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Impacts of Forest Changes on Indigenous People Livelihood in Pekan District, Pahang
Rosta Harun, Azizah Sulong, Yip Hin Wai, Tengku Hanidza Ismail, Mohd Kamil Yusoff,
Latifah Abdul Manaf and Hafizan Juahir
Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor
Abstract
The forest cover change in the region due to timber extraction and change of land use pattern in the region have
brought certain impacts on the livelihood of indigenous people. These people who once highly depended on the forest
resources are the most affected. This study was done with the purpose to reveal the importance of forest as a source of their
basic need and income for indigenous people and their future generation through the lens of history and place. A qualitative
study had been done on the indigenous people that live in three villages in Pekan District, Pahang. Qualitative approach
using face-to-face interview was applied to gather the oral history on the impacts of forest change at their place. It shown
that forest change has much more impacts on the forest depended communities in the fringe of forests. A small tabletop
recorder was used to record the interview session. This study could provide valuable inputs to government and other
stakeholders on managing issues related to indigenous people, environment and their culture.
Keywords: Indigenous people; forest change; livelihood
1. Introduction
The indigenous people have been linked to the
forest due to their livelihood highly depending on the
forest resources. The development in the forest areas
has seen a dramatically change on the forest ecosystem
and this change has created much impacts on the
indigenous people who are still depending on them. In
the peat swamp forest of Pekan District, Pahang, the
forest is laid within the forest reserves and state land
forest, which are subjects to logging using sustainable
approach and also conversion into agricultural land
(FRIM, 2004). Nevertheless, this forest is also within
the home range of Jakun people, one of the indigenous
people.
According to Gill (2005), the Jakun people, one
of the sub-groups of the orang Asli in Peninsular
Malaysia, traditionally practiced shifting cultivation
as well as foraging forest product and fishing as a
means of economic sustenance. The forest, as well as
providing a wealth of material outputs of subsistence
or commercial value, is the basis for livelihood
systems based on hunting and gathering, or for the
rotational agriculture systems that depend on the
availability of bush fallow to revive the productivity
of the land (Byron and Arnold, 1999). Forest products
include everything else, from roots, fruits, and
(sometimes) fish and game or ‘bushmeat, used for
foods, through a range of medical plants, resins
and essential oils valuable for their chemical
components, to fibers such as bamboos, rattans
and other palms used for weaving and structural
applications (Belcher, 2003).
The majority of the Jakun today no longer practices
the traditional cycle of agricultural work but instead
rely on gathering of forest products such as asam kelubi
(Eleiodoxa conferta), fish, rattan and wild games. The
communities along Bebar River claimed that the
resources, both fish, wild games or rattan, have been
depleted and their harvests were declining compared
to the past (Junaenah et al., 2005). The Jakun wanted
the forests to be conserved as it is their source of
livelihood and for the benefit of their future generations.
They have voiced out against logging or conservation
of land uses, and are willing to assist the government
as well as relevant agencies in conserving their
traditional homeland.
The land where they have been used for genera-
tions are not only their livelihood dependency but also
their heritage. The heritage of indigenous people
comprise of all objects, sites and knowledge found in
their surroundings and transmitted from generation
to generation (Nicholas, 2002). Even though they did
not physically demarcate their lands as their territory,
they were well understood the extent of their custom
lands and the resources they could find there. They
understood that the land should not be harm. Yet,
these communities and their lifestyles are as well
subjected to development. The development of social
phenomena, similar to evolution in nature, is a
transition from past to future, which is known as
history. By capturing the events and document them,
the unwritten records of them could be used to trace
back or link them with their surroundings.
Available online at www.tshe.org/EA
EnvironmentAsia 3(special issue) (2010) 156-159
The international journal published by the Thai Society of Higher Education Institutes on Environment
EnvironmentAsia
available optionally. Telephone line is available to the
subscriber. Asphalt road from the main trunk road is
also available. A multipurpose hall was built by the
authority. The most developed Orang Asli settlement
in Pekan District was Runchang, which is developed
under regrouping scheme for the settlers in 1986.
Gathered from various places near here, the settlers
were invited to settle in this place rather than in the
fringe of the forest or inside the forest. Houses are made
available for them. Each house comes with individual
well for water supply. A permanent running water
system was in its planning stage during the survey.
Beside accessible road, rural clinic, multipurpose hall,
shop lot and school are available inside the settlement.
Interviewees were selected with the assistant of
local chief (Tok Batin) or his representatives in the case
of his absentee (Plates 1 and 2). Normally, an elder
person was chosen without gender selective. Five
persons were chosen from each settlement because,
usually, sufficient and useful information was obtained
at this saturation point. A saturation point is the
threshold point where same answer was obtained from
different people for the same question. To assist in
capturing the interview session, a voice recorder was
used. This allows the researcher to capture the contents
with minimizing the lost of verbal information at the
scene.
The interview session were designed to elicit the
individual,s perceptions of their experiences without
emphasizing on the veracity of dates of events.
Questions were open-ended and participants were
encouraged to wander down the sideline memories to
help them in remember the event. However, the
interviewer might have to confine the session within
the topics of discussion to reduce potentially out of
topics.
4. Results
All the interviewees in Kampung Selingkong and
Kampung Meranti mentioned about the catastrophe,
big flood of 1970s, in the turning point of forest change
and impacts on their livelihood. Their villages were
resettled to the current location because of the flood.
Their villages are now much further away from the
forest. One of the responses from Kampung Meranti
was “A long time ago, lots of trees behind my house,
nowadays no more because of that flood. Even, the
school also destroyed (due to the flood).” Another
response from Kampung Selingkong referring to this
topic was “Long ago, whatever (we) want to eat, just
had to go to forest. Must able to catch small animals
like mouse-deer.... porcupine, but nowadays wouldn,t
guarantee catching anything if going into the forest.”
2. Research questions
The impacts of forest changes have certain effects
on the livelihood of indigenous people. Therefore, key
events on this issue are the turning point, which is
important. How much such change has affected their
livelihood is needed to be documented. Also, there is a
lack of understanding the main reason behind this
change according to the people perspective. Thus, this
study tends to provide general assessment on the forest
development on indigenous people livelihood from
historical perspectives.
3. Objectives
To provide general assessment on the forest
development on indigenous people livelihood from
historical perspective
4. Methodology
An oral history method was used to capture the
data from the indigenous people through interview.
According to Moyer (1993), an oral history approach
is a systematic collection of living people,s testimony
about their own experiences. Through this approach,
researchers have to formulate the central questions or
issue, capture the events in the interview session, verify
their findings, analyze and place them in an accurate
historical context. During the interview session,
interviewer should not display his or her historical
knowledge or argue with the interviewee.
In this study, three villages which represented
undeveloped, developing and developed stages of
Orang Asli settlements in Pekan District were identified
with the assistant from the respective agency in charge
of Orang Asli,s welfare, Department of Orang Asli
Affairs (JHEOA). The three villages are Kampung
Selingkong, Kampung Meranti and RPS Runchang
(Fig. 1). All settlements are at close approximately to
the peat swamp forests. The settlers were known from
a higher to lower degree in forest resource dependency
(JHEOA Pekan, 2004). Kampung Selingkong repre-
sented the undeveloped where it only has few perma-
nent houses built using durable materials with no
running tape water or electricity. The development of
this settlement was still in planning stage. Only three
houses were provided to the settlers during the survey.
The road leading to this settlement was depended on
the former logging road. On the other hand, Kampung
Meranti represented a developing settlement, where the
houses are built by the authority and made available to
them even though there was still some shortage of
houses. There was no running water but electricity was
R. Harun et al. / EnvironmentAsia 3(special issue) (2010) 156-159
157
Figure 1. Study Area
4. Results
4. Results
Plate 1: Interview with Tok Batin of Kampung Meranti Plate 2: Interview with Tok Batin representative of Kampung
Selingkong
In addition, recent logging and land conversion to
agricultural purposes in the areas also contributed
another wave of impacts on their forest resource-based
livelihood (FRIM, 2004). These impacts were much
greater in Kampung Selingkong and Kampung Meranti.
Due to forest resources declining which they once
highly depend on, they were unable to generate income
used to be and getting food sources easily from the
forest. From their responses, “Nowadays to earn RM10
in a single day is so difficult” and “Nowadays, every-
thing needs to buy. Not like the old days. Having small
amount of money also not a big deal” had shown their
difficulties in generating cash income from the forests.
Additionally, some of them felt the change of their
environment. One of them in Kampung Selingkong
stated that “last time there were lots of trees (around
the village)... the weather was not warm as nowadays”
to compare the warming surrounding because of land
around their settlement cleared.
However, not all felt the negative impacts of land
conversion for agriculture, especially from RPS
Runchang. One response from this place stated that
“We don,t mind forest is being developed as long as
our lifestyles are getting better just like others.” This
might due to some of the settlers here have received
assistants and financial benefits from agricultural from
FELCRA, a corporate that consolidates agricultural
land and manage it for its members for cash crops, since
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158
Acknowledgement
This research was funded by European Union through
the executing agencies, CIRAD and CIFOR with
cooperation from Universiti Putra Malaysia. The project site
leader would like to thank all parties and individuals
involved in this project towards the accomplishment of this
study.
Reference
Belcher BM. Forest products markets, forest and poverty
reduction. International Forestry Review 2005; 7(2):
82-89.
Byron N, Arnold M. What futures for the people in tropical
forest. World Development 1999; 27(5): 789-805.
FRIM. Black Water Jewel: South-east Pahang Peat Swamp
Forest. FRIM, Kuala Lumpur 2004; 1-58.
Gill SK. The Jakun and peat swamp conservation. Leaf: The
Peat Swamp Forest Project Newsletter 2005; 3: 8-9.
JHEOA Pekan. Profile of the Orang Asli Village in Pekan
District (Unpublished report). 2004.
Junaenah S, Ong PL, Faridah S, Madeline B, Lim HF. Local
Communities and sustainable livelihoods: The Jakun
in Sungai Bebar, Pekan Forest Reserve, Pahang. In:
Biodiversity expedition Sungai Bebar, Pekan, Pahang.
Summary findings. PSF Technical Series No. 4. FRIM,
Kuala Lumpur. 2005; 8-12.
Moyer J. Step-by-step Guide to Oral History 2003. URL:
http://www.cefa.ie/files/admin/uploads/ W186_
Field_3_17323.doc [22 December, 2005]
Nicholas C. Indigenous politics, development and identity
in Peninsular Malaysia: the Orang Asli and the contest
for resources. Paper presented at Indigenous Rights in
the Commonwealth Project South & South East Asia
Regional Expert Meeting. India International Centre,
New Delhi, India 2002. Retrieved from http://www.
cpsu.org.uk/downloads/Colin_Ni.pdf [26 December,
2005]
Received 6 September 2009
Accepted 19 October 2009
Correspondence to
Rosta Harun
Department of Environmental Management
Faculty of Environmental Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor
Malaysia
Tel: (603)8946 6749
Fax: (603)8943 8109
E-mail: rosta@env.upm.edu.my
1989 (JHEOA Pekan, 2004). They were happy that the
corporate pays them monthly dividend from selling the
oil palm. Another person mentioned “Last time my
income not like nowadays. My current income is much
better than last time.” They could get about RM400.00
for their monthly dividend and a bonus of RM1000.00
at year end without working in the estate.
The changes of land use and development in this
area for about three decades had caused some impacts
on the indigenous people livelihood. Interviews with
the Orang Asli reveal several regional issues that
fabricate there changes. Due to 1970s big flood, their
settlements have shifted to current location, which is
much further away from the forests. Continuing of land
conversion into agricultural land and follow with
logging activities in the recent time has been further
reducing the resources that they used to depend on.
Shifting of forest dependent communities to agrarian
was observed. Permanent agricultural practices are able
to secure their livelihood as compare to forest products
gathering. They were mainly planting yam, lemon
grass, cassava, and banana. They might earn between
RM200 to RM400 a month.
5. Conclusion
Forest change for the past decades has brought
many impacts to the indigenous livelihood. The main
events that have occurred which altered their livelihood
are flood in 1971, conversion of forest to agricultural
land throughout the period and recent logging activities
(2000s). Some received negative impacts from these
events are lost of income generations and food supply.
This could be seen from two of the settlements,
Kampung Selingkong and Kampung Meranti, which
represent undeveloped and developing stages.
However, some perceived positive impacts gained
from the commercial agricultural practices. This was
seen from RPS Runchang, a developed indigenous
people,s settlement. It has shown that the people not
against development if the development would bring
benefits to them.
6. Recommendation
Relevant agencies in land development in the
forest may need to work together in order to reduce
the impacts of indigenous people livelihood. The
development should include the indigenous people for
minimizing the impacts on them. At the same time,
suitable capacity buildings for the people should be
identified for having relevant courses and assistant to
them.
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