Asli Jakun, Forest Conservation, Community
Received: June 7, 2016 / Accepted: June 19, 2016 / Published online: July 15, 2016
@ 2016 The Authors. Published by American Institute of Science. This Open Access article is under the CC BY license.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
1. Introduction
Previous studies on various forest conservation programs and
their importance from the perspectives of forest communities
have been vividly documented [1, 2]. The discussion on
people’s perspectives toward the design of forest conservation
activities are ubiquitous in the literature, and scholars have
marked them as a key component for the success of forest
conservation projects [3, 4]. Considering this, many scholars
have contributed to the debates on what makes forest
conservation attractive to local communities. Some
researchers have emphasized exploring people understanding
on activities that are responsible for environmental change [5,
6, 7], while others have given evidence to the positive
perceptions of forest conservation which is one of the key
drivers of the success of forest conservation activities [8, 7, 2].
In hindsight, community based conservation projects should
be viewed by each forest stakeholder as a collective choice
bound to the question of how local communities view their
environment. This is because the role of communities in forest
conservation have been integral to policy makers, when it
comes to human relationships with forest and its ecosystems,
7 Muhammad Adha Shaleh et al.: Local Understanding of Forest Conservation in Land Use Change Dynamics: Evidence from
the Orang Asli Jakun Community Living in Tropical Peat Swamp Forest, Pahang, Malaysia
and why this relationship is important in forest conservation
[9]. In many countries, where a simple formula to forest
conservation is solely based on government responsibility, the
debates regarding community based forest conservation are
bordered around the quintessential meaning of community,
who shares conservation norms, and who holds common
interests regarding forest conservation. This understanding of
community is integral to the pursuit of community-based
forest conservation, in which the positive effects on resource
conservation is determined by a set of community
perspectives toward the environment [9].
Hence, people’s perspectives appear to be crucial to forest
conservation at local levels. In countries whereby community
roles in forest care is not a popular practice, the participation
of local people in decision-making regarding forest
conservation should be considered by researchers, funders,
project negotiators and governments. This concern for the
critical role of local communities’ perspectives should be seen
as driver to negotiate common agreements about resource
management. When members of the community believe in
shared norms (e.g. the need for land to be conserved), they will
produce cooperative decisions for this particular purpose, and
cooperate with project developers for resource conservation
[10, 11]. Furthermore, the presence of community-shared
norms means that they have shared beliefs that lubricate
collective behaviours in resource conservation [9]. In contrast,
if peoples’ views on their living landscape centred on the
discourse that inclined towards the exploitation of forest
resources, then there is a strong communal norm that decrees a
communal action for land clearance for agriculture [11, 12].
In the context of South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest
(SEPPSF), which accounts for 60 percent of the total forest
cover in the Malaysian peninsula, commercial agriculture has
been seen to be dominated by land use practice in the area in
the 1970s and 1980s, the time when forest conversion to
agriculture reached its peak in the Malaysian Peninsula [10,
12, 13]. Today, as the pursuit to promote agricultural
development is seen as the major contributor to the Malaysia’s
economy, SEPPSF land areas have been converted to
agricultural development [14].
The Orang Asli Jakun are the indigenous people who live in
the tropical South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest [15].
General understanding about the livelihood of these people in
the past can be associated to the livelihoods of hunting and
gathering societies. Fish
1
and wild animals were the Jakun
people typical diet. Jakun people collect rattan and medicinal
plants from the forest
2
, and clear few acres of forest land for
1 Such as baung and keli (catfish), is a source of diet for the Jakun people living
along the river of SEPPSF.
2 For example, kacip fatimah is a popular herbs used to treat pre and post
menopause.
their own cultivation [15, 16]. However, those lifestyles are
slowly diminishing because of the modernization of Peat
Swamp Forest that is gradually opening up the road to oil palm
plantations. The conversion of forest to oil palm plantations is
immense, and its implications on the local communities are
massive, including the government scheme to relocate local
communities to a permanent non-traditional settlements [10,
17]. In the aftermath of relocation away from their original
living landscapes, the Jakun people have been assimilated into
modernity, working as wage labor and odd job, in which both
are not traditional to the Jakun [18]. However, some of the
Jakun people who avoided assimilation have kept their
traditional lifestyle, although they now have to travel deeper
into the forest to collect rattan due to the scarcity of forest
products resulting from deforestation [17].
Although, the Jakun traditional lifestyle has changed due to
modernization, it does not necessarily mean that all of them
have stopped utilizing forest resources from the Peat Swamp
Forest. Still they need food from forest to fulfill their dietary
needs and collect traditional medicine derived from tropical
herbs, which highlights the importance of forest conservation
as its effects the livelihood of the Jakun people [10, 17].
Therefore, this study aims to explore the meaning of forest
conservation from the Orang Asli Jakun people perspectives
and their reflection on the changes in the living landscape of
South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest (SEPPSF), Malaysia.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Site
The South East Pahang Peat Swamp Forest (SEPPSF) covers
approximately 200,000 ha of land, accounting for 60% of the
total forest coverage in the Malaysia’s peninsula [13, 19].
Considered the largest wetland forest in Malaysia, its rich
ecosystem is crucial to the survival of thousands of endangered
species, its hydrological system and flora and fauna. Due to its
ecological richness combined with rich storage of non-timber
forest products (NTFP) and the opening of commercial
plantations, SEPPSF provides different functions to different
stakeholders. Hence, an integrated management plan has
become a key discussion to policy makers working on
sustainable forest management issues [14].
Regarding the land management of the Peat Swamp Forest,
the Pahang Forestry Department in collaboration with the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the
Global Environment Facility (GEF) have published an
Integrated Management Plan (IMP) of the South East Pahang
Peat Swamp Forest. The 230 page document consists of
initiatives that were thought out by several government
agencies, scientists and community representatives, leading
International Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016, pp. 6-14 8
the way towards forest conservation strategies [14].
The IMP served as an opening gate for this study on
socio-ecological perspectives of the SEPPSF, which aims at
giving an overview of policies concerning the management of
the SEPPSF.
Figure 1. Research site (marked with red circle) at South East Pahang Peat
Swamp Forest area. Map and photo © 2016 Google.
2.2. Research Methods
In-depth interviews were conducted as a principal method in
this study that examined the Jakun communities’ perspectives
on topics pertaining to changes in the local environment and
ecological significance of SEPPSF. In total, nine respondents
were selected using purposive sampling. An open-ended
interview questionnaire was used to get richer answers from
the respondents. As opposed to a close ended survey method,
an open ended questionnaire allowed respondents to express
opinions freely [20].
Each interview was recorded and transcribed, then coded by
summarizing enormous narratives to elicit meanings from the
data. Analyses were carried out to capture respondent
understanding in relation to changes in their living landscape.
The analytical concern was to identify commonalities in
respondent experience on local environment and forest
conservation. Findings from the interviews were supported by
the inclusion of regular verbatim in which the words coalesced
with respondents’ experiences with the living landscape of the
SEPPSF.
The lead researcher (first author of this paper) selected the
respondents based on his knowledge of the SEPPSF and the
people living around the SEPPSF. All interviewed Jakun
lived around oil palm plantation, and they used to go to the
forest to search for forest products. Even though they are not
frequent visitors of the forest in the current time, their
opinions were derived from past visits and were crucial to the
formation of thoughts on forest conservation.
While respondents did not have formal education, some of
them went through primary schools, and at the time of
research, they were relying on wage labor for source of
livelihood (Table 1). The diverse backgrounds of different
respondents have been collected in line with the key feature
of qualitative research, which is the contextualization of
constellation of respondents’ insights, reflections and ideas
according to a specific socio-ecological setting.
The approach taken to analyse the data was primarily thematic.
The concern was to identify commonalities and differences in
the experiences and views of the respondents. The responses of
9 Muhammad Adha Shaleh et al.: Local Understanding of Forest Conservation in Land Use Change Dynamics: Evidence from
the Orang Asli Jakun Community Living in Tropical Peat Swamp Forest, Pahang, Malaysia
respondents were carefully organized, described, analysed and
interpreted. This process helped the researcher to get
respondents’ in depth descriptions of SEPPSF, its living
landscape and the significance of forest conservation.
Table 1. Respondents’ profile at SEPPSF
1
.
Name Age
Gender
Marital
status Education Occupation
Pak Amat
62 Male Married
Nil Rattan collector,
fisherman
Pak Long
70 Male Married
Nil Not working
Achai 38 Male Married
Primary school
Driver
Ithar 37 Female Married
Nil Craft maker
Limah 23 Female Married
Nil Not working
Azlee 30 Male Married
Primary school
Odd Job
Tony 40 Male Married
Primary school
Not working
Jusoh 45 Male Married
Nil Rattan collector,
Fisherman
Hisham 39 Male Married
Primary school
Driver
3. Results
3.1. Changes in the Living Landscape
All respondents have indicated that their local environment
already went through a massive transformation as the result of
land conversion to palm oil plantation. They provided strong
ground to illustrate that local communities have less access to the
forest for their livelihoods. For example, a man who used to go to
the SEPPSF described what he knew about the changes there:
“The conversions of our forest to palm oil plantation have
resulted in the changes to our living landscape. People have
been detached from traditional livelihood. It is rare to see
people going to the forest to search for food nowadays.”
Regarding traditional livelihood, and what it meant to local
communities around the SEPPSF in the past, a man who used
to accompany his father to the forest said:
“In the past, most of the locals were depended on forest,
they used to go to the forest to collect rattan, they cultivated
tapioca
2
and those sources are crucial to the local
livelihoods. But today, local communities have less access
to the forest to collect rattan. They have also restricted
doing traditional cultivation.”
A woman who understands the forest by her passion, because
of her dependency on it in the past, agreed to the changes in
the landscape she lives in. She believed that her present living
environment, where she lives in a house made from bricks is a
sample of changes in the living landscape of Jakun people.
She said:
“Things in the forest have changed and many people have
1 Name of the respondents are pseudonyms to protect their real identity as the
research ethics.
2
Tapioca is a starch extracted from cassava root.
adapted to modern life, they go to work, they live in houses
made by bricks.”
All respondents stridently asserted that the locals have to
follow the trend of changes so they will not be left behind.
Although the rattans can still be found in the forest, the Jakun
communities are not attracted to the traditional way of life
anymore. Many respondents expressed that only few people
now want to collect rattan in the forest. An old man who goes
to forest for leisure expressed his perspectives on the changes
in the Jakun communities’ livelihood in the following way:
“I go to the forest for few days then I come back to the
house that government made for me. When I’m in the forest,
I see many of the trees have been cleared for palm oil.
Today circumstances have changed. People have to take
driving license, so they can drive truck, drive bus, to make a
living. My friends have left their old job as a rattan collector.
Most of the locals who live around the forest are adopting
with the modern life. They live by the money given by the
government.”
Aside from the fact that all respondents generally associated
the changes in the living environment with massive
conversions of land, they also pointed to the government
resettlement scheme as another factor that caused changes to
people’s livelihood. In this context, all respondents said ‘we
received dividend every month’. A man, the beneficiary of the
scheme, who had lived in SEPPSF for 20 years said: ‘Monthly
dividends help villagers to cover the cost of daily expenses’.
The man below enthusiastically expressed his thought on the
monthly dividend and changes in living landscape.
“The locals are receiving RM800 every month. They do not
have to go to the forest. Why would they go to the forest,
when they can stay home and already get easy money?
Government is helping the local communities, so people
have no problem if the government takes the land and
change our living landscape as long as they help our life.
Although the forest has been cleared to give way to oil palm
development, and despite that I love to see more forest, I
also want good life. Changes in our village landscape are
giving a positive result to local people.”
Figure 2. Changes of SEPPSF area. Photo © Google.
International Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016, pp. 6-14 10
Respondents clearly understood the prevailing changes in the
forest. They accepted the reality of livelihood they experience
today. They cited a well-observed statement about local
communities’ assimilation into current changes that affected
their life. In this context, one man said ‘since the land has been
cleared to give way to palm oil, our communities cannot
depend on the forest for living. We have to follow current
trend to stay on track’
While nearly all respondents who have seen changes in the
forest demonstrated strong observations on changes in their
landscape, livelihood, and although most respondents reacted
positively to current changes, and shared positive perspectives
regarding the benefits from land conversions, some
respondents made exceptional comments. The following
respondents spoke about the need to keep some land for the
purpose of a community plantation project. A man said:
“Before our land was taken, this area was a forest area, it is
filled with rubber plantations, pineapple farms and this area
used to be filled with orchards. When the government took
over the land, all things gone. In my opinion, it would be
nice if some lands are left for the local communities, so they
can cultivate what they used to plant.”
With respect to this concern, many respondents put forward a
slew of negative reflections on the massive changes in the
Jakun living landscape. Another man, who is unaffiliated to
government, expressed that ‘people may not be able to enjoy
the same monetary benefit they are enjoying now, if the
government decides to stop helping the Jakun in the future.”
He believed that the Jakun communities would be better off if
they owned the land. When people own a land, they can
depend on it in the future.
“People must not too overly dependent on government’s
scheme. In order to survive in the future, people have to
have small portion of land in order to sustain livelihood in
long term. I want people to own land so they can produce
foods, consume them, or earn money from selling the
products. For example, if the Jakun families own 100 acres
of the land. We can discuss how the 100 acres of land can be
divided to each family. Each family owns 1 or 2 acres of
land to grow traditional herbs, or tapioca or corns. They can
reap the benefits from their own land.”
3.2. The Importance of Forest Conservation
The majority of respondents indicated that the forest has
declined due to land conversions, and although local
communities are not depending on the forest for a livelihood
as they did in the past, some respondents positively supported
the idea of forest conservation. One woman, a craftmaker,
stated that forest conservation is a good idea as it decrees good
action and benefits human and the environment. She said:
“Forest conservation is an important action. It encourages
people to be part of beautiful project that is important to
reverse the adverse impact of forest degradation. I believe
that forest conservation is one way for you and other young
people to explore our Peat Swamp Forest. Our forest is a
storage of knowledge. Forest conservation should be seen
as crucial to safeguard our storage from further declines.”
This positive view suggested that forest conservation is the
best strategy to protect the SEPPSF and its ecosystem.
According to all respondents, the Jakun people are
connected to their environment, regardless of what the
changes in the landscape might be. A man attested: ‘local
communities and local ecology are one entity. Forest is in
their blood. They are connected to forest, despite the
changes in living landscape.”
One passionate respondent, who described himself a nature
lover, said:
“When we identify the natural ecology in the forest, we
capture together an indigenous people environment. The
meaning of forest can be understood as the physical
environment, which is the forest, the river, animals and
plants. It can also be understood as a clinic or school or
market for people who live in the forest. For instance, there
is knowledge about surviving in the forest. We can learn
medicine from the indigenous people in the forest, who are
the masters of their own environment. They know which
leaves that can be eaten and which leaves that cannot be
eaten. They know what types of leaves that can be used as a
cure to a specific type of disease. They know what is inside
the wood and what is inside the water. If we conserve the
forest, we protect the people and the knowledge as well.”
Regarding the protection of the forest ecosystem, a man, who
frequently goes to the river at the SEPPSF for fishing, gave
credence to the significance of forest conservation for the river.
He said: “the river is an important ecological niche to some
local communities who live along the river. If you protect its
ecological function from pollution, you are saving the source
of livelihood of the Jakun who live along the river”.
He made a case to support his view on the significance of
forest conservation to the river.
“The Peat Swamp Forest offers a wide array of benefits to
some local communities. If you go to the river in the forest,
you will see many sources that are crucial to the livelihood
of some local communities. There are different types of fish
species in the river. Baung, and Keli are one of them. Some
people who go to the river catch fish for food. In the
absence of forest conservation, and the protection of our
river, our river and all the fish in the river will die.”
11 Muhammad Adha Shaleh et al.: Local Understanding of Forest Conservation in Land Use Change Dynamics: Evidence from
the Orang Asli Jakun Community Living in Tropical Peat Swamp Forest, Pahang, Malaysia
Figure 3. River at SEPPSF. Photo © Google.
These positive thoughts on forest conservation, and reflections
on the surrounding of the SEPPSF, had emerged from the
Jakun people experiences living in the current state of the
landscape. They are experiencing a huge transformation of the
forest to commercial plantation. In the aftermath of land
transformation, the Jakun had to resort to the decline of forest
resources, including rattan and plants.
Thus, many Jakun think that forest conservation project is
necessary to stem the decline of plants in the forest. A
passionate man, who used to practice traditional medicine,
corroborated: ‘Medicinal plants, for example, Tongkat Ali and
Kacip Fatimah, in the forest have importance to human health.
If no one recognizes these treasures, no one will know about
their importance. I think this is why our forest resources need
to be conserved.’
One respondent acknowledged the need for forest
conservation projects, and he was convinced by the Jakun
people experiences with forest conservation. He planned to
get locals to share their forestry knowledge with interested
participants. The essence of his support for a forest
conservation project is best crystallized by the following
comments:
“Let me perpetuate an image of forest conservation project
whereby local people participate in the planning and
designing of program that aims to educate people about our
local ecology. This type of forest conservation project will
tell people that no matter what changes to the forest
landscape, there is still way to spread message about the
significance of conservation. To me, our experiences that
we had accumulated from our years living in the Peat
Swamp Forest are essential to forest conservation activities.
Our knowledge about the forest and its ecosystem, for
example what types of herbs are suitable to plant could be
spread to people who want to know about the forest.”
An elderly man who was explicit in propounding his opinions
regarding forest conservation project strongly consolidated his
positive stance towards forest conservation: “Conservation
project should be aiming at identifying what is left in the forest
in order for young generation to learn what is in the forest”.
His positive reflections on forest conservation activities are
summed up by the following statement:
“Conservation project purposes must be something like
acknowledging our forest as a heritage. It must aims to
identify what’s in the forest. The other purpose is to make
sure that the conservation project aims to uncover what’s in
our heritage to the next generation. For instance, tree names,
this tree is for what purpose, how long it grows, that kind of
conservation project will benefit many people.”
A few statements were made to unearth mutual care about the
state of the forest. In this regard, one respondent said: “I think
I am aware of what is going on with the state of our forest and
I love to take care, or manage the forest, if I’m allowed to do
so”. A woman profoundly said: “If I am allowed to take care of
the forest I want to create garden in the forest”. She
enthusiastically talked to the lead researcher about the garden
in the forest:
“I think I want to see more plants in the forest, more flowers
grow in the forest, and like I said if I could, I would like to
transform the forest into a garden so visitors can come to
the forest and see the beauty of the garden.”
A few other respondents explicitly expressed their support to
the conservation of the Peat Swamp Forest, focusing on forest
conservation activities that are likely to benefit the locals. In
this regard, one respondent said: “Land in the forest does not
have to be conserved by letting acres of land remain
International Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Vol. 2, No. 2, 2016, pp. 6-14 12
untouchable. Conservation of land must be seen as the
cultivation of forest products that are available in the forest, so
people can get the benefits of forest conservation”. The
following are some of the ways respondents highlight the
benefits of forest conservation:
“Conservation for me is also to have my own land and for
my young generation to have their own land. They can
cultivate banana, tapioca, herbs, and so these resources are
available for them to consume, to sell and gain benefits in
the future.”
“Imagine people go to the forest surrounded by beautiful
rivers and clean streams. This is a truly an evidence of
conservation. People from within and from outside the
village can see the best part of the nature. This is what
conservation is all about.”
“By conservation, I mean I want to manage forest in careful
manner, so that it is not heavily exploited. Then we can call
visitors, so they come to enjoy the natural beauty of the
forest. This is the kind of forest conservation that is useful,
not the kind of conservation that limit activities in the
forest.”
In addition, conservation could also be aimed at creating
designated forest areas for people to cultivate and preserve
medicinal plants. In this case, conservation has to be
understood as protecting plants from extinction. On this note,
a respondent said: “My passion is to conserve all sorts of
plants in the forest that is about to extinct”. She elaborated the
importance of forest conservation in the following statement:
“I hope if there is a nice little forest remained for
conservation, we have to keep some parts of forest because
it is normal to say that there are some Orang Asli cannot
survive without forest. If there is a forest then there is rattan.
We can collect rattan for making handicrafts, rattan for
making mats, if there is no more forest, then no more rattan,
no more collection.”
Meanwhile, a few other respondents strongly believed that
forest degradation is a huge loss to the nation, to local
communities and to future generations. Their thoughts were
best illustrated by various comments:
“I always say to my children that our forests are treasures.
Our forest resources are valuable. Billions if not trillion of
treasures that signify our forest including flora & fauna that
can be found in our forest. If we destroy forests, if we do not
use forest in a structured manner, or if the forests are not
properly managed, we will lose many of the treasures at the
end.”
“Homes, schools, clinics and modern facilities are part of
the changes you can see in villages around South East
Pahang Peat Swamp Forest. Although the government had
set up for local communities modern infrastructures, and
where they live now is far away from the forest, and
surrounded by palm oil plantations. But the Orang Asli
Jakun cannot be separated from forest ecology, forest for
them is a home, they cannot break away from the place that
once was very close to them.”
4. Discussion
Findings from the Jakun interviews have indicated that the
living environment of the South East Pahang Peat Swamp
Forest (SEPPSF), and the livelihood of local people have
already changed due to multiple reasons. 1) Land conversions
to palm oil plantations, 2) government resettlement scheme,
and 3) the dividend received every month. In light of these
findings, and in the context of SEPPSF, it can be said that the
Jakun are no longer depending on the forest for livelihood as
compared to their livelihood in the past.
Although, we can see the changes of perspectives regarding
the livelihood of the Jakun in present time, we also can claim
that there were voices of concern among the Jakun regarding
environmental issues in the SEPPSF. They indicated that land
conversion is the prime reason for declining forest resources,
but at the same time, they used a similar point to express their
concern on the cost of environmental degradation, including
the nation, future generation, and local communities. These
feelings on the importance of forest conservation were
articulated in various manners during the interview, including
optimism, hope, passion and dedication. Those positive
perspectives were mired in the Jakun beliefs that are pivotal to
forest conservation programme in SEPPSF.
There are plenty of studies that explained why positive notions
of local people towards forest conservation are important for
forest conservation projects. Scholars have generated series of
discourses regarding the importance of peoples’ ideas in the
development of forest conservation activities [21, 11, 22].
Several studies indicated that it is crucial to have institutional
arrangement at the local level, including the transfer of land
ownership to local communities [23]. Involving local
communities in the forest management program is valuable
for policy makers in the tropics to facilitate a holistic forest
management paradigm [24, 10].
Considering local communities and their roles to forest
management, Agrawal and Gibson have given special
importance to the appreciation of people’s perspectives in the
design of forest conservation activities [9]. They have
unequivocally postulated a strong indication that forest
communities are the locus of community based forest
management, and the success of conservation project depends
on communal norms in which they collectively built with the
idea of conserving resources in the forest [9]. The article
13 Muhammad Adha Shaleh et al.: Local Understanding of Forest Conservation in Land Use Change Dynamics: Evidence from
the Orang Asli Jakun Community Living in Tropical Peat Swamp Forest, Pahang, Malaysia
added that people’s perspectives of forest conservation should
be comprehended as collective choices bounded by collective
interest of the people regarding what is best for their
environment. Local collective ideas could decree collective
conservation efforts because the presence of community
shared norms, means they have shared beliefs that will
underpin collective behaviours in resource conservation [9].
Findings emerged from this study have been the impetus for the
growing needs of participatory forest management, including
community forestry, community plantation program in SEPPSF,
thus, reasserting previous literature on the importance of an
in-depth understanding of a multitude of peoples’ perspectives
toward changes in forest landscapes [6, 24].
The Jakun people regard the forest as a treasure and are deeply
rooted in SEPPSF for their livelihoods. Forest landscape of
SEPPSF is a territory of knowledge, in which the knowledge
holders are the Jakun. Therefore, understanding this local
knowledge is important for the success of any conservation
efforts at SEPPSF. This is because local knowledge is a
systematic body of knowledge acquired by the local people
through the accumulation of experiences, time consuming
experimental learning, and cultural immersion in the local
environment. It has helped solve local problems and
contributed to the development of peoples’ way of life in
accordance with changing times and environment [25].
Evidence in Indonesia gave credence to this stand with regard
to the importance of community perspectives. In this regard,
communal perspectives provided a blueprint to forest planners
for an integrated land management system. Local people
provided an extensive template of the number of shrinking or
growing forests, which was useful to policy makers to plan for
holistic resource management schemes [5].
The collective statements provided by Jakun show supports
toward forest conservation activities in SEPPSF as they want
solutions for environmental degradation. Based on the insights
and ideas of Jakun, and a modicum of understanding on why
people’s perspectives matter in forest conservation program,
the authors believed that people’s perspectives are important
to consult for community-based forest management goals in
the context of SEPPSF.
5. Conclusion
The Jakun perspective towards forest conservation is
instrumental to future research on the SEPPSF and local
communities due to the following reasons:
To avoid pitfalls of conservation project due to a lack of
appreciation for local livelihoods, conservation planners
have to accede to local communities’ experiences and
insights toward the local surroundings.
For the community-based forest conservation program to
meet its goals, it is important to understand whether the
Jakun people share the same goals with policy makers.
People’s perspectives are instrumental to different
stakeholders who have different needs in the forest. Thus,
understanding such perspectives can help all stakeholders
in terms of the development of broader understanding of
local land and resource use patterns.
Exploring these underlying issues can give future researchers
a holistic understanding of the socio-ecological relationship of
the Jakun people in the SEPPSF. It is important to note that in
a context where participatory forest management is not a
popular practice, local communities alone cannot be
effectively involved in forest conservation activities, neither
can the government provide complete solution to
environmental degradation. Both the affected communities
and the government have the rights to manage forest, and both
are the key stakeholders of the forest. In this regard, both the
Jakun community and government involvement is crucial to
initiating collaborative forest management program in the
SEPPSF.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Professor Zehadul Karim for his
courage and scientific support for this study. The authors are
also thankful to JAKOA for their approval to conduct field work
in the SEPPSF. Special thanks are for the Jakun community for
their hospitality, time and kindness to support this study.
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