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THE CONSERVATION ATLAS 
OF 


TROPICAL FORESTS 


ASIA 


AND THE PACIFIC 


The publication of this first atlas in a series 
planned to cover all the world’s tropical rain and 
monsoon forests is intended to inform the 
worldwide community involved in the debate on 
their future. 


IUCN has since 1948 been at the forefront of the 
campaign to conserve and sustainably manage 
tropical forests. Recognising that above all sound 
information is vital to the progress of the debate 
IUCN, together with the World Conservation 
Monitoring Centre, has gathered the latest 
available data from tropical Asia and the Pacific. 
The forest maps have been compiled from satellite 
and radar imagery, aerial photography, and data 
provided by forestry departments, development 
agencies, charities, international organisations, 
and individuals. FAO and UNEP in particular 
have provided much appreciated cooperation, and 
both text and maps have been written and 
reviewed by a broad spectrum of specialists 
representing much of the best available expertise 
on forest science and management. 


The decision to publish maps was taken because 
so few have ever been made publicly available. 
Despite the inevitable gaps in surveying and the 
difficulty in interpreting remote sensing evidence, 
it was decided that now was the time to put 
together a portfolio of the best available evidence 
in visual form. 


The text interprets the maps froma 
conservationist’s standpoint and describes the 
local impact of deforestation in each country of the 
region. In addition chapters on major issues assess 
the effect of deforestation throughout the region 
on species’ diversity, the peoples of the tropical 
forests, natural forest management and shifting 
cultivation. They also describe control and 
limitation of human impact and current attempts 
to provide sustainable forest development by 
looking in turn at the tropical timber trade, the 
protected areas system, government policies and 
the Tropical Forestry Action Plan. Finally a way 
forward is summarised in chapter 11 ‘A Future for 
Tropical Forests’. 


Recognising that the future of tropical forests 
hangs in the balance, IUCN make this most 
authoritative work of reference available as 
quickly as possible. As the Director General 
Martin Holdgate states ‘We could have waited ten 
years and produced a definitive work... Butin ten 
years many of our options will have been 
foreclosed.’ 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge 


http://www.archive.org/details/conservationatla91 coll 


THE ae. i SE ATLAS 


TROPICAL ‘FORESTS 


ASIA 


AND THE PACIFIC 


Jesus B. ALVAREZ, JR. Quezon City, Philip- 
pines 

Paut AnspacH IUCN, Vientiane, Laos 

ISHAK BIN ARIFFIN WWF-—Malaysia 

J. AXELsssoN Lao/Swedish_ Forestry Co- 
operation Programme, Vientiane, Laos 

PaLLAvA BaGLA Indian Institute of Public Ad- 
ministration, Dehli, India 

HENRY BARLOW Malayan Nature Society, Kuala 
Lumpur, Malaysia 

SULTANA BASHIR University of Cambridge, UK 

STEVE Bass Rockefeller Foundation, New York, 
USA 

Dr ELIZABETH BENNETT WWF-—Malaysia 

Dr Russet H. Betts WWF, Bogor, Indonesia 

Dr JoHN BLOWER Environmental Consultant, 
Guernsey 

Gu1bo BROEKHAVEN IUCN 

PROFESSOR EBERHARDT BRUENIG World For- 
estry Institute, Hamburg, FRG 

PETER BurGEss Suffolk, UK 

CARTOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING HOUSE Beijing 

BARNEY CHAN Sarawak Timber Association, 
Kuching, Sarawak 

GRAHAM CHAPLIN Oxford Forestry Institute, 
UK 

CHEONG EK CHOON Forestry 
Kuching, Sarawak 

Dr CHIN SEE CHUNG Department of Botany, 
University of Malaya 

Dr Marcus COLcHESTER Survival International, 
London, UK 

Dr RicHarD T. CoRLETT University of Hong 
Kong 

Eric B. CowELl BP International Ltd, London, 
UK 


Department, 


RoGeER Cox Environmental Consultant, Lon- 
don, UK 

THE EarRL OF CRANBROOK Saxmundham, Suf- 
folk, UK 

Dr ARTHUR DAHL UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya 

Dr Jack DANGERMOND ESRI, California, USA 

Dr JAMES DAviE Queensland National Park, 
Rockhampton, Australia 

STEVE Davis IUCN, Kew, UK 

ALEXANDRA M. Drxon Zoological Society of 
London, UK 

PETER EATON University of Brunei Darussalam 

CHRISTOPHER ELtiotr WWF-International, 
Gland, Switzerland 

J. Frptoczxy Lao/Swedish Forestry Co- 
operation Programme, Vientiane, Laos 

MICHEL FROMAGET ORSTOM, New Caledonia 

Dr MIcHAEL J. B. GREEN WCMC 

OscaR GENDRANO ASDB Manila, Philippines 

SoMPON TAN HaN Royal Forest Department, 
Thailand 

Dr Tim _ Hatcu Horticultural 
Kuching, Sarawak 

Dr JAN VAN DER HEIDE Institute of Soil Fertil- 
ity, Groningen, Netherlands 

U Saw HaHN Rangoon, Myanmar 

PROFESSOR VERNON HeEywoop IUCN, 
UK 

Dinu Hiep Forest Department, Hanoi, Viet- 
nam 

DANIEL HIONG Sabah Forest Department 

G. HINDSEN Lao/Swedish Forestry Co-operation 
Programme, Vientiane, Laos 

WILLIAM HowarD Overseas Development Ad- 
ministration, UK 


Consultant, 


Kew, 


Contributors 


IaMo ILA Department of the Environment and 
Conservation, Boroko, PNG 

Dr MIKHAIL BIN KAVANAGH WWF-—Malaysia 

Dr KaM Suan PENG Penang Branch Malayan 
Nature Society, Malaysia 

M. Kasuio FAO, Bangkok, Thailand 

G. KENT Lao/Swedish Forestry Co-operation 
Programme, Vientiane, Laos 

Dr ALIA Keto Rainforest Conservation Society 
of Queensland, Australia 

Mr DanteL K. S. KHIONG FAO, Bangkok, 
Thailand 

M. KISHOKUMAR Malayan Nature 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Karot M. Kisokau Department of Environ- 
ment and Conservation, Boroko, PNG 

PROFESSOR B. KLANKAMSORN Royal Forest De- 
partment, Bangkok, Thailand 

Dr D. KRETOSASTRO Transmigration Depart- 
ment, Jakarta, Indonesia 

Dr AjitH Kumar Wildlife Institute of India, 
Dehra Dun, India 

KaNnTA KuMarR1I WWF-—Malaysia 

J. B. Lat Forest Survey of India, Dehra Dun, 
India 

Dr Davip LAMB University of Queensland 

Lee Hua SENG Forest Department, Kuching, 
Sarawak 

Dr LEONG YUEH KuONG Malayan Nature So- 
ciety, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Dr Lim MENG Tsar Malayan Nature Society, 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Dr JOHN MacKINNON Cambridge, UK 

Dr JoHN MAKIN National Resources Institute, 
UK 

Dr CLivE MarsH Sabah Foundation, 
Kinabalu, Sabah 

DuLEEP MaTTHAI Ministry of Environment and 
Forests, Delhi, India 

Dr StevE McHucuH BP International Ltd, 
London, UK 

Jim McKay BP International Ltd, London, UK 

Dr J. MCNEELY IUCN 

Dr V. H. MEHER-Homy! Institut Francais de 
Pondicherry, India 

ADAM MESSER BIOTROP, Bogor, Indonesia 

Dr GENEVIEVE MICHON BIOTROP, Bogor, In- 
donesia 

Mok Stan TuAN ASEAN Institute of Forest 
Management 

Franca Monti FAO, Rome, Italy 

Dr Ropert Nast CTFT, Paris 

Francois NecToux South Bank Polytechnic, 
London, UK 

Dr Francis NG Forest Research Institute of 
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Dr Csar NEvuvo Institute of Forest Conserva- 
tion, Laguna, Philippines 

U OnN Rangoon, Myanmar 

JAMES PAINE WCMC 

Dr Duncan ParisH Asian Wetland Bureau, 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Rerpar Persson SIDA, Stockholm, Sweden 

THo Yow PonG Malayan Nature Society, Kuala 
Lumpur, Malaysia 

Dr Duncan PooreE Oxford, UK 

Mick RaGa Wildlife Conservation, Department 
of Environment and Conservation, Boroko, 
PNG 

SINUNG RAHARDJO Ministry of Forestry, Jak- 
arta, Indonesia 


Society, 


Kotu 


AwanG Hy] Asp. RAHMAN Forestry Department, 
Brunei Darussalam 

ABDULLAH ABDUL RAHIM WWF-Malaysia 

M. S. RANATUNGA IUCN, Sri Lanka 

Hans Rascu Swedish Space Corporation 

K. RAVINDRAN Kerala Forest Research In- 
sutute, India 

A. M. Ravuvu Ministry of Forests, Fiji 

ALAN RopcGers Wildlife Institute of India, De- 
hra Dun, India 

CELSO RoqUE DENR, Quezon City, Philippines 

ALAN E. H. Ross Department of Forests, Bor- 
oko, PNG 

PuiLip RounpD Centre for Conservation Biology, 
Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand 

Haj MOHD YASSIN BIN AMPUAN SALLEH Direc- 
tor of Forestry, Brunei Darussalam 

Guy SALMON The Maruia Society, Auckland 

Dr RICHARD E. SALTER Lao/Swedish Forestry 
Co-operation Programme, Vientiane, Laos 

Dr CHARLES SANTIAPILLAI WWF-Indonesia 

Dr CAROLINE SARGENT ILED, London, UK 

VICENTE SARMIENTO, JR. RP-German Dip- 
terocarp Forest Management Project, Manila 

Dr Cera B. Sastry International Develop- 
ment and Research Centre, Singapore 

JACQUELINE SAWYER IUCN 

Dr JURGEN G. SCHADE RP-German Dipterocarp 
Forest Management Project, Manila 

G. M. SHEA Department of Forestry, Queens- 
land, Australia 

BIRANDRA SINGH National Trust for Fiji 

SHEKHAR SINGH Indian Institute of Public Ad- 
ministration, Delhi, India 

SuvaT SINGHAPANT Royal Forest Department, 
Bangkok, Thailand 

SOMTHEP Royal Forestry Department, Thailand 

Dr PREM SRIVASTANA Department of Forests, 
Boroko, PNG 

PETER R. STEVENS FAO, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Dr EFFENDY A. SUMARDJA Forest Protection 
and Nature Conservation Department, Minis- 
try of Forestry, Bogor, Indonesia 

Dr Haro_p SUTTER FAO, Rome 

PHAIROTE SUVANNAKORN Royal Forest Depart- 
ment, Bangkok, Thailand 

Dr BILL SyRATT BP International Ltd, London, 
UK 

Tat-Neu Liao Department of Forestry, Taiwan 

CHARLES TAWHIAO Department of Forests, Bor- 
oko, PNG 

Dr J. TERBORGH Princeton University, USA 

TuHanGc Hoor CutEw Forestry Department, 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

PROFESSOR ANDREW VAYDON Rutger Univer- 
sity, USA 

Dr J. R. D. Watt Regional Physical Planning 
Programme for Transmigration (RePPProT), 
Jakarta, Indonesia 

KeMBI WaTOKA Department of Environment 
and Conservation, Boroko, PNG 

Dr ANTHONY J. WHITTEN Cambridge, UK 

Mr Tony Woop ODA London, UK 

WonG KHOoON MENG Forestry Department, 
Brunei Darussalam 

PETER WYSE JACKSON IUCN 

BOONTHONG XAISIDA Lao/Swedish Forest Co- 
operation Programme, Vientiane, Laos 


In addition authors and reviewers are acknowl- 
edged at the end of each chapter. 


THE CONSERVATION ATLAS 
OF 


TROPICAL FORESTS 


ASIA 


AND THE PACIFIC 


Editors 


N. MARK COLLINS 


World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK 


JEFFREY A. SAYER 


International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland 


TIMOTHY C. WHITMORE 


Geography Department, 
Cambridge University, UK 


WG) The World f 
eo Conservation AE 
Union WORLD CONSERVATION 
MACMILLAN MONITORING CENTRE 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 


This atlas was produced under the Tropical Forest Conservation 
Programme of IUCN, The World Conservation Union. Much of the 
research, editing and map preparation was done at the World 
Conservation Monitoring Centre which is supported by IUCN, the 
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations 
Environment Programme (UNEP); the Centre is also part of 
UNEP’s Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) towards 
which this atlas is a contribution. 

IUCN’s work in tropical forests receives financial support from the 
government of Sweden. 

IUCN is especially indebted to The British Petroleum Company 
p.l.c. for the original idea for the atlas, and for the generous funding 
which has enabled research for the project to be undertaken. 

Thanks also go to IBM, who provided a computer which was used 
for running the geographic information system (GIS) needed to 
compile the maps, and to the Environmental Systems Research 
Institute (ESRI) of California who donated the ARC/INFO software 
for the project. Petroconsultants Ltd of Cambridge kindly made 
available ‘Mundocart’, a world digital mapping database which 


proved invaluable in the preparation of this atlas. 

Contributors to the atlas are listed below. A work of this nature, 
however, inevitably represents the labours of hundreds of people 
who have painstakingly documented the forests, researching their 
ecology and wildlife, and who have laboured over the production of 
the maps from field work to final printing. The editors would like to 
offer their heartfelt thanks to all these un-named people. 

The editors would also like to thank all their colleagues at IUCN 
and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, without whose 
dedicated work this project would not have been possible. Particular 
thanks go to Mike Adam, who was responsible for operating the GIS, 
Clare Billington, who assisted in all aspects of the project, Barbara 
Brown, Michael Green, Veronica Greenwood, Jeffrey McNeely, 
James Paine and Jacqueline Sawyer. 

Finally a meeting of the IUCN Tropical Forest Advisory Group 
was held in October 1989 in the Bako National Park, Sarawak, at 
which IUCN staff and representatives of development agencies and 
conservation organisations reviewed the text of this atlas. The editors 
would like to offer their sincere thanks in appreciation of this 
valuable task. 


Copyright © IUCN 1991 


All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written 
permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or 
in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence 
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33—4 Alfred Place, London WCIE 7DP. Any 
person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil 
claims for damages. 


First published 1991 by Macmillan Press Ltd, London and Basingstoke. 


Associated companies in Auckland, Delhi, Dublin, Gaborone, Hamburg, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala 
Lumpur, Lagos, Manzini, Melbourne, Mexico City, Nairobi, New York, Singapore, Tokyo. 


British Cataloguing in Publication Data 
The Conservation atlas of tropical forests. 


Asia. 


1. Tropical rain forests. Conservation 


I. Collins, N. Mark 


II. Sayer, Jeffrey 


III. Whitmore, T. C. (Timothy Charles) 


333.7516 


ISBN 0-333-53992-3 


Acknowledgement of Sources 
The sources of the country maps are given at the end of each chapter. The sources of the illustrations and maps are 
given in footnotes and captions. 


Designed by Robert Updegraff - Map Production by Lovell Johns, Oxford 
Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - Printed and bound in Singapore 


Contents 


Contributors 
Acknowledgements 
Foreword 


ParT I: THE ISSUES 


Introduction 

Forest Wildlife 

People of the Tropical Forests 
Shifting Cultivation 

Agricultural Settlement Schemes 
Natural Rain Forest Management 
Tropical Timber Trade 
Government Policies and Land-Use Planning 
The Protected Areas System 

10 The Tropical Forestry Action Plan 
11 A Future For Tropical Forests 


OND UW BRWN = 


‘So 


ParT II: COUNTRY STUDIES 
Map Compilation and Conservation Areas 
12 Australia 

13 Bangladesh 

14 Brunei 

15 Burma (Myanmar) 

16 Cambodia 

17 China and Taiwan 

18 India 

19 Indonesia 

20 Laos 

21 Papua New Guinea 

22 Peninsular Malaysia 

23 Philippines 

24 Sabah and Sarawak (Eastern Malaysia) 
25 Singapore 

26 Sri Lanka 

27 Thailand 

28 Vietnam 

29 Western Pacific Islands 


Acronyms 
Glossary 

Index of Species 
General Index 


HD + Nd 


Foreword 


When IUCN was founded in 1948, the conservation of tropical forests was already perceived as an important 
issue. But it was not until the publication of the seminal work of Persson (1974) and Sommer (1976) that the 
scale and rate of tropical deforestation became more widely recognised. Slightly later, the publication (1981) of 
the findings of FAO/UNEP’s Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Projects coincided with campaigns to 
conserve tropical forests, run by organisations such as IUCN and WWF. Through these, and subsequent, 
campaigns, people throughout the world have been made increasingly aware of tropical forest conservation as 
one of the major environmental issues of our time. 

The debate is now firmly established in the public arena and tropical forests have become a significant 
political issue in countries as far apart as Australia, Brazil and Thailand. In both the developed and developing 
worlds the media have given extensive coverage to the plight of tropical forest people in places such as Sarawak, 
to species conservation in Madagascar, and to the possible impact on world climate of deforestation in 
Indonesia and Brazil. 

However, in spite of this enormous public, political and scientific concern, agreement on the measures that 
should be taken remains elusive. Thus the Tropical Forestry Action Plan launched by FAO in 1985 to mobilise 
international resources to support the conservation and rational use of tropical forests, is now attacked by some 
environmental groups who see it as aggravating the problems. And while some conservationists lobby the 
World Bank to invest in tropical forest and biological diversity conservation, others condemn aid programmes 
for fuelling forest destruction and campaign for development agencies to keep out of the forests. 

Not only is there no consensus on solutions, but also views on the extent of the problem conflict with one 
another. Seemingly credible authorities predict the total destruction of tropical forests in one or two decades. 
Others point to the vast forest areas remaining in Borneo, Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea, insisting that the 
situation is less critical. 

Through this atlas IUCN hopes to introduce more objective and carefully researched information to the 
debate. It is the first of a series of three volumes, covering all the main tropical regions. Our editors have 
travelled to every country in tropical Asia to collect the latest data on forest distribution and trends. They have 
consulted a broad spectrum of specialists ranging from academic forest ecologists through members of the 
timber industry, to forest dwelling peoples and government authorities in the countries concerned. Our 
authors represent much of the best available expertise on forest science and management. Our maps and text 
have been reviewed by specialists from throughout the region who met in the delightful forest setting of the 
Bako National Park as guests of the Sarawak Forest Department. We have enjoyed a constant dialogue with 
FAO and UNEP -— international organisations with a mandate from the United Nations to monitor tropical 
forests and promote their wise use. 

We are confident that this atlas presents the best available information on the tropical forest resources of Asia 
and the Pacific. But we are also well aware of its shortcomings. There are large areas, for instance in Indo- 
China, for which up-to-date information on forest distribution is simply not available. And even with the latest 
advances in remote sensing, it is not always possible to distinguish between undisturbed closed canopy tropical 
forest and forests regenerating after logging or shifting cultivation. Much of the land which our maps show to be 
forested in Borneo and Burma is in fact quite seriously disturbed. For these reasons we have accompanied the 
maps with text which interprets them from the point of view of conservationists. 

The chapters on the critical issues confronting forest conservation attempt to present a balanced view of 
knowledge. But often they illustrate just how complex the issues are and how intractable the solutions appear to 
be. The chapter on natural rain forest management, for example, shows that sustained yield management is 
technically possible, while acknowledging the general failure to achieve this goal in practice. 

We could have waited ten years and published a definitive work on tropical forest resources. But in ten years 
many of our options will have been foreclosed. Meanwhile decisions are being taken and considerable 
international finance is available to support conservation programmes. We believe that lack of information and 
poor understanding of the issues are resulting in misguided decisions, causing money to be wasted on irrelevant 
or even counter-productive actions. It is our sincere hope that the information and arguments presented in this 
atlas will bring some rationale and rigour to the tropical forest debate and help the countries that own these 
magnificent living systems, and the international community that is so deeply concerned for their future, to 
reach agreement on the long-term effective conservation they require. 

MARTIN HOLDGATE 
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland 
November 1990 


References 
FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 3 volumes. FAO, Rome. 


Persson, R. (1974) Review of the world’s forest resources in the early 1970s. In: World Forest Resources. Royal College of 
Forestry, Stockholm. 


Sommer, A. (1976) Attempt at an assessment of the world’s tropical forests. Unasylva 28. 


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1 Introduction 


Economic growth and demand for land is increasing day by day in the 
Asia—Pacific region. Asa result the national and global significance of 
the rain and monsoon forests is becoming more widely appreciated. 
Sustaining the many benefits from tropical forests is no longer a 
matter of interest only for conservation organisations, it is the stuff of 
newspaper editorials in New Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jak- 
arta and Port Moresby. Citizens of tropical forest countries are 
increasingly aware that their natural forests protect soil fertility, 
prevent flooding, provide valuable umbers for national revenue and 
useful non-wood crops for local sale and consumption. In short, the 
forests produce goods and services that are the basis of everyday life 
in the region. 

This atlas aims to give an up-to-date bird’s eye view of the extent of 
the Asia—Pacific closed canopy tropical rain forests, and the monsoon 
forests that abut onto them (for forest definitions see box on page 11). 
The coming decade is crucial. Planning for the future of tropical 
forests requires ready sources of up-to-date information on their 
cultural, biological and ecological importance, the agricultural and 
silvicultural potential of their soils, the value of their natural timbers 
and other forest products, and the best possible maps of their extent 
and location. The first eleven chapters of this volume discuss regional 
issues, while chapters 12—29 give a detailed survey of each country. 
Accompanying the text are detailed maps which form the heart of the 
book, enabling the reader to obtain a clear overview of where the 
remaining forests are situated. 


Forests of the Region 


The tropical, closed canopy forests of the Asia—Pacific region are 
centred on the Malay archipelago, the great festoon of islands which 
lie between the south-eastern tip of Asia and Australia, the region 
botanists call Malesia. These islands were once mostly clothed in rain 
forests, with a fringe of monsoon (seasonal) forests along their 
southern margin. To the north and west rain forests extend up into 
continental Asia, where they occur in the wetter and less seasonal 
parts of Burma,! Thailand and Indo-China (Cambodia, Laos, Viet- 
nam), just extending into southernmost China, Bangladesh, Assam, 
and north-east India. There are also detached fragments of rain forest 
in peninsular India along the Western Ghats which fringe the 
Arabian Sea shoreline of the subcontinent, in south-west Sri Lanka 
and on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 


' During the preparation of this atlas, Burma changed its name to Myanmar. The 
country chapters are arranged alphabetically and the editors have used the former, 
more commonly known, name in order to avoid major restructuring 


Geographical Boundaries 

To the east rain forests extend beyond Malesia into the Pacific, along 
the tropical parts of the archipelagoes of Melanesia. Further out still 
there are tiny fragments on the specks of land which constitute the 
islands of Micronesia and Polynesia. Reaching south, rain forests run 
as a fringe down the eastern coastline of Australia. 

At the northern and southern limits of the region, in areas of 
aseasonal climate, tropical rain forests gradually alter in floristic 
composition and become simpler in structure (in a manner not well 
defined). These are known as subtropical rain forests, and further 
sull from the equator they turn into temperate rain forests. These 
changes are accentuated by increases in elevation. Thus, no sharp 
boundary can be drawn in upper Burma and in Assam between 
tropical rain forests in the lowlands and temperate rain forests in the 
high mountains of the southern Himalayas, which have a flora with a 
strongly north-temperate character. These forests are therefore in- 
cluded in the atlas. However, at the limit, the northern boundary 
becomes arbitrary, and we have excluded the forests of mid- 
elevations which stretch along the south flank of the Himalayas in 
India, Nepal and Pakistan and occur also in western China (including 
Tibet). These are of north temperate affinity, albeit very similar to 
those of northern Burma and Assam. 

To the south of the region, in Australia, the only forests mapped 
are the rain forests of north Queensland. These are separate from the 
subtropical rain forests of the Queensland/New South Wales border 
region further south, which themselves merge southwards with 
temperate rain forests that extend to Tasmania. 

The larger islands of the tropical western Pacific are mapped, 
down to a lower national size limit of 15,000 sq. km. The tiny tropical 
rain forest areas of Micronesia and Polynesia are thus excluded, as are 
the subtropical/warm temperate forests of New Caledonia and north- 
ernmost New Zealand. As with the northern boundary we have had 
to draw an arbitrary southern limit, and have done so in the light of 
the purpose of the atlas, which is to demonstrate the distribution of 
tropical rain and monsoon forest formations. 


Climatic Boundaries 

Just as there is a gradation of forest-type with increasing latitude, so 
there is another one with decreasing rainfall and an increasingly 
seasonal climate. This second gradation is, fortunately, better de- 
fined. In climates where the rainfall is well distributed throughout 
the year, and where there is no regular dry season and no months with 
rainfall of less than 60 mm, or with a dry season of only one or a few 
months’ duration, the natural climax vegetation is tropical rain 
forest. Where there is a regular and longer annual dry season, tropical 


9 


INTRODUCTION 


In Fava, both rain and monsoon forests are to be found, but only in relict 
patches. The rich soils of Fava were deforested long ago. WWWF/Tom Moss 


seasonal forests occur; in Asia these are commonly called monsoon 
forests (see box on page 11). At their boundary rain and monsoon 
forests often form a mosaic due to the influence of soil and the impact 
of humans. Tropical rain and tropical seasonal forests are sometimes 
grouped together as tropical moist forests, which is useful, for 
example, when discussing human impact.? 

Seasonal forests include a considerable proportion of deciduous 
trees so are easy to recognise on the ground in the dry season, but in 
the wet season more careful inspection of structure, physiognomy 
and floristics is needed (including leaf size and texture, bole, but- 
tresses, position of inflorescences). Unfortunately both seasonal and 
rain forests look similar in aerial photographs and satellite images for 
much of the year. Furthermore, the seasonal monsoon forests are not 
clearly distinguishable from the much drier tropical thorn forests on 
remotely sensed images, which is why rain, monsoon and thorn 
forests are sometimes combined into the single category of closed 
forests (or moist forests, where thorn forests are absent), as in the 
FAO/UNEP Tropical Forest Resources Assessment of 1981. 


10 


Forest Cover 
Technically, forests are defined as ‘woody vegetation with a closed 
tree canopy’ and woodlands as ‘woody vegetation with an open tree 
canopy’. The division, which we follow, is commonly drawn at 40 per 
cent canopy cover. The maps in this atlas do not show open canopy 
woodlands and do not include forest plantations or areas of shifting 
cultivation where these are shown in source material. However, 
shifting cultivation occurs as a mosaic of cultivated fields and bush 
fallow areas at various stages of recovery to high forest, which are 
indistinguishable on remotely sensed images when forest-recovery is 
advanced. It is very difficult to recognise moist forest that has been 
disturbed by cultivation or felling. Even a heavily logged forest 
quickly redevelops a closed canopy and a few decades after distur- 
bance it is hard for anyone but an expert to distinguish between 
logged and unlogged forest. On aerial photographs logged forest 
becomes indistinguishable from unlogged forest after a few years, 
and on satellite images it may never be detectable. The areas mapped 
as single units of forest are therefore mosaics of relatively undisturbed, plus 
disturbed, forest. It is vital for the reader to appreciate that even 
though large belts of shifting cultivation and plantations have been 
excluded from the maps, the areas of forest still include enclaves, 
sometimes quite extensive, of disturbed and degraded vegetation. 
For three countries (Burma, Laos and the Philippines) we have 
had access, however, to reports which do actually delimit degraded 
forests, and which describe how it was recognised and defined, and 
for these countries it is shown as a separate category on the map. 
Details are explained in the map legends. 


Major Issues which Affect the Asia—Pacific Forests 
The first part of the atlas, chapters 2—11, sets out issues which affect 
forests throughout the Asia—Pacific region. Chapter 2 provides 
general background on the fauna and flora of the region, its import- 
ance to mankind, and the impact of deforestation on species’ diver- 
sity. Chapter 3 discusses peoples of the rain forest. Chapters 4 and 5 
examine some causes of forest loss, namely shifting agriculture and 
settlement schemes. Chapters 6 and 7 examine systems of forest 
management for timber production and the timber trade (which 
today is a major factor bringing change to the forests of this region). 
These chapters are followed by others which describe attempts to 
control and limit human impact. Chapter 8 describes land-use 
planning; chapter 9 the attempts to protect representative areas for 
conservation purposes; and chapter 10 covers current attempts to 
rationalise external aid resources to these ends for sustainable forest 
development. Finally, the outlook for the forests and for the success 
of these efforts are described in chapter 11. 


The Situation in Individual Countries 
The second half of the atlas examines every country in detail. Firstly, 
a set of basic statistics is provided. Land area is taken from FAO 
(1988); economic data from World Bank (1989) or Paxton (1989) and 
demographic data from Vu et al. (1989). Data presented under forest 
cover are from various sources listed in the main body of the text.3 
Forest product information is for 1987, reported in FAO (1989). 
Definitions for production data are presented in chapter 7. 
Following a summary, each country chapter has a general geo- 
graphical introduction and a detailed description of the closed 


In popular parlance, the term ‘rain’ forest is often applied where ‘moist’ forest would 
be technically more correct. In this book ‘rain’ and ‘monsoon’ forests will be clearly 
distinguished. 

> FAO made the only full pantropical survey of tropical closed forests in 1980 (FAO, 

UNEP, 1981), the results of which were reissued with corrections in 1988 (FAO, 1988). 
FAO (1987) is also important for the Asia—Pacific region. The FAO survey is being 
repeated in 1990 and results are expected to be published in 1992. At present it remains 
unclear whether the survey will include publication of maps. 


canopy forests, particularly rain forests, their extent and their man- 
agement. Basic statistics include original and remaining forest area, 
where known. Discrepancies are common between different esti- 
mates of remaining forest area — and it must be borne in mind that in 
some countries forest area is changing very fast. Statistics rarely 
accord with estimates of area taken from the maps used in preparing 
this atlas, even where both these sources were official. It is seldom 
possible to resolve these discrepancies. They are drawn to the 
reader’s attention and the reference of the original source is given. 

Much has been written recently on mangrove forests. This forma- 
tion is seldom extensive, but is common as a narrow coastal and 
estuarine fringe. Its ecological importance as a coastline stabiliser, 
and its economic importance as a source of fuelwood, building poles, 
tannin, cordage, and honey to rural communities, as well as an 
important provider of prawns, shrimps and fish, is now thoroughly 
documented. So too is the role of mangroves as the essential breeding 
ground and nursery which sustains shallow-water offshore fishery 
industries. The threats mangrove forests face vary from country to 
country, but fall everywhere into the same few categories of destruc- 
tion — to make way for prawn or fish ponds, or for housing or 
factories; overexploitation for fuelwood and building poles; or, over 
the last few decades, uncontrolled clear felling for chipwood, ex- 
ported (mainly to Japan) for paper pulp or the manufacture of rayon. 


INTRODUCTION 


In each country study the diversity of its flora and fauna is 
described to varying degrees, depending upon its regional signifi- 
cance and the state of available knowledge. This is followed by a 
section on conservation areas in which the protection of the nation’s 
ecological and biological diversity is assessed. Where there are 
serious shortcomings in the protected area systems, details of critical 
sites for conservation are presented. General commentary and data 
on critical sites are not presented country by country, but are 
compiled in chapter 9. 

Of particular interest, of course, in each country study is an 
assessment of the coverage of moist forest ecosystems within conser- 
vation areas, but this is no simple matter. Many parks are only 
partially forested and at the working scale of this atlas it is not 
possible to assess the proportion of forested land accurately. In each 
country chapter we have chosen to tabulate those protected areas 
(existing and proposed) which are at least 50 sq. km in size and for 
which we have location data. The remaining smaller areas, and the 
few areas where we have no location information, are combined into a 
single estimate of total size under a sub-heading ‘Other Areas’, 
enabling calculation of the total area under protection. Marine 
conservation areas, ‘virgin jungle reserves’, and forest reserves are 
listed or included in the country totals. Those protected areas 
containing moist forest (rain or monsoon forest) are flagged, and their 


KINDS OF FOREST 


Since they were defined by Schimper (one of the founding fathers 
of plant geography) in 1903, it has been common to recognise two 
major kinds of tropical forest: tropical rain forest and tropical 
monsoon (seasonal) forest. The combination of these is often re- 
ferred to as tropical moist forest. All moist forests have a closed 
canopy and the term closed forests is also often used to denote rain 
and monsoon forests. However, dry thorn forests also have a 
closed canopy and may sometimes be included in the term. 
Caution is therefore needed in interpreting ‘closed forests’ in 
countries, such as India, Sri Lanka and Burma, where thorn 
forests, as well as rain forests and monsoon forests, occur. 

e@ Vegetation types with less than 40 per cent tree canopy cover 
are technically called woodlands or sometimes open forests. 

e@ Tropical rain forests occur in perhumid climates where the 
rainfall is well distributed through the year, there is no regular dry 
season and no month with rainfall less than 60 mm, or with a dry 
season of only one or a few months’ duration. 

e@ Tropical monsoon forests occur where there is a regular and 
longer dry season, usually more than three months with less than 
60 mm rainfall. 

@ Inareas with long dry seasons, monsoon forests grade into open 
canopy deciduous woodlands, then into closed canopy thorn 
forests of low stature (India, Burma), and finally into scrub, 
grassland and desert formations. None of these are mapped in this 
atlas. 

e@ Within rain and monsoon forests there are various forest forma- 
tions dependent upon local conditions of soil, topography, climate 
and groundwater. They are generally defined on structure of the 
canopy and physiognomy of their component species. They vary 
floristically from place to place. 

The main focus of this atlas is on true rain forests, and more detail 
is shown for this formation, ie lowland and montane rain forest, 
mangrove and freshwater swamp forests. The monsoon forests are 
shown in a more generalised way, distinguishing only between 
lowland and montane distribution. The broad categories used are 
suited to the general working scales of 1:3 and 1:4 million. This is 


not the place in which to delimit in detail either the formations or 
floristic variation, which are very fully described elsewhere. The 
publications of FAO/UNEP (1981), Unesco (1974) and Whitmore 
(1984; 1989) give such descriptions, plus a full guide to the 
original literature. 


This atlas attempts to achieve a synoptic view by combining the 
forest formations into major groups as shown in the list below. 
Formations are progressively grouped into larger classes. The 
forest types and formations shown on the maps are italicised in the 
table. 


Tropical rain forests (aseasonal) 


Dry land rain forests 

lowland rain forests 
tropical evergreen rain forest 
tropical semi-evergreen rain forest 
heath forest 
rain forest over limestone 
rain forest over ultrabasic rocks 
beach forest 

montane rain forests 
lower montane rain forest 
upper montane rain forest 
subalpine rain forest 


Wetland rain forests 
coastal swamp forests 
mangrove forest 
inland swamp forests 
peat swamp forest 
freshwater swamp forest 
periodic freshwater swamp forest 


Tropical monsoon forests (seasonal) 
lowland monsoon forests 
montane monsoon forests 


1] 


INTRODUCTION 


total areas are calculated and presented in chapter 9, where informa- 
tion on areas designated as Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage 
sites may also be found. 

The length of the text about each country and about the different 
types of human impact on the forests therein, is roughly balanced to 
the size of the country and the gravity of the deforestation. Much is 
known, for example, about the small areas of rain forest in Singapore 
and Australia, but in a broad context these forests are less significant 
than those of huge nations such as Indonesia. 


Maps 

Finally in the country surveys, but most importantly, are the forest 
maps themselves. The literature on rain and monsoon forests, their 
floristics, biology, rate of decline and importance to mankind is 
burgeoning. Yet there are very few published maps readily available. 
Newspapers and magazines regularly report development projects in 
rain forest countries, but whether the road, dam or settlement area 
lies within existing areas of rain forest or monsoon forest is frequently 
impossible to judge. All too often, projects reported to be within the 
‘rain forest’ are completely outside the forest zone! 

Each map is accompanied by a comprehensive legend that not only 
gives the source, but also explains fully what steps have been taken to 
harmonise the original map with the working classification of forest 
types given in the box on page 11. Within these limits the maps are 
reproduced as originally published. Where maps seem unduly op- 


References 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 
Uulization of Forest Resources in the Developing Regions. Asia— 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. 
FAO, Bangkok, Thailand. 104 pp. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome. 18 pp. + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO, 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome, Italy. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol. 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome, 
Italy. 475pp. 

Paxton, J. (ed.) (1989) The Statesman’s Year-book 1989-90. Mac- 
millan, London, UK. 1691 pp. 


12 


umistic, are somewhat out of date, or have been amended slightly, 
the matter is drawn to the reader’s attention. 

In line with the protected area tables, proposed and existing 
protected areas whose size exceeds 50 sq. km are mapped. If maps 
showing the precise boundaries are unavailable, the protected areas 
are represented by circles of an approximate size. Other, smaller 
areas cannot be satisfactorily mapped at the scale used in this atlas. 
Many genetic reserves, for example, are only a few hectares in size, 
and even a small name and dot would soon overwhelm the general 
appearance of the maps. 


Availability of Data 

In the final reckoning, the data presented in the text and maps that 
make up this atlas are a selection based on editorial discretion and the 
limitations of scale and design. The maps have been compiled using 
the latest computer technology, a Geographic Information System 
(GIS). A GIS consists of combined computer hardware and software 
for collecting, storing, displaying, manipulating and analysing digi- 
tal spatial data. Once the data have been stored in a computer- 
readable form they remain accessible for reproduction and re-use for 
other purposes. The files on which this atlas is based are held at the 
World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, UK, and 
IUCN will be pleased to collaborate with organisations wishing to 
apply the data in the interests of natural resource conservation. 


Schimper, A. F. W. (1903) Plant Geography upon a Physiological 
Basis. University Press, Oxford, UK. 

Unesco (1974) Natural Resources of Humid Tropical Asia. Unesco, 
Paris, France. 

Vu, M. T., Bos, E. and Bulatao, R. A. (eds) (1988) Asia Region 
Population Projections. Population and Human Resource Depart- 
ment, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1984) Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East. (2nd 
ed.) Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. 352 pp. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1989) Southeast Asian tropical forests. In: Tropi- 
cal Rain Forest Ecosystems. Ecosystems of the World Vol. 14B. Eds 
H. Leith and M. J. A. Werger. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands. 713 pp. 

World Bank (1989) World Development Report. Oxford University 
Press, Oxford, UK. 251 pp. 


2 Forest Wildlife 


Introduction 


Humans have lived in tropical Asia for at least 500,000 years, judging 
from fossil sites in Java. For most of human history, they were 
hunters and gatherers, but even at this early stage they had some 
impact on the environment (Rambo, 1979). Once fire became an 
important tool (probably several hundred thousand years ago), 
human impact on the environment began to grow, particularly as 
settlements increased along coasts and rivers. The alluvial flatlands of 
Asia, once clothed in various kinds of freshwater swamp forest, have 
long ago been almost completely replaced by rice fields. The develop- 
ment of shifting cultivation (see chapter 4) accelerated the impact, at 
least in the hilly areas. Irrigation, cultivation of wet rice, and the 
spread of industrial export-driven agriculture and logging during the 
past few decades now gives human beings the potential to overwhelm 
virtually all forested habitats. 

Civilisations have waxed and waned in the monsoon forests of the 
seasonal tropics, for example in Sri Lanka and Indo-China. Some 
authorities believe that in these formations no significant pristine 
forest remains, all has been cleared for shifting agriculture at one 
tume or another (see chapter 4). Vast areas of former monsoon forest 
are now permanently used for intensive agriculture. 

The perhumid tropics, however, have always been less healthy for 
people, and rain forests were much more difficult to use for perma- 
nent agriculture. The lack of a dry-season break in the climate makes 
clearing and burning more difficult, and permits the continual build- 
up of pests, weeds and diseases. High density civilisations did not 
develop in these zones and, over the centuries, traces of small 
settlements have disappeared. Very careful scrutiny is needed to see 
if mankind has ever disturbed such rain forests. The traces are 
charcoal in the soil, earth mounds, and plants growing away from 
their natural area. Detailed studies have not yet been made in most of 
the remaining Asia—Pacific rain forests to see how ubiquitous man- 
kind’s influence has been over the millennia, but any remaining 
effect is so slight that the forests may be regarded as pristine up until 
the advent of industrial logging. 

Since European penetration of the Malay archipelago, and for 
longer on the Asian continent, the moist forests have been progres- 
sively cut down. There has been an acceleration, from the time of the 
introduction of plantation crops for export (mainly tea, coffee, 
rubber and oil palm) at the end of the last century until today. The 
rapid and accelerating increase in human population means that 
forests which could still be perceived as a limitless resource in the 
middle of this century, now increasingly occur as scattered, isolated 
fragments. This fragmentation and its implications for the loss of the 
species of plants and animals is one of the great issues of our time — 
indeed it is the subject of this atlas. 

The natural habitats of the region have certainly had to adapt to 
changing conditions. Climates have fluctuated throughout the 


Pleistocene (the last two million years), between extensively per- 
humid as today, and more strongly seasonal as at the Glacial maxima. 
At these latter umes sea level was as much as 180 m below today’s 
level, and Java, Sumatra, and Borneo have been repeatedly attached 
by land bridges to mainland Asia, with the latest attachment less than 
18,000 years ago. The Philippines and Indonesia are among the most 
geologically active parts of the world, with commonplace volcanic 
eruptions and earthquakes. Typhoons often sweep across the Philip- 
pines into Vietnam and southern China, or hammer the lands of the 
Bay of Bengal. Monsoon climates alternately inundate and desiccate 
many parts of the mainland. 

As a consequence of this dynamic geological and climatic history, 
many species have been lost, created or redistributed. For example, 
Java had at least seven species of elephants in the early Pleistocene, 
and once had numerous species which still survive elsewhere, includ- 
ing orang utan Pongo pygmaeus, Malayan sun bear Helarctos mal- 
ayanus, Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus, uger Panthera tngris, and 
clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa. Generally speaking, the wildlife 
that has survived into the modern era has adapted to be able to cope 
with the effect of human impact on the tropical forest ecosystem. 
Unfortunately, however, the current impacts of logging, shifting 
cultivation, plantations, and pesticides have presented a totally 
different challenge to the wildlife. 


Biological Diversity and the Impact of Deforestation 
The Asia—Pacific region is famous for its rich wildlife. Animals such 
as gers, orang utans, rhinoceroses, elephants, pheasants, birds of 
paradise, cobras and crocodiles, and plants such as the massive 
dipterocarp trees, Rafflesia, the world’s largest flower, orchids and 
the pitcher plants Nepenthes, are all part of the region’s natural 
heritage. Yet current patterns of development are depleting wildlife 
and its habitats at an alarming pace. Given current trends in agricul- 
ture, degradation of these rich tropical forests seems set to continue. 
In this brief chapter it is not possible to review thoroughly the 
impact of deforestation and forest degradation on wildlife. Instead, a 
brief overview of plant and animal diversity, especially of species of 
actual or potential value to mankind, is presented, followed by some 
comment on their ability to survive in forests managed for the 
production of timber and other products. More detail concerning the 
wildlife of individual countries is presented in chapters 12 to 29. 
Actions to prevent or mitigate destructive effects of deforestation 
or forest management are presented in the chapters on land-use 
planning, protected areas and the general outlook for the future 
(chapters 8, 9 and 11). Most of these actions concern im situ conserva- 
tion measures. To balance these, the efforts for ex situ conservation in 
zoos and botanic gardens are presented in case studies on pages 19 
and 22. 


13 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


Plants 

1 The scale of exploitation of the forests in the last few decades has 
placed their future in jeopardy. Timber is the major product, but 
forests are also cleared to grow plantation crops such as rubber, oil 
palm, tea and coffee, which make a major contribution to the region’s 
economy, and for shifting cultivation of various kinds. At current 
rates of exploitation or conversion for other uses, virtually all of the 
region’s forests will be either degraded or cleared by the end of the 
century. Not only will the lucrative source of umber have disap- 
peared but with it the vast array of other economically important 
forest products. 

The dipterocarp forests of Southeast Asia are today the largest 
source of hardwoods in international trade (see Chapter 7), but they 
are likely to be logged over within a decade or two. Their productiv- 
ity from then onwards will depend upon the success with which they 
are managed for sustainable use, but timber output from secondary 
forests will never equal that of the primary forests currently being 
exploited (see Chapters 6, 8). In Peninsular Malaysia, about four- 
fifths of total imber produced comes from dipterocarps. The leading 
species of the monsoon forests of Burma, India, and Thailand is teak 
(Tectona grandis), now extensively planted there as well as in Viet- 
nam, Sri Lanka, Java and Papua New Guinea. Some timber species 
have now become extremely rare, for example calamander (Diospyros 
quaesita), which produces the finest variegated ebony in Sri Lanka. 
2 Many world crops and other plants and animals of economic 
importance came originally from the Asia—Pacific region (Hawkes, 
1989). For a general account of the floristics of the region, refer to 
page 23. Forest plants provide beverages, fibres, fruits, gums, oils, 
bamboos, rattans, spices and vegetables. Fruits such as banana Musa 
spp., citrus Citrus spp., mango Mangifera spp., mangosteen Garcinia 
mangostana; spices, such as betel nut Areca catechu, cardamom 
Elettaria cardamomum, cinnamon Cinnamomum spp., clove Syzygium 
aromaticum, ginger Zingiber officinale, nutmeg Myristica fragrans, 
pepper Piper nigrum and turmeric Curcuma longa; fibres such as 
ramie Boehmeria nivea and jute Corchorus capsularis and root crops 
such as taro Colocasia esculenta, all originate in the Asia—Pacific 
region. The forests are rich in traditional medicinal plants and 
ornamental species such as orchids and palms (Arora, 1985; Bur- 
khill, 1935; Jain and Mehra, 1983; Westphal and Jansen, 1989). 
India, Burma and Southeast Asia are rich centres of genetic variation 
in cultivated fruit trees and their wild relatives only about 30 per cent 
of which have so far been cultivated. 

The genus Mangifera occurs from India to the Solomons, concen- 
trated in West Malesia (Hou, 1978; Mukherjee, 1985). Thirty-nine 
species are currently recognised, and occur mainly in tropical rain 
forests (see Figure 2.1). Wild mango, M. indica, of India and Burma 
is the source of the cultivated mango, one of the most important of all 
tropical fruits. Several other species are used locally, such as M. 
caesia of Sumatra and Malaya, which is cultivated and has dispersed 
and become naturalised widely throughout Malesia. Genetic deple- 
tion has been reported in wild populations of this species as well as in 
M. foetida, M. longipes and M. similis. 

Southeast Asia is also the centre of diversity of the Aurantioid 
subfamily of the Rutaceae, which includes oranges and other citrus 
fruits. Seventy-six per cent of the 33 genera and 68 per cent of the 204 
species of the subfamily are native to the region. Citrus is the most 
important genus economically, with 16 species in the region. There is 
considerable interest in the lesser known wild species and in other 
more or less related genera as a source of material for genetic 
improvement. Malaysia has 78 per cent of the total number of genera 
in Southeast Asia and S50 per cent of the species. Collecting missions 
for germplasm have been undertaken recently by Malaysian univer- 
sities, WWF and IBPGR. 

Other important fruit trees that have their origin in the forests 


14 


Pitcher plants such as Nepenthes gymnophora are a feature of Asian forests. 
Deriving some of their nourishment from insects that drown inside the pitcher, 
they survive well where nutrients are in short supply. WWF/Alain Compost 


include: durian (Durio zibethinus and related species), rambutan 
(Nephelium lappaceum), longan (Dimocarpus longan), mangosteen, 
rose apple (Syzygium jambos, S. malaccense), illipe nut (Shorea 
macrophylla), carambola (Averrhoa carambola) and Ceylon goose- 
berry (Dovyalis hebecarpa). 

The Malesia—Western Pacific region is the home of Artocarpus, of 
which several species have ancient domesticates now grown for their 
fruits, useful fibrous barks and latex which is used for bird lime. The 
principal species are A. wzilis, breadfruit, and A. heterophyllus, 
jackfruit. Some wild species are used as food in Malaysia, New 
Guinea and western Micronesia. 

Bananas are another fruit which originated in this region. Most 
cultivated bananas are derived from Musa acuminata and M. balbi- 
stana, wild species from Southeast Asia. A wide array of cultivars and 
wild races are to be found here and material has been collected for 
future breeding. 

Musa textilis is the source of Manila hemp, a commercial fibre. 
Other important fibres which are native to the region are ramie 
Boehmeria nivea, jute (originating in China), tossa jute (Corchorus 
olitorius, from India), bow-string hemp (Sansevieria zeylanica from 
Sri Lanka, S. roxburghiana from India), and sunn hemp Crotalaria 


juncea, grown on a large scale in India and not known from the wild. 


3 Both bamboos and rattans are a mainstay of traditional technology 
in villages across the region. The monsoon regions of the mainland 
are particularly rich in bamboo resources. Thailand, with over 750 
sq. km of bamboo (Lessard and Chouinard, 1980), has 41 indigenous 
species; Indonesia has 35 and Malaysia 25. The most important 
genera are Bambusa and Gigantochloea. 


The greatest concentration of rattan species occurs in Peninsular 
Malaysia and Borneo (104 and 151 species respectively) (Jacobs, 
1982; Whitmore, 1973). Over half the species are from the genus 
Calamus, which includes those most commonly sought after. Their 
export is worth some $1500 million per year to the region (Caldecott, 
1988), most of this being natural cane collected in the wild. The 
industry is, therefore, particularly valuable. Unlike bamboos, rat- 
tans are difficult to grow outside forests because of their climbing 
nature. However, two of the smaller species, Calamus caesius and C. 


6, section on Management for Secondary Forest Products). They 
now provide 10—20 per cent of Indonesia’s total exports, and planta- 
tions have recently been established in Malaysia (de Beer and 
McDermott, 1989). Coordinated genetic improvement programmes 
exist throughout the region, for both bamboos and rattans (Dhanara- 
jan et al., undated). Rattans are being fast depleted in the forests as a 
result of over-exploitation, especially when timber operations give 
easy access. Forest clearance is also depleting the resource. 

4 Plants are a vital source of drugs and medicines for a large 
percentage of the inhabitants of the Asia—Pacific region; for example 
80 per cent of inhabitants in China and 75 per cent in India rely on 
herbal remedies. At least 6500 species of plants, mainly forest 
species, are used medicinally in Asia. Many are collected from the 
wild and an increasing number are becoming rare or are losing 
diversity as the result of over-collection and the loss of habitat. They 
represent a major, largely neglected, and little explored genetic 
resource and urgent action is needed for their conservation and 
rational exploitation. 


° ‘ 


Figure 2.1 The geographical distribution 

of the species of mango (Mangifera) 

The number of species within countries/islands 
are as follows: 


Andaman Islands 3 Borneo, 
Bali 2 Sabah, Sarawak 
Burma 6 Moluccas 
China 1 Peninsular Malaysia 
India 3 Philippines 
Indochina 10 Sri Lanka 
New Guinea 2 Sulawesi 
Java 9 Sumatra 

Thailand 
After Mukherjee, 1985 Timor 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


Rafflesia, the world’s largest flower, 1s confined to Southeast Asia. Parasitic 
on the roots of certain trees, the foul-smelling flower attracts flies as pollinators. 
This is Rafflesia micropylosa in Perak, Peninsular Malaysia. WWF. 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


Animals 

Zoogeographers recognise two principal assemblages of vertebrates 
in South and Southeast Asia, based on the Sunda and Sahul conti- 
nental shelves of Asia and Australia respectively. Intervening be- 
tween these is a transitional fauna on Sulawesi and associated islands. 
A rather special assemblage also exists on Mentawai and other islands 
to the west of Sumatra, separated from the Sunda shelf by a deep 
ocean trench. This heterogeneity embraces a wide range of animal 
life, much of it of direct benefit to mankind. Excellent general 
descriptions of the land and wildlife of tropical Asia have been 
presented by Ripley (1964) and Pfeffer (1968) (see also Table 2.1). 


1 For many people throughout the region, wild animals provide a 
major proportion of dietary protein (see, for example, the case study 
on Hunting and Wildlife Management in Sarawak in chapter 6). 

e A wide range of forest animals are hunted, but the chief targets are 
ungulates such as bearded pig (Sus barbatus), and several deer, 
including sambar (Cervus unicolor), muntjac, or barking deer (Mun- 
tiacus spp.), and mouse deer (7Tragulus spp.). 

e Primates, pangolins, bats, crocodiles, pythons and a variety of 
frogs are also hunted (Ahmad, 1981; de Beer and McDermott, 1989). 
e@ Large birds, such as hornbills, pheasants, pigeons, birds of 
paradise and bower-birds are taken for personal decoration and 
ceremonies, as well as for the pot. 

e Megapodes are exploited for their giant eggs. 

@ Cave swiftlets provide nests used by the Chinese for soup. 

e@ Many invertebrates are also eaten, including Orthoptera (pri- 
marily grasshoppers and locusts), Isoptera (termites) and certain 
Coleoptera (beetles). Among the latter, the larva of the large palm 
weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, collected from wild sago stumps, 
is most commonly seen in the market place. 


2 Forest animals are the basis of a flourishing local and international 
trade, often to the detriment of the species involved. 

e Trade in birds from the Moluccas and New Guinea is notorious, 
particularly in live parrots and birds of paradise (Inskipp et al., 
1988), e.g. as many as 70,000 parrots may have been exported from 
the Moluccas in 1983, only 42,000 legally (Smiet, 1985). 

@ Reports from the Secretariat of the Convention on International 
Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 
indicate an average annual export for 1980—5 of 23,000 crab-eating 
macaques (Macaca fascicularis ) for bio-medical research from Indo- 
nesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Most other primates from the 
region are prohibited in trade by the Convention, to which the 
majority of countries are party. 

e Butterflies are traded both as deadstock and alive, for supply to 
specialist collectors, for use in curios, and for display in zoos and 
‘butterfly houses’. Although specimens are often brought dead from 
the wild, livestock is generally produced in smallholder butterfly 
farms, such as those that have developed to supply birdwing but- 
terflies from Papua New Guinea (Collins and Morris, 1985). In 1986, 
exports of the New Guinea birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus) were 
estimated at over 7000 specimens (Luxmoore et al., 1988). 

e@ While most freshwater fish entering the aquarium trade are bred 
in captivity, one notable exception is the Asian bonytongue (Scle- 
ropages formosus ). Despite being listed on CITES Appendix I, this is 
sull actively traded, fetching up to US$2700 in Jakarta in 1986. It is 
reported that 7000 specimens were exported from Pontianak, in 
West Kalimantan in 1986 alone (Giesen, 1987). 


3 The forests of the Asia—Pacific region are rich in wild relatives of 
domesticated animals, many of which are threatened by hunting and 
loss of suitable habitat. The most important domestic animals are the 
ungulates, including pigs, deer, antelopes and cattle. 


16 


e Pigs are generally common and able to adapt well to disturbance of 
natural forests. A comparative rarity, however, is the babirusa (Baby- 
rousa babyrussa), which is confined to Sulawesi and vulnerable to loss 
of forest habitat. Also vulnerable in Indonesia is the Javan warty pig 
Sus verrucosus. Confined to Java and the small adjacent island of 
Bawean, very little of its forest habitat remains (see chapter 19). 

e@ Several species of deer are threatened, including the Calamian 
deer (Cervus calamianensis) from the Calamian Islands of the Philip- 
pines, the rare Kuhl’s deer (C. kuhli) from Bawean, the Visayan 
spotted deer (C. alfredi) from the Philippines, the Manipur and 
Thailand subspecies of the brow-antlered deer (C. eldi eldi and C.e. 
slamensis ) and a number of Chinese deer (IUCN, 1978). 

e@ Antelope and gazelle species are less numerous in Asia than in 
Africa. Worthy of particular note is the serow (Capricornis 
sumatraensis), endangered in Sumatra and with a vulnerable close 
relative in Taiwan (C. crispus swinhoei) IUCN, 1988). 

e Asia also has many wild relatives of cattle, most of which are 
vulnerable or endangered in their natural habitats. Gaur or seladang 
(Bos gaurus), banteng (B. javanicus), kouprey (B. sauveli) (see study 
on Zoos on page 19, and chapter 28), wild water buffalo (Bubalus 
bubalis), lowland and mountain anoas (B. depressicornis and B. 
quarlesi see chapter 19) and tamaraw (B. mindorensis see chapter 23), 
are all under threat despite having adapted to shifting cultivation in 
some cases (see chapter 4). Many are the subject of strategic plans for 
their continued survival, discussed in detail in the above chapters. 


4 Of less immediate value to mankind and his domesticated species, 
but of very considerable concern in terms of Asia’s natural heritage, 
are the carnivores, rhinoceroses, elephants and primates. 

e The carnivores include a number of rather poorly known or 
threatened civets (Viverridae), e.g. the Javan small-toothed palm 
civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata trilineata), Owston’s palm civet (Chro- 
togale owstoni) from Indo-China, the otter civet (Cynogale bennetti1) 
from Southeast Asia, the Sulawesi palm civet (Macrogalidia mus- 
schenbroeku) and two civets from south and west India, Jerdon’s palm 
civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni) and the Malabar large spotted civet 
(Viverra megaspila civettina) (Schreiber et al., 1989). 

e The Asia—Pacific region is rich in cats, Felidae. Most famous is the 
uger, the subject of a successful conservation campaign in India (see 
chapter 9), but endangered in the Sundarbans, Sumatra and Malaya, 
and extinct in Java and Bali (IUCN/UNEP, 1986). The clouded 
leopard is believed to be in decline throughout its range, and the 
status of a number of less well-known species, such as the Bornean 
bay cat (Felis badia), the marbled cat (F’. marmorata), the flat-headed 
cat (F. planiceps), the rusty-spotted cat (F. rubiginosa) and the 
Asiatic golden cat (F. temmincki), is cause for concern. 

e All three species of Asian rhinoceros are on the brink of extinction 
(see case study on zoos). The Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) and 
the Javan rhino (R. sondaicus) are quite closely related to each other, 
but are distinct from the Sumatran (or hairy) rhino (Dicerorhinus 
sumatrensis ). The Indian rhino inhabits open country and swamps, 
but the Javan and Sumatran species are denizens of rain forest. The 
status of these species is covered in detail in an action plan for 
conservation prepared by the Asian Rhino Specialist Group of the 
IUCN Species Survival Commission (Khan, 1989). 

e@ The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which occurs throughout 
the region, from Pakistan and Sri Lanka to China, Indo-China, 
Sumatra and Malaya, has been the subject of extensive conservation 
effort, much of it directed towards avoidance of conflict with the 
agriculturalists who are breaking traditional migratory routes and 
leaving forest as isolated patches. WWF, through its Indonesian 
office, has carried out survey and strategic planning work in Sumatra 
for more than five years, and has studied elephants in Vietnam, Sri 
Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Malaysia, Burma, China, Cambodia and 


Laos. While the Asian elephant is not threatened by ivory-hunters to 
the extent of the African species, its populations are declining rapidly 
through loss of habitat and culling of crop raiders. The IUCN/SSC 
Asian Elephant Specialist Group is preparing an action plan for 
continent-wide conservation activities and the present situation has 
been recently summarised by IUCN/UNEP (1986). 

e Asian primates are the subject of a comprehensive action plan 
developed by the Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN Species 
Survival Commission (Eudey, 1987). Many of the actions needed 
concern basic survey work followed by consolidation of existing or 
proposed protected areas in the region. The pygmy loris (Nycticebus 
pygmaeus), tarsiers (Tarsius spp.) and a variety of macaques and leaf 
monkeys are subjects of conservation concern, many of them dis- 
cussed in the country chapters. Of particular importance are the 
gibbons and the orang utan of Borneo and Sumatra. 


5 The birds of the Asia—Pacific region have been extensively studied 
over the past century (see Table 2.1). In both the New Guinea part of 
the Sahul shelf and the countries of the Sunda shelf, most birds are 
forest adapted (Wells, 1985; Beehler, 1985; Diamond and Lovejoy, 
1985). In the Sunda shelf countries over 78 per cent of the almost 500 
resident species are dependent on closed canopy forest (Wells, 1985). 
Similarly, in New Guinea, which has the richest island avifauna in 
the world, 78 per cent of the 570 or so terrestrial species are adapted 
to closed forests (Beehler, 1985). 

The countries of Sundaland have numerous threatened birds, 
most of them residents of the lowland rain and monsoon forests. 
Collar and Andrew (1988) gave details for every country; particularly 
notable are India (62 threatened species), Vietnam (34), Thailand 
(39), Malaysia (34), Indonesia (126) and Papua New Guinea (24). At 
present there is no indisputable evidence of recent extinctions. 
However, some species are now extremely rare, notably the white- 
eyed river martin (Pseudochelidon sirintarae) from Thailand (Round, 
1988), Vo Quy’s pheasant (Lophura hatinhensis), known from only 
two specimens in Vietnam, and Gurney’s pitta (Pitta gurneyr), re- 
cently rediscovered in a 1.6 sq. km Thai forest after half a century 
(Round and Uthai Treesucon, 1986). With its forest habitat reduced 
to almost nothing, there seems little hope for the Caerulean paradise 
flycatcher (Eutrichomyias rowleyi) from Sangihe Island, not seen since 
1978. Mystery surrounds the double-banded argus pheasant (Argu- 
stanus bipunctatus), described from feathers in the London Natural 
History Museum, believed collected in the 19th century from Java, 
where no such pheasant now exists (Wells, 1985). 


Logging and Wildlife 

In general, the effects of forest disturbance depend on a combination 
tion of the nature and extent of the change to the environment and the 
requirements and adaptability of each species. While most species 
are adapted to some level of disturbance, a few are dependent on 
mature forest to maintain breeding populations. Many other species 
on the other hand readily enter certain types of secondary forest and 
rarely venture deep into primary forest. Sull other species enter 
secondary growth to feed on the abundance of young leaves and 
shoots, but always return to nearby primary forest to sleep or travel 
(Wilson and Wilson, 1975). 

Modern advances in the theory of species extinction have used the 
theory of island biogeography of MacArthur and Wilson (1967). 
These models suggest that when only 10 per cent of a habitat is 
preserved as a single undivided area, about half of the species 
restricted to that habitat will eventually disappear from the reserve 
before a state of equilibrium is re-established. It is now realised that 
habitat fragmentation affects different types of organisms in different 
ways, but the principle that many species will be lost from frag- 
mented habitats remains broadly correct. Smaller areas of habitat 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


Table 2.1 The wildlife of tropical Asia and the Pacific: sources of 


information 


Country Mammals Birds 
Asia—Pacific Ellerman and Morrison- Chasen, 1935; Delacour 
Region Scott, 1951; Chasen, and Jabouille, 1940; 
1940; Laurie and Hill, King, et al., 1975; 
1954; Wallace, 1869 Mayr, 1945 
Bangladesh Pocock, 1939; 1941 Ali and Ripley, 1968-73 
Brunei Medway, 1965 Smythies, 1968 
Burma Peacock, 1933; U Tun Smythies, 1953 
Yin, 1967 
Cambodia Delacour and Jabouille, 
1940 
China Allen, 1938; 1940 
India Pocock, 1939, 1941 Ali and Ripley, 1968-73 
Indonesia Medway, 1965 Smythies, 1968 
Laos Delacour and Jabouille, 
1940 
Malaysia Medway, 1969 Delacour, 1947; 
Robinson and Chasen, 
1927-39 
Papua New  Leurie and Hill, 1954 Rand and Gilliard, 1968 
Guinea 
Philippines Alcasid, n.d. Delacour and Mayr, 
1946 
Sri Lanka Phillips, 1924 Henry, 1955 
Thailand Lekagul and McNeely, _—Lekagul, 1968 
1975 
Vietnam Van Peenan et al., 1969 Delacour and Jabouille, 


1940 


inevitably contain smaller populations of wildlife; and smaller popu- 
lations are subject to a whole series of factors that can lead to their 
disappearance, including disease, random population fluctuations, 
and increased exposure to hunting. 

One implication of the great diversity of species which charac- 
terises tropical rain forests is that each species tends to have relatively 
few individuals in any given part of a forest (Eisenberg, 1980; Elton, 
1975). Therefore, in order to maintain sufficient individuals to 
comprise what biologists consider a viable breeding population, 
substantial areas may be required. Medway and Wells (1971) pointed 
out that areas in excess of 2000 sq. km need to be preserved to 
maintain populations of large frugivorous animals such as gibbons 
and hornbills, which occur at densities of less than five individuals 
per square kilometre. 

While virtually all governments in the region have established 
protected areas, many of them to conserve their wildlife (see chapter 
9), many of these may not be sufficiently large to maintain viable 
populations of all the species they were designed to conserve. While 
the protected areas need to be expanded and the effectiveness of their 
protection improved, it is also essential that mechanisms be dis- 
covered to enable timber exploitation and wildlife conservation to co- 
exist. As Johns (1985) put it, ‘the long-term survival of many rain 
forest animals may be correlated realistically with their ability to 
persist in logging areas and in regenerating logged forest’. 

There is no question that logging operations themselves disturb 
animals, as most mobile species are conspicuously absent from any 
active logging area. Species such as the Malayan sun bear, orang 
utan, proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), and all four of the en- 
demic Mentawaian primates are seriously affected by logging. All 
mammals which have been studied show a marked decrease in 
density in recently logged forest, as do the larger hornbill species and 


17 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


great argus pheasant (Argusianus argus) (Wilson and Johns, 1982). 
The arboreal primates seem to be better able to withstand pressures 
imposed by logging than the terrestrial mammals; this disparity may 
reflect the high dietary diversity of the arboreal primates. 

When an area is cleared for agriculture, most invertebrates and 
amphibians and many reptiles are lost because they lack the mobility 
to escape. Moreover, most of the birds and primates which are 
displaced fail to re-establish themselves in adjacent forest because the 
population density there is usually already at full capacity. 

Selective logging destroys far more trees than just the ones that are 
directly exploited. A typical example (Burgess, 1971) is that timber 
extraction even at the low level of 10 per cent of the trees destroys 65 
per cent of the umber stand. 

On the other hand, some moderate disturbance, such as that 
caused by natural tree falls or very carefully conducted selective 
logging at low density, may increase the available food through 
sumulating new growth and fruiting where gaps are formed in the 
canopy. Many native species are in fact adapted to this type of 
change, which is part of the natural dynamics of the forest (Whit- 
more, 1984). 

Johns (1985) has pointed out that primary forest amphibians are 
seriously affected by logging. Species that are intolerant of the 
changed conditions rapidly disappear. Certain under-storey bird 
species may also be intolerant of altered micro-climatic conditions, 


Within ten years of logging many species, such as this rhinoceros hornbill 
(Buceros rhinoceros) are able to return to the forest. WWF/M. Kavanagh 


18 


perhaps because of their sensitivity to temperature fluctuations or 
their unwillingness to cross sunlit patches. When the canopy is 
opened by logging operations, widespread drying and hardening of 
the soil may follow, leading to loss of soil organic matter and decline 
of many of the invertebrates such as termites, which feed upon it 
(Collins, 1980). This in turn severely affects terrestrial birds such as 
partridges and pittas, which feed to a large extent on litter arthro- 
pods. Hunting following logging operations can be a major problem, 
and the large reduction in the population of pigs certainly reflects 
high levels of hunting in logged forest (Wilson and Johns, 1982). 

The species-rich avifaunas of tropical forests contain many birds 
with specialised diets, and habitat disturbance can lead to significant 
losses (see Table 2.2). Johns (1985) found that the most specialised 
feeders (notably insectivores) were most affected by logging, whereas 
birds with a varied diet were less affected. 

Hornbills are of particular interest: their centre of diversity is 
Asian tropical forests, where some 24 species occur. Being large fruit- 
eaters, they forage over long distances as scattered figs and other 
favourite trees come into fruit. While primary forest is the most 
suitable habitat for hornbills, Wilson and Johns (1982) and Johns 
(1987) have found that regenerating logged-over forest can support 
the full complement of species (see chapter 22). It is encouraging to 
note that 10—13 years after logging, almost all species had recolonised 
the study area used by Johns. 

Primates are invaluable indicators of forest condition, except 
where they are heavily hunted (Dittus, 1982; Wilson and Wilson, 
1975; Johns, 1986; Marsh et al., 1987). Some 62 species in five 
families occur in the Asia—Pacific region, 20 of them considered to be 
under threat and a further 17 in need of some conservation action 
(Eudey, 1987). Logging affects the community structure of pri- 
mates. Those which survive quite well in logged forest tend to be the 
species that are relatively widespread and well able to adapt to 
change, including several of the macaques and a few of the leaf 
monkeys. In addition, the small nocturnal primates, the lorises and 
tarsiers, are largely insectivorous and can survive well in secondary 
forest and scrub. However, some threatened species are believed to 
be very badly affected even at low cutting densities; these include the 
orang utan, the proboscis monkey, and all four primates on the 
Mentawai Islands, namely Kloss’s gibbon Hylobates klossi, pig-tailed 
langur Simias concolor, Mentawai leaf monkey Presbytis poten- 
ziani and Mentawai macaque Macaca pagensis (Marsh et al., 1987). 
The prosperity of most of the remaining species, including the 
gibbons and most of the leaf monkeys, will depend on the intensity of 
logging and the security and management of the forest after logging. 


Table 2.2 Trophic structure of primary and logged forest 
avifaunas in two areas of Southeast Asia 


Trophic group Bird species of Bird species of 
Peninsular Sabah 
Malaysia 
Primary Logged Primary Logged 
Frugivores 34 21 32 26 
Insectivores/frugivores 43 28 30 29 
Insectivores/ 
nectarivores 10 8 10 8 
Insectivores 91 55 79 65 
Carnivores 17 10 10 9 
Totals 195 122 161 137 


(Source: Johns, 1985) 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


ZOOS AND CONSERVATION 


As the extent of the world’s natural habitat declines, the import- 
ance of the modern zoo to conservation is increasing. Interna- 
tional studbooks, breeding programmes and _ sophisticated 
techniques for genetic identification and management enable zoos 
to preserve species and sub-species such as the Bali starling 
Leucopsar rothschild: and the Formosan sika deer Cervus nippon 
taiouanus, which would otherwise disappear. A more recent but 
closely-related development is the use of zoo-bred animals to re- 
inforce or reintroduce populations into the wild, and thereby 
rehabilitate degraded ecosystems. Increasingly, such restoration 
programmes will require animals that are only available in zoos 
and other captive breeding institutions. 

Zoos also contribute substantially to public education. As more 
and more people become detached from their natural heritage 
through urban existence, visiting the zoo is not only the closest 
they will ever come to a wild animal, it is also an effective way of 
conveying the variety and beauty of nature. This can be accom- 
plished through the exhibition of a broad range of taxonomic 
groups or through specialist collections which concentrate on 
particular species or groups of species. Butterfly houses and 
insectaria, for example, are growing in number around the world, 
especially in Europe and North America, and now also in Aus- 
tralia, Japan and the Far East, where displays of butterflies are 
extremely popular. 

Of growing importance is the zoo’s role in the development of 
specialised techniques for the management of restricted popula- 
tions. The constriction of the world’s wild places into islands, 
parks and reserves isolated by human development and marginal 
lands means that the long-term viability of the animal populations 
may depend upon the same intensive management techniques 
already in use in zoos. The value of these techniques and expertise 
is only just beginning to be appreciated but they represent a major 
resource which will prove essential to the survival of many 
species. 

Of course not all zoos contribute equally to conservation. The 
varying availability of technical and financial resources and vary- 
ing popular attitudes to wildlife have resulted in a wide spectrum 
of institutions with vast differences in their standards of animal 
welfare, education and science. By and large, it has been the 
North American and European zoos which have developed keep- 
ing of exotic animals into the sophisticated science of the modern 
zoo. However, this pattern is changing with zoos in other regions 
such as those in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Singapore, now 
becoming much more involved in local conservation and educa- 
uon. 

A major international initiative has been in train over the last 
five years to save the highly endangered Sumatran rhinoceros. 
Isolated individuals, found in ‘doomed’ areas where the forest is 
being cleared, are being caught to establish breeding programmes 
both locally in Malaysia and Indonesia, and overseas in the United 
States and Great Britain. It is hoped that these animals will breed 
and thereby contribute to the long-term survival of their species. 
A similar joint initiative is being undertaken for the kouprey, 
which is also believed to be in imminent danger of extinction (see 
chapter 28). The Kouprey Trust, involving six zoos, aims to 
conduct field surveys to locate the remaining populations and then 
to establish a captive breeding centre in Vietnam to build up 
numbers as quickly as possible. The goal is quite simply to 
maintain a secure reserve stock of these animals as a safeguard 
against extinction. 


Management techniques learnt in zoos have many applications. At the 
Sepilok Research Centre in Sabah, orang utans confiscated from pet 
dealers are rehabilitated for life in the wild. WWF/S. Sreedhara 


Ultimately, the zoo’s aim is to return animals to their natural 
environments and many zoos actively participate in such projects. 
The Taipei Zoo, for example, is providing Formosan sika deer for 
reintroduction into the Kengting National Park (see chapter 17) 
and the few remaining wild Bali starlings, are being augmented 
with captive-bred birds from American and European zoos, in 
cooperation with Jakarta Zoo. Opportunities for such reintroduc- 
tions will undoubtedly increase if suitable habitat remains and if 
the causes of the species’ original decline are controlled. 

Unfortunately, it is often not possible to achieve these aims. 
Certain species of Partula snails, for instance, are extinct in the 
wild, and could, in theory, be reintroduced using captve-bred 
specimens. So far, this has not been feasible because introduced 
carnivorous snails, which originally eliminated the Partula snails, 
still abound on the Pacific island of Moorea. This sort of problem, 
where there are considerable stocks, even surplus, of a particular 
species in captivity, but no suitable wild habitat in which to 
release them, poses a difficult question for zoos — whether to let a 
species disappear completely or to maintain it only in captivity. So 
far, the decision has usually been taken in favour of preservation, 
but as the number of threatened species increases and the compe- 
tition for the limited money and space available for captive 
breeding intensifies, choices will have to be made. 

Nothing can replace an animal’s natural environment and the 
ecosystem of which it is a part. Zoos can only preserve individual 
elements of an ecosystem and give visitors a glimpse of the variety 
of life; they are no substitute for the real thing. 

Source: Alexandra Dixon 


19 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


Botanic gardens 


1 
2 


@ 
© Sp 4 _ 
WOig eo as Uo ee 
99 (33) Oi Fs S3 eee ~ 
153) 


M%° 2, 


Rimba I/mu Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 
Forest Research Institute Arboretum, Kepong, Selangor, Kuala 
Lumpur, Malaysia 

Universiti Kebangsaan, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia 

Waterfall Garden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia 

Sepilok Arboretum, Forest Research Institute, Sandakan, Sabah, 
Malaysia 

Botanical Research Centre, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia 
Agricultural Research Station and Orchid Centre, Tenom, Sabah, 
Malaysia 

Kebun Raya, Bogor, Java, Indonesia 

Lipizauga Botanical Sanctuary, Eastern Highlands Provincial Govt. 
Goroka, Papua New Guinea 

Purwodadi Botanic Garden, Lawang, East Java, Indonesia 

Cebang Balai Kebun Raya Eka Karya Bali, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia 
Arboretum and Experimental Gardens of Silviculture, Forest Research 
Institute, Bogor, Indonesia 

National Botanic Garden, Office of Forests, Botany Branch, Lae, 
Papua New Guinea 

Highland Orchid Collection, Laiagam, Enga Province, Papua New 
Guinea 

Botanic Garden of the University, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 
Singapore Botanic Garden, Cluny Road, Singapore 

Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Canton Road Government 
Offices, 393 Canton Road, 12th floor, Kowloon, Hong Kong 
Kadoorie Experimental & Extension Farm and Botanic Garden, Lam 
Kam Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong 

Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden, Albany Road, Hong 
Kong 

Baldah Garden, Wari, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Mirpur National Botanic Garden, Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Government Botanic Garden, Maymo, Burma 

The Agri-Horticultural Society of Burma, Rangoon, Burma 

Cibodas Botanic Garden, Clanjur, West Java, Indonesia 

The Hortorium, Museum of Natural History, Los Banos College, 
Laguna, Philippines 

Makiling Botanic Gardens, University of the Philippines, Laguna, 
Philippines 


Figure 2.2 Botanic and zoological gardens of the Asia—Pacific region 
Out ofa total of about 1500 botanic gardens in the world the Asia—Pacific region contains over 100 major ones with the majority in India and southern 
China. Several important and active botanic gardens exist also in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Few botanic gardens are presently active in 
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, but there are encouraging new developments in Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. 


20 


27 


28 


Zoological and Botanical Gardens, Harrison Park, Malate, Manila, 
Philippines 
Pharmaceutical Garden, 
Philippines 

Philippine National Botanic Garden, University of the Philippines, 
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines 

Arboretum of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon 
City, Philippines 

Philippine National Botanic Garden, Siniload, Laguna, Philippines 
Hakgala Botanic Gardens, Hakgala, Sri Lanka 

Gampaha Botanic Garden, Heneratgoda, Gampaha, Sri Lanka 

Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 
Heng-chun Tropical Botanical Garden, Taiwan 
Eastern (Khao Hin Son) Botanic Garden, 
Chachoengengsao, Thailand 

Northern Mae Sa Botanic Garden, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, Thailand 
Central Phukae Botanic Garden, Mueng, Sara Buri, Thailand 
Peninsular Khao Chong Botanic Garden, Trang, Thailand 

Rove Botanic Garden, Forest Department, Honiara, Solomon Islands 
Zoological-Botanical Garden, Hanoi, Vietnam 

Zoological-Botanical Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

Lushan Botanical Garden, Hanpokou, Lushan, Jiangxi, China 

South China Botanical Garden, Longyandong, Guangzhou, 
Guangdong, China 

Guilin Botanical Garden, Yanshan, Guilin, Guangxi, China 
Kunming Botanical Garden, Helongtan, Kunming, Yunnan, China 


University of Santo Tomas, Manila, 


Phanomsarakham, 


63 


65 


66 


Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, 
China 

Shanghai Botanic Garden, Lunghua, Shanghai, China 

Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Yuquan, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 
Nanjing Botanical Garden, Mem. Sun Yat-sen Nanjing, Jiangsu, 
China 

Wuhan Botanical Garden, Moshan, Wuchang, Hupeh, China 
Zhejiang Institute of Subtropical Crops, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China 
Hainan Botanical Garden of Tropical Economic Plants, Academy of 
Tropical Crops of South China, Hainan, China 

Guizhou Botanical Garden, Guiyang, Guizhou, China 

Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants, Maogiao, Nanning, 
Guangxi, China 

Xiamen Botanical Garden of Ornamental Plants, 
Xiamen, Fujian, China 

Flecker Botanic Garden, Cairns, Queensland, Australia 
Townsville Botanic Garden, Townsville, Queensland, Australia 
Botanical Garden, Agra College, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India 
Sarabhai Foundation Botanic Gardens, Shahibag, Ahmedabad, 
Gujarat, India 

Gujarat University Botanic Garden, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, 
Gujarat, India 

Aligarh Muslim University Botanic Garden, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 
India 

Experimental Garden, Botanical Survey of India (Central Circle), 
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 

Marathwada University Botanic Garden, Marathwada University, 
Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India 

Lalbagh Garden, Department of Horticulture, Bangalore, Karnataka, 
India 


Wanshishan, 


ss) NS 
The Botanical Garden, Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra, College of 
Basic Sciences and Humanities, University of Agricultural Sciences, 
Bangalore, Karnataka, India 
State Botanic Garden, Barang, Cuttack, Orissa, India 
Botanic Garden, Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour, Bhagalpur, 
Bihar, India 
Utkal University Botanic Garden, Department of Botany, Utkal 
University, Vani Bihar, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India 
Magadh University Botanic Garden, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, 
Bihar, India 
Veermata Jijabai, Bhosle Udyan and Pranisangrahalaya, Byculla, 
Bombay, Maharashtra, India 
Botanic Garden, Institute of Sciences, Bombay, Maharashtra, India 
Burdwan University Botanic Garden, Burdwan, West Bengal, India 
Eden Gardens, Calcutta, West Bengal, India 
The Agri-Horticultural Society of India, Calcutta, West Bengal, India 
Experimental cum Botanic Garden, Department of Botany, University 
of Calcutta, West Bengal, India 
Indian Botanic Garden, Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India 
Calicut University Botanical Garden, Calicut, Kerala, India 
Panjab University Botanical Garden, Chandigarh, Union Territory of 
Chandigarh, India 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


80 Government Gardens, Chaubattia, Almora, Uttar Pradesh, India 
81 Forest Research Centre, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India 
82 Botanical Survey of India (Southern Circle), Tamil Nadu Agricultural 
University, Lawley Road, Coimbatore, India 
83 Sim’s Park, Coonoor, Government Botanic Garden, the Nilgiris, 
Tamil Nadu, India 
84 Lloyd Botanic Garden, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India 
85 Botanic Garden of Darjeeling Government College, Darjeeling, West 
Bengal, India 
86 Experimental Garden, Botanical Survey of India (Northern Circle), 
Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh, India 
87 Botanic Garden, Forest Research Institute and College, Dehra Dun, 
Uttar Pradesh, India 
88 Botanic Garden, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Issapur 
Village, Najafgarh Block, Delhi, India 
89 Botanic Garden, Department of Botany, Delhi University, Delhi, 
India 
90 Experimental Garden, Botanical Survey of India (Northern Circle), 
Pauri, Garhwa, Uttar Pradesh, India 
91 Botanic Garden, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 
India 
92 Jubilee Park, Jamshedpur, Singhbhum, Bihar, India 
93 Botanic Garden, Gujarat Agricultural University, Junagadh, Gujarat, 
India 
94 National Botanic Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 
Uttar Pradesh, India 
95 Agri-Horticultural Society, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India 
96 Madurai Kamraj University Botanic Garden, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 
India 
97 Meerut University Botanic Garden, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India 
98 Brindavan Gardens, Mysore, Mandya, Karnataka, India 
99 Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India 
100 Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary, East West University, North Wynad, 
Kerala, India 
101 Government Botanic Garden, Ootacamund, the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, 
India 
102 Panjabi University Botanic Garden, Patiala, Punjab, India 
103 Experimental Botanical Garden, Botanical Survey of India (Western 
Circle), Pune, Maharashtra, India 
104 Empress Botanic Garden, Pune, India 
105 University of Poona Botanic Garden, Pune, Maharashtra, India 
106 Ravi Sankar University Botanic Garden, Raipur, Madhya Pradesh, 
India 
107 Saurashtra University Experimental Garden, Rajkot, Gujarat, India 
108 Botanic Garden of the University of Sagar, Sagar, India 
109 Horticultural Experiment and Training Centre, Saharanpur, Uttar 
Pradesh, India 
110 Barapani Experimental Garden, Botanical Survey of India (Eastern 
Circle), Shillong, Meghalaya, India 
111 National Orchidarium and Botanic Garden, Botanical Survey of India 
(Eastern Circle), Shillong, Meghalaya, India 
112 South Gujarat University Botanical Garden, Surat, Gujarat, India 
113. Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Karimancode, Pacha 
Palode, Trivandrum, Kerala, India 
114 Botanic Garden, Vikram University, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India 
115 Andhra University Experimental Garden, Waltair, Visakhapatnam, 
Andhra Pradesh, India 
116 National Orchidarium and Experimental Garden, Botanical Survey of 
India (Southern Circle), Yercaud, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India 
Zoological gardens 
A Rangoon Zoo, Burma 
B Kuala Lumpur Zoo, Malaysia 
C Singapore Zoo 
D = Jakarta Zoo, Indonesia 
E Hanoi Zoo, Vietnam 
2 Taipei Zoo, Taiwan 
G Australia Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, Queensland, Australia 
H_ _— Daintree Butterfly Farm, Queensland, Australia 
I Penang Butterfly Farm, Malaysia 
J Formosa Insect Farm, Taiwan 
K Bangkok Zoo, Thailand 


21 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


THE ROLE OF BOTANIC GARDENS 

Tropical botanic gardens were mostly created by governments as 
instruments of colonial expansion and commercial development, 
playing a major part in establishing the patterns of agriculture in 
several parts of the world, most notably in Southeast Asia. Many 
crop plants were introduced by or through these gardens — often in 
association with European botanic gardens such as Amsterdam 
and Kew. They include cocoa, cinchona, tea, coffee, oil palm 
(Elaeis guineensis) and breadfruit. The emphasis was on eco- 
nomic development and several gardens were created specifically 
to act as nurseries or propagation centres for commercial crops. 
Notable amongst these were the Royal Botanic Garden at Per- 
adeniya, Sri Lanka, founded in 1821, which wielded considerable 
influence on the development of agriculture in Ceylon, and the 
botanic garden of Singapore, founded in 1859, into which was first 
introduced Para rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), on which the pros- 
perity of Malaya and later other parts of Southeast Asia was based. 

Recently the importance of conservation has been recognised 
and botanic gardens have begun to act as centres for research on, 
and conservation of, plant genetic diversity. They recognise that 
new techniques must be developed to increase the ability to store 
germplasm of endangered species. This is important as many tropi- 
cal species are difficult or impossible to maintain by conventional 
long-term storage in low-temperature seed banks. Germplasm in 
botanic garden collections may be maintained in cultivation, in 
nature reserves, as living plants, as im vitro cultures or as seedling 
collections. Some species can be preserved as seed or spores. 

Botanic gardens have a particular role to play in the conserva- 
tion of plant genetic resources. Thirty crops feed most of mankind 
and about a hundred play a dominant part in world trade. There is 
concern that the genetic base of the major crops in cultivation is 
very narrow, and that the wild populations of their ancestral 
species or relatives are rapidly disappearing due to loss of 
habitat. 

The majority of wild, but potentially commercial, species has 
been neglected. Botanic gardens throughout the world are now 
beginning to mobilise their efforts to develop the potential of these 
species in a co-ordinated fashion. In 1987 the Botanic Gardens 
Conservation Secretariat was established by IUCN to help co- 
ordinate activities in conservation by maintaining a database of 
endangered species that are in garden collections, organising 
regional meetings, programmes for staff training and assistance 
for garden conservation and education programmes. Botanic 
gardens from nine countries in the Asia—Pacific region are already 
represented amongst the membership. 

The work of botanic gardens may be illustrated by some 
examples of projects currently in progress. 


Conservation of rain forest Citrus species in Malaysia The Uni- 
versity of Malaya Rimba Ilmu botanic garden has established a 
living collection of Citrus and its wild relatives as part of the 
IBPGR network of conservation centres for crop gene pools. One 
species conserved is the 20m tree ketenggah (Merrillia caloxylon), 
the sole representative of the genus Mernilia and a close relative of 
the genus Citrus. It grows only in primary rain forest in Thailand, 
Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra and is probably on the verge of 
extinction. The majority of known individuals exist in botanic 
gardens, where extensive propagation is now taking place to ensure 
its survival. Much of the natural range of ketenggah has been 
converted for agricultural development and, since 1981, efforts to 
locate wild populations in Peninsular Malaysia have failed. 


Conserving highland rain forest species in Papua New 
Guinea Papua New Guinea has numerous endemic species, 
especially in the highlands. Situated in the Mount Gahavisuka 
Provincial Park in the mountains near Goroka is the Lipizauga 
Botanical Sanctuary. Maintained as a semi-natural area, the Sanc- 
tuary has been founded for conservation, research and recreation. 
Only plants native to Papua New Guinea are grown in this natural 
setting and species from all over the highlands are being added, 
especially rare and endangered ones. The Sanctuary occupies 10 
ha of savannah grassland on the lower ridges with lower montane 
rain forest above. So far about 2000 accessions of about 500 taxa 
have been introduced. Well-represented genera include Begonia, 
Impatiens, Rhododendron and many orchids. 


Preserving the ferns of Malaysia A new specialist fern garden, 
12.8 ha in size, has recently been established at the Universiti 
Kebangsaan at Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. To date about 150 
species have been introduced. While the emphasis has been on 
rare and threatened species, the garden will also serve as an 
outdoor laboratory for morphological, cytological and phyto- 
chemical investigations. 


Conserving medicinal plants of Sri Lanka Traditional medicines, 
especially those derived from wild plants, play an important part 
in everyday health care in Sri Lanka. The Royal Botanic Garden, 
Peradeniya, has recently carried out a programme to conserve 
over 200 medicinal plant species which occur in Kandy District. 
Sixty-four species were recognised as in danger of extinction, due 
to over-harvesting. The botanic garden has recommended large- 


scale cultivation in order to protect them. 
Source: Peter Wyse-Jackson 


Botanical gardens are important for the protection of plant germplasm. 
Illustrated here at Bogor, Java, the Nibong Oucosperma tigillarium 


with its edible ‘cabbage’, is maintained. Steve Davis 


FOREST WILDLIFE 


FLORISTIC REGIONS OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 
The Asia—Pacific region includes five main floristic zones: 


India The flora of the Indian region is estimated to be about 
15,000 species. The whole area has suffered severe degradation 
due to human activity. Mani (1974) estimates that less than one 
per cent of India can be regarded as primary forest. 


Indo-China The Indo-Chinese floristic region runs from Burma 
across to southern China, south through Thailand, Laos and 
Vietnam to Cambodia. The flora of Indo-China is not fully 
documented. Vidal (1960) listed only 1447 species in 754 genera 
for Laos, but the flora of Vietnam is estimated at about 12,000 
species, of which 7000 have been described. The total flora of the 
region is probably about 15,000 species. At least one-third of these 
species are endemic. Endemism at generic level is rather less. 


Malesia The northern limits of the Malesian floristic region are 
clearly marked by ‘demarcation knots’ at the Kra Isthmus and 
between the Philippines and Taiwan, which form the limits of 
many Indochinese and Malesian genera, and at Torres Strait 
between New Guinea and Australia. The Malesian flora is conser- 
vatively estimated to contain 25,000 species of flowering plants 


(van Steenis, 1971), about 10 per cent of the world’s total. 
Peninsular Malaysia alone contains nearly 8000 species from 1500 
genera (Whitmore, 1973). About 40 per cent of the genera found 
in Malesia, and even more of the species, are endemic. 


Australasia Tropical rain forests constitute less than one per 
cent of Australia’s tropical vegetation (Webb and Tracey, 1981). 
Important features include the similarity of their florisuc com- 
position with both Southeast Asia and Gondwanaland elements, 
and the stark contrast between the structure and floristics of the 
rain forest and the much more widespread forests and woodlands 
dominated by eucalypts. The rain forests of north-east Queens- 
land rank with the south-west as one of the richest areas for plants 
in Australia, with an estimated 2500 species, including 800 species 
of tree. Australia’s total flora is estimated at 18,000 vascular plants 
(IUCN, 1986). 


Pacific The islands of the Western Pacific, such as the Solomons 
and Fiji, are relatively species-poor and low in endemism 
when compared with Malesia. The Solomons have c.2150 
species of vascular plants, but only three endemic genera 
(IUCN, 1986). 


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23 


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24 


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A guide to the mammals of Ceylon. Spolia 


Authorship 

Jeff McNeely of IUCN, with contributions from Vernon Hey- 
wood of IUCN’s Plants Conservation Programme; Peter Wyse Jack- 
son of the Botanic Gardens Conservation Secretariat at the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Kew, London; Mark Collins and Steve Davis of 
WCMC Cambridge; Alexandra Dixon of the Zoological Society of 
London. 


3 People of the 
Beal Forests 


Introduction 


The tropical rain forests of Asia and the Pacific islands are home to 
millions of tribal people, for whom the destruction or degradation of 
the forest means not just economic impoverishment but the end of 
their distinctive ways of life. Scattered thinly through the vast rain 
and monsoon forests of the region, their economies and cultures are 
as variable as the ecosystems they rely on, and their problems are as 
diverse as the policies and politics of the governments that now rule 
them. 

Only a very small proportion of these peoples, most notably the 
Penan of Kalimantan and Sarawak, do not practise agriculture and 
rely entirely on hunted and gathered food for their subsistence. 
Other groups such as the Mrabri of Thailand, the Negrito peoples of 
the Philippines and Peninsular Malaysia, the Kubu of Sumatra, anda 
number of Melanesian groups in New Guinea still retain a way of life 
which is largely independent of agriculture. In coastal areas, espec- 
ially in Indonesia and Melanesia, tribal groups relying on fishing and 
sago palm are also widespread. However, the majority complement 
the foods that they take directly from the forest with starch staples 
derived from trading, and crops grown in swidden! plots — mainly 
bananas, dry-land rice, sweet potatoes, tapioca, taro and yams. For 
some of these peoples, such as the Nu and Drung of the rugged, 
forested hills of China’s Yunnan province, the transition to agricul- 
ture may have been quite recent, while for others swidden agriculture 
has long been central to their way of life (Xin Jiguang, 1987; China 
Reconstructs, 1984). 

It is not just food that these peoples derive from their forests. 
Building materials, rattan for basketry, leaf wrappers, gums, resins, 
latex, drugs, poisons, medicines, perfumes, birds’ nests, bone, horn 
and ivory have all become integral to their economies and have linked 
them over millennia to an extensive trade network that has encom- 
passed the whole region and beyond. In India, for example, forest 
peoples of the Western Ghats, such as the Malaipantaram of Kerala, 
neither cultivate their own crops nor gain the major part of their diet 
from the forests but, instead, barter forest produce for food grown by 
other peoples in the lowlands (Morris, 1982). This dependence of 
tribal communities on products gathered in the forest is mirrored by 
the vast majority of the rural people of the Asian region who, whilst 
primarily dependent upon agriculture for their basic needs, sull 
derive important medicines, foods and fibres from the natural forest 
(de Beer and McDermott, 1989). 


' See chapter 4 for a description of swidden agriculture. 


The intimate physical links between the forest peoples and their 
environment are echoed in religious belief, ritual, dance and song. 
Their subtle practical knowledge of the ways of the forest animals 
and plants is complemented by an equally complex familiarity with 
the ways of forest ‘spirits’. The strong ties between the people and 
their lands are expressed as powerful links between ancestral spirits 
and the spirits of forest animals and plants, and link them to the 
needs of future generations; to ‘our children who are still in the soil’, 
as the Papuans refer to them. The forests are both the source of these 
peoples’ livelihoods and the very foundation of their being (Colches- 
ter, 1986a). 


Forest People under Threat 

The inherently poor soils of much of upland tropical Asia, coupled 
with population growth, has meant that the swidden farmers are 
constantly in search of new lands (Geddes, 1976). In continental Asia 
these pressures, combined with pressure from their settled neigh- 
bours who have forced them off their lands, have resulted in long- 
term migrations of hill peoples (MacKinnon and Bhruksasri, 1986). 
As aresult the Akha and the Hmong have been on the move for three 
or four millennia, from Tibet and eastern China respectively, and in 
the course of the last hundred years have pushed far south into what 
is now Thailand (Denslow and Padoch, 1988; Tapp, 1986). 

At the same time there has been an expansion of areas of perma- 
nent (mainly wet-rice) cultivation in the lowlands. Though more 
labour-intensive than the extensive cultivations of the forest peoples, 
the sedentary and easily taxable incomes of wet-rice farmers have 
provided the basis for the growth of nation-states dating back over 
two millennia. And while some of these cultures, such as the Khmer 
in present-day Cambodia, have flourished and vanished again, others 
have endured and expanded, gradually pushing back the boundaries 
of wilderness as the lowlands have been progressively cleared for 
intensive and cash-crop farming (Dove, 1985). 

The development of nation-states in the irrigable plains along the 
major rivers has in some cases resulted in the absorption of forest 
groups into the lowland peasant societies. In mainland Southeast 
Asia, however, the tribal groups of the hills have tended to remain 
independent of the lowlanders (Lewis and Lewis, 1984). Even these 
upland forests that have been their refuge are now approaching 
exhaustion and the upland peoples increasingly look out over a plain 
of settled cultivators, across a cultural divide of mutual mistrust 
and suspicion. For, whether newcomers or not, the tribal peoples’ 


25 


PEOPLE OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS 


Land laws provide little security to the Dani tribe of Irian Jaya. Development programmes generally override traditional tribal rights. WW F/Ron Petocz 


relationship with their forests has not been readily intelligible to 
those from lowland civilisations. The forest peoples’ apparent lack of 
ues to their lands, exemplified by their migratory hunting and gather- 
ing patterns, and their swidden agriculture, has led settled farming 
peoples to assume that they both underuse their lands and have no 
proprietary rights to them. The forest peoples dispute both conclu- 
sions. Their patterns of land-use have evolved over thousands of 
years to make an easy life from the forest with a minimum of effort; a 
way of life both rational and sustainable so long as their populations 
remained low and their territories extensive (Kunstadter et al., 1978; 
and see chapter 4). 

During the past century, the pressures on tropical forests have 
intensified massively. The progressive and slow expansion of seden- 
tary farming has been overtaken as a pressure on rain forests by the 
accelerated expansion of industrialisation, rapid population increase, 
mass communications and transport, and the increasing linkage of 
the region with world markets. Logging, mining, plantations, agri- 
business and colonisation schemes have brought the forest peoples 
into conflict with the outside world on an unprecedented scale. 


Land Rights and Wrongs 

For the forest peoples, the above-mentioned intrusion on their 
territories are seen as an invasion, and as something that derives from 
a lack of respect — both for their societies and their rights to their 
land. With the exception of the recently independent states of 
Melanesia — Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu — 
national laws have seldom provided tribal peoples with secure tenure 
over the land that they have traditionally occupied (von Fuhrer- 
Haimendorf, 1982; Colchester, 1986a; b; 1989). In most of the Asia— 
Pacific countries populations in the forests now exceed the level 
where swidden agriculture can provide for their long-term livelihood 
(see chapter 4). Swidden agriculturalists have been joined by dis- 
placed and inexperienced agricultural smallholders whose shifting 
agriculture is damaging to forest and soil. The result has been conflict 
with government plans for land-use, which often do not recognise the 
need to find alternative means of meeting the legitimate requirements 
of the tribal minorities. 


26 


In many countries, forest areas have been placed under state 
control and the forest inhabitants are allowed to remain on sufferance 
— the long-term objective being to resettle these people in the 
lowlands. For example, in Thailand all land over 500 m elevation is 
defined as state land, and in October 1989 the Government an- 
nounced its intention to relocate six million people residing in forest 
reserves, including 700,000 people from hill tribes (Bangkok Post, 
1989). The Government’s concern for the future of Thailand’s forests 
is well founded since logging, encroachment by lowlanders and 
population growth amongst the hill tribes have led to unsustainable 
forest use and deforestation (see chapter 27). However, resettlement 
and development programmes in upland Thailand dating back to the 
1950s have encountered many problems, and the difficulties involved 
in providing new lands and better standards of living for so many 
displaced people are awesome. 

Similarly, a great many of the five million tribal people of the 
Philippines who occupy forest lands were effectively dispossessed by 
decree law PD 704 of 1975, by which all the lands steeper than 18 
degrees in slope were defined as forest reserves (see chapter 23). The 
greater part of tribal lands in the Philippines are considered ‘public 
domain’. As a result, tribal peoples have been unable to use legal 
means to prevent progressive takeover by loggers and business 
interests, and by dispossessed lowlanders (kaingeros). The latter 
themselves practise shifting cultivation and pose a major threat both 
to the original forest dwellers and to the little remaining catchment 
and watershed forest (Ganapin, 1987). 

In Indonesia, land laws have provided little security to traditional 
owners and even where rights have been recognised this has not 
prevented the expropriation of land. Where Government develop- 
ment programmes are involved, such tribal rights as are recognised 
have been overridden by invoking the power of ‘eminent domain’. 
For example, all development programmes in the Government’s five- 
year plans, including the transmigration schemes, are considered to 
be in the ‘national interest’. Very often, leases of tribal lands to 
foreign multinationals for mining and logging have been granted 
with minimal consideration of traditional land claims (Colchester, 
1986a; b). 


PEOPLE OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS 


Ge _°/ ( Figure 3.1 Tribal Societies of Tropical Asia 


MMR cs 


(Source: Spencer, J. E. 1966) 


Obstacles to Progress 
Government policies towards the forest peoples in the Asian region In Mulu National Park, Sarawak, knowledgeable forest people like this 
(but not in the Pacific), while varying from country to country, are -Berawan guide make excellent caretakers of the forest. N. Mark Collins 
almost without exception directed towards the goal of integration — a ON, : 
the gradual dismantling of cultural differences and the incorporation 
of the forest peoples into the society of the national majority. In some 
cases government institutions have been specifically created to carry 
out this role; as well as being charged with protecting the peoples’ 
basic rights, a task they have accomplished rather less assiduously 
(Colchester, 1986c; Dove, 1989). 

Resettlement has been central to many of these government-run 
programmes, whereby the people are moved out of their forest 
settlements and re-established as sedentary farmers or plantation 
workers (Carey, 1976). Although facilitating access to desired ser- 
vices — schools, clinics and markets — such moves, when too rapidly 
undertaken, have caused severe social and economic problems, 
sometimes with serious environmental consequences. They have 
also, often, been motivated by less charitable intentions, either to 
clear their lands for ‘development’ — dams, roads or mines — or to 
allow the takeover of the forests by other interested groups, settlers, 
agribusinesses or loggers. National security considerations also un- 
derlie many of these resettlement schemes, both for the classic 
purpose of counter-insurgency and also to promote government 
control over inaccessible regions (Budiardjo, 1986; Fay, 
1987). 

The rapid exploitation by outsiders of forests used by tribal people 
has not gone unprotested. Conflicts, often armed, have been wide- 
spread. For example, in northern Sarawak, their claims to traditional 
land rights denied, certain tribes have resorted to setting up barri- 
cades across the logging roads to defend the forests around their 


, 


PEOPLE OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS 


villages and longhouses (Langub, 1988a; b; SAM, 1989). The Gov- 
ernment has responded with arrests and by passing a new law making 
all interference with logging activity a criminal offence. Yet despite 
this, the blockades have been persistently re-erected, and timber 
extraction has been obstructed (Colchester, 1989). 

The fundamental basis of this dispute is based on the way in which 
land rights have been conferred on people in Sarawak. Under the 
Land Code, tribal groups have claims to land if their rights were 
established prior to 1958. From this date it became illegal to clear 
virgin forests for shifting agriculture without permits, although they 
could still be used for collecting forest produce. Land rights were 
generally established through forest clearance and farming prior to 
1955, and for almost 30 years there was little public concern. 
However, with the accelerated pace of logging in the 1980s, conflicts 
have arisen. Human rights organisations now claim that tribal peo- 
ples have ‘Native Customary Rights’ arising from non-commercial 
extraction of forest produce, i.e. beyond the areas of farmed and 
fallow land. This claim is supported by international law, including 
the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and 
Convention 107 of the International Labour Organisation. The 
Government of Sarawak, however, holds the view that many of the 
tribal people arrested at the blockades only moved into the hill forests 
recently, and they do not therefore have land rights, customary or 
otherwise (Hong, 1987). 

Such cases of direct resistance to the exploitation of the resources 
of tribal peoples’ lands come from all over the region, and have been 
exacerbated where internationally financed development schemes 
have accelerated the pace of change. A tragic example was the World 
Bank’s support in the early 1980s for the Chico Dams project in the 
Philippines, which threatened to displace some 80,000 Bontoc and 
Kalinga people from their ancestral lands. When the local people 
protested against the project, the Marcos Government responded 
violently. Many tribals took to the hills and joined the New People’s 
Army to defy the imposed development. The conflict endured long 
after the World Bank pulled out of the project (Fay, 1987). 

Whether one’s concern is for the survival of the region’s tribal 
peoples or their forests, or both, the political reality of such armed 
conflict is an issue that cannot be ignored. Bitter conflicts between 
tribal peoples and government armed forces drag on, in India, 
Bangladesh, Burma, the Philippines, Irian Jaya and East Timor 
(Budiardjo and Liong, 1988; Anti-Slavery Society, 1984). The dense 
moist forests provide the perfect cover for such guerrilla warfare, 
tending to make governments perceive both forests and forest peo- 
ples as obstacles to national development. 


Forest Peoples and Sustainable Development 

Surprisingly perhaps, even well-intentioned conservation pro- 
grammes have resulted in land conflicts, especially where the pro- 
gramme has been undertaken without due consideration of forest 
peoples’ rights and needs. For example, evictions of forest peoples 
from protected areas have occurred in the forest reserves of Assam in 
north-east India, the Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal, the 
Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand and the Siberut Biosphere 
Reserve in Indonesia (Malou-Nuzeman, 1984). Yet, imaginative 
conservation practices, linking close consultation with the affected 
forest peoples, and innovative legislation, have often obviated such 
conflicts. Legislation creating the Gunung Mulu National Park in 
Sarawak, for example, explicitly allows the resident Penan to con- 
tinue hunting and gathering in traditional ways within the park’s 
confines. 

Conservation thinking has long advanced beyond a narrow con- 
cern with species or habitat protection towards a more comprehen- 
sive marriage of conservation and development goals, through the 
promotion of sustainable use of natural forest ecosystems. In support 


28 


of this, important lessons can be learned from the way forest peoples 
use their environment sustainably to promote rational forest use. 

The fundamental problem is that the forest-based economies 
themselves are under pressure. Economies that were once sustain- 
able are now causing degradation of the land. As the population of 
hill peoples has increased and more and more of their land has been 
taken over for forestry and agriculture, the tribes have been obliged 
to adopt shorter and shorter fallow periods in the swidden cycle, 
while the loss of hunting and gathering lands has simultaneously 
exaggerated the importance of agriculture. The Aroman Manobo of 
Mindanao, for example, once a forest-dwelling group, used to move 
to new areas within their ancestral territory to prevent the ground 
becoming ‘weak’, as they put it. But the progressive takeover of their 
lands by settlers from the Visayas, themselves displaced by the 
expansion of agribusiness, has confined them to small pockets of 
their once extensive territories. For many tribal communities subsis- 
tence on inadequate plots is no longer possible and wage labouring or 
migration to the cities are their only options. Landlessness and debt 
have become the main scourges of the once carefree tribals of central 
Bangladesh, who now have less land per capita than the newly arrived 
Bengali settlers who have settled in their midst. 

The integration of the economies of tribal peoples into world 
markets has exacerbated the problem, by encouraging more inten- 
sive and untenable forest use. The production of surplus crops to 
satisfy newly acquired needs — money to pay for taxes, medicine, 
school books, clothing, consumer goods, and new technological 
goods (outboard engines, rice mills, shotguns and chainsaws) — can 
only be achieved by intensified farming that the local forests may not 
be able to sustain. A sorry cycle is initiated by which the search for 
wealth leads to poverty. 

Lack of land security is itself a major cause of extravagant forms of 
land use. Without assurances that the investments they make in land 
improvement will be of any benefit to them, many of the hill peoples 
of mainland Southeast Asia have been obliged to adopt crops and 
farming practices that are far from environmentally ideal. The opium 
poppy Papaver somniferum, for example, a major crop in the ‘Golden 
Triangle’ — the upland forests of Yunnan, Burma, northern Thai- 
land, Laos and Vietnam — yields a quick and valuable harvest which 
can be readily exchanged for cash (Tapp, 1986). Yet the crop is very 
demanding both on labour and on the soils. Crop substitution 
therefore is only a realistic option for the tribal peoples if they have 
assured access to markets and secure ttle to their lands. 


The Future of Tribal Peoples 

Forest peoples are not just passive victims of outside forces, and this 
has been made clear by the way that they have actively resisted land 
invasion. Fortunately open conflict is somewhat exceptional, but 
everywhere that the tribal societies are under threat they are actively 
developing new strategies to cope with the social and economic 
pressures on their lands and ways of life. Some societies, such as the 
Akha (Hani) of Thailand, Burma and southern China, have de- 
veloped what might be described as a culture of ‘marginalisation’, 
whereby their very identity is defined in terms of their opposition to, 
and exploitation by, lowlanders. Their involvement in wage- 
labouring, smuggling, drug trading, the accommodation of tourism, 
and even prostitution must all also be understood as responses to 
change; evidence both of the resilience of these societies and their 
critical situation. 

On a more positive note, many forest peoples have begun to 
develop novel institutions especially formed to cope with their 
changed economic, legal and political circumstances. These include 
cultural associations, longhouse cooperatives, community develop- 
ment organisations, political fronts and human rights’ networks, 
which have sprung up all over the region, at once joining together 


isolated and mutually suspicious communities in a common endeav- 
our, and providing them with national and international links. Many 
of these novel institutions are, in fact, developments of traditional 
institutions, re-formed to meet new ends. For example, among the 
Igorot peoples of Luzon, in the Philippines, traditional peace treaties 
called ‘bodong’ have provided the basis for the linkage of some three 
hundred community associations into an effective alliance of nearly 
all the tribal peoples of the Central Cordillera. The so-created 
Cordillera People’s Alliance has become internationally recognised 


References 

Anti-Slavery Society (1984) The Chittagong Hill Tracts: Militarisa- 
tion, Oppression and Hill Tribes. Anti-Slavery Society, London, 
UK. 

Bangkok Post (1989) Bangkok Post: 10 October. 

Beer de, J. H.and McDermott, M. J. (1989) The Economic Value of 
Non-Timber Forest Products in Southeast Asia. 'UCN, Amsterdam, 
The Netherlands. 

Budiardjo, C. (1986) 
111-18. 

Budiardjo, C. and Liong, Liem Soei (1988) West Papua: the Oblit- 
eration of a People. 3rd edition. Tapol, London, UK. 

Carey, I. (1976) Orang Asli: the Aboriginal Tribes of Peninsular 
Malaysia. Oxford University Press, UK. 

China Reconstructs (1984) China’s Minonty Nationalities. Great 
Wall Books, Beijing, China. 

Colchester, M. (1986a) The struggle for land: tribal people in the 
face of the transmigration programme. Ecologist 16: 99-110. 

Colchester, M. (1986b) Banking on disaster: international support 
for transmigration. Ecologist 16: 61—70. 

Colchester, M. (1986c) Unity and diversity: Indonesia’s policy 
towards tribal peoples. Ecologist 16: 89-98. 

Colchester, M. (1989) Pirates, Squatters and Poachers; the Political 
Ecology of Dispossession of the Native Peoples of Sarawak. Survival 
International/INSAN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Denslow, J. S. and Padoch, C. (eds) (1988) People of the Rain 
Forest. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. 

Dove, M. (1985) The agro-ecological mythology of the Javanese 
and the political economy of Indonesia. Indonesia 39: 1—36. 

Dove. M. (ed.) (1989) The Real and Imagined Role of Culture in 
Development: Case Studies from Indonesia. University Press of 
Hawaii, Honolulu. 

Fay, C. (1987) Counter-Insurgency and Tribal Peoples in the Philip- 
pines. Survival International USA, Washington, DC, USA. 

Geddes, W. (1976) Migrants of the Mountains: the Cultural Ecology 
of the Blue Miao. Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. 

Ganapin, D. (1987) Philippines ethnic minorities: the continuing 
struggle for survival and self-determination. In: Sahabat Alam 
Malaysia Forest Resources Crisis in the Third World: pp. 171-91, 
Penang, Malaysia. 


The politics of transmigration. Ecologist 16: 


PEOPLE OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS 


and has even sent representatives as far afield as the United Nations 
to campaign for changes favourable to its tribal constituency (Fay, 
1987). 

It is in the build-up of these novel institutions that the best hope for 
the future of the tribal peoples of the region resides. They also hold 
the key to the survival of the peoples’ forests, for a truly sustainable 
development that respects the possibilities and constraints of the 
tropical moist forest environment can only develop with the active 
participation of the forest peoples themselves. 


Hong, E. (1987) The Natives of Sarawak. Institut Masyarakat, 
Penang, Malaysia. 

Kunstadter, P., Chapman, E. C., Sabhasri, S. (eds) (1978) 
in the Forest. University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. 
Langub, J. (1988a) Some aspects of life of the Penan. Paper 
presented to the Orang Ulu Cultural Heritage Seminar, Miri, 21— 

23 June 1988. 

Langub, J. (1988b) The Penan Strategy. In: People of the Rain 
Forest, Denslow, J. S. and Padoch, C. (eds) University of Califor- 
nia Press, Berkeley, USA. 

Lewis, P. and Lewis, E. (1984) Peoples of the Golden Trangle. 
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. 

MacKinnon, J. and Bhruksasri, W. (eds) (1986) 
Thailand. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. 

Malou-Nuzeman, H. (1984) ‘Siberut Projekt Mislukv’. Tribal 14 
(Mei): 16-20. 

Morris, B. (1982) Forest Traders: a Socio-economic Study of the Hill 
Pandaram. Athlone Press, London, UK. 

SAM (1989) The Battle for Sarawak’s Forests. World Rainforest 
Movement and Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Penang. 

Spencer, J. E. (1966) Shifting Cultivation in Southeastern Asia. 
University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. 

Tapp, T. (1986) The Hmong of Thailand: Opium People of the 
Golden Triangle. Anti-Slavery Society, London, UK. 

von Fuhrer-Haimendorf, C. (1982) Tribes of India: the Struggle for 
Survival. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. 

Xin Jiguang (1987) Munority Peoples in China. China Pictorial 
Publications, Beijing, China. 


Farmers 


Highlanders of 


Authorship 

Marcus Colchester of Survival International in London with contri- 
butions from Chin See Chung of the University of Malaya, Duleep 
Matthai of the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Delhi, M. S. 
Ranatunga of IUCN, Colombia, Lee Hua Seng of the Forest Depart- 
ment in Kuching, Mick Raga of the Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Boroko, Papua New Guinea, Prof. Andrew Vaydon of 
Rutger University, USA, and Caroline Sargent of the International 
Institute for Environment and Development in London. 


29 


4 Shifting Cultivation 


Introduction 


Late in the dry season, the skies of tropical Asia are heavy with smoke 
from thousands of small fires set by farmers following an age-old way 
of life: shifting cultivation. 

Various systems of shifting cultivation, also called ‘slash and burn’ 
or ‘swidden’ (from the Old Norse word for ‘singe’), are based on 
cutting living vegetation in the dry season (January—March for the 
south-west monsoon, June—August for the north-east monsoon), 
letting it dry, burning it late in the dry season, and then planting a 
crop in the ashes early in the wet season. In the most stable and 
productive systems, the fields are rotated on a 10 to 15 year cycle. 
Declining crop productivity, due to weed competition or soil nu- 
trient depletion, leads to the field being abandoned after one or two 
years. 

When the field is cleared, trees and shrubs are commonly cut at 
knee height and care is taken to leave certain deep-rooted species. 
These ‘fallow’ species regenerate rapidly after cultivation ceases. 
They tap the nutrients which have been leached deep into the soil, 
beyond the reach of annual crops, and some of them fix atmospheric 
nitrogen; these nutrients are accumulated in the living plants and 
released into the soil when the plant decomposes. Most nutrients in 
the generally infertile soils of the moist tropics are held in the organic 
matter in the topsoil. Traditional fallow systems allow these nutrients 
to build up to the point where another food crop is possible. The 
regrowing fallow continues to produce fruits, spices and other useful 
products, and provides excellent habitat for deer and other species 
which are hunted for food. 

In traditional swiddens, the use of agricultural tools is minimal and 
ploughs are not used. The precious topsoil with its nutrient-rich 
organic matter is left intact and the cohesion and porosity of the soil 
retained, thus limiting water run-off and erosion. Although no 
draught animals are required, most villagers keep dogs, chickens and 
pigs. Much of their animal protein, however, comes from fish and 
wild game. Energy return for energy input in traditional swiddens is 
quite high, approaching 20:1 (Rappaport, 1972). Compare this with 
industrialised agriculture, which, from sowing to marketing, typ- 
ically consumes more energy than it produces. 

Yields from upland swiddens are variable. With favourable 
soils and climate they can be quite high, but average rice yields 
rarely exceed one ton per hectare. However, the yield per unit of 
effort is typically higher than in lowland systems, giving the upland 
farmer more time for hunting, social interactions, and ceremonial 
activities. 

This general model of shifting cultivation greatly oversimplifies 
reality. In fact, shifting cultivation comprises a range of highly 
variable and localised systems that have developed in response to 
local environmental and cultural conditions (Phillips, 1964; Eden, 


30 


1987). The essentials are that fields are rotated rather than crops, and 
that a forest or bush fallow period restores nutrients to levels which 
permit a further crop cycle. 

Fire is usually an important factor. Burning releases the phos- 
phates and potassium from the plant-fibre and makes them available 
to the crop plants, but most of the volatile nitrogen compounds are 
lost to the system. In a few places, especially in wetter areas, fire is 
used only sparingly, or not at all. For example, on Siberut island, 
west of Sumatra, a simple form of dibble-stick agriculture is used. 
Small patches of forest (0.25—0.5 ha) are cleared, but not burned. 
Because of the shielding properties of the cut debris, the surface 
humus and soil are not leached of their nutrients, which remain 
available to the freshly planted crops of bananas, cassava Manihot 
esculenta, and taro. The leaves, twigs and wood decompose at 
different rates and new nutrients are released slowly from the debris 
to the soil. These nutrients are utilised by fruit and spice trees which 
are planted while the first crop is maturing. By the time the covering 
of debris has lost its protective properties, the surface soil is held 
together by a mat of grasses, shrubs, and low trees. Old traditional 
swiddens gradually become groves of mature fruit trees, which can 
take on a forest-like structure, with large durian and jack-fruit trees 
interspersed with guava Psidium spp., jambu Eugenia spp., langsat 
Lansium domesticum, lemons Citrus limon, and papaya Carica papaya 
(McNeely ez al., 1980). 


History of Shifting Cultivation 

For tens of thousands of years, people have used fire to modify the 
landscape. At the earliest hunting and gathering stage of human 
existence, people probably had little more impact on the ecosystem 
than any other medium-sized omnivore. As technology improved, 
however, the ecological niche of early man expanded. As people 
learned to control fire, they began to change their habitat to suit their 
needs, in particular by burning dry forests to create grasslands which 
supported more large mammals, which could then be hunted. Im- 
proved technology (axes, digging sticks, stone knives) also enabled a 
wider range of plant materials to be used. 

Agriculture evolved from the increased use of plants, fire, and 
tools. The origins of shifting cultivation remain controversial, but 
stretch back into the very dawn of agriculture. In Thailand’s Mae 
Hong Son Province, Gorman (1971) excavated a site called Spirit 
Cave, and discovered what may be some of the earliest evidence of 
shifting cultivation in Southeast Asia. Dating from about 10,000 
years ago, just at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, the evidence from 
Spirit Cave, indicates that agriculture — generally thought to have 
originated in the Middle East — may have evolved first in Southeast 
Asia. Several authorities now question this interpretation of the 


Spirit Cave excavations and claim that the deposits could have 
resulted from the activities of hunter-gatherer communities 
(Kunstadter, 1988). Nevertheless, according to anthropologist 
Wilhelm Solheim (1972), ‘Some of the most technologically ad- 
vanced cultures in the world in the period from about 13,000 Bc to 
4000 Bc flourished not in the Middle East or the adjacent Mediterra- 
nean, but in the northern reaches of mainland Southeast Asia.’ 

The people at Spirit Cave had a varied menu that included several 
varieties of almond, beans, bottle gourds, cucumbers, peppers, and 
water chestnuts. The last items were served with numerous kinds of 
meat such as bat, deer, fish, monkey, pig, rat and squirrel. Gorman 
found that even the earliest shifting cultivators in Southeast Asia 
enjoyed a varied and balanced diet. Many of the ingredients used in 
those days are important components of the tastiest dishes in the 
finest Thai restaurants today. 

Growing food plants and domesticating certain animals did not 
simply replace hunting and gathering, but rather supplemented it, 
allowing people to wrest more productivity from nature, and to 
occupy more diverse habitats. The human population could grow 
through more intensive use of the land — swiddens could support up 
to 20 people per square kilometre, while hunting could hardly 
support one person on the same amount of land. 

Supporting more people in larger groups, the innovative upland 
technique of swidden agriculture spread quickly throughout all 
suitable areas in tropical Asia. Spencer (1966) came to the startling 
conclusion that virtually no pristine monsoon forest remains in all of 
Southeast Asia. All the drier forests have been cleared by people at 
one time or another, and many areas have been cleared repeatedly. 

As long as the human population remained relatively low, 
traditional shifting cultivation permitted local self-sufficiency and 
resulted in great cultural diversity as groups adapted to the local 
resources which were available. Most shifting cultivation took place 
in the hills, where the soils and vegetation dried out more quickly and 
upward currents of wind helped fan the flames among the cut 
vegetation. The lowlands, many of which were seasonally flooded, 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 
remained relatively intact and were used for hunting, fishing, and 
gathering of tubers and other plants. It was not until the recent advent 
of irrigated wet-rice agriculture that the lowlands became perma- 
nently inhabited. The clearance of vast areas of lowland forest for rice 
cultivation has mostly taken place within the last hundred years. 

Today, the lowland irrigated rice-growing civilisations dominate 
the Asian landscape, and the shifting cultivators are spread thinly 
across the highlands. As marginal peoples living far from the centres 
of economic and political power, they have suffered from benign 
neglect, and have often formed buffers between more powerful 
political entities based in the more fertile, densely settled lowlands 
(Kunstadter, 1987). More recently, in some places, this neglect has 
ceased to be benign. The tribal peoples of the Indo-Chinese high- 
lands, for example, suffered grievously during the wars that caused 
social upheaval from the 1950s to the 1980s. In areas where shifting 
cultivators occupy forests which contain rich timber resources, 
central governments have sold cutting rights to concessionaires from 
outside the region, thereby disrupting the traditional agroecosystems 
that had evolved over thousands of years (see chapter 3). 


Shifting Cultivation, Wildlife and Biological Diversity 

When shifting cultivation functions correctly, wildlife flourishes, 
with many herbivores feeding in the abandoned swiddens. Predators 
are in turn attracted by the herbivores. The older swiddens contain a 
high proportion of fruit trees, which are attractive to primates, 
squirrels, hornbills, and a wide range of other small animals. Mature 
tropical forests conceal most of their edible products high in the 
canopy beyond the reach of the terrestrial herbivores, while forest 
clearings bring the forest’s productivity down to where it can be 
reached by hungry browsers; Wharton (1968) has provided convinc- 
ing evidence that the distribution of the major large mammals of 
Southeast Asia is highly dependent on shifting cultivation (see case 
study on wild cattle). When the hill farmers have tenure over their 
land, the game is carefully cropped, with over-hunting prevented by 
religious and customary sanctions, as well as by primitive weapons. 


Shifting culnvation can be very productive, and 1s sustainable when population pressure is low. More often nowadays, short fallow periods lead to soil 
degradation until only rank grasses survive. 


WWE/A. Compost 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 


Figure 4.1 The distribution of shifting cultivation practices in the Asia— 
Pacific Region 


(Source: adapted from Spencer, 1966) 


Absent 


Remnontal Distribution Only 


fae Frequently Present 
lige Dominant, but not Exclusive 


Area included in this study 


This is not to say that wildlife is always welcome — far from it. 
Condaminas (1977), working among the Mnong Gar of Vietnam’s 
Central Higlands, reported the excitement that surrounded the 
ripening grain crops: 

‘More time is given to guarding the fields against marauding wild 
animals. Most field huts are occupied every night, but for all the 
watchers’ precautions, wild boar, deer, and bears manage to elude 
their vigilance. On two occasions, there have even been un- 
welcome visits from a herd of elephants that hitherto had been 
content to ravage other areas. During the day, clouds of predatory 
birds swoop down on the young grain and must be driven off; the 
sharp crackle of the scarecrows and the shouts of the watchers 
blend with the clear-toned music of the rustic xylophone.’ 

In New Guinea, an important part of the swidden process is the 
construction of sturdy fences to exclude the wild pigs, and to contain 
the domestic pigs when they are turned loose in the swidden after the 
main crops have been harvested. In their quest for tubers, these pigs 
soften and aerate the soil and thin the regenerating seedlings (Rap- 
paport, 1972), thereby playing an important role in accelerating the 
regrowth of forest. Throughout tropical Asia and the Pacific, wild, 
feral and domestic pigs form an important part of almost all swidden 
systems. 

A wide range of crops, often over 100 at one time, occur in 
swiddens and the regenerating fallow forest. Among the Lua (Lawa) 
of northern Thailand, about 120 crop species are planted, including 
75 for food, 21 for medicine, 20 for ceremonial or decorative pur- 
poses, and seven for weaving or dyes. The fallow areas continue to be 
productive for grazing or collecting, with well over 300 species used 
(Kunstadter, 1970). The most important crop is upland rice. It is not 
unusual for 20 varieties of seed rice to be kept in a village, each with 
different characteristics and planted at different times in different 
places. 


32 


The Hanunoo of the Philippines may plant 150 species of crops at 
one time or another in the same swidden. At the sides and against the 
fences they grow low, climbing or sprawling legumes, such as 
asparagus beans Vigna unguiculata, and cowpeas, or hyacinth beans 
Dolichos lablab. Towards the centre, grain crops dominate, but 
numerous root crops, shrub legumes and trees are also found. Pole- 
climbing yam vines, heart-shaped taro leaves, ground-hugging sweet 
potato vines, and shrub-like cassava stems are the only visible signs of 
the large store of starch staples underground, while the grain crops 
flourish a metre or so above the swidden floor before giving way to the 
more widely spaced and less rapidly maturing tree crops. A new 
swidden produces a steady stream of harvestable food in the form of 
seed grains, pulses, tubers, spices, and fruits (Conklin, 1954). 

Among the Tsembaga Mareng of Papua New Guinea, each field 
contains some 15 to 100 major crops, plus dozens of minor crops, 
spread seemingly at random through the field. ‘This intermingling 
does more than make the best use of a limited area, it also discourages 
plant-specific insect pests, it allows advantage to be taken of slight 
variations in habitats, it is protective of the thin tropical soil and it 
achieves a high photosynthetic efficiency’ (Rappaport, 1971). 

This agricultural diversity far surpasses anything in the average 
western supermarket. Only 80 plant species are generally grown by 
market gardeners in the industrialised world, and 95 per cent of 
human nutrition is derived from just 30 species (Myers, 1985). The 
subsistence-level hill farmers of tropical Asia may enjoy a far more 
varied diet than the wealthiest industrialist. 

Although shifting cultivation has, with growing human popula- 
tions, become destructive of forests and watersheds, it is highly 
adaptive to a great variety of conditions. When properly carried out it 
is the only sustainable way of cultivating areas where poor soils, steep 
gradients, and heavy rainfall make conventional farming methods 
unproductive or impossible. As practised by stable groups, swidden 


agriculture is not particularly destructive of forest, land, or wildlife. 
Permanent villages are established, moving only if forced to do so by 
extremes of economic hardship, political disturbance, or population 
pressure, but not as a necessary consequence of the agricultural 
techniques of their inhabitants (Hinton, 1970). 

Sedentary swidden agriculturalists have a strong interest in main- 
taining the fertility of the village territory, employing a number of 
long-term conservation measures which contribute to biological 
diversity. The following practices characterise many of the tradi- 
tional systems: 

1 Preservation of stands of primary forest in and around the swidden 
to serve as a seed reservoir for regrowth forest, a source of useful 
plants and as hunting grounds. 

2 Fire breaks, fire-fighters, and coordination of burning to provide 
sophisticated fire control. 

3 Early cutting of forest to retain soil moisture, reducing transpira- 
tion losses so that swidden soil is often more moist than adjacent 
forest soil. 

4 Careful rotation of swiddens, using each one for only one year. 

5 A sufficiently long bush-fallow period to allow a build-up of 
nutrients for the next cropping cycle. 

6 Retention in the fallow of those plant species which provide useful 
products or enhance soil fertility. 

7 Careful control of weeds. 

8 Minimal disturbance of topsoil, thus reducing erosion. 

Traditional swidden cultivation is highly diversified, which means 
that it is more stable and reliable for the farmer than many of the 
modern monocultural systems that now predominate in the tropics. 
Since traditional swidden farmers are concerned primarily with their 
immediate needs and those of the species sustaining them, they are 
not worried about external forces such as commodity prices, energy 
supplies, and environmental abuse. It is clear to all farmers living in 
such systems, says Rappaport (1972), ‘that their survival is con- 
tingent upon the maintenance, rather than the mere exploitation, of 
the larger community of which they know themselves to be only 
part’. 

In short, traditional shifting cultivation is a system which 1s well 
adapted to tropical moist forest environments. It maintains a higher 
level of biological diversity than many alternative uses of forest land, 
and provides significant benefits to wildlife populations. The 
maintenance of such systems is of considerable importance to mod- 
ern forms of development. The wild relatives of a variety of import- 
ant crop plants occur in the forests of Southeast Asia. These, and the 
primitive cultivars grown by the swidden cultivators, are potential 
sources of genetic material for modern plant breeders. Rice, for 
example, provides the main staple for all of Asia, and the traditional 
rice varieties grown in upland swiddens contain great genetic diver- 
sity. 


Problems with Shifting Cultivation 

The idyllic conclusion that shifting cultivation benefits both man and 
forest only applies if this cultivation is sustainable. Today this is 
becoming an extremely rare phenomenon. Swidden cultivation can 
become inappropriate in at least three main ways: 

e By an increase in human population, which causes old plots to be 
recultivated too soon. 

e By inept agricultural practices such as cultivating the land for so 
long that persistent weeds become established and soil fertility falls 
(Table 4.1). 

e By extension into areas where soils are particularly erosion-prone 
or where the broader national interest requires that natural forest be 
retained, either to produce timber or to conserve biological diversity. 
Often the three factors work together, resulting in the destruction of 
extensive areas of tropical forest. 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 


Table 4.1 Yields (kg per ha) for swidden agriculture under 
rainfed conditions from the same land over a period of three years 
in Nan Province, northern Thailand 


Cotton Mung Bean Rice Maize 
Year 1 1,094 956 2,538 2,675 
Year 2 794 1,113 1,888 631 
Year 3 600 431 1,388 344 


(Source: adapted from Chapman, 1970) 


The rapid growth of Asia’s population in recent decades is the 
main reason why the age-old systems of agriculture are breaking 
down. When fallow periods are too short, or the soils are unsuitable 
for any form of farming, the cultivated land is invaded by weeds. 
Over wide areas of tropical Asia, tree cover has been replaced by 
bamboo scrub and Jmperata cylindrica grasslands, which have very 
little diversity and very low productivity. The Lesser Sundas of 
Indonesia, parts of central Sulawesi, and the drier parts of India, 
Thailand, and Burma have all suffered from this form of ecological 
degradation, at the expense of both forests and people. A green or 
grassy desert has replaced one of the world’s most diverse eco- 
systems. 

Some of the higher elevation areas of mainland Southeast Asia are 
now being used for a very destructive type of shifting cultivation. 
Under this system, the same swidden is used for growing opium for 
five or six consecutive years (with other crops such as maize (Zea 
mays) grown during the ‘off season’). This is continued unt all 
residual soil fertility is lost, soil organisms destroyed, trees burned, 
and topsoil eroded. Upon abandonment, the land reverts to [mperata 
grassland. The villages are temporary, discouraging capital invest- 
ment or long-term land conservation. The people are seldom able to 
feed themselves, and opium is used to purchase rice from lowland 
areas. 

A variety of unstable shifting cultivation is also practised by 
smallholders who are forced to make agricultural settlements in the 
hills through competition for land in the lowlands. These people 
might be considered ‘shifted cultivators’ rather than ‘shifting cultiva- 
tors’. Lowland shifting cultivation is typically very destructive, and 
not based on the wealth of knowledge which the traditional swidden 
farmers of the uplands have accumulated. The villagers seldom have 
title to the land that they clear, and consequently little motivation 
to take long-term conservation measures. Cultivation is followed 
by fallow periods which are usually too short to restore soil 
fertility, leading eventually to permanent abandonment of the 
land. 

As an example of poor agricultural practices, the Iban of Borneo 
have been described not so much as shifting cultivators as ‘eaters of 
the forest’? (Freeman, 1955). Occupying a primary forest area into 
which they have fairly recently expanded at the expense of less 
aggressive indigenous tribes, the Iban still over-cultivate, often using 
a single plot three years in a row or returning to a plot after just five 
years of fallow. As a result, wide areas of west and central Borneo 
have become deforested and replaced with Jmperata grasslands (see 
maps in chapters 19 and 24). Geertz (1963) gives several reasons for 
this over-cultivation: ‘An historically rooted conviction that there are 
always other forests to conquer, a warrior’s view of natural resources 
as plunder to be exploited, a large village settlement pattern which 
makes shifting between plots a more than usually onerous task, and, 
perhaps, a superior indifference toward agricultural proficiency.’ 
Using such profligate agriculture, one Iban group in central Borneo is 
known to have moved 300 km in just 50 years, devastating vast areas 
of forest in the process. 


33 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 

Solutions 

Traditional swidden cultivation, is a highly diverse system which can 
be adapted to a variety of local environments. It aims to produce 
diversity and reliability of food supply and reduce the incidence of 
disease and insect problems. It uses labour efficiently, intensifying 
production with limited resources, and earns maximum returns with 
low levels of technology. By using many crop species and varieties, 
the swidden system is better able to cope with pathogens, pests and 
varying conditions of soil, rainfall, and sunlight. It provides sustain- 
able yields by drawing on centuries of experience accumulated by 
farmers who do not depend on scientific information, external 
inputs, capital, credit, or markets. The traditional swidden farmers 
of tropical Asia have been truly independent and self-reliant. 

The point has now been reached, however, where swidden cultiva- 
tion is ceasing to be a viable option. The density of Asia’s population 
is such that more and more agricultural settlers are adopting forms of 
shifting agriculture that almost invariably lead to long-term degrada- 
tion of the agricultural and forestry potential of the land. Numerous 
attempts have been made to ‘stabilise’ shifting cultivators, but in 
most cases they have met with very limited success. The soils are 
intrinsically too poor to repay investments in more labour-intensive 
agriculture or to justify bringing in fertilisers. Where success has 
been achieved, it has occurred through the introduction of new cash 
crops, which place less demands upon the soil and enable the farmers 
to use their profits to purchase their food requirements elsewhere. 
Unfortunately, in most of Southeast Asia, markets for these products 
are too remote and few viable options exist for crop diversification. 

Modern agricultural development in the uplands should take 
existing swidden systems as starting points and use modern agri- 
cultural science to improve on their productivity. Development 
should be based on the ability of swidden farmers to adapt to change, 
but should continue to draw on resource-conserving and yield- 
sustaining production technologies (Altieri and Merrick, 1987). The 
essential element is the design of self-sustaining agroecosystems 
which assure the maintenance of the local genetic diversity available 
to farmers, thereby enabling rural communities of swidden cultiva- 
tors to maintain control over their production systems. 

Solutions will also need to be based on cultural diversity, as local 
knowledge is essential to the success of the system. The social 


structure of most hill tribes is organised around the holding and 
control of swidden lands (Kunstadter, 1970), but since each tribe 
tends to have its own set of customary laws, seldom recognised by 
other tribes or by the dominant lowland government, land disputes 
are very common. Only if the tribe unequivocally controls its swid- 
den land will long-term conservation measures be effective, not only 
for the land and vegetation but ultimately for the tribe itself. 
Establishing land title is often an essential element, not least to avoid 
conflicts with umber concessionaires (see chapter 3). 

In addition, maintaining a stable and permanent relationship with 
forested land would enable some swidden farmers to invest time and 
effort in other permanent assets like fruit trees, fenced gardens, 
terraces, and irrigation canals. In the most suitable areas, the swid- 
dens are supplemented by irrigated rice fields, thus allowing a 
considerably higher population density than if the swidden alone was 
relied upon for survival. Such mixed systems will often enable 
modern agricultural techniques to be wedded to the traditional ones, 
and lead to the establishment of more permanent villages. 

Large areas of forest, protected against outside encroachment and 
assigned to specific ethnic groups for sustainable management, might 
be a means of ensuring the productivity of shifting cultivation 
systems. This should be coupled with a research effort aimed at 
improving the efficiency of shifting agriculture, for example by 
introducing new fallow trees and shrubs which are efficient at 
bringing nutrients and nitrogen into the above-ground biomass. In 
some places, also, community-level ‘landrace custodians’ might be 
given subsidies to maintain their traditional agricultural systems. 
This would promote the continuing evolution of genetic diversity, 
which is so important to agricultural development. 

Even this will not be enough. Employment opportunities in 
forestry are needed, along with reforestation in the /mperata-covered 
uplands. Research on making the better upland soils more perma- 
nently productive is essential; the opium trade should be rationalised 
and regulated; and new cash crops should be introduced along with 
new systems of transport and marketing. Within its limits, swidden 
farming must continue to make a meaningful input into the total 
agricultural productivity of the region. But in the longer term most 
cereals will have to be produced intensively in the lowlands and the 
uplands will be used for perennial crops and forestry. 


Rich forest soils in the Dumoga-Bone valleys of northern Sulawesi have been converted to permanent agriculture to support transmigrants from fava and Bal. 
Shifting cultivation 1s still a problem in the forested hills, but most are now protected. N. Mark Collins 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 


WILD CATTLE AND SHIFTING CULTIVATION 


Southeast Asia is the home of the wild cattle which are the closest 
relatives to domestic cattle, and therefore of particular importance 
for stock-breeders. There are three main species: gaur or se- 
ladang, found across the region from India and Nepal to Peninsu- 
lar Malaysia; the banteng, found in Southeast Asia from Burma to 
Borneo, Java, and Bali, but found neither in Sumatra nor most of 
Peninsular Malaysia; and the kouprey, the rarest and most re- 
cently discovered species (first described in 1937), found only in 
Indo-China (see chapter 28). 

Wharton (1968) found that each species has a close ecological 
relationship with shifting cultivation. The gaur prefers foothill 
tracts of forest adjacent to savanna woodland, glades or other open 
terrain affected by man and fire, and has followed shifting cultiva- 
tion into Peninsular Malaysia. The banteng is confined to savanna 
woodland within the deciduous forest zones of the region; in the 
more humid areas, it occupies secondary forests. The best hab- 
itats for kouprey are rice fields abandoned by the ancient Khmer 
civilisation whose capital was Angkor Wat, these old fields are still 
burned annually by rural Khmer farmers, thus maintaining a 
savanna habitat which suits the kouprey and other wild cattle. 

Wharton concludes that since fire definitely aids hunting and 
gathering in the savanna woodland areas such as northern Cam- 
bodia, it was probably equally useful during prehistoric times. It 
would thus appear that the dry forests of Southeast Asia may be 


The banteng 1s the most likely ancestor of domestic cattle in Southeast Asia. 
WWE/Alain Compost 


very ancient, having been created by human-caused fires and 
occupied by wild cattle and other large herbivores. The living wild 
cattle of Southeast Asia appear heavily dependent on an environ- 
ment which, if not entirely created by man and fire, is certainly 
maintained by these agencies. 


References 

Altieri, M. A. and Merrick, Laura C. (1987) Jn situ conservation of 
crop genetic resources through maintenance of traditional farming 
systems. Economic Botany 41: 86-96. 

Chapman, E.C. (1970) Shifting cultivation and economic develop- 
ment in the lowlands of northern Thailand. Proceedings of Interna- 
tional Seminar on Shifting Cultivation and Economic Development in 
Northern Thailand. Land Development Department, Bangkok, 
Thailand. 

Condaminas, G. (1977) 
New York, USA. 

Conklin, H. (1954) An ethnoecological approach to shifting 
cultivation. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 17: 
133-42. 

Eden, M. J. (1987) Traditional shifting cultivation and the tropical 
forest system. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2: 340-43. 

FAO (1957) Shifting cultivation. Unasylva 11: 23-8. 

Freeman, J. D. (1955) Jban Agriculture: A Report on the Shifting 
Culnvation of Hill Rice by the Iban of Sarawak. Her Majesty’s 
Printing Office, London, UK. 

Geertz, C. (1963) Agricultural Involution. University of California 
Press, Berkeley, California, USA. 

Gorman, C. (1971) The Hoabhinian and after: Subsistence pat- 
terns in Southeast Asia during the late Pleistocene and early 
Recent periods. World Archeology 2: 300-21. 

Hinton, P. (1970) Swidden cultivation among the Pwo Karen of 
Northern Thailand. Proceedings of International Seminar on Shift- 
ing Culnvation and Economic Development in Northern Thailand, 
Land Development Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 

Kunstadter, P. (1970) Subsistence agricultural economics of Lua 
and Karen hill farmers of Mae Sariang District, Northern Thai- 
land. Internanonal Seminar on Shifting Cultivation and Economic 
Development in Northern Thailand, Land Development Depart- 
ment, Bangkok, Thailand. 


We Have Eaten the Forest. Hill and Wang, 


Kunstadter, P. (1987) Social systems and upland management: Social 
ecology of shifting cultivation systems in mainland Southeast Asia. 
Paper prepared for International Conference on Ecology in Viet- 
nam, New Palz, New York, USA. 28-30 May. 

Kunstadter, P. (1988) Hill people of northern Thailand. In: People 
Of the Tropical Rain Forest. Eds J. S. Denslow and C Padoch, pp 
93-110. University of California Press, Berkeley. 232 pp. 

McNeely, J. A., Whitten, A. J., Whitten, J. and House, S. 
(1980) Saving Siberut: A Conservation Master Plan. WWF, 
Boger, Indonesia. 

Myers, N. (ed.) (1985) 
Books, London, UK. 

Phillips, J. (1964) Shifting cultivation. In: Elliot, H. (ed.) The 
Ecology of Man in the Tropical Environment. IUCN (NS) 4: 1-355. 

Rappaport, R. A. (1971) The flow of energy in an agricultural 
society. Scientific American 225: 116-32. 

Rappaport, R. A. (1972) Forests and man. Ecologist 6: 240-6. 

Solheim, W. G. (1972) An earlier agricultural revolution. Scientific 
American 266: 34-41. 

Spencer, J. E. (1966) Shifting Cultwation in Southeastern Asia. 
University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA. 

Wharton, Charles H. (1968) Man, fire, and wild cattle in Southeast 
Asia. Proceedings of the Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Con- 
ference 8: pp. 107-67. 


The Gaia Atlas of Planet Management. Pan 


Authorship 

Jeff McNeely and Jeff Sayer of IUCN, Gland, with contributions 
from Paul Anspach of IUCN Vientiane, Francis Ng of the Forest 
Research Institute of Malaysia, Suvat Singhapant of the Royal Forest 
Department in Bangkok, César Nuevo of the Institute of Forest 
Conservation, Laguna, Philippines, and Jan Van der Heide of the 
Insutute of Soil Fertulity, Groningen, Netherlands. 


35 


5 Agricultural 


Settlement Schemes 


Introduction 


In Southeast Asia there has been much movement of people, spon- 
sored or at least encouraged by their national government, to form 
new agricultural settlements away from their home area. The new 
area chosen and prepared by that government as a focus of develop- 
ment is always in an otherwise sparsely populated and relatively 
undeveloped region. Many such ‘new’ areas, almost by definition, 
are close or immediately adjacent to forests, and throughout the 
region loss of forests is one of the major environmental impacts of 
new settlement programmes. 

The aims of the settlement schemes are to settle people in areas that 
have been rigorously selected, clearing the land using semi- 
mechanical methods, designing farm models that are capable of 
sustaining agricultural production, and planning for expansion 
caused by the population increase of the settlers (and any newcomers 
and indigenous people). This is in addition to providing communica- 
tons and access to markets and employment (for example, in man- 
aged forests), particularly for second and subsequent generations. 

It is likely, however, that in no sites can it be claimed that all these 
objectives have been achieved. Insufficient attention to the ideals 
results in barely sustainable agriculture, the creation of new groups 
of rural poor with all the social implications, and of wider areas of 
degraded lands, as well as the burden of large sums of borrowed 
money which the next generation will have to repay. 

After several decades of settlement schemes in Southeast Asia and 
elsewhere, it is evident that the negative effects of poorly planned 
settlement can necessitate costly management interventions, or even 
abandonment of sites and a permanent reduction in the options for 
their future development. Recently, environmental guidelines for 
settlement projects in the humid tropics have been produced (Bur- 
bridge et al., 1988) in which a list is provided of ‘Project Killers’ 
which may severely limit the positive benefits of settlement projects. 
These include: 

1 Selection of sites which are not capable of sustaining the planned 
economic activities and numbers of settlers. 

2 Selection of economic activities which are inappropriate to the 
natural resources of the lands available for settlement. 

3 Degradation of the resources by mechanical land clearance. 

4 Lack of skills and relevant experience amongst settlers. 

5 Failure to make provision for population expansion in the settle- 
ment area, caused both by the natural increase of the resident 
population and by spontaneous migrants. 

6 Insidious degradation of the ecological qualities of settlement sites 
which reduce their economic viability. 

The following account of new agricultural settlements in Indonesia, 
Malaysia and Vietnam illustrates these problems, and examines the 
effects and scale of settlement on forested lands. 


36 


Settlement Programmes in Indonesia 

The term ‘resettlement’ is used in Indonesia to refer to the pro- 
grammes of the Social Affairs Department in which isolated groups 
(frequently hunter-gatherers or swidden farmers) are brought into 
permanent settlements somewhere near their original home. Each 
project affects perhaps only a few hundred people. It does not have 
major environmental effects, and is not considered further here. 

In Indonesia the programme for the movement of large numbers of 
people far from their homes is termed ‘transmigration’ (Whitten, 
1988; World Bank, 1988). It is the world’s largest programme for 
voluntary, assisted migration and has major environmental con- 
sequences. Nearly three million people have been moved from the 
crowded and environmentally degraded ‘inner’ islands of Java, 
Madura, Bali and Lombok, to new settlements in the less populated 
‘outer’ islands (Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1). Although transmigration 
was started in 1905, 40 years before Independence, about half these 
people were moved during the Third Five-Year Plan (1979-84) when 
almost 366,000 fully-sponsored families (about 1.8 million people) 
were moved. Of the fully-sponsored families which have been 
moved, about 70 per cent have gone to Sumatra, 20 per cent to 
Kalimantan, 8 per cent to Sulawesi and 2 per cent to Irian Jaya. It has 
been estimated that the number of unassisted migrants is some two to 
three times greater than the number of government-sponsored 
migrants (Ross, 1985), although a ratio of 1:1 1s often used. Asa result 
of population growth and these additional unassisted migrants, the 
actual number of people in the outer islands who are there because of 
the transmigration programme must be several times higher. 

Transmigration is said to be necessary because inappropriate land- 
use in the uplands of Java, resulting from dense human population, is 
endangering soil cover, dams, and human lives, as well as creating 
problems of sedimentation and flooding in the lower reaches of 
rivers. Transmigration is seen as just one of the means being used to 
tackle a massive problem; others include family planning, soil con- 
servation, and agricultural intensification. The fully-sponsored 
transmigrants are selected (more apply than are accepted) primarily 
on the basis of two priorities: people are chosen mainly either from 
critically eroded areas or from ones which are densely-populated. 
There is, however, a certain amount of overlap between the two 
categories. It should be stressed, however, that although the Depart- 
ment of Transmigration (DoT) is responsible for the movement of all 
people displaced by development programmes or natural disasters, 
not everyone so affected chooses the transmigration option. 

Transmigration costs an average of about US$10,000 per family 
(Gillis, 1988) and takes nine years from the allocation of areas to be 
surveyed and the planning of targets to the handing over of the 
settlement to the provincial governments (Whitten et al., 1987a). 


Settlement occurs in the fifth year of the process, and by the ume the 
settlement becomes a provincial village, and therefore eligible for 
village grants, the settlers should have received title to their land. In 
many cases, however, this process meets many problems, primarily 
due to insufficient manpower. 

It seems reasonable to suppose that taking people from degraded 
areas should improve the environmental conditions that they leave 
behind. In fact, the problems of Java’s hilly land are directly related 
to the amount of such land that 1s deforested, and thereby exposed to 
the rain, and are solved only by the introduction of strict soil 
conservation measures or by allowing permanent or semi-permanent 
vegetation to grow up on degraded soils. The vast majority of 
transmigrants own little, if any, land. The population of Java has 
been increasing throughout the programme faster than transmigra- 
tion has taken place and the departure of transmigrants from Java 
does not in general seem to have had an obvious or documented 
positive impact on the environment of the most critically eroded, 
steep areas of the island. 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 
Planning of Transmigration The land to which the transmigrants are 
moved has in many cases been manifestly inappropriate. By 1986, for 
political reasons if not others, these were increasingly being acknowl- 
edged and reported in the Indonesian and international press. Some 
of the sites were intrinsically unsuitable for agriculture, whereas 
others failed because of inadequate preparation or inappropriate land 
management. It was clear by the early 1980s that much of the land 
being used for new settlements was marginal for agricultural ac- 
tivities (Hanson, 1981), but such was the pressure to achieve targets 
that development continued despite appeals for moderation and for 
adherence to planning guidelines and manuals. 

The most basic and crucial stage of site selection is the preparation 
of maps which are acceptable to the various agencies concerned with 
land matters. Although land-use maps have been available in Indo- 
nesia for some years, reliable maps for the whole country have only 
been available since 1988, as a result of a project called the Regional 
Physical Planning Programme for Transmigration (RePPProT). The 
primary aim of the project has been to produce a series of maps from 


Sumatra 


Java 


1 


Sulawesi 


Irian 
Jaya 


24,051 


Figure 5.1 Transmigration in Indonesia 


Dots represent settlement sites (not to scale) and arrows indicate movements of government sponsored transmigrants. The figures are for families (4 people on average) 
resettled from 1979-86. In addition to these sponsored migrants an estimated 104,544 families migrated without government assistance to Sumatra; 33,714 to Kalimantan; 


8,478 to Sulawesi; 2,675 to Irian Jaya and 169,497 to unspecified locations. 


Table 5.1 Transmigration to the less densely populated ‘outer’ islands of Indonesia 


Sumatra Kalimantan Sulawesi* Irian Faya Totals 
sponsored spontaneous sponsored spontaneous sponsored spontaneous sponsored spontaneous 
1950-4 20,400 — 1,400 — 500 — —_— — 22,300 
1955-9 28,900 — 2,600 — 700 — — — 32,200 
1960-4 21,000 — 4,500 — 1,000 — — — 26,500 
1965-9 16,500 — 2,100 — 2,700 — 300 —_— 21,600 
1970-4 22,000 = 6,000 — 11,400 — 100 — 39,500 
1975-9 33,000 — 11,000 — 9,000 _ 2,000 — 55,000 
1979-80 16,384 — 565 — 3,854 — 290 — 21,093 
1980-1 49,043 — 11,976 — 9,663 — 2,521 = 73,203 
1981-2 48,520 — 17,378 = 15,890 — 2,688 — 84,476 
1982-3 57,578 — 17,488 — 12,396 — 5,362 — 92,824 
1983-4 55,540 — 23,207 — 9,879 — 5,755 — 94,381 
April 1984— 84,416 104,544 38,308 33,714 23,832 8,478 7,435 2,675 303,402 
May 1986 (5,905) (4,225) (2,055) (36) 
Totals 453,281 104,544 136,522 33,714 100,814 8,478 26,451 2,675 866,479 


(Source of data: Ministry of Transmigration Indonesia) 


* Includes the Moluccas and other small eastern islands 


1979-1984 total of 169,497 families migrated spontaneously but their movements were not known. 
Figures in brackets indicate the number of partially assisted families. These are included under sponsored families 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 


wel etn eg 


A transmigration settlement in southern Irian Jaya. WWF/J. Ratcliffe 


which the location of land most suited for possible future develop- 
ment as transmigration sites could be judged (these maps are the 
basis of the forest cover maps for Indonesia in chapter 19). A large 
proportion of the land so identified had in fact already been allocated 
for different purposes, but the decisions determining those alloca- 
tions were usually based on inadequate or inappropriate information. 
These new maps therefore offer a chance for revised and more 
rational planning. This is particularly pertinent to forest use since it 
is possible now to recommend shifts in forest boundaries, the 
degazetting of some protected areas (‘forests’ that in reality are only 
scrub or even grass), the redefining and physical demarcation of new 
boundaries, and the gazetting of new areas. The Department of 
Forestry stands to gain at least as much land as it loses on most of the 
islands, and all its land would actually be forested. 

Ensuring the integrity of protected areas is one of the highest 
priorities of the RePPProT project. What may seem such simple and 
sensible compromises are in fact, however, politically difficult. 
Nevertheless, it is of the highest priority that all sectors concerned 
with land and its allocation should revise the agreed land-status maps 
of each province based on the project. Fortunately this may be 
insisted upon because the National Development Planning Board 
(which allocates national budgets and decides development direc- 
tions) has recognised the significance of the mapping and has com- 
missioned a national overview of the results to illustrate the potential 
of land-use, as well as the accompanying conflicts and problems 
(RePPProT, 1990). 

Transmigration and land-use planning need to be guided by 
ecological principles. Guidelines are now available on how to 
assemble a provincial land-use plan while also considering nature 
conservation (Davidson, 1987). These guidelines, using the province 
of South Kalimantan (Borneo) as a case study, were based on those 
produced by IUCN in 1976 and subsequently updated (Poore and 
Sayer, 1987). A draft was used in a workshop in Jakarta in 1986 that 
brought together planners from Transmigration and other depart- 
ments to discuss issues in the context of natural resource conserva- 
ton. As a result, an Indonesian language version of the guidelines 
will be published (Thohari ez a/., in press). 


Forest Loss in Indonesia It should be stressed that almost all areas of 


38 


Indonesia’s forests have been designated for certain uses, ie grades of 
protection, production, or conversion (Whitten et al., 1987b), al- 
though many areas are now known to have been given an inappropri- 
ate designation (RePPProt, 1990). The forest that has been lost to 
transmigration has in almost all cases been taken from areas that were 
scheduled as ‘Conversion Forest’, and virtually no protected area has 
been damaged directly by the migration. 

While transmigration is blamed as a major cause of forest loss in 
Indonesia, the area cleared for sponsored settlements 1s actually small 
relative both to the total forest estate (Table 5.2) and to recently 
estimated figures of deforestation in Indonesia, which indicate that 
5000 sq. km of forest is lost each year to smallholder activity. In 
almost all provinces the land allocated to sponsored transmigration is 
less than ten per cent of the Conversion Forest area and less than one 
per cent of the total forest. These are, of course, average figures, and 
certain forest types, such as forests on shallow peat, have suffered 
much more than others. It should be remembered that not all land 
allocated to transmigration is actually cleared, but that access roads 
and ribbon development along them are not included in the figures. 
In the latter case, it has been suggested that total land cleared as a 
result of the transmigration programme may be five times that 
originally planned for clearance (Ross, 1985). 

Of more or less equal importance to the loss of forests in Indonesia 
is the plantation industry, for which large areas of forest have been 
converted. This is illustrated in Table 5.3, which shows the areas of 
land designated as Phase III transmigration sites (those which have 
already been cleared and settled, or for which official approval to 
clear and settle has already been given), tree crop plantations, and the 
land that is or should be gazetted as nature reserves or designated as 
protection forest based on the RePPProT study (RePPProT, 1990). 

The area of forest lost to transmigration may be small relative to 
the size of the whole country — but Indonesia is a large country, and 
the forest loss is large in absolute terms. This might cause less 
concern if the many reserves gazetted, and due to be gazetted, were 
well-guarded, and genuinely protected the wildlife communities 
within them. At present, however, there are few signs that the 
integrity of most reserves is being maintained in the face of both 
grossly inadequate enforcement of regulations regarding illegal set- 
tlement and logging, and inadequate employment opportunities for 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 


Table 5.2 Forest areas of Indonesia in sq. km by province (apart from Java) compared to land allocated for transmigration in the Third 


Five Year Plan 


Province area Defined area Conversion _ Forest as Transmigration land Allocated asa% Allocated as a % 
forest a % of of total forest of converted 
province land forest land 

land Available Allocated 30% SO% 30% 50% 

Aceh 53,390 32,820 1,920 59 270 170 0.1 0.2 Bell 4.5 
N. Sumatra 71,680 35,260 2,530 49 150 130 0.1 0.2 IES DS 
W. Sumatra 42,290 29,420 4,370 70 120 90 0.1 0.1 0.6 1.0 
Riau 94,560 65,460 17,540 69 800 580 0.2 0.3 1.0 127/ 
Jambi 51,000 26,140 10,130 51 530 380 0.3 0.5 1.1 1.9 
S. Sumatra 102,760 40,280 11,860 39 1,740 1,710 1.0 1.6 4.3 U2 
Bengkulu 19,780 9,920 1,930 50 220 230 0.6 1.0 3.6 6.0 
Lampung 32,000 12,440 0 39 1,020 1,000 2.4 4.0 — — 
Subtotals 469,490 251,740 50,280 54 4,890 4,290 0.4 0.7 2.6 4.3 
W. Kalimantan 146,000 76,950 15,080 52 570 250 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.8 
C. Kalimantan 153,000 109,970 30,000 72 510 480 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.8 
S. Kalimantan 151,140 20,290 2,840 55 470 370 0.5 0.8 33.0) 6.6 
E. Kalimantan 37,000 159,510 35,000 75 300 260 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.4 
Subtotals 548,240 366,720 82,920 67 1,870 1,360 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.8 
N. Sulawesi 27,510 15,830 6,990 58 80 70 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 
C. Sulawesi 68,030 41,650 3,350 61 380 300 0.2 0.3 Df 4.5 
S.E. Sulawesi 38,140 21,900 6,990 Sif 390 360 0.2 0.5 0.5 0.8 
S. Sulawesi 62,920 33,510 2,590 53 120 120 0.1 0.2 4.2 7.0 
Subtotals 196,600 112,890 19,920 57 970 850 0.2 0.3 133 2.1 
Maluku 85,720 50,960 4,360 59 180 150 0.1 0.1 1.0 oz 
Irian Jaya 410,660 288,160 117,750 70 340 130 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 
Subtotals 496,380 339,120 122,110 68 510 280 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 
Totals 1,710,710 1,070,470 275,230 63 8,240 6,770 0.2 0.3 0.7 1.2 


(Source: Based on FAO/World Bank, 1985) 


There are two columns of figures for transmigration: allocated land as a percentage of total forest and of conversion forest. In both cases they have been calculated twice, 
once assuming 30 per cent of the cleared land was forested, and again assuming that 50 per cent was forested. 


surrounding populations. In fact, some reserves have become so 
degraded by logging, smallholder intrusion and human-initiated fire 
that their conservation value has fallen dramatically. Examples are 
Gunung Nyiut and Kutai (both in Kalimantan), both of which were, 
until recently, of global significance. 

Although transmigration settlers, sponsored and unsponsored, are 
an important factor in illegal forest loss, it should be remembered 
that far greater areas have been cleared by indigenous groups. These 
are not classic swidden cultivators but rather farmers whose practices 
are inappropriate or whose density is in excess of that which is 
appropriate for the land. Thus, large areas of deforested and now 
unproductive land throughout the archipelago, some of which has 
been blamed on transmigrants (the ‘shifted cultivators’), in many 
cases pre-date the transmigration settlements. 

There is an Indonesian proverb which asserts that ‘Where there is 
sugar there are ants’ (Anon., 1988a) and as mentioned above, the 
sponsored transmigrants are followed by twice as many unassisted or 
‘spontaneous’ migrants moving in response to the encouraging news 
sent from friends and relatives who have already moved. These 
people can cause considerable damage if their inevitable influx is not 


taken into account at the planning stage. The degradation of hillsides 
and previously forested lands in Lampung, Sumatra’s southernmost 
province, which has received the most sponsored and unsponsored 
migrants because of its proximity to Java, attests to this. So critical is 
the situation in some areas that some of its migrant population has 
had to be moved to neighbouring provinces. Even so, it is believed 
that there are still about 39,000 spontaneous migrant families in 


Table 5.3 Areas (in sq. km) of land designated as transmigration 
sites including proposed revisions to Nature Reserves and 
Protection forests 


Total Reserves Protection Trans- Tree 

area Forest migration crop 

areas areas 
Sumatra 474,935 43,784 115,202 28,804 31,838 
Kalimantan 529,639 65,164 65,360 14,872 16,168 
Sulawesi 186,145 27,625 100,296 4,174 2,098 
Irian Jaya 414,800 86,300 156,000 9,063 705 


(Source: Data taken from RePPProT reports: RePPProT, 1990) 


39 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 

Lampung’s prohibited areas such as reserves and protection forests 
(Anon., 1988a). The experience of Lampung is regrettably becoming 
the experience of other provinces. 

The value and need for forest cover is not widely appreciated, and 
presents an enormous problem of education for the authorities. The 
settlers themselves are no lovers of the forest and have probably never 
actually seen any, except for remnants on Javan mountain tops, 
before they moved. Forest is perceived as being the home of spirits, 
ghosts and pests, and the settlers are quite happy to see it felled even 
though the resulting scrub is probably a more serious source of pests, 
such as pigs. 

The most spectacular pest in Sumatra, and a protected one at that, 
is the elephant (see chapter 2). Elephants regularly raid trans- 
migrants’ fields (Anon., 1988e) and cause serious economic damage 
in plantations. One plantation in Riau (eastern Sumatra) recently 
reported damage of almost US$1 million (Anon., 1988b). Villagers 
are encouraged to scare off the animals before they reach the fields, 
but while the available habitat is so limited it is hard to see any 
prospect of amelioration of the problems. Some elephants are taken 
into training schools, but with little success so far. A more successful 
approach in Sri Lanka has involved the maintenance of forest 
corridors (see chapter 8). 


The Current Economic Situation During the Fourth Five-Year Plan 
(1984-9), the price of oil, the mainstay of the Indonesian economy, 
plummeted. Government budgets were slashed, with that for trans- 
migration being hit harder than most. As a consequence in 1987-8, 
the movement of families from Java virtually stopped and the 
thousand or so families who did move were destined for settlements 
relatively close to the island. Throughout the country in 1988, 30- 
50,000 houses remained officially empty. Although some may have 
been filled by local transmigrants and opportunists, and some re- 
paired, many are certainly rotting in fields of encroaching bush. The 
1989/1990 budget for transmigration was increased by 20 per cent to 
US$ 158 million, 52 per cent of which was in the form of foreign loans 
(Anon., 1989a). 

The transmigration programme has attracted considerable crit- 
icism both from within and outside the country. The targets for the 
Third Five-Year Plan were enormous and it was relatively easy for 
the Indonesian press and others to reveal the shortcomings. The 
target had been 500,000 families, which was said to have been 
achieved and even exceeded by counting in unsponsored or partially- 
sponsored migrants. The target of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1984— 
9) was even higher, 750,000 families, but, for many reasons, not least 
on the grounds of economics, the actual number of sponsored 
migrants has fallen far short of this, although the total is said to have 
just exceeded the target, again by counting unsponsored and 
partially-sponsored migrants. 

The criticisms of the transmigration programme contain a great 
deal of truth. However, it remains that there are successful trans- 
migration settlements occupied by satisfied transmigrants. Despite 
the pests and other problems, some transmigrants feel relatively 
fulfilled because their lives in Java were leading them nowhere, they 
had no space, no land, and only insuperable challenges. 

The many failures, the severely restricted budgets, and the vo- 
ciferous complaints from outside and within the country about the 
transmigration schemes, have caused a major rethink of policy. Most 
importantly, no new areas are being cleared for settlement and a 
period of consolidation has been agreed. This is referred to as 
“second-stage development’. It comprises road and bridge building 
to ease communications, marketing of produce, modifying farm 
models, encouraging tree crops, providing alternative income 
sources (Anon., 1989b), and moving settlers from desperate situa- 
tions to areas where the private sector is likely to sponsor settlements 


40 


— these are most likely to occur near to tree crop plantations or other 
industrial projects (Anon., 1989c). 

Taking account of this new trend, the World Bank has modified 
part of its current Fifth Transmigration Loan so that new settlement 
planning has been replaced with assessing second-stage development 
projects. It is also making studies, including environmental impact 
assessments, to appraise the possibility of a sixth loan specifically for 
second-stage development. Serious problems need to be faced, 
however, particularly breaking through the problem of issuing land 
utles. This is regarded as essential because a settler will not make any 
great effort to safeguard the long-term viability of his land and its 
surroundings untl he is sure that the land he is tilling is his to keep. 
About 350,000 of 447,000 sponsored transmigrant families cannot 
yet be transferred to the authority of the provinces in which they live 
because of the absence of land titles (Anon., 1989c). In East Kali- 
mantan alone there is a backlog of more than 34,000 titles to be 
processed (Anon., 1988d). Efforts are being made, however, and it 
was announced recently that even sponsored transmigrants whose 
land had accidentally been set in official Forestry Department land 
were to be given titles (Anon., 1988e). 


Settlement Programmes in Malaysia 

In 1956 the Malaysian Government began a large land development 
and settlement programme and established the Federal Land De- 
velopment Authority (FELDA) as executing agency. By the end of 
1984, 89,000 landless families (about 500,000 people) had been 
moved into 367 schemes covering over 6000 sq. km in Peninsular 
Malaysia, much of which had been forested before the schemes 
commenced (see Figure 5.2). 


Fengka, Peninsular Malaysia The three Jengka Triangle projects 
were the first in a series of seven World Bank loans to Malaysia for the 
development of new lands that were to be planted with oil palm or 
rubber. The three projects, approved between 1968 and 1975, 
entailed the clearing of some 400 sq. km of forest and the settlement 
of about 9200 settler families. A retrospective evaluation made in 
1985 found that FELDA was efficient, the economics and financial 
aspects of the project were satisfactory, but, although many of the 
detrimental environmental impacts such as soil erosion and quality of 
mill-effluent were not of major importance, insufficient attention had 
been paid to wildlife aspects during project preparation and imple- 
mentation. The loss of forest was judged to have been the single most 
serious impact (World Bank, 1987). 

The clearance of forest had a considerable effect in terms of 
reduction of the area of lowland forest and of wildlife populations (see 
chapter 22). The Jengka forest reserve would have been a valuable 
forest to retain, in fact, because a detailed study has already been 
made on part of it (Poore, 1968) and therefore it could have been 
monitored over a period of time to provide important perspectives in 
forest dynamics and management. 

Forest unsuitable for agriculture or settlement within the Jengka 
project area was left as reserves. These have been logged and while 
their main function is perceived as being for watershed protection, 
their role as wildlife reserves is also relevant. Logged forests not 
subject to continual disturbance are able to support a considerable 
number of the smaller species found in undisturbed forests (see 
chapters 2 and 22). These forests are under no threat from the settlers 
since kerosene or bottled gas are the principal cooking fuels. In 
addition, strips of forest were left along the rivers, as required by the 
Department of Irrigation and Drainage, although these are less well 
protected near to the villages. 

The cost of settlement is equivalent to approximately US$ 15,000 
per family, half as much again as in Indonesia. In general the settlers 
are satisfied, particularly the oil palm growers. Social infrastructure, 


particularly education, has been an important factor in attracting and 
retaining settlers. The new migrants have a relatively high standard 
of living and are able to purchase a large range of consumer goods, 
but there are problems looming as few of their children are prepared 
to work in the plantations and it seems almost impossible for new job 
Opportunities to be created within a rural environment. As in Indo- 
nesia, new plantations and crops suffer from the wildlife (pigs, deer 
and elephants) which they have displaced or next to which they have 
been established. FELDA, however, has been at the forefront of 
developing effective solar-powered electrical and other defences 
against elephants. 

The 6000 sq. km of forested land lost to FELDA schemes is high, 
yet it represents only 20 per cent of the total land area of Peninsular 
Malaysia that is under oil palm and rubber, an area which has risen 
from 20,110 sq. km in 1970 to 23,000 sq. km in 1975, 26,039 sq. km 
in 1980, 29,628 sq. km in 1985, and over 31,000 sq. km expected by 
1990. The FELDA developments must also be seen against national 
aspirations as detailed in development plans. Thus in the Fourth 
Malaysia Plan (1981—5) 6075 sq. km were to be opened for rubber 
and 8470 sq. km for oil palm — during the same period FELDA was to 
develop 1500 sq. km. 

Throughout Malaysia the lowland forest has been largely lost and 
has given way to lucrative plantations of industrial crops, but the 
problem of landless people below the poverty level still exists. Few 
alternative opportunities exist to the traditional occupations of fish- 
ing, growing rice and farming coconuts. 


Sahabat Project, Dent Peninsula, Sabah About ten years ago 
FELDA was invited by the Sabah State Government to implement 
large-scale land development schemes in its eastern regions around 
Tawau and Lahad Datu. The largest, and one of the more recent 
schemes, is located at the eastern extremity of the Dent Peninsula, 
east of Lahad Datu, and is known as the Sahabat Project. It entails 
conversion of approximately 1030 sq. km of unpopulated forest into 
oil palm and other plantations, together with a number of townships, 
a port, and several farming industries served by a resident population 
of about 90,000. 

The area intended for clearance in this project might be described 
as tropical rain forest, but it had undergone a number of logging 
cycles producing timber of ever-decreasing value, and had become a 
mosaic of secondary forest. About 40 per cent of the area had already 
been cleared when the World Bank was asked for support, and an 
initial assessment of the environmental impacts highlighted the 
impacts on, among others, freshwater and coastal ecosystems, and 
the effects of man on the survival, migration, and isolation of the 
forest wildlife, particularly the larger species, including elephant and 
Sumatran rhinoceros. 

The project is expected to be agreed soon by the parties concerned 
and the Wildlands Policy of the World Bank (Ledec and Goodland, 
1988) has allowed and encouraged considerable attention to be paid 
to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, which is immediately west of the 
project area. Thus, a technical aid package is likely to be arranged 
that would provide a manager for the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, a 
technical adviser to the Sabah Wildlife Department, and funding for 
a Conservation Strategy for Sabah as has been produced for most of 
the other Malaysian states by WWF—Malaysia. 


Settlement in Vietnam 
The other major new settlement project in the Asia—Pacific region 1s 
in Vietnam, although information is not abundant. The account here 
is based on the work of Hill (1984) and Le Trong Cuc (1988). 

The programme in Vietnam is directed at the rehabilitation of 
previously cultivated and abandoned areas, particularly in the south, 
where deforestation is very serious (see chapter 28). The settlement 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 


Mudo 


Kelantan 
Selanton 
Trans 
nema a Trengganu 
as ( ican 
C ee \ 
- \ Jengka 
. y OG ier 
\ ( 
Pohon 
Klang valley rence 
| 
~ Johor 
0 50 ml Tenggara 
I +] 
0 80 km 
(aD 
ws 


Figure 5.2 Regional development schemes in Peninsular Malaysia 
(Source: Ministry of Finance 1977 in hu 


areas or ‘New Economic Zones’ total about 7000 sq. km of cleared 
land and have been settled by some 1.47 million people between 1976 
and 1980; this represents about 2.5 per cent of the population. The 
intention after 1980 was to maintain the rate of settlement. Indeed, 
the Five-Year Plan for 1981-7 planned the resettlement of 1-1.5 
million people on a further 7000 sq. km of land by establishing about 
a hundred state farms for the cultivation of rice and other industrial 
crops. 

Most of the settlers are ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) from over- 
populated areas in the Red River delta, coastal towns and crowded 
cities. They are given tax concessions and other advantages, and 
some are members of national minorities who have agreed to adopt 
settled agriculture instead of continuing damaging forms of shifting 
agriculture. The population density in the upland areas appears to be 
exceeding those previously experienced in those regions. 

It seems that very little forest has been cleared, although there is a 
record of 40 sq. km of ‘virgin land’ being cleared in the Ha Tien 
district of Kien Gian Province and in An Giang, both near the 
southernmost border area with Cambodia, and of 530 sq. km in Binh 
Tri Thien near the south-east border with Laos. These areas have 
population densities of 100-200 people per sq. km (Le Trong Cuc, 
1988). While it appears that the settlement has not led to large areas 
of forest being felled directly, there are indications that forest is being 
lost indirectly. For example, it seems that the emphasis on secondary 
food crops, notably cassava and maize has met urgent food needs, yet 
the harvest has deteriorated, the cleared land has been abandoned 
and neighbouring forest areas have been felled to compensate. It 
seems likely also that the presence of the settlers has exacerbated the 
problem of soil loss. 


4] 


AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT SCHEMES 


Conclusion 

New agricultural settlement schemes have had an undeniably serious 
impact on the forests of several parts of Southeast Asia, and in many 
cases this could have been minimised if ecological principles had 
been applied at the planning stage. Nevertheless, the scale of de- 
forestation caused by such schemes has often been exaggerated. 
Because the schemes are integrated across government sectors, and 
have a high profile, they receive more public attention than, for 
example, the expansion of the plantation industry. Unlike settlement 
schemes, plantations of oil palm and rubber continue to expand very 
rapidly and are likely to be major reasons for conversion of forest in 
Indonesia, in particular, in coming decades. Oil palm prices, while 


References 

Anon. (1988a) Masalah sangat mendesak, mengatur transmigrasi 
swakarsa. Kompas, 9 May 1988. 

Anon. (1988) Riau forests proposed for elephant habitats. Fakarta 
Post, 26 November 1988. 

Anon. (1988) Sugiarto bolehkan transmigran Rumbia pindah. 
Kompas, 18 July 1988. 

Anon. (1988d) Penerbitan 34.376 sertifikat tanah transmigrasi di 
Kaltim tertunggak. Suara Pembaruan, 19 October 1988. 

Anon. (1988e) Presiden setujui pemutihan lahan transmigran. 
Kompas, 28 July 1988. 

Anon. (1989a) Transmigration budget up 20%. Jakarta Post, 13 
January 1989. 

Anon. (1989b) Usaha sekunder akan dikembangkan di daerah 
transmigrasi. Kompas, 7 March 1989. 

Anon. (1989c) Pemerintah harapkan peran swasta untuk bantu 
program transmigrasi. Kompas, 15 March 1989. 

Burbridge, P. R., Norgaard, R. B. and Hartshorn, G. S. 
(1988) Environmental Guidelines for Resettlement Projects in the 
Humid Tropics. FAO Environment and Energy Paper 9, Rome, 
Italy. 

Davidson, J. (1987) Conservation planning in Indonesia’s Trans- 
migration Program: Case Studies from Kalimantan. IUCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

FAO/World Bank (1985) Working Paper No. 1. Indonesia 
Forestry Project, FAO/World Bank Cooperative Programme, 
Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Gillis, M. (1988) Indonesia: public policies, resource management, 
and the tropical forest. In: Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest 
Resources. (eds) R. Repetto and M. Gillis. Cambridge University 
Press, Cambridge, UK. 432 pp. 

Hanson, A. J. (1981) Transmigration and marginal land develop- 
ment. In: Agricultural and Rural Development in Indonesia Hansen, 
G. E. (ed.). Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 

Hill, R. D. (1984) Aspects of land development in Vietnam. 
Contemporary Southeast Asia 4: 389-402. 

Ledec, G. and Goodland, R. (1988) Waldlands: Their Protection and 
Management in Economic Development. World Bank, Washington, 
DC, USA. 


42 


not stable, appear strong, and the world demand for rubber latex has 
increased of late. 

With a growing population throughout the Asia—Pacific region, 
agricultural expansion is inevitable. Government-controlled schemes 
enable the processes to be regulated, but have at times been dogged 
by poor data on land-use potential and resulting inappropriate 
projects. Essential planning ingredients include rigorous application 
of ecological principles to minimise soil erosion and degradation, 
integration with protected area systems to ensure the conservation of 
biological resources, and attention to potential cultural conflicts. In 
this way the settlers will enjoy sustainable production from the land, 
and biological diversity will be maintained. 


Le Trong Cuc (1988) Agroforestry practices in Vietnam. Working 
Paper No. 9, Environment and Policy Institute, East-West Cen- 
ter, Honolulu. 

Poore, M. E. D. (1968) Studies in Malaysian rain forest. I. The 
forest on Triassic sediments in Jengka Forest Reserve. Journal of 
Ecology 56: 143-96. 

Poore, D. and Sayer, J. (1987) The Management of Tropical Moist 
Forest Lands: Ecological Guidelines. 'UCN, Gland, Switzerland. 63 
pp. 

RePPProT (1990) National Overview of the Regional Physical Plan- 
ning Programme for Transmigration. Overseas Development Natu- 
ral Resources Institute (ODA), Chatham, UK. 

Ross, M. S. (1985) A Review of Policies Affecting the Sustainable 
Development of Forest Lands in Indonesia. International Institute 
for Environment and Development, London, UK. 

Thohari, M., Haeruman, H., Alikodra, H., Whitten, A. J. and 
Kartikasari, S. N. (in press) Pedoman Pembukaan Lahan Hutan 
Berwawasan Lingkungan. Gadjah Mada University Press, 
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 

Whitten, A. J. (1988) Indonesia’s Transmigration Program and its 
role in the loss of tropical rain forests. Conservation Biology 1: 239— 
46. 

Whitten, A. J., Mustafa, M. and Henderson, G. S. (1987a) The 
Ecology of Sulawesi. Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta. 

Whitten, A. J., Haeruman, H., Alikodra, H. and Thohari, M. 
(1987b) Transmigration and the Environment in Indonesia: The 
Past, Present and Future. \UCN, Cambridge, UK. 

World Bank (1987) The Fengka Triangle Projects in Malaysia: Im- 
pact Evaluanon Report. Operations Evaluation Department, 
World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. 

World Bank (1988) Indonesia: The Transmigration Program in Per- 
spective. World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. 


Authorship 

Anthony J. Whitten in Cambridge with contributions from Dinh 
Hiep of the Forest Department in Hanoi and Effendy Sumardija of 
the Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Department, Minis- 
try of Forestry, Bogor, Indonesia. 


6 Natural Rain Forest 


Management 


Introduction 


Southeast Asia! includes the tallest tropical rain forests of the world 
with the greatest timber volume, especially in western Malesia, 
where Dipterocarpaceae dominate. The number of dipterocarp gen- 
era and species decrease with distance from Borneo, but the commer- 
cial timber stocking is highest where comparatively few species 
dominate, as they do in the more seasonal climates towards the 
periphery of the region. 

The very durable heavy construction timbers of certain types of 
Shorea (balau, selangan batu), together with Neobalanocarpus heimu 
(chengal) and some species of Hopea (giam), have always been in 
demand for local use within the region and in Hong Kong, but it is 
the light hardwoods of other species of Shorea, Parashorea, and 
Pentacme (meranti, lauan, seraya) which have been the basis of the 
lucrative export trade in logs, sawn timber and plywood from the 
region. The medium hardwoods of Dipterocarpus (keruing, apitong ) 
and Dryobalanops (kapor) occupy an intermediate position. They are 
in demand for railway sleepers and for some constructional purposes 
but are too dense and sometimes too oily to make first-class sawmill 
and peeler logs (for planks or mouldings and veneers respectively). 

Though current fellings in primary forest in Borneo may, over 
limited areas, yield more than 100 cu. m per ha, the regional average 
is about 45 cu. m per ha. There were stands in Negros Province in the 
Philippines which yielded, over limited areas, 450 cu. m per ha in the 
1920s and 1930s, and on rich volcanic soils in Mindanao, Philippines, 
and in the Darvel Bay area of Sabah yields of over 270 cu. m per ha, 
mostly of Parashorea, were achieved in the 1950s and 1960s. East of 
Wallace’s Line, which runs between Borneo and Sulawesi, very few 
dipterocarp species occur, but the timber stand may be almost 
entirely composed of a few species of Anisoptera, Hopea, and Shorea, 
and thus yield a very high volume of commercially valuable species. 

Many of the forests of Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea are almost 
entirely lacking dipterocarps, the timber stand varying widely from 
mixtures of Dracontomelon, Intsia, Pomena and Vitex to almost pure 
Araucaria in the hills and Terminalia brassu in the valley-bottom 
swamps of the Bismarck and Solomon Islands. 

The forests of the region have developed over millennia, and 
unlogged forest may include trees which are several hundred years 
old. In this balanced ecosystem all the ecological niches have been 
filled by species through a long process of competition and adjust- 
ment. Much of the fertility is held within the mantle of forest rather 
than in the soil on which it grows, particularly in hill areas. It is not, 
therefore, to be expected that the forest, managed on a felling cycle of 


1 The main focus of this chapter is on the dipterocarp-rich forests of Southeast Asia. 
Details of forest management in the rain forests of Australia and the monsoon forests of 
Burma are given in chapters 12 and 15 respectively. 


35 years or so, will yield a harvest in each cycle as large as that 
produced by the initial felling of the unlogged forest. Conversely sites 
of low productivity may, in unlogged forest, show a stand with a 
relatively high timber volume, since that volume represents the 
accumulation of a very long period of growth, far longer than that 
envisaged in the felling cycles and rotations of a managed forest. In 
fact, the volume of the stand may have more to do with the longevity 
of the major species than with the productivity of the site. For all 
these reasons it is important to realise that sustained yield manage- 
ment of natural forests does not mean the harvesting of stands 
equivalent to those in the unlogged forest over an indefinite number 
of felling cycles, but rather the periodic harvesting of timber equal to 
the annual productive capacity of the site multiplied by the number 
of years in the cycle. 

This annual productive capacity, based on the native species of the 
rain forest, is unlikely to exceed 1-2 cu. m per ha per year, compared 
with perhaps 30 cu. m per ha per year for closely spaced monocul- 
tures of fast-growing species. It may well be argued that under these 
circumstances it would be better to abandon the management of 
natural forest after the initial harvest of the virgin stand and replace it 
with plantations of fast-growing species. The arguments against such 
a policy are, of course, numerous, including the following: 

1 Replacement of the natural forest with plantations of a few species 
destroys the genetic diversity of the forests. 

2 Many forest sites are too steep to permit clear-fell-and-plant forest 
management on short rotations without severe damage. 

3 The costs of clearing and planting are very high indeed compared 
with natural forest management. 

4 There are great risks of pests and diseases in monocultures. 

5 No really satisfactory fast-growing plantation species has yet been 
found for sites of low to moderate fertility in the region. 

6 The sclerotic leaves of plantation species such as Eucalyptus and 
Acacia mangium decay slowly and can cause soil degradation. 

7 A plantation crop is more market-specific and the me of harvest 
less flexible. 

8 If it were decided to plant the better sites within the region and 
abandon the remaining forest after harvesting the virgin stand, the 
forest would undoubtedly be destroyed by illegal felling and cultiva- 
tion, and its protective function as well as the habitat of vast numbers 
of animals and plants would be lost. 


Management of Timber 

The regeneration and management of tropical rain forest is based in 
most of the region on the light hardwood species of Parashorea, 
Pentacme and Shorea with low-density, pale reddish-brown umber 
(Burgess, 1975; Wyatt-Smith, 1963). These species are all fast 


43 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


growing when exposed to strong sunlight; they have winged fruits 
with a dispersal range of about 80 m from the parent tree with over 90 
per cent of the seed falling within 60 m. The species fruit at the same 
time at intervals of up to five to seven years in the less seasonal parts of 
the region, but where there is a marked dry season, fruiting may take 
place every second year. Scattered fruiting of individuals may take 
place more frequently than this, but when it does the seed tends to be 
attacked by weevils on the tree and by foraging ants when it reaches 
the ground. Unless ‘released’ by undergrowth cutting or by tree- 
fellings, many of the seedlings die within the first two years and 
relatively few survive beyond three years. This means that if fruiting 
is long delayed the stock of seedlings may become very low in 
primary forest. Seedlings of these species respond very rapidly 
indeed to release and will survive for many years when they have 
reached half a metre tall without further release; when they have 
reached three metres or so in height they are very vulnerable to 
damage from felling operations. 

The heavy hardwood species are all slow-growing shade bearers 
and will survive for many years in unopened forest. Some of them, 
e.g. Neobalanocarpus heimii, have wingless fruits, but one of the 
commonest, Shorea laevis, has winged fruits with a similar range of 
dispersal to the soft-wooded Shorea species mentioned above. 

Successful sustained yield management of the forests will only be 
achieved if effective control is exercised over the following matters: 
e Protection of the forest. 

@ Realistic assessment of annual cut. 

e@ Orderly arrangement and demarcation of annual coupes (felling 
zones). 

e Pre-felling inventory and allocation of silvicultural system. 

e@ Marking of trees for retention or for felling. 

e Exploitation of coupe to acceptable damage limits. 

@ Post-felling inventory. 

e@ Check of harvest by species to prevent creaming (i.e. selection of 
only the most valuable timber). 

@ Silvicultural treatment of relic stand if necessary. 

© Continuous forest inventory. 

e Maintenance of main roads, control of erosion on spur roads and 
skid trails. 

Different countries have adopted various management systems to 
achieve these objectives; some have been successful, others less so. 
The following review of each of the above points suggests where the 
major weaknesses lie. 


Protection of the forest Protection of the forest is the basic require- 
ment; it is useless to control logging operations if the worked coupes 
are then destroyed by shifting cultivators. The customary right to 
practise shifting cultivation and to take timber for domestic use is 
admitted in all the countries of the region, but in some, notably 
Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, these activities have been controlled 
at an acceptable level. In all the Malaysian states the legal constitu- 
tion of forest reserves by preliminary gazette notification, public 
enquiry, and final notification, carried out by the legislature, has 
been an essential step in the protection of the forests. India and 
Indonesia are similar in having a policy of reservation of forests for 
both productive and protective purposes, but in Indonesia the 
system lacks a strong legal base. Where forest lands are defined 
simply as the residual land left after alienation for other uses, as is the 
case in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, both the public and 
the Government tend to take the protection of the forest lightly. The 
recent allocation of land by consensus at provincial level in Indonesia 
is a step in the right direction, but it seems doubtful whether forest so 
allocated will have the status of a definite forest reserve constituted by 
government. A public enquiry where rights within the forest may be 
claimed, and where they are then, if admitted, defined, is an essential 


44 


part of the reservation process, and after final notification the forest 
reserve is demarcated by a two-metre-wide cut line, notice plates and 
boundary stones at corners. As far as possible, of course, natural 
features such as rivers and ridges are used as boundaries. 

It is essential when forest reserves are being established that 
enough forest land is left unreserved for the local people to practise 
their customary rights. In Sabah the practice has been to permit 
shifting cultivation outside forest reserves but to confine it to second- 
ary forest by making it illegal to fell trees above a certain diameter 
limit. After forest reserves have been constituted and demarcated the 
boundaries must be patrolled and any encroachment firmly dealt 
with. In some countries, notably Indonesia and the Philippines, it is 
at this stage that forest protection becomes exceedingly difficult to 
enforce, partly because government has been unwilling to antagonise 
local communities by restricting shifting cultivation, partly because 
guerillas have taken the side of shifting cultivators against govern- 
ment, and partly because forestry departments have insufficient staff 
and resources to protect the forest and have tried to place the onus on 
concessionaires. It is clear that unless governments are prepared to 
give an unequivocal lead in the protection of forests, and forestry 
departments are given the resources and support to enable them to 
enforce protection by patrolling the areas, the future of sustained 
yield management is very bleak. While it is reasonable to expect 
concessionaires to assist in the patrol and protection of the forests it is 
utterly unrealistic to expect them to be solely responsible for it. The 
opportunities for exploiting concessions provides shifting cultivators 
and illegal timber workers with easy access to forests which in many 
cases they have never previously entered. It is essential, therefore, 
that concessionaires and the forest departments be given the legal 
authority to limit access along extraction roads. 

The practice of making close-spaced plantations of industrial tree 
species in a band about one km wide along main logging roads within 
concessions has much to recommend it. The land so planted is the 
most valuable in the concession, due to its accessibility, and the 
existence of a barrier of cultivated trees has a deterrent effect on 
shifting cultivators. In addition, the making of such plantations 
provides an occupation and source of livelihood to many potential 
shifting cultivators. 


Realistic assessment of the annual cut The control of the annual cut 
by both volume and area, and in some cases by volume alone, has 
been tried in some countries in the region. Volume control is 
desirable from the concessionaires’ point of view since it means that 
in theory his volume output can remain constant; in practice, 
however, market conditions, weather, labour availability, plant 
breakdown and many other factors have an over-riding effect on the 
output of concessions. From government’s point of view volume 
control has the great drawback that once logs have passed through 
scaling control there is no way of checking that they have been 
produced by a given coupe. In addition, there may be strong 
incentives to under-scale logs for export. 

If the permitted annual cut in concessions is limited on an area 
basis alone, however, the cut-over area remains available for check by 
survey at any time, overcuts are immediately apparent by inspection 
of control maps, and there is no added temptation to under-scale logs 
for royalty assessment. Before the annual cut can be based on area it is 
essential that unproductive forest be mapped and scaled out of the 
total area of the concession. To do this, a topographical and vegeta- 
tion map ata scale of at least 1:50,000 is necessary, and this can be 
made by air survey. In general dipterocarps run out at about 500 m 
above sea level, so all land above the 500 m contour should be 
disregarded as unproductive; any productive land above that limit 
will help to balance voids below it. Land steeper than 30°, or perhaps 
35°, where work can be very carefully controlled, should also be 


regarded as unproductive if the forest is to be worked by tractor 
skidding. If cable yarding is possible and desirable (see page 46) the 
limit may be higher, perhaps 45°. Swamp and forest on poor soils 
should also be scaled out as permanently unproductive. Any areas of 
shifting cultivation and regrowth associated with it should also be 
deducted from the productive area, unless it proves possible to 
replant them. The annual coupe should then be defined as the 
productive area divided by the felling cycle, less a safety factor which 
should not be less than 20 per cent. The coupe will have to be revised 
each year to take account of forest where stand structure necessitates 
working on the Uniform System (see box on page 46). 


Orderly arrangement and demarcation of annual coupes In most 
concession agreements the concessionaire selects his coupe each year 
and this is then approved (or not) by the Forestry Department. There 
is a tendency under these circumstances for blocks of desirable forest 
to be picked out for inclusion in coupes, leaving a matrix of unallo- 
cated forest. Unless operations have to be transformed for a good 
reason the Forestry Department should make sure that each year’s 
coupe application is the same as the previous year’s, the principle 
being that high profits from working good forest should be balanced 
by lower profits from poorer forest. If forest is found which is so poor 
as to be unworkable it should be bypassed only if it is deducted from 
the productive area of the concession and the coupe adjusted accord- 
ingly. Coupe boundaries must be demarcated with a 2 m wide cut line 
and paint marks, and surveyed so that the coupe becomes the 
permanent compartment for future management and is plotted on 
the control map. 


Pre-felling inventory and allocation of silvicultural system With the 
exception of Sabah all countries in the region have now adopted 
Selection Fellings as general practice (Anon., 1980; Siapno, 1970; 
Thang, 1987; von der Heyde eral. , 1987; Weidelt and Banaag, 1982). 
Selection working is designed to conserve the trees of commercial 
species which are below the exploitation limit (Table 6.1) and, 
because of the increment which these trees represent, to reduce the 
felling cycle to approximately one-half of the rotation. If selection 
fellings are to proceed to perpetuity on short felling cycles, and the 
yield truly sustained, it is essential that the putative residual stand 
before each felling contains sufficient stems of commercial species 
between 20 cm dbh! and the minimum exploitable diameter, of good 
form, free from serious defects and with healthy crowns to provide a 
commercial felling at the end of the next cycle. The minimum 
number of such stems required is 25 per ha, and they must be well 
distributed. In Indonesia a simple minimum of 25 stems is prescribed 
(Anon., 1980), but in the Philippines percentages of groups of girth 
classes in the total stands are prescribed (Siapno, 1970). In Peninsu- 
lar Malaysia a differential in size between dipterocarps and non- 
dipterocarps is prescribed in order to favour the former, and a 
procedure based on known growth rates is laid down to relate the 
residual stand to the length of the felling cycle, and to make up 
deficiencies between diameter classes (Thang, 1987). If the pre- 
felling inventory of the coupe reveals that insufficient potential 
residuals are present, then the coupe must be worked on the Uniform 
System with regeneration from seedlings and saplings, and the felling 
cycle extended to a full rotation. It is by no means certain that the 
majority of coupes will prove to be workable under the Selection 
System, so the pre-felling inventory is vital, and substantial reduc- 
tion in the coupe may be necessary as a result. There has been a 
tendency in all countries where the Selection System has been 
adopted to double the coupe without ensuring that intermediate 
fellings will be sustainable, and firm action is required to correct the 
resultant overcutting. 


' Centimetres of diameter at breast height. The standard measure of a timber tree. 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


Table 6.1 Cutting limits and felling cycles in the Asian region 


Silvicultural Cutting Diameter 
system cycle limit 
(years) (cm)! 
Malaysia 
Peninsular uniform 55-60 45 
selection 30 SO dipterocarps 
(45 non- 
dipterocarps) 
Sabah uniform 60 58 
selection 35 50 
Sarawak selection 25 48 
Philippines selection 30-45 retain: 70% of 
15—65 cm class 
(40% of 
65-75 cm class) 
Papua New Guinea selection ? 50 
Indonesia selection 35 50 but Dyera 60, 
Agathis 65 


(Source: Burgess, in Poore et al., 1989) 


! Tree diameter at breast height, beneath which the tree may not be felled. 


Marking of trees for retention or for felling Trees for retention should 
be marked with a continuous band of paint so that they can be seen 
from all directions, and be serially numbered. If reliable fallers are 
available it may not be necessary also to mark trees for felling, but if 
they are so marked they must be numbered above and below the 
felling line and hammer marked at least on the stump with all marks 
directly behind the prescribed line of fall, so that they are not covered 
by the fallen butt. Unless the stump carries all the felling marks it is 
impossible to check the fellings. Felling blocks should be small and 
only one gang of fallers should work in each block. 


Exploitation of coupe to acceptable damage limits Directional felling 
will reduce damage to residuals, but not eliminate it. If the stand is of 
average stocking and the trees evenly distributed, about 25 per cent 
of the marked residuals must inevitably be damaged in fellings, but 
damage in excess of this should attract penalties. Trees should be 
felled as far as possible at acute angles to the skid trails to minimise 
damage to regeneration when pulling them out, and be skidded in 
tree lengths to reduce the number of passes along the skid trail. If 
selective felling is practised it will be necessary to skid by tractor or 
wheeled skidder unless exceptionally skilled operators under close 
supervision are continuously available, when high lead yarding may 
be permitted. These levels of skill are unlikely to be available outside 
the Philippines and Sabah. Under the Uniform System the use of 
high-lead yarding should generally be permitted, especially in steep 
country with heavy stands. Skyline working will reduce the amount 
of road building and the amount of damage to the environment. 


Post-felling inventory This is essential in order to control the amount 
of logging damage and to check that an adequate residual stand has 
survived. The inventory should also record whether any of the 
marked residuals will require release by girdling or liberation fell- 
ings, and a sub-sample may also usefully record whether there is 
adequate young regenerative growth. In practice post-felling invent- 
ories, though prescribed, are frequently not carried out and much 
closer control over them is necessary throughout the region. 


45 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS, MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND LOGGING METHODS 


Two main silvicultural systems have been used in the Asia—Pacific 
region for the regeneration of rain forests rich in Dipterocar- 
paceae; the monocyclic Uniform System and the polycyclic Selec- 
tion System. Under the Uniform System there is a uniform 
opening of the canopy over whole compartments at a time (com- 
partments are units of forest which vary in size from 80 ha or less 
up to 1000—2000 ha), and there may be one or several openings to 
induce, release, and finally harvest the regenerated stand. By 
contrast, under the ideal Selection System as originally practised 
in Europe, single trees or small groups of trees scattered 
throughout the forest were felled and removed. In the extensive 
tropical forests of Southeast Asia selection fellings take place in 
compartments, which are opened up at intervals corresponding to 
the felling cycle; this is referred to by Troup (1952) as the Periodic 
Selection Systems. 

The Uniform System with its uniform canopy opening clearly 
favours species which grow quickly when exposed to strong 
sunlight (fast-growing light demanders), of the light hardwood 
meranti group, while tending to shade out the heavy hardwoods 
such as bangkirai (Shorea) and merbau (Jntsia). The Malayan 
Uniform System (MUS), developed in the 1960s and 1970s and 
described in detail by Wyatt-Smith (1963) and Nicholson (1979), 
proved extremely successful for the regeneration of the meranti 
forest. Unfortunately the MUS requires the establishment of 
young regeneration before fellings begin, and also relies on seed- 
ling regeneration — this means that a rotation cycle of some 60 to 70 
years is necessary. The development of large-scale mechanical 
logging, however, with heavy capital investment, has meant that 
itis no longer practicable to wait for the infrequent and unpredict- 
able seed years and established regeneration before fellings are 
opened; considerations other than silviculture have dominated 
the opening of forests to exploitation so that in recent decades the 
forestry departments have lost control over the timing of fellings. 

The Selection System of felling, on the other hand, has been 
seen by almost all countries in the region as the ideal solution. In 
this system regeneration is derived not from an ephemeral crop of 
seedlings entirely dependent on the incidence of one or at most 
two seed years, but from a mixture of advanced growth derived 
from many such seed years and varying in size from saplings, to 
poles, to trees just below exploitable size. This system is best 
suited to solving the problem of regenerating mixed dipterocarp 
forest under large-scale mechanical logging, where the timing of 
fellings cannot be left to the silviculturist alone. In addition it soon 
became clear that since most of the regeneration was to be from 
trees of pole size and larger, rather than from seedlings, it would 
be possible to reduce the felling cycle from that of a rotation (of say 


60 to 70 years) to about 30 years and thus double the area which 
could be opened to fellings each year. There is one proviso, 
however — if this ambition is to be realised, it is essential that the 
forest contains an adequate stock of pole-sized and larger trees, of 
commercial species, healthy and of good form before selection 
fellings are opened, and that those trees will survive the fellings 
undamaged and put on adequate increment after release by the 
felling. There is increasing doubt whether the majority of forests 
in fact carry an adequate stock of such trees before felling; where 
they do not, and selection fellings are permitted, there will be a 
progressive deterioration in the forest, and it will prove to have 
been heavily overcut. 

Some confusion has arisen from the title of the Selective 
Management System used in Peninsular Malaysia. This use of the 
word ‘selective’ has nothing to do with selection fellings, but 
means that a silvicultural system is selected based on a pre-felling 
inventory in each compartment, and the system so chosen may be 
the Malayan Uniform System, the Selection System, or clear 
felling and planting. 


Logging terminology In the Asia—Pacific region many logging 
terms are used which originated on the west coast of America and 
came via American logging companies operating in the Philip- 
pines (Nicholson, 1970). Thus, the extraction of logs from stump 
toa ‘landing’ or log dump where they are loaded on to road or rail, 
is known as ‘yarding’. In theory yarding should be applied only 
where cable logging systems are used, and hauling by tractor 
should be called ‘skidding’. Cable logging systems, where either a 
spar tree or a portable steel spar is used, consist first of ‘high-lead 
yarding’, where the logs are hauled to the base of the spar by a 
donkey engine or yarder with a wire cable passing over a block at 
the top of the spar so that the forward end of the log is raised to 
clear obstructions. In very rough country where road building is 
expensive, two or more spars are connected by a sky-line on which 
a carriage runs so that logs may be swung from one spar to the 
next, each spar also functioning as a high-lead unit. Tractor 
yarding causes more disturbance to the ground surface than does 
cable yarding, since skid trails have to be bulldozed to connect the 
tree stump to the landing. On the other hand tractor yarding 
generally causes less damage to the residual stand than does cable 
yarding. It follows that in general cable yarding is preferable 
where the Uniform System of silviculture is in use, and tractor 
yarding is better where Selection fellings are practised. In the 
Philippines, where very skilled cable yarding crews exist, Selec- 
tion fellings with cable yarding are satisfactory, so long as the 
horse-power of the yarder is limited to about 150. 


Check of coupe harvest by species The ‘creaming’ of coupes by 
removal of only the most profitable species and log grades is wide- 
spread, particularly where timber is removed by rafting down rivers 
— the species that are too dense to float (‘sinkers’) are left unfelled. In 
Borneo, and some other parts of the region, sinker species tend to 
occur together, often on ridge crests; Shorea laevis (bangkirai, and 
balaukuus) is an example. Where this is the case and exploitation 
involves rafting it may well be uneconomic to remove all the sinkers 
and in such cases there can be little objection from the conservation 
point of view to the by-passing of the whole area of sinkers so long as 
scattered logging within it for floaters is not permitted and the coupe 
is controlled by area and reduced accordingly to allow for the fact that 


46 


sinker forest has been allowed to remain unproductive. The by- 
passed forest provides a valuable haven for wildlife, particularly 
gibbons, and many plant species are conserved. 

Creaming may also occur where sinkers and other less valuable 
species are scattered throughout the forest, and wherever unsound 
and poorly formed trees occur. To allow such trees to remain 
unworked results in a progressive deterioration of the stand at each 
logging and also in enhanced consumption of coupe area. The 
principle that the high profits from exploiting valuable species should 
offset the lower profits from logging less valuable species must be 
accepted. There must also be a list of obligatory species and grades 
which should include at least Shorea spp. (red, white, and yellow 


meranti, lauan, seraya, melapi), Pentacme spp. (lauan), Parashorea 
spp. (white seraya, bagtikan), Amisoptera spp., Shorea laevis (where 
scattered), Dipterocarpus spp.,; Dryobalanops spp., Intsia palem- 
banica, Agathis spp. and Podocarpus spp., and perhaps Dyera cos- 
tulata (also useful for jelutong, see below), and the coupe harvest 
must be checked periodically to see that the ratio between species is 
roughly the same as was recorded in the pre-felling inventory. The 
necessity for pre-felling inventories to be checked by the Forest 
Department in the field will be self-evident. 


Silvicultural treatment of relic stand The post-felling inventory will 
show whether any of the marked residuals require release. If they do, 
the competing trees should be girdled with an appropriate arboricide 
(so-called ‘liberation thinning’). In order to preserve the gene pool 
and to reduce costs it is most important that girdling be only carried 
out where it is really necessary; in many cases under present condi- 
tions the exploitation operation provides all the opening that is 
necessary or desirable. Where fellings are under the Uniform System 
the seedling regeneration may require release by improvement fell- 
ings or girdlings more than once during the rotation. Techniques for 
linear sampling to determine regeneration stocking and the necessity 
for its release have been well developed in Malaysia. 


Continuous forest inventory (CFI) It is essential that the develop- 
ment of the residual stand be monitored by continuous forest invent- 
ory plots. In spite of the 80 years or so during which forest research 
has been conducted in the dipterocarp forests of the region, we have 
surprisingly little data on the growth of regenerated stands, and a 
rough figure of one centimetre diameter growth per year has been 
adopted in several countries as a basis for selection management. 
More information is required by different species, for varying de- 
grees of dominance, for different soils and climatic types, for stages 
in the rotation, and for volume as opposed to diameter growth. Plots 
should be rectangular, one hectare in extent and there should be 
about 100 in each major forest type. The plots should be laid down by 
random means in the forest before exploitation, and be then treated 
exactly the same as the rest of the coupe, but with the yield of the plot 
being recorded separately. All trees of 5 cm dbh (not just dip- 
terocarps) must be measured, and measurements should take place 
every five years. All measured trees must be properly identified to 
species and herbarium collections should support the identifications. 
A large number of CFI plots were established in the Philippines in 
the 1970s, but re-measurement was suspended in 1981. This was 
largely because the programme was too ambitious for the resources 
available, and it is necessary that due regard be given to this before 
any new programme is initiated. 


Maintenance of main roads, erosion control on subsidiary roads Main 
roads are required for management and silvicultural purposes, and 
must be maintained so as to be passable by a four-wheel drive vehicle. 
Deep erosion gullies can form very rapidly on abandoned spurs and 
skid trails, and they must be plugged and drainage corrected before 
they become serious. Gullies are particularly liable to develop on 
granitic rocks. The possibility of seeding abandoned roads with grass 
or ground cover plants in a bitumen emulsion should be considered. 
(See also box on page 48, Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1). 


Management of Secondary Forest Products 

Secondary (i.e. non-timber, or minor) forest products are of great 
importance to the people who live in or near the forest, and rattan in 
particular has become increasingly important in world trade. The 
secondary products of tropical rain forest are legion and include 
gums and resins, bush meat, rattan, tanbark, illipe nuts, oleo-resin, 
edible birds’ nests, bamboo, roofing materials, incense wood, pan- 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


Table 6.2 Suspended sediment load of some major rivers in 
Peninsular Malaysia 


River Drainage Suspended Data 
area load source 
sq. km cu. m/sq. 
km/year 
KEDAH: 
Sg Muda at Titi Syed Omar 2,069 74 A 
PERAK: 
Sg Ijok at Kg Tit 215 107 A 
Sg Parit at Ipoh 272 3,767 A 
Sg Kinta at Ipoh 313 260 A 
Sg Bidor at m/s 18 344 428 A 
Sg Perak at Iskander Bridge 7,770 40 A 
Sg Perak at Temenggor 34,000 88 B 
Sg Perak at Bersia 3,600 88 B 
Sg Perak at Kenering 5,500 144 B 
SELANGOR: 
Sg Klang at Puchong 712 3,810 A 
Sg Langat at Dengkil 1,238 811 A 
Sg Selangor at Rantau Panjang 1,450 1,332 A 
KUALA LUMPUR: 
Sg Gombak 140 67 B 
JOHOR: 
Sg Muar at Buloh Kasap 3,134 49 A 
Sg Lenggor at m/s 42 207 791 A 
PAHANG: 
Sg Kuantan at Bt Kerau 583 214 A 
Sg Kial, Cameron Highlands 21 111 B 
Sg Bertam, Cameron Highlands 73 103 B 
Sg Telom, Cameron Highlands 77 21 B 
TERENGGANU: 
Sg Cherul at Ban Ho 505 3] A 


Sources of data: 
A Soong (1980) suspended sediment load converted from ton/sq. km/year to 
cu. m/sq. km/year, assuming a bulk density of 1.33 g/sq. cm. 
B Douglas (1970) 
Abbreviations: 
Sg = Sungei, river 
Kg = Kampong, village 
Bt = Bukit, hill 
m/s = milestone 


golin scales, honey, beeswax, palm wood, and many other products. 
Only the first three of these are generally of major importance, 
though the periodic harvest of illipe nuts in Borneo 1s very important 
indeed in restricted areas. 


Gums and resins The most important gum is the latex of Dyera 
costulata and D. lowzti, locally called jelutong and exported for the 
manufacture of chewing gum. D. costulata is a very large tree 
occurring in the lowland rain forest, while. D. low is confined to 
peat swamp and is much smaller. In many timber concessions in 
Indonesia jelutong is a prohibited species, but in Malaysia its felling 
is permitted when it occurs in felling coupes. The timber is used for 
making pencils and for foundry patterns. It is often unlikely that 
isolated jelutong trees left in a matrix of logged-over forest will ever 
be located and tapped, but their retention adds to the diversity of the 
forest. Their cutting adds little to the tmber output and may 
occasionally remove one more item of potential income from the 


47 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


people who live near the forest. On balance, therefore, there appears 
to be a reasonable case for prohibiting the felling of jelutong, and this 
is strengthened where the forest is worked on a selection system; the 
trees can always be cut in the next cycle if they are not being tapped. 
If jelutong trees are to be tapped on any but a very short-term basis 
constant supervision by the Forestry Department is required to 
prevent the tapping panel being damaged by careless and over-deep 
tapping, which leads to termite attack and the death of the tree. 

The resin known as ‘copal’ (almaciga in the Philippines, damar 
Pontianak in Indonesia) is produced by the coniferous trees Agathis 
spp., which occur throughout the region (Tongacan and Ordinario, 
1974). The resin is used in the manufacture of paints and varnish and 
exports from the Philippines amount to about 800,000 kg per year 
with a value of about US$0.50 per kg. Agathis umber is in great 
demand in both local and export markets, but its felling is prohibited 
in the Philippines; in Malaysia and Indonesia it may be cut when it 
occurs in coupes. Unless tapping of Agathis is strictly controlled the 
tree is so damaged that rot develops and it dies or breaks off at the 
tapping panel; studies in the Philippines have shown that it is rarely 
possible to control tapping sufficiently well to prevent this happen- 
ing. Agathis is not an easy tree to regenerate, and intermediate sized 
trees are usually conspicuously lacking; the trees are scattered but 
may be concentrated in groves in heath forest (kerangas) on white 
sand, limestone, ultrabasic or volcanic soil. There seems to be little 
point in sacrificing the timber value of Agathis if the trees are then 
destroyed by tapping, but a reasonable compromise would be to 
enforce a strict minimum tapping limit, perhaps restricting tapping 
to trees of 45 cm dbh, and permit felling of Agathis over perhaps 
75 cm dbh in coupes. Forest Department inspection of tapping is 
essential if the trees are to remain productive. Dipterocarp resins are 
confined to the produce of Shorea spp., the fallen damar being dug up 
from below big trees. No special measures are needed to control the 
work. However, recent research has demonstrated the potential for 
tapping dipterocarp trees for damar production (see case study 
opposite). 


Bush meat In Southeast Asia, bush meat is normally derived from 
wild boar Sus scrofa, bearded pig, sambar deer, barking deer, mouse 
deer, and wild cattle (gaur and banteng). Both species of pig are 


common in logged-over forest, though the bearded pig occurs com- 
monly also in primary forest, where it migrates locally to follow the 
fruiting of dipterocarps, oaks and chestnuts. The sambar deer is also 
found in logged-over forest, but its main habitat is the margins of 
primary forest especially where there are salt licks. Both the barking 
deer and the mouse deer are common in logged-over forest, where 
they are frequently hunted witha spotlight at night. Banteng, and the 
Malayan gaur (known as seladang), are associated with secondary 
forest from shifting cultivation and move into logged-over forest to 
browse on the lush regrowth along tractor paths; they also migrate 
towards salt licks. In general, logging appears to improve the habitat 
of pig, deer, and wild cattle (see also the effect of shifting cultivation, 
chapter 4), but it also makes it very much easier to hunt them. 
Control over access to forest roads is an essential pre-requisite to 
game preservation (see Hunting in Sarawak on page 50). 


Rattan The current fashion for rattan furniture, not only in the 
region but in the rest of the developed world, has led to a vast increase 
in the trade in these canes. In the Philippines, for example, no rattan, 
or almost none, was exported up to 1972, but from 1973 exports 
averaged some 2.2 million kg per year, which fell sharply in 1977 to 
154,000 kg and since 1989 has been almost nil. The fall in rattan 
exports was caused partly by exhaustion of accessible supplies, but 
also by the great expansion of the local manufacture of knock-down 
(i.e. self-assembly) furniture for export. 

Indonesia has imposed increasingly strict regulations on the export 
of unmanufactured rattan and from 1989 exports were entirely 
forbidden except as finished products. Most countries had made up 
their shortfall in rattan by imports from Indonesia, so the ban will 
result in increasing pressure on the rest of the forests in the region. 

The principal canes in demand are from Calamus manan, the best 
source being the large-diameter rotan manau, and C. subinermis from 
Sabah, also used for furniture. C. caesius (rotan sega) and C. trachy- 
coleus (rotan irit) are smaller rattans used for tying, and are fre- 
quently split. These smaller rattans have been successfully cultivated 
in both Sabah and Kalimantan, and it takes about ten years to 
produce an acceptable yield. The rotation for growing rotan manau is 
not yet known. All rattans, after an initial rosette stage, produce a 
stem of full diameter which thereafter grows only in length. In 


The worst environmental impacts of logging and deforestation are 
the degradation of soil and water resources. The impacts of 
logging are particularly severe in steep terrain, such as in the hill 
dipterocarp forests of Peninsular Malaysia, where the most 
damaging activities are road building and extraction by skidding 
using crawler tractors. Logging is helped in this terrain by easy log 
transportation using the san tai wong, which is an all-purpose 
winch lorry that can engage steep gradients. Burgess (1973) 
estimates that 6.6 km of road are constructed to exploit every sq. 
km of forest, giving an actual road surface of 6.25 ha per sq. km or 
6.25 per cent of the land area. The damaged land area is increased 
further to 12 per cent by spoil from earth cuttings which erodes 
land along the roadside and destroys vegetation. 

Logging roads are neglected after logging is completed. Ero- 
sion, however, will persist for some time. Burgess (1971) reported 
erosion gullies alongside logging roads which were deeper than a 
man’s height. In Kelantan, he had noticed an erosion gully over 
four metres deep. Erosional hazards are even greater when de- 
forestation occurs. The erosion map produced by Morgan (1974) 


DEGRADATION OF SOIL AND WATER RESOURCES FOLLOWING LOGGING IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


for Peninsular Malaysia based on rainfall characteristics shows 
that the eastern and central highland areas have high erosion risk 
(Figure 6.1). Most of the major land development schemes, such 
as the Jengka Triangle, Pahang Tenggara and Johor Tenggara, 
are located in areas of high erosion risk. 

The impact of forest clearing is reflected in the suspended 
sediment load of rivers draining areas which have different land 
cover or land use types (Table 6.2). High sediment loads occur in 
rivers draining mining areas (Sungei Parit, Sungei Klang, Sungei 
Langat, Sungei Selangor). In the Cameron Highlands, the sus- 
Highlands, the suspended sediment loads recorded in predomi- 
nantly agricultural river basins (Kial and Bertam) were five times 
greater than that of the Sungei Telom, 94 per cent of whose 
catchment was covered by natural forest. Erosion in the upper 
reaches of a river basin results in increased silting and flooding in 
the lower reaches. A state-by-state compilation of flood events by 
the Malaysian Drainage and Irrigation Department from 1925 to 
1979 showed relatively fewer flood events in the earlier years 
(before 1950s), before the pace of development had quickened. 


48 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


RESEARCH ON DAMAR PRODUCTION IN SUMATRA 


Some 20 different dipterocarp species are known to have poten- 
tially valuable resins, but only one is currently being sys- 
tematically exploited. In the southern Sumatra province of 
Lampung, villagers tap cultivated stands of Shorea javanica for 
damar. This resin is used as an excellent varnish for fine art. 
Durable, clear and strong, yet easily removable, damar is consid- 
ered superior to synthetic alternatives. As a result, there is a 
steady market for the substance in overseas markets, particularly 
Europe. 

Villagers in some parts of Lampung earn about US$ 1000 per ha 
each year from tapping damar. This is about one-quarter of the 
potential value of the trees if exploited for timber. The umber 
value, however, is essentially one-off, whereas it is estimated that 
the damar can be tapped for 15—20 years. Other dipterocarp trees 
may prove to have even more valuable resins. Some, for example, 
have insecticidal properties that could possibly be exploited com- 
mercially. 

(Source: Adam Messer (pers. comm.) and Goldstein, 1989) 


Collecting damar, the resin of dipterocarp trees, in Kalimantan. A. 
Messer 


primary forests rattans 100 metres long are not uncommon, but C. 
trachycoleus grows only about three to four metres per year. 

The prospects for management of rattan are undoubtedly better 
under Selection Management than they would be under the Uniform 
System, since they require a forest matrix in which to climb. If rattan 
is to be harvested this must be done before logging commences, and 
combined with climber cutting this will also reduce damage to the 
residual stand by falling trees. Planting of rattan along skid trails, 
where the canopy opening will encourage them to climb, should 
provide a good harvest before the end of the next felling cycle. 


Prospects for the Future 

Burgess (in Poore et al., 1989) carried out a survey of the logging 
practices in Asian members of the International Tropical Timber 
Organisation (Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philip- 
pines and Thailand). He found that planning and controls towards 
sustained yield management were in place in all but Papua New 
Guinea (where the land tenure system makes this impossible), but 
the management tended to be inadequate. The most serious short- 
comings were: 

e Failure to protect the production forests before and after working 
(Sarawak, Thailand, Philippines, parts of Indonesia). 

© Poor control of erosion damage to roads (except in Thailand, 
where elephants are used and rainfall is light). 

e Post-felling silviculture is taken seriously only in Peninsular 
Malaysia. 

e Re-logging between cycles has taken place in Peninsular Malaysia 
and the Philippines, and there is pressure to do so in Sabah. 

A number of states and countries are taking action to improve these 
matters, but there is little doubt that in many cases political influ- 
ences make it difficult (or impossible) for forestry departments to 
enforce concession agreements and raise the standard of manage- 
ment. Funding of most forest departments in the region is adequate, 
but all too often forest staff in the field depend on concessionaires for 
housing and transport, and senior forest department officials are 
outmanoeuvred by politicians in positions of influence in logging 
companies. Obviously it is essential that such political influences be 
removed, and the independence of the forest department strength- 


ened, if forest management is to improve. Peninsular Malaysia has 
taken the important step of forming a National Forestry Council, 
chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, to coordinate forestry policy 
and practice. 


Figure 6.1 Risk of erosion in Peninsular Malaysia (from Morgan, 1974), 
showing the location of three Regional Development Schemes from 
unpublished data of the Ministry of Finance, 1977. 


(The full range of Regional Development Schemes is shown in chapter 5, Figure 5.2). 


PAHANG TENGGARA 


mean annual erosivity 
(thousands of Joules/sq.m) 
JOHOR 

TENGGARA 


Erosion risk: 
al moderate 


high 


49 


NATURAL RAIN FOREST MANAGEMENT 


Hunting is of great economic, nutritional, cultural and recrea- 
tional significance in Sarawak, as a project funded by WWF- 
Malaysia recently showed. Rural people, in particular, benefit 
from the game-rich forests. In the interior of Sarawak there is one 
shotgun per two families, one blowpipe among four, and two 
hunting dogs and spears for every family. There are 60,000 legal 
shotguns in Sarawak and virtually any vertebrate is liable to be 
shot and eaten. Between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of kills are 
ungulates — either deer or wild pigs, with the latter being more 
important. 

Caldecott (1988) estimates that between 9400 and 26,500 
tonnes, perhaps 18,000 tonnes, of wild meat are harvested an- 
nually in Sarawak, amounting to 12 kg per person per year or 0.2 
kg per sq. km of forest per year; the value of hunting to forest 
people throughout the region is thus very considerable. 


HUNTING AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT IN SARAWAK 


Caldecott made proposals for improved management of hunt- 
ing in Sarawak, and these are relevant to the rest of the region. 
They include, amongst many other matters, the gazettement and 
protection of wildlife reserves, the protection of salt licks, the 
appointment of paid wildlife protection staff from rural commu- 
nities, the overall control of shotgun cartridge supply, regulation 
of trade in wild meat, and protection of trees which provide food 
for wildlife in logging areas. 

The extension of logging throughout Sarawak has brought 
great pressure on some forms of wildlife, through habitat destruc- 
tion and over-hunting by loggers and outsiders coming in along 
logged roads. The net effect for local residents in logged-over 
areas is a sharp decline in annual wild meat harvests, from 54 kg 
per person before logging to only 28 kg within ten years. Oil 
pollution and siltation of rivers result in declining fish stocks, 
compounding the problem. 


Source: Caldecott, 1988 


Past timber production has resulted largely from the alienation of 
conversion forests destined for agriculture. Such extraction is not 
sustainable, and is not intended to be so. Log exports will continue 
their present decline as alienable land becomes converted (the peak 
was 39.1 million cu. m in 1973) and should then, in theory, level out 
to a sustained yield from the region’s permanent production forests. 

Burgess (in Poore et al., 1989) estimated what these sustainable 
yields might be for Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, and 
compared them with recent productivity. Malaysian production is 
still high, as high-yield primary forests continue to be exploited in 
Borneo and conversion forests are alienated; Philippine production is 
low, possibly because the forest estate is largely degraded; and 
Indonesian production is low either because of over-estimation of the 
extent of productive forest or because there is scope for expansion of 
logging. 

The techniques of regenerating and managing tropical moist 
forests in the region on a sustained-yield basis are now well enough 
understood for continuous production from permanent forest es- 
tates. Governments create conditions in which this knowledge may 
be applied by preventing illegal clearing (the main problem in 
Thailand, the Philippines, Sarawak and Indonesia); illegal logging 
(common in Thailand and the Philippines); exploitation of forest in 
excess of sustainable cut (Selection System) or when regenerative 
potential is weak (Uniform System); and over-riding of professional 
forestry advice for political or pecuniary advantage. 

These actions require great government resolve and their intro- 
duction will require public support based on education programmes, 
and international assistance to improve the standards of living of 
rural people and to relieve the burden of international debts. 


References 

Anon. (1980) Pedoman Tebang Pileh Indonesia. (A Guide to the 
Indonesian Selective System.) Directorate General of Forestry, 
Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Burgess, P. F. (1971) The effect of logging on hill dipterocarp 
forests. Malay Nature Fournal 24: 231-7. 

Burgess, P. F. (1973) The impact of commercial forestry on hill 
forests of Malay Peninsula. Proceedings of a Symposium on Biolog- 
ical Research and National Development, pp. 131-6. 

Burgess, P. F. (1975) Silviculture in the Hill Forests of the Malay 
Peninsula. Forestry Department, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Caldecott, J. O. (1988) Hunting and Wildlife Management in 


50 


Sarawak. IUCN, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 172 pp. 

Douglas, I. (1970) Measurements of river erosion in West Mal- 
aysia. Malay Nature Fournal 23: 78-83. 

Goldstein, C. (1989) The planters are back. Far Eastern Economic 
Review 13 April: 51. 

Morgan, R.P.C. (1974) Estimating regional variations in soil ero- 
sion hazard in Pen. Malaysia. Malay Nature Fournal 28: 94-106. 

Nicholson, D.I.(1970) Demonstration and Training in Forest, Forest 
Range, and Watershed Management: the Philippines. F.O.: S.F./ 
PHI 16 Technical Report 3, FAO, Rome, Italy. 

Nicholson, D. 1. (1979) The Effects of Logging and Treatment on the 
Mixed Dipterocarp Forests of South-east Asia. F.O. Misc/79/8. 
FAO, Rome, Italy. 

Poore, D., Burgess, P., Palmer, J., Rietbergen, S. and Synott, T. 
(1989) No Timber without Trees: Sustainability in the Tropical 
Forest. Earthscan, London, UK. 

Siapno, I. B. (1970) Handbook of Selective Logging. Bureau of 
Forest Development, Manila, The Philippines. 

Soong, N. K., Haridass, G., Yeoh, C. S. and Tan, P. H. 
(1980) Soil Erosion and Conservation in Malaysia. FRIM. 64 pp. 

Thang, H.C. (1987) Selective Management System: Concept and 
Practice (Peninsular Malaysia). Forestry Dept, Kuala Lumpur. 

Tongacan, A. L. and Ordinario, F. F.(1974) Tapping of Almaciga 
resin. Philippine Lumberman December 1974: 18-22. 

Troup, R. S. (1952) Silvicultural Systems. The Clarendon Press, 
Oxford, UK. 

von der Heyde, B. et al. (1987) T.S.I. (Timber Stand Improvement) 
Field Manual. Bureau of Forest Development, Manila/German 
Agency for Technical Co-operation, Eschborn, West Germany. 

Weidelt, H. J. and Banaag, V.S.(1982) Aspects of Management and 
Silviculture of Philippine Dipterocarp Forests. German Agency for 
Technical Co-operation, Eschborn, West Germany. 

Wyatt-Smith, J. (1963) Manual of Malayan Silviculture for Inland 
Forests. Malayan Forest Record No. 23. Forest Department, 
Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 


Authorship 

Peter Burgess in Laxfield, England, with contributions from Mok 
Sian Tuan of the ASEAN Institute of Forest Management, Reidar 
Persson of the Swedish International Development Agency in Stock- 
holm, Eberhardt Bruenig of the World Forestry Institute in Ham- 
burg and Lee Hua Seng of the Forest Department in Kuching. 


7 Tropical Timber Trade 


Introduction 

The Asia—Pacific timber trade was analysed recently in a detailed 
report by Nectoux and Kuroda (1989), on which this chapter is 
based. Standard definitions of commodities described are given in 
the box on page 55. 

Since the early 1970s the Southeast Asia—Pacific region has been 
the main source of the tropical timber trade — taking over from 
Africa, which supplied considerable quantities of logs to Western 
Europe during the 1950s and early 1960s (Nectoux and Dudley, 
1987). In the mid-1980s, 83 per cent of tropical timber traded on the 
world market originated in the Southeast Asia—Pacific region. Three 
factors account for this: 

1 The existence of dense forests throughout the region, comprising 
tree species with homogeneous characteristics, particularly the Dip- 
terocarpaceae found in west Malesian lowland evergreen rain forests. 
These trees provide high-quality timber — traditionally, the best were 
traded as mahoganies in the USA, although they are unrelated to the 
true mahoganies (Meliaceae) of the Americas. Most are now used for 
utility grade lumber or plywood. 

2 The development of a considerable market for tropical logs during 
the late 1950s and early 1960s. With the adoption and promotion of 
plywood as a basic construction material, firstly on the west coast of 
the USA and later in Japan, more and more cheap, tropical timber 
was required. During the 1950s, plywood production, largely for 
export to the USA, became especially important in Japan (Handa, 
1988). Japan’s domestic tropical plywood market grew at such a rate 
that the volume of Southeast Asian log imports increased sevenfold, 
reaching 23 million cu. m per annum. 

3 Various Southeast Asian countries have promoted large-scale log- 
ging and exports of unprocessed timber. Local governments have 
permitted these actions for more than two decades now, imposing 
few restrictions. 


Recent Developments 
There has been a long tradition of timber exports from the Philip- 
pines, Thailand, Burma, Peninsular Malaysia and India to distant 
markets, as far apart as China, the Arabic countries, and Western 
Europe (the ‘precious woods’ of the Middle Ages, for instance). Ata 
later stage trade in finished products — such as the ships built in 
Southeast Asia for Europe — developed. These were restricted to 
high-quality timber and a very narrow range of species (principally 
teak) from Burma and Thailand. 

In the 1950s, foreign trading companies started organising large- 
scale exports of hardwood logs. The so-called ‘logging booms’ began 
with the onset of heavily mechanised extractive operations, largely 


financed by multinational companies. Some of these companies were 
based in the USA (most notably those which already had forestry and 
umber processing interests, such as Weyerhauser and Georgia 
Pacific). Others were based in Europe and included a large number 
of old colonial companies, originally involved in general trade and 
plantations, such as the UK-based Harrison and Crosfield, and 
Inchcape. Family-controlled interests such as Meyer and Mallison 
were also present. More recently, Japanese companies have occupied 
the market. Japanese timber operations tend to be organised through 
a general trading company (known as a sogo shosha). Sumitomo, 
Mitsui, and C. Itoh are some of the best-known (Nectoux and 
Dudley, 1987; Nectoux and Kuroda, 1989). 

Logging booms occurred first in the Philippines in the 1950s, then 
in Peninsular Malaysia, and in Sabah in the 1960s. In the early 1970s 
the level of Indonesian exports increased rapidly. These were fol- 
lowed in the late 1970s by exports from Sarawak and Papua New 
Guinea, when old suppliers faded away due to declining timber 
resources. Exports from the Philippines to Japan, for example, 
reached a peak of 8 million cu. m in 1969, then fell to around 1 million 
cu. min the early 1980s. 

In most cases, sudden increases in logging and export activities 
resulted from a combination of incentives (tax concession licensing, 
low royalties, low export duties, favourable taxation systems, etc) 
provided by a sympathetic local government, and large-scale capital 
investments made by foreign companies. Thus in the Philippines, in 
the early 1950s, US army surplus lorries were used to shift logs out of 
the forests, especially those of Mindanao and other islands in the 
south of the archipelago. (The northern islands, such as Luzon, were 
exploited later.) In 1966, the new government of Indonesia invited 
foreign companies to log its forests and encouraged capital invest- 
ment, especially from the USA. Prior to this, a Japanese report in 
1961 had promoted the joint planning of the exploitation of Kaliman- 
tan’s forests by Japanese trading companies and the Japanese and 
Indonesian governments, with funding made available partly by 
Japanese aid. Accordingly, Mitsui started logging in 1963, with 
many other companies following suit. At one stage, Sumitomo 
controlled 20 umber concerns. The Japanese government assisted 
Japanese corporations by channelling aid funds for surveys and road 
building to them, and by providing cheap official aid loans. 

South Korea and Taiwan, and to a lesser extent Singapore, soon 
joined Japan as major processors of Southeast Asian rain forest logs. 
In the late 1960s South Korea supplanted Japan as the major supplier 
of tropical plywood to the USA, and was then itself replaced by 
Indonesia in the early 1980s. 


51 


TROPICAL TIMBER TRADE 


Changes in the way in which the tropical tmber trade operates 
started to occur in several countries in the late 1970s. The economic 
slump which followed the 1973 oil crisis meant that a number of 
countries modified their policies on commodity exports and foreign 
investment. In Sabah, the authorities attempted to extract a higher 
proportion of the considerable profits made by the timber trade, by 
greatly increasing the level of payments made by the concessionaires 
to the Government. 

In Indonesia, government policies in the late 1970s sought to 
reduce the preponderance of foreign interests in the export process. 
Foreign firms were criticised for disregarding original agreements 
concerning local processing and also for engaging in transfer pricing 
and illegal exporting. Stricter regulations came into force requiring 
domestic processing of logs and the participation of local capital in 
joint ventures. A number of logging licences held by foreign interests 
were revoked. Many US and Japanese firms simply sold their share in 
local companies to their Indonesian partners. Then in 1986 a total 
ban on log exports was introduced and a large-scale plywood trade 
with North America and Europe established instead. Countries such 
as South Korea and Taiwan lost their dominant plywood exporting 
positions as a result. All concessions in Indonesia are now held by 
nationals (although joint ventures can use the logs extracted by the 
local partner). More recently, the Indonesian authorities decreed a 
ban on exports of low-value sawn timber (Gillis, 1988; Repetto and 
Gillis, 1988). 

In the Philippines, the change of government in 1986 led to an 
effective ban on all log exports, something that the previous admin- 
istration had been unable to implement. Also in Peninsular Malaysia, 
log exports are now so severely restricted that they are in effect non- 
existent. However, in Sabah and Sarawak, as well as in Papua New 
Guinea (where a White Paper in 1979 gave a new impetus to log 
exports), the majority of forest products exported still consists of 
unprocessed timber. 


Asia—Pacific Region and the World Tropical Timber Trade 
In the more densely populated, drier areas of the tropics, most of the 
wood extracted from forests is used as fuelwood. Industrial round- 
wood amounts to only 20 per cent of all wood extracted. There is, 
however, a geographical displacement between the two uses. In Asia, 
fuelwood comes mainly from tropical seasonal forests, whereas 
industrial wood is extracted mostly from the rain forests of Malesia 
(teak being a major exception). The majority of timbers extracted for 
industrial use are hardwoods, in direct contrast to the industrial 
wood of temperate and cold regions, which is mostly softwood from 
conifers (FAO, 1988; ECE, 1988). 

Tropical hardwood products exported by tropical countries in 
1986 represented only 3 per cent of total wood removals in round- 
wood equivalent, in the developing world. However, most of these 
exports originated from the rain forests of a small number of tropical 
countries, where they constituted a very large proportion of all wood 
removals. This was especially the case in the eastern tropics. Accord- 
ing to FAO, nearly 68 per cent of all wood removals in Malaysia (the 
leading world trader) are exported (FAO, 1988). 

Of a total of 25 million cu. m of tropical hardwood logs traded at 
world level in 1986, 21.4 million cu. m originated from Southeast 
Asia and the Pacific region (Figure 7.1). Sabah and Sarawak were the 
main sources. Together the two states exported 19 million cu. m of 
logs in 1986, and 22.8 million cu. m in 1987. Other major exporters 
included Papua New Guinea (1.44 million cu. m of exported logs in 
1987) and the Solomon Islands (around 0.3 million cu. m). 

Sawn hardwood is another important tropical timber export. A 
total of 6.7 million cu. m was exported from Southeast Asia in 1986, 
representing approximately 70 per cent of the world’s tropical sawn- 
wood trade (Figure 7.2). 


52 


Indonesia is now the world’s major tropical plywood producer and 
exporter, with 5.48 million cu. m sold abroad in 1987, for which 
some 12 million cu. m of logs were required (Figure 7.3). Both 
Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia are also exporters of veneers 
(FAO, 1989). 

The main markets are similarly specialised. Most of the exported 
tropical logs are sold to Japan, which in 1986 imported 12.8 million 
cu. m mostly from Sarawak, Sabah and Papua New Guinea, and 14 
million cu. m in 1987 (Figure 7.4). Other Far East markets (Hong 
Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China) are also import- 
ant. Processed umber is mostly exported to Europe (sawnwood and 
plywood) and the USA (especially plywood), but Japan is also 
beginning to import plywood. 


Environmental and Economic Problems 

During the past 30 years, the commercial extraction of roundwood in 
Southeast Asia has proved to be singularly destructive. Silvicultural 
systems designed to ensure sustained yields have rarely been imple- 
mented (see chapter 6). According to a recent study for the ITTO, 
less than one per cent of natural forests in Southeast Asia undergo 
silvicultural management (ITED, 1988; Poore er al., 1989). 

Numerous surveys have shown that in Southeast Asia up to 60 per 
cent of the vegetation not immediately affected by logging suffers 
either total destruction or severe damage (Wyatt-Smith, 1987). A 
preoccupation with speed is much to blame. Logging is carried out 
with the maximum possible speed to ensure a profitable return on 
capital investment, particularly in heavy machinery (Repetto and 
Gillis, 1988). Very little forest road maintenance is undertaken and 
commercial species regeneration is rarely practised. Bad felling 
practices and irresponsible management are widespread. The lack of 
directional felling, the failure to pre-cut climbers, badly designed 
skidding tracks, unnecessarily large roads and cleared storage areas, 
and insufficient care in the use of heavy tracked vehicles and over- 
head cables, all contribute to serious erosion (see chapter 6). The 
situation is exacerbated by the lack of plantations, because as well as 
rehabilitating degraded lands, they could relieve the pressure on 
natural forests by augmenting fuelwood and lumber production. 

Nevertheless, the direct effects of logging, however destructive, 
are far less important than their indirect effects. Logging operations 
are one of the most significant causes of the opening up of closed 
tropical forests to other destructive land uses (Plumwood and 
Routley, 1982). The most common of these is shifting cultivation, as 
practised by settlers, who usually do not possess sufficient experience 
to minimise the impact of their farming on impoverished tropical 
forest soils. Current logging practices lead to the invasion of logged- 
over areas and post-logging protection has proved ineffective. The 
development of multi-purpose forestry, which can include the parti- 
cipation of the local population in the economic management of the 
forest — thereby making it a custodian of the resource base — could be 
an alternative (HIID, 1988). 

There are also problems linked to industrialisation. A number of 
tropical countries hope to develop timber processing and wood 
manufacturing industries, in order to obtain more of the revenue 
accruing from the exploitation of their natural resources. But accord- 
ing to many analysts, this ambition is often thwarted by what can be 
termed the ‘public income trap’. This can be explained as follows: 
when unprocessed logs form the basis of tropical umber exports, a 
government can earn a sizeable amount through taxes, royalties and 
duties (around one-third in Sarawak for instance). When logs are 
processed before export, however, the finished goods are far less 
heavily taxed and government revenue declines accordingly (Repetto 
and Gillis, 1988). There is therefore little incentive to encourage 
export-orientated sawmills, especially since there is strong competi- 
tion from far cheaper temperate coniferous sawnwood in export 


TROPICAL TIMBER TRADE 


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Men ‘scaling’, or measuring, the logs hauled from the forest to the dumping ground. Kimanis, Sabah, Malaysia. WWF/Sylvia Yorath 


markets such as those to Japan. Only Indonesia has really managed to 
escape this trap. This is because it had considerable income and local 
capital at its disposal when it started to develop its plywood industry. 
Despite this success though, the Indonesian plywood industry is still 
criticised for its inefficient marketing, even to Japan, where since 
1987 it has gained a respectable share of the market. (Japan has now 
supplanted the USA as Indonesia’s major plywood client. ) 

In a number of Southeast Asian and Pacific countries, the reliance 
on raw commodity exports, compounded by a lack of market infor- 
mation, has opened the way to abuses and corruption. These have 
occurred at all levels, ranging from the failure to abide by logging 
tules, to the false grading of timber, to bribing officials in relation to 
export documentation, illegal exports and large-scale transfer 
pricing. In the Philippines these all came to light with the change of 
government in 1986. It has been shown that in the early 1980s around 
40 per cent of logs exported from the Philippines to Japan went 
unrecorded and were in fact illegal (Nectoux and Kuroda, 1989). A 
recent official enquiry into commercial forestry in Papua New 
Guinea also unearthed similar practices on a considerable scale (see 
chapter 21). 

In the long term there will be less and less commercially valuable 
umber available. Total deforestation is not likely to occur in the 
Asia—Pacific region, but in those countries where natural forests have 
been overlogged, and regeneration management is inadequate, it is 
unlikely that forests can remain productive. Thailand, once a signifi- 
cant umber exporter, has experienced a deficit in its timber require- 
ment balance since the 1970s. Deforestation is so extensive that 
catastrophic flooding occurred in 1988. All commercial logging is 
now forbidden — officially at least (see chapter 27). In addition, 
agricultural settlement in some regions is destroying any remaining 
degraded forest remnants. 

In the Philippines, the extensive high-density dipterocarp stands 
are now mostly logged out. Total roundwood production has halved 
over the last decade, falling from 11.6 million cu. m in 1976 to 5.7 
million cu. m in 1986. However, the rate of logging still continues to 
an excessive degree in some regions, for example on Palawan (for 
details of a plan to avoid this see case study in chapter 8). Elsewhere, 
the quality of logs extracted is falling steadily. Girths and lengths are 
smaller than those of logs traded 20 years ago and come from either 
regrowth or lesser known species. 


54 


A Role for the ITTO? 

The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) originated 
from the Integrated Programme for Commodities of the United 
Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It 
bears little resemblance to other attempts aimed at regulating world 
commodity markets. It does not include classic management tools 
such as a buffer stock, or price intervention mechanism, or a system 
of production or export quotas. 


Mangrove chips ready to be shipped to Japan for manufacture of rayon and 
paper. Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. WWF/Sylvia Yorath 


oe 
eae 


TROPICAL TIMBER TRADE 


DEFINITIONS OF COMMODITIES 


Roundwood (wood in the rough) Wood in its natural state as 
felled, or otherwise harvested, with or without bark. It may also 
be impregnated (e.g. telegraph poles) or roughly shaped or 
It comprises all wood obtained from removals during the period — 
calendar year or forest year. Commodities included are sawlogs 
and veneer logs, pulpwood, other industrial roundwood (includ- 
ing pitprops) and fuelwood. Statistics for trade include, as well as 
roundwood from removals, the estimated roundwood equivalent 
of chips and particles, wood residues and charcoal. 


Fuelwood and charcoal The commodities included are fuel- 
wood, coniferous and non-coniferous, and the trade statistics 


include the roundwood equivalent of charcoal, using a factor of 
6.0 to convert from weight (metric tons) to solid volume units 
(cubic metres). Wood in the rough (from trunks and branches of 
trees) to be used as fuel for purposes such as cooking, heating or 
power production. Wood for charcoal, pit kilns and portable 
ovens is included. 


Sawlogs and veneer logs Logs whether or not roughly squared, to 
be sawn (or chipped) lengthwise for the manufacture of sawnwood 
or railway sleepers (ties). Logs for production of veneer, mainly 
by peeling or slicing. 


(Source: Simplified from FAO, 1990). 


ITTO was created by the 1983 International Tropical Timber 
Agreement, signed between 18 ‘producer’ tropical countries and 22 
‘consumer’ (mostly industrialised) countries. This agreement is 
largely concerned with improving market conditions; but its import- 
ance lies in another of its stated objectives, namely encouraging the 
development of national policies aimed at ‘maintaining the ecological 
balance in the regions concerned’, a rare component for a trade 
agreement (United Nations, 1984). 

ITTO is still a fragile organisation. It experienced serious diffi- 
culties in taking decisions early on in its operation, for example 
concerning the location of its headquarters (currently in Yokohama). 
The reluctance of some members to pay their dues on time has also 
been a problem. A further difficulty derives from the fact that the 
actions of the Secretariat and Council are not sustained by specific 
powers. Major policy decisions can only be reached by consensus. 
This is why piecemeal decision-making concerning project funding 
has occurred. The decision of a number of countries to fund specific 
ITTO projects has, however, helped to launch the first initiatives. 

The most interesting ITTO projects, and the most important in 
the long term, are those agreed within the Reforestation and Forest 
Management Committee of the organisation. They mostly concern 
assessments or experiments in multiple-use forestry practices, natu- 
ral forest management programmes and plantation development. 


References 

ECE (1988) Forest Products Trade Flow Data — 1986-87. Timber 
Bulletin, XVI(7). UN Economic Commission for Europe and 
Food and Agriculture Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. 

FAO (1988) FAO Yearbook of Forestry Products, 1975—1986. Food 
and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-78, FAO For- 
estry Series No. 33, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome, 
Italy. 

Gillis, M. (1988) The Logging Industry in Tropical Asia. In: 
People of the Tropical Rain Forest. Denshaw, J. S. and Padock, C. 
(eds). University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. 

Handa, R. (ed.) (1988) Forestry Policy in Japan. Association for 
Research and Publishing in Japanese Forestry, Tokyo, Japan. 
HIID (1988) The Case for Multiple-Use Management of Tropical 
Hardwood Forest. Harvard Institute for International Develop- 
ment, Pre-project Report for the ITTO, Cambridge, Mass., USA. 

ITED (1988) Natural Forest Management for Sustainable Timber 
Production, 2 volumes. Pre-project report for the ITTO, Interna- 
tional Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK. 

Nectoux, F. and Dudley, N. (1987) A Hard Wood Story. Europe’s 
Involvement in The Tropical Timber Trade. Friends of the Earth, 


The Future: How Will the Timber Trade Survive? 
The main features of the tropical timber trade in Southeast Asia and 
the Pacific are changing rapidly. There are considerable uncertainties 
concerning its future. On the one hand, the resource base is threat- 
ened by over-exp!oitation, which is leading to forest destruction and 
degradation. On the other, competition from temperate timber 
production, based on intensively managed coniferous forests, and 
increasingly on hardwoods from eastern USA and parts of Europe, is 
proving to be very strong. The inroads that Southeast Asian tropical 
umber exports have made in the international timber trade since the 
early 1960s may not last. The lack of proper long-term natural forest 
management and the negligible extent of plantations (the latter could 
meet local requirements) make it likely that rain forests outside parks 
and reserves will either disappear or become thoroughly degraded. In 
which case, the Southeast Asian tmber trade will suffer heavily. 
Other aspects of this trade will doubtless change too. Until re- 
cently, Japan was primarily a log importer. But increasingly it is 
beginning to import processed tropical umber, particularly plywood 
and joinery products. New clients of Southeast Asian timber pro- 
ducers are also emerging and competing with Japan, for example, 
Continental China and the Middle East. More countries will proba- 
bly cease being mass exporters, becoming umber importers instead. 
The Philippines may soon follow Thailand in this respect. 


London, UK. 

Nectoux, F. and Kuroda, Y. (1989) Timber from the South Seas. 
WWEFE-International, Gland, Switzerland. 

Plumwood, V. and Routley, R. (1982) World rain forest destruc- 
tion — the social factors. The Ecologist 10(1). 

Poore, D., Burgess, P., Palmer, J., Rietbergen, S. and Synott, T. 
(1989) No Timber Without Trees: Sustainability in the Tropical 
Forest. Earthscan, London, UK. 252 pp. 

Repetto, R. and Gillis, M. (1988) Public Policies and the Misuse of 
Forest Resources. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 

United Nations (1984) International Tropical Timber Agreement 
1983. TD/TIMBER’/11/Rev. 2, Geneva, Switzerland. 

Wyatt-Smith, J.(1987) The Management of Tropical Moist Forest for 
the Sustained Production of Timber. Y\UCN/IIED Tropical Forest 
Policy Paper 4. International Institute for Environment and De- 
velopment, London, UK. 


Authorship 

Francois Nectoux in London, with contributions from M. Kashio of 
the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok, Christopher Elliott of WWE 
International and Jacqueline Sawyer of IUCN, both in Gland. 


55 


8 Government Policies 
and Land Use Planning 


Introduction 


It must be clear to any dispassionate observer of the forest scene 
anywhere in the tropics, not least in Asia, that governments in 
general are failing to stem the tide of destruction and degradation 
which is sweeping through their forests. Indeed some, alarmed by 
the rate at which it is occurring and by unprecedented events like the 
fires which swept across large areas in Kalimantan and Sabah during 
1982 and 1983 (Leighton and Nengah Wirawan, 1986), are taking 
emergency, even panic, action, such as the banning by the Philip- 
pines of sawn umber exports and the halt to all logging in Thailand. It 
is clear from the rapid destruction, however, that something is wrong 
with either present government policies or with their implementa- 
tion. 

No country can afford losses of forest on sucha scale. There is little 
land to spare in the region, and as Table 11.4 in Chapter 11 shows, 
populations will continue to rise throughout the next century regard- 
less of the success of national population policies. It is therefore vital 
that the most effective use is made of all resources of land and water. 
Much of the land degradation that we see today is, for all practical 
purposes, irreversible. At the very least, it is vastly expensive to 
restore forest cover, as is evident from the valiant efforts to reverse 
the deterioration of the mountain catchments in Java made over the 
years by the Indonesian Government and supported by FAO and 
others. Prevention, however, is preferable to a cure, and it is 
unfortunate that so much investment of time and money must still be 
devoted to rehabilitate degraded land rather than to prevent degrada- 
tion in the first place. 


Use of Tropical Forest Lands 

There are at least three forms of rural land use which particularly 
require long-term planning, because they depend upon long periods 
of stability. These are irrigated agriculture; the maintenance of forest 
for the protection of soil, water and biological diversity; and the 
management of forest for the sustainable production of umber and 
other products. 

The need for social and political stability is generally understood 
by governments in relation to irrigated farming, where it is recog- 
nised by guaranteed possession of land and rights of access to water 
supplies. But government policies, both in principle and in practice, 
fail to live up to the challenge of providing stability and security in 
either the protection of forest resources or in their sustainable use. 
There are also many unresolved questions of equity in relation to 
those native peoples who live in forested regions, for example in 
Indonesia and in Sarawak (Hong, 1987). 


56 


In the past, when there were large unbroken areas of natural 
vegetation, the conservation of nature and of biological diversity 
could look after itself. But now that the forest is being dissected into 
ever smaller blocks, the flora and fauna can only be saved by 
protecting and managing areas which have been carefully selected for 
their special biological value. The preservation of the diversity of 
species depends upon consistent care. The smaller and more isolated 
these areas of forest are, the more intensive must be the management 
required to maintain their richness; and the more important it is to 
link them by corridors and to surround them with forms of land use 
which are not totally alien — the ‘buffer’ concept. Thus it is better that 
reserves of natural forest should be surrounded by areas of managed 
forest than by farmland; and typical areas of untouched forest 
should, wherever possible, be left within forests which are managed 
for production. These will at the same time make a general contribu- 
ton to the conservation of biological diversity and will provide 
populations from which the surrounding managed forest may be 
restocked. Existing examples of this policy can be seen in the Virgin 
Jungle Reserves of Malaysia (Anon., n.d.). 

Ensuring migration corridors may also be important, particularly 
with large mammals such as elephants, in reducing potential conflict 
with new agricultural settlements. Where their range has been 
disrupted, elephants can cause considerable damage, as they do in 
Lampung province of south Sumatra (see chapter 5). But carefully 
planned corridors have successfully countered this problem in parts 
of the Mahaweli Development Scheme in Sri Lanka (Olivier, 1980; 
and see chapter 26). 

Forest which is to be managed for the sustainable production of 
umber also requires continuity and stability of government policies. 
The life of a timber tree between the germination of the seed and the 
felling of the mature tree is likely to be at least 70 years, so consistent 
management is required at least for this period, and preferably for 
many rotations (see chapter 6 for management details). Production 
forests should, like conservation forests, be chosen for their intrinsic 
characteristics, in this case their capacity to grow valuable timber, 
and once these have been properly selected it is a serious waste of 
resources not to manage them for this purpose in perpetuity (Poore 
and Sayer, 1987). 

Much of the forest land in the region has been used by people for 
centuries. Use or ownership of land was once regulated by custom, 
some of which became enshrined in law. However, in most countries 
customary law has been overlain by legislation which enables the 
allocation of land, in the national interest, for forest reserves, 


national parks, roads, agriculture and for many other purposes. 
Moreover, in some countries such as the Philippines, many large 
areas have been acquired by private individuals. The countries of the 
region greatly differ from one another in the extent to which custom- 
ary law has been respected in modern developments. Parts of 
Melanesia are exceptional in that it is recognised that all land claimed 
by local communities belongs to them (see chapters 21 and 29). In 
most countries questions of land tenure now have a high priority for 
political action. 

One feature of early land-use planning is that it was based on a 
hierarchy of uses, based essenually on the suitability of the land for 
agriculture. The best land was reserved for irrigated agriculture, the 
next best for dry land agriculture (both of these often used to raise 
cash crops), then pasture, with forestry and finally wildlife conserva- 
tion coming at the end of the line. Forestry was considered to be a 
second or third best option — the land that was left after every other 
interest had taken its pick. This is clearly not satisfactory and is 
gradually being replaced by a comparative ‘land evaluation’, in which 
the land is assessed for its suitability of various kinds of use and the 
relative merits of these are set against each other (Poore and Sayer, 
1987). This gives a better measure of the broader national interest 
and a better possibility that those uses which require long-term 
stability will receive it. But there is no guarantee that this will take 
place. In fact, many countries have been disillusioned by their 
experience of land-use planning. Plans have often not been imple- 
mented and, when they have, they have frequently not been sup- 
ported by appropriate policies. The experience of Peninsular 
Malaysia on the other hand demonstrates the value of sound land-use 
plans (chapter 22), and it is hoped that the new evaluation of land-use 
potential in Indonesia will have a similar stabilising effect (see 
chapters 5 and 19 for details of the Regional Physical Planning 
Programme for Transmigration). 


Planning for the Future 

During the past few years there have been changes of public opinion 
which are rapidly leading to new emphases in the planning and 
management of forest lands. In countries where the density of 
population is high, more stress is being placed on growing food and, 
where energy is short, on supplying wood for fuel. Moreover, there is 
increasing public and political pressure over issues such as the 
customary rights of local people, land tenure, the environmental 
importance of the forest and the preservation of biological diversity. 
After a long period in the shadows, climatic warming, too, has 
reached the political limelight and the importance of maintaining on 
the land the highest amount of woody biomass 1s at last receiving the 
attention it deserves. Non-governmental organisations are beginning 
to play a significant part in these processes. 

If one looks at the various ways in which tropical forest lands may 
be used (excluding from consideration their conversion to engineer- 
ing works or towns), there are a number of possibilities, each of 
which is workable given proper management. 

@ Forests can be retained in their original state, either uninhabited, 
or lived in by hunter-gatherer peoples (while these live as though they 
were part of the natural ecosystem). 

© Forests can be managed to produce a sustained yield of timber 
and/or other forest produce such as rattan or illipe nuts. 

© Cyclical cultivation in forest land is possible, in which a period of 
cultivation alternates with a period of recovery to secondary forest. 
@ Stable agro-forestry systems can be implemented, in which trees 
and herbaceous crops are mixed in various proportions. 

© Forests can be converted to tree crops for timber, fruit, fodder or 
industrial use. 

@ Forests can be used for dryland farming of, for example, hill rice, 
or as grazing land. 


GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND LAND USE PLANNING 


e Forests can be converted to irrigated land. 

Each of these options, under the right conditions, is sustainable. On 
good soils and with careful management, high yields can be obtained 
on a continuous basis. All of the above, except the first two, can, if 
managed badly, mean that the forest degrades progressively to waste 
land. This degradation can become very rapid if forest turns into 
grassland or scrub which burns easily. Fire 1s becoming an in- 
creasingly serious problem. 

Government policies adopted hitherto towards use of forests have 
not generally led to stability in land-use nor to practices which have 
encouraged sustainable management. What is now required is a new 
balance of use and new measures to promote and maintain that 
balance in ways which the older development strategies have failed to 
do. These new policies should depend upon an analysis of why the 
earlier ones have failed and try to correct these basic deficiencies. 
Otherwise they too will fail. 

There is now reasonable agreement about why existing govern- 
ment policies have failed to provide security for the forest resource 
(Burns, 1986; HIID, 1988; Poore et al., 1989). The most basic reason 
is the undervaluation of forest by those responsible for national 
economic planning. This happens for two main reasons. The first is a 
serious underestimation of the non-market benefits of forests — in 
catchment protection, soil conservation, the preservation of biolog- 
ical diversity and moderation of climate. Consequently it is difficult 
to argue the political case in favour of the forests. The second is an 
equally serious overestimate of the benefits to be gained from con- 
verting forest capital into other forms of national capital. A further 
reason is the financial benefits that can be derived by some individ- 
uals from forest exploitation. There is, therefore, a great need to 
produce and deploy convincing arguments about the values of forest 
land which can be used in national economic planning, and to 
introduce control of logging and conversion to agriculture. 

Lack of understanding means that a country’s forest resources are 
not in themselves seen as a sufficiently important focus for national 
policy and they are thus affected in various, often harmful, ways by 
other national policies. They are caught in a cross-fire. In some 
countries the damaging conversion of areas which should remain 
forest is actually promoted by policies for agriculture and resettle- 
ment, or is encouraged by the building of new roads without 
adequate consideration of the environmental effects or control of 
later development (Repetto and Gillis, 1988). Pricing policies for 
forest products and fiscal incentives for wood-using industries have 
sometimes encouraged the excessive and wasteful use of forests 
rather than the opposite. Another consequence of the low political 
rating of forest management and conservation is the failure of many 
governments to provide sufficient resources for the necessary super- 
vision and control of management. 

There are many other examples of such conflicts of policy which 
seriously damage the forest, and there is a need to look comprehen- 
sively at all the policies which affect the future management of forest 
lands and to plan accordingly. 

Reservation policies for national parks and for production forests 
have therefore had mixed success. Sometimes, of course, they have 
been the victims of political interest, but often they have failed 
because they have been established without sufficient sensitivity to 
the interests of local people. Control proves very difficult when those 
who live around the forest have no interest in seeing it remain as 
forest, or when those who are responsible for harvesting it can see no 
long-term advantage in managing it well. 


Conclusions 

From this analysis can be derived criteria for new policies to help 
ensure the future security of the forest. Among the most important of 
these are: 


57 


GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND LAND USE PLANNING 


» , “ : “\', , i ‘- “ / ue 
; y ‘ € he 


Land-use must take account of ecological characteristics. Farmers in the hills 
of Laos use a variety of tree crops and plantation species. J. A. Sayer 


1 Government policies for land-use planning, economic develop- 
ment, employment, fiscal incentives and many other sectors should 
focus upon the sustainable and equitable use of forest lands. 

2 Land evaluation should examine each of the productive and 
protective uses of the land separately and assess them against each 
other in order to obtain the best balance of use. 

3 Land-use planning should take full account of the ecological 
characteristics of each piece of land and its social setting. 

4 Conditions of land tenure and ownership of resources, by individ- 
uals, communities or industries, should give all a social and financial 
incentive to manage the land sustainably. 

5 Government staff should be in tune with local people, and be in a 
position to control in a sensitive manner the management of 
government-owned lands. 

The concept of the ‘biosphere reserve’ or of the ‘protected land- 
scape’ are ideals towards which one should strive in the management 
of the whole forest landscape. The concept in both is one of graded 
control. At one end of the spectrum are areas which are totally 
protected, at the other end are those which are allowed to respond 
rapidly to any economic opportunity. In between are areas in which 
the natural resource may be used with discretion. The aim is to 
idenufy the limits within which land-use may be allowed to change, 
and to produce, by a combination of incentives and planning con- 
trols, the conditions under which it is profitable for people to manage 
the land in this way. The policies should be holistic, profitable to all 
partners and sensitive to the views and ideals of the local people. An 
example of this is the concept of the Environmentally Critical Areas 
Network, which has been prepared for the island of Palawan in the 
Philippines (see case study opposite). 

In much of Asia the management of forest lands has tended to be 
the prerogative of governments, but this need not be so. It is 
essential, as has been explained above, that governments provide the 
framework of law and order that is needed for the security and 
stability of forest lands. The actual management or ownership of 
forest lands, however, may often be better in the hands of commu- 
nities, private individuals or enterprises. 

An important part can be played by government in creating the 
right financial environment (by encouraging markets and local indus- 
tries, by providing selected incentives and subsidies, legal controls, 
etc) under which the sustainable management and utilisation of 


58 


forest can thrive. The management of non-timber products of the 
forest (meat, rattan, oil seeds, resins, medicinal plants, etc) could be 
classed as a significant example of this. At present, most of these, 
with the notable exception of rattan, are either harvested by local 
people for their own use or are traded in the informal market. If 
demand rises, they tend to be brought into cultivation, effectively 
destroying the market for produce collected in the wild. There is a 
case here for the sensitive manipulation of domestic markets by 
governments to favour sustainable management of the products of 
natural forests. 

Finally, national perceptions of what constitutes a ‘forest policy’ 
need to be re-examined. At present such policies tend only to address 
the production of timber and fuelwood from the national forest 
estate, and this is proving unsatisfactory. Forest policies need to be 
viewed from two completely different perspectives, both making 
their proper contributions to a unified policy for the use of a nation’s 
natural resources. One policy should be concerned with meeting the 
nation’s requirements for wood (both for industry and for energy; for 
domestic use or for export) from whatever source — natural forest, 
plantations, trees in agricultural land, etc. The other should concen- 
trate on sustainable management and conservation of the nation’s 
forest lands, in which the production of wood would only be one of a 
number of objectives. These two policies combined should, ideally, 
ensure a sustainable supply of wood and the wise management of 
forest lands. Present policies often fail to accomplish either. 


References 

Anon. (n.d.) 
Malaysia. 

Burns, D. (1986) Runway and Treadmill Deforestation. '\UCN/IIED 
Tropical Forestry Paper No. 2. London, UK. 

Castanedo, P. and Poore, D. (unpublished report) 
Critical Areas Network. (11 pp + 2 maps.) 

HIID (1988) The Case for Multiple Use Management of Tropical 
Hardwood Forests. Study prepared for the International Tropical 
Timber Organization (ITTO) by the Harvard Institute for Inter- 
national Development, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. 

Hong, E. (1987) Natives of Sarawak: Survival in Borneo’s Vanishing 
Forests. Insutut Masyarakakat, Malaysia. 

Leighton, M. and Nengah Wirawan (1986) Catastrophic drought 
and fire in Borneo tropical rain forest associated with the 1982-83 
El Nino Southern Oscillation Event. In: Tropical Rain Forests and 
the World Atmosphere, American Association for the Advancement 
of Science Symposium 101. Boulder, Colorado, USA. 

Olivier, R. C. D. (1980) Reconciling elephant conservation and 
development in Asia: Ecological bases and possible approaches. 
In: Tropical Ecology and Development Furtado, J. I. (ed.). Proceed- 
ings of the Sth International Symposium of Tropical Ecology, 16— 
21 April 1979, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Poore, D., Burgess P., Palmer J., Rietbergen, S. and Synott, T. 
(1989) No Timber Without Trees: Sustainability in the Tropical 
Forest. Earthscan, London, UK. 

Poore, D. and Sayer, J. A. (1987) The Management of Tropical 
Maist Forest Lands: Ecological Guidelines. IUCN, Gland, Switzer- 
land. 63 pp. 

Repetto, R. and Gillis, M. (1988) Public Policies and the Misuse of 
Forest Resources. Cambridge University Press, UK. 


Forestry in Malaysia. Ministry of Primary Industries, 


Environmentally 


Authorship 

Duncan Poore in Oxford, with contributions from Steve Bass at the 
Rockefeller Foundation, New York, and Jeff McNeely of IUCN, 
Gland. 


GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND LAND USE PLANNING 


ENVIRONMENTALLY CRITICAL AREAS NETWORK IN PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES 


Palawan, located in the south-western portion of the Philippine 
islands, is 425 km long and only 6—40 km wide. The central spine 
is mountainous and forested, with narrow coastal plains fringed 
by mangroves and coral reefs. These forests, although largely 
intact, are steadily giving way to logging, mining and uncon- 
trolled agricultural expansion. The island is ecologically fragile 
and without careful planning there will be severe environmental 
degradation and impoverishment of the people living there. 

A recent survey of Palawan, designed to produce a Strategic 
Environmental Plan, concluded that a network of protected areas 
would not be sufficient to prevent environmental deterioration, 
mainly because it would not receive the support of local commu- 
nities. Instead, it was proposed to create a Network of Environ- 
mentally Critical Areas, a graded system of protective 
management from strict control in certain areas to very light 
control elsewhere, spread over the whole of Palawan (see Figure 
8.2). This will help ensure that no developments take place that 
will cause irreversible harm or loss of productive capacity to the 
natural resources of the island. This includes maintenance of the 
island’s rich biological diversity (see chapter 23). The network 
would achieve the following: 

Protection of watersheds. 

Preservation of biological diversity. 

Protection of tribal people and their cultures. 

Maintenance of maximum sustainable yield. 

Protection of rare and endangered species and their habitats. 
Provision of areas for environmental and ecological research, 
education and training. 

e Provision of areas for tourism and recreation. 


“wie 3 NL Core 1 
aS M ore Zone 

a TAS 

4 whee ———— 


Restricted Use Area 


Controlled 
Use Area 


Traditional 
Use Area 


———— 3 —— 


~Small_ Island 


aga Sa ae 
x hea DAA Manges ENS a 


<?LA 


ZA 


Communal ~~ 
Fishing Grounds =~ 


Tou't Bato Reservation 


Figure 8.1 Details of zoning plan for the Ecologically Critical Areas 
Network in Palawan, Philippines 


(‘— 


fur 


= Se0 6055S 


The network will be divided between four land-use zones (see 
Figure 8.1). 
1 Core area — a wilderness area strictly protected and free of 
human disruption. In genera] these are montane forests at alti- 
tudes above 1000 m. 
2 Buffer zone — an area where regulated use is permitted. This 
may be divided into three sub-zones: 
e@ Restricted Use Area, surrounding the core area; soft impact 
uses only. 
e@ Controlled Use Area, encircling the core and Restricted Use 
Area, available for extraction of minor forest products. 
e Traditional Use Area, where traditional land use is already 
stabilised. 
3 Multiple Use Area — landscape modified for intensive timber 
extraction, grazing, agriculture and infrastructure development. 
4 Marine Area — the coastal/marine boundary is where human 
communities are concentrated and management for extractive 
activities and tourism should be undertaken by communites at 
the ‘grass-roov level. The general pattern is to have core areas of 
mangrove, seagrass and coral reefs within a larger area where 
compatible land use and other activities are undertaken. 
Further, more detailed, land-use surveys are necessary to 
delineate these management zones more precisely. Given good 
legislation and public support developed through careful pro- 
grammes of education and dialogue, the Ecologically Critical 
Areas Network offers Palawan the prospect of sustainable de- 
velopment and conservation of natural resources into the foresee- 


able future. (Source: Castenedo and Poore, unpublished) 


\w yao? 


sags 


Dp,» 
dinSBPo 


ts 

: 4 

Ae) Lincoocan 
as 


oo 


Hologilslond 


° 7 
f@arine Turtle Sanctuary 
. 


olompay. 
Fish Sanc 


St Paul's No 


Puerto Princesa C ty 


Tobon Cove 
Museum Reserve Son. 


Key 
HB core Zone 


HBB ButferZone Controlled Use Aven 
Restricted Use Area Traditional Use Area 
Oo Multiple Use Zone 


Ussuia Island Marine Area Delimited by 100 Fathom 
sula Island 


(Al) 


ry Bolatac 


Figure 8.2 The Philippine region of Palawan, showing proposals for 
an Ecologically Critical Area Networks that would put land use on a 
sustainable basis 


Bird Sanctuary 


Ecologically Critical Areas Network 


59 


QO The Protected 


Introduction 


As the exploitation of tropical moist forests has accelerated in the 
Asia—Pacific region, governments have realised that conservation of 
samples of relatively intact forest is a necessary part of balanced land 
use. National parks and other forms of protected area have been one 
of the most universally adopted mechanisms for nature conservation. 
This is not to claim universal success; the great majority of protected 
areas are under some degree of threat from encroachment or poach- 
ing, resulting from a conflict between the conservation of nationally 
or internationally important sites and the needs of local communities 
traditionally dependent on the resources of such areas. The level of 
conflict is intensified in many tropical countries where the population 
is increasing, and will continue to do so in decades to come. 

More effective means are required to ensure that conservationists 
and local people can work together as partners rather than antagon- 
ists. This chapter discusses why protected areas are necessary, what 
contributions they make to human society, and how they can be 
managed better to ensure that their contributions continue to meet 
the needs of society in the future. 


How Protected Areas Contribute to Conservation of 
Tropical Moist Forests 

Tropical moist forests are by far the richest of the earth’s habitats in 
terms of their biological species diversity. This great diversity of 
plants and animals is associated with a low population density of 
many individual species, rendering them particularly vulnerable to 
local extirpation. Protection of extensive tracts of tropical moist 
forest, therefore, is of paramount importance to maintain global 
biological diversity. 

Protected areas can be defined as predominantly natural areas 
managed in perpetuity through legal or customary regimes primarily 
for conservation. They provide the most effective means of conserv- 
ing the range of biological diversity found in moist forests. Some 
examples may serve to illustrate their importance: 

e In Taman Negara, Peninsular Malaysia’s largest protected area, 
142 of its 198 endemic mammal species are dependent on rain forest 
for their existence (Medway, 1971). 

e Thailand’s existing protected areas system provides refuge for all 
but 40 of its 595 resident, and mostly forest bird species (Round, 
1988). 

@ Doi Suthep-Pui, a mountain protected area of 261 sq. km, which 
forms part of Thailand’s system, supports 250 orchid species (25 per 
cent of the national total) and is the type locality for over 200 taxa of 
plants and animals (Banziger, 1988). 

e In India, a network of 16 reserves, covering 26,000 sq. km of 
forest, has been created to protect the tiger. This initiative, heralded 
as one of the greatest conservation successes in the whole of Asia 
(Panwar, 1984), has assured the future survival not only of the tiger 


60 


Areas System 


but also of its habitat, including large tracts of tropical moist forest 
and mangrove. 

Tropical moist forests can be conserved and managed in a variety 
of ways. These can be classified according to management objectives 
using a system of management categories developed by IUCN’s 
Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (box on page 
61). Strict nature reserves (category I) and national parks (category 
II) are by definition protected from exploitation, but they are com- 
plemented by other categories of protected areas in which sustainable 
forms of land use are accommodated. Multiple-use areas (category 
VIII), for example, may provide for the sustained production of 
umber, as in the case of some forest reserves. 

The contribution of protected areas to the conservation of living 
resources and to sustainable development has been well documented 
(MacKinnon et al., 1986; McNeely, 1988; McNeely et al., 1989). 
The main direct and indirect benefits of conserving tropical moist 
forests are summarised and exemplified in the boxes on page 66. 
Most of these can be quantified in economic terms; indirect values, 
however, often overlooked in cost-benefit analyses, may far outweigh 
direct values. Less tangible, also, is the ‘existence value’ of protected 
areas, which reflects the empathy, responsibility and concern that 
some people feel towards the existence of ecosystems such as tropical 
rain forests, even though they have no intention of ever visiting or 
directly using them. Measures of this value include the numbers of 
people who enjoy wildlife films or television programmes, the dona- 
uons that are made to conservation organisations such as WWF, and 
the concern expressed in the mass media about tropical forest 
destruction. 

Protecting tropical moist forests also involves costs — particularly 
for those people living in the vicinity of protected areas who may be 
prevented from exploiting resources as freely as they might wish. 
Moreover, protected areas may well be perceived as harbouring 
‘pests’, such as predators which kill domestic livestock or herbivores 
which damage crops. Retaining natural vegetation also denies imme- 
diate benefits from logging and conversion to other forms of use, 
although these may be less significant when compared to the value of 
conserving such a resource within a region as a whole. In short, the 
distribution of costs and benefits of both exploitation and conserva- 
ton should be more equitable, if protected areas are to continue 
making their necessary contribution to human welfare. 

The importance of conserving tropical rain and monsoon forests 
has received increasing public support as its values have become 
better understood. In a number of cases, intense lobbying by the 
public, often spearheaded by non-governmental organisations, has 
halted some large development projects that would have destroyed 
important tropical forest areas, for example: 

1 A scheme to dam Silent Valley, considered to be one of the last 


representative stands of mature tropical evergreen rain forest in 
India, became the focus of one of the fiercest and most widely 
publicised environmental debates in the region. After much debate 
the project was finally shelved in 1983 in deference to the sentiments 
of the Prime Minister of the day, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and the site has 
since been designated a national park. 

2 Plans to build a dam on the Upper Kwae Yai in Thailand have been 
intensely and repeatedly debated over a ten-year period. A substan- 
tial area of mature forest would have been flooded, bisecting Thung 
Yai Naresuan, Thailand’s largest wildlife sanctuary. Following an 
enquiry, the scheme was finally dropped in 1988, and the site, 
together with the adjacent Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, is 
in the process of being nominated for inscription on the World 
Heritage List. 

3 There is an on-going controversy over the proposal made in 1972 to 
establish Endau-Rompin as a national park to protect one of the last 
extensive tracts of tropical rain forest in Peninsular Malaysia. Log- 
ging of part of the proposed core area in 1977 led to widespread 
public protest and the emergence of a campaign, led by the Malayan 
Nature Society, to save Endau-Rompin. The issue 1s politically 
sensitive because of the different powers, responsibilities and inter- 
ests of federal and state authorities, but there are grounds for 
optimism now that the Pahang and Johor State Governments (whose 
borders bisect the area) have agreed to designate the area as a state 
park (see chapter 22). 

On the other hand, some development projects have actually 
contributed to the establishment of protected areas. For example, 
Dumoga-Bone National Park in northern Sulawesi was established 
with funding from the World Bank to protect the watershed of 
an irrigation project downstream. The Mahaweli Project in Sri 
Lanka included a $6 million component to establish a new system 
of national parks as part of the water resources development 
effort. 

Finally, an extensive system of protected areas was planned as part 
of the international efforts to develop the water resources of the 
Mekong River (McNeely, 1987). 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


History of Protected Areas in the Asia—Pacific Region 
Protection of wildlife has a long tradition in the Indian subcontinent. 
The concept of protected areas dates back at least to the 4th century 
Bc in India, with the establishment of Abhayaranyas, or forest 
reserves, advocated in the Arthasashtra, the well-known manual of 
state-craft (Singh, 1985). Similarly, in Sri Lanka, one of the world’s 
first wildlife sanctuaries was created in the 3rd century Bc by King 
Devenampiya Tissa (Dikshit, 1986), at the same time that Buddhism 
was being introduced to the island. Sacred groves are an even older 
institution, thought to date back to the pre-agrarian period of hunter- 
gatherer societies. These patches of forest were afforded special 
protection, with limited use of resources sanctioned only during 
umes of calamity. In some countries, such as Thailand, areas sur- 
rounding temples and other religious sites have been protected due to 
the Buddhist prohibition on hunting. 

In the Pacific region conservation practices have been closely 
linked with customary tenure systems, whereby a large degree of 
communal control is exercised over land use and natural resource 
exploitation. The imposition of taboo (or tapu) was one of the 
principal means by which wildlife and habitats were conserved. The 
existing protected areas network in the Pacific island of Niue, for 
example, is limited toa number of tapu forests, notably Huvalu Tapu 
Forest, which contains a significant proportion of the island’s re- 
maining tropical rain forest. 

Much later in history, some areas rich in wildlife were preserved 
specifically for hunting by the privileged classes. These form the 
basis of a number of existing protected areas in India and Sri Lanka. 
The colonial era also involved the establishment of nature reserves by 
both colonial and indigenous governments. In Indonesia, for exam- 
ple, Java had a network of 55 nature reserves totalling 1300 sq. km by 
1929, following the enactment of the Nature Monuments Ordinance 
in 1916; and reserves in Borneo and Sumatra, totalling well over 5000 
sq. km, were established in areas under the ‘indirect rule’ of tradi- 
tional Sultans (Westermann, 1945). 

Many more protected areas were originally forest reserves estab- 
lished over the past hundred years or so to safeguard tmber, soil and 


CATEGORIES AND MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES OF PROTECTED AREAS 


I Scientific Reserve/Strict Nature Reserve 

To protect nature and maintain natural processes in an un- 
disturbed state in order to have ecologically representative exam- 
ples of the natural environment available for scientific study, 
environmental monitoring, education, and for the maintenance of 
genetic resources in a dynamic and evolutionary state. 


II National Park 
To protect natural and scenic areas of national or international 
significance for scientific, educational and recreational use. 


III Natural Monument/Natural Landmark 
To protect and preserve nationally significant natural features 
because of their special interest or unique characteristics. 


IV Managed Nature Reserve/Wildlife Sanctuary 

To assure the natural conditions necessary to protect nationally 
significant species, groups of species, biotic communities, or 
physical features of the environment where these require specific 
human manipulation for their perpetuation. 


V Protected Landscape 
To maintain nationally significant natural landscapes which are 
characteristic of the harmonious interaction of man and land while 


providing opportunities for public enjoyment through recreation 
and tourism within the normal life style and economic activity of 
these areas. 


VI Resource Reserve 

To protect the natural resources of the area for future use and 
prevent or contain development activities that could affect the 
resource pending the establishment of objectives which are based 
upon appropriate knowledge and planning. 


VII Natura! Biotic Area/Anthropological Reserve 
To allow the way of life of societies living in harmony with the 
environment to continue undisturbed by modern technology. 


VIII Multiple-Use Management Area/Managed Resource 
Area 

To provide for the sustained production of water, timber, wild- 
life, pasture, and outdoor recreation, with the conservation of 
nature primarily oriented to the support of the economic activities 
(although specific zones may also be designated within these areas 
to achieve specific conservation objectives). 


Source: adapted from IUCN/CNPPA (1984a) 


61 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


Pork 


= —— Kaziranga Notional 


430 sq.km 


‘s, 4 ne 
) THAILAND 


(A 


Khao Yoi National Park 3 
(2,169 9 km) 
ry 


Hurulu Forest Reserve ° 


5 sq.km 
Torutao Notional Park 
SRI LANKA 1,490 sq km 


Toman Negara 
Notional Park 


(4,344 sq.km 
Sinharoja Forest Reserve 8 
89 sq.km Gunung Leuser- 
National Park 
(BR = 9,464 sq.km) 
| ASEAN = 7,927 sq.km) D 
Siberut Nature Reserve JAVA 
(565 sq.km) 
Rentaebi Notional ices Bsrere 
‘ 14.847 sak Reserve 
KEY HSH (150 sq.km) 
v World Heritage Sites 
A Biosphere Reserves 
w= ASEAN Sites 
@ RAMSAR Sites 


Red River Estuary 
(120 sq.km) 


Sokaerat Environmental 
Research Station 
(81 sq.km) 


Mulu National Park 
(529 sq.km) 


SULAWESI sy ( 


LESSER SUNDAS _ 
I? OCS? * 


Figure 9.1 Distribution of conservation 
areas designated under international 
and regional conventions and programmes 


=> 


Puerto Galera Biosphere 
Reserve 
_— (235 sq.km) 


Xd PHILIPPINES 


lips 


} — Iglit-Baco Notional Park 
(754 sq.km) 


~ Mt Apo National Park 


(728 sq.km) 
Nat | 
yr ae um Gunung Lorentz National | 
Sp be Patk | 
€ a IRIAN (15,603 sq.km) 
iD nomi x Ve — JAYA zs 9 | 
SSS 7 | 


Lore Lindu Notional Park 
2,310 sq.km) 
7) 


Komodo National Park 
(300 sq.km) 
Wet Tropics of Queensland 


AUSTRALIA (9,200 sq.km) 


water resources and were subsequently designated as national parks 
or sanctuaries. Many of the existing protected areas of India, Indo- 
nesia, Thailand and Malaysia, for example, have evolved from 
forestry traditions. While the primary role of forest reserves has 
usually been to provide for controlled commercial exploitation, their 
conservation importance is increasingly being recognised. Thailand, 
for example, had 1218 forest reserves covering 45 per cent of its total 
land area in 1989. Though some of them actually have few trees, they 
are classified as production or conservation forests; the latter cate- 
gory includes watershed areas, as well as national parks, wildlife 
sanctuaries, non-hunting areas and forest parks. Similarly, in Tai- 
wan, some 23 per cent of the national forest estate, which covers 
approximately half of the country, has been reclassified as protection 
forest in ecologically sensitive areas such as watersheds. Commercial 
logging operations are being brought under increasingly strict con- 
trol, to the extent that felling is prohibited above certain altitudes or 
gradients in countries such as India and Taiwan, or totally banned as 
in the case of Thailand and several provinces of the Philippines 
(though the effectiveness of such bans remains to be demonstrated). 

Protected areas were often established on an ad hoc basis during the 
earlier part of this century, with little regard to ecological or other 
criteria. This is reflected in the existing networks of Bangladesh 
(Olivier, 1979) and Fiji (Watling, 1988), in which important biolog- 
ical resources are not adequately represented. More systematic ap- 
proaches have been adopted in Indonesia (FAO, 1982; Petocz, 1984) 
and most recently in India (Rogers and Panwar, 1988) and the 
Philippines (Anon., 1988), while in Laos a national review is cur- 
rently under way. In Malaysia such approaches are integral to the 
development of state conservation strategies, that for Sarawak being 
a notable example (see chapter 24). 


International and Regional Initiatives 

A number of countries in the Asia—Pacific region participate in the 
various international and regional conventions or programmes con- 
cerned with promoting the conservation of regionally or interna- 


62 


uonally important natural sites. Details are summarised in Table 9.1 
(opposite). These conventions and programmes provide powerful 
forces for conserving some of the region’s most important sites by 
strengthening the position of the responsible national authorities and 
gaining financial support from international sources. Opportunities 
to augment national resources available for managing the sites and 
their environs, however, are seldom exploited fully. 

1 The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural 
and Natural Heritage boasts the greatest number of member coun- 
tries (ten) from the region. Tropical moist forest sites included on the 
list by 1989 include Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (India), Kaziranga 
National Park (India), Sundarbans National Park (India), Sinharaja 
Natural Heritage Wilderness Area (Sri Lanka), and Wet Tropics of 
Queensland (the latter is particularly significant, as it covers virtually 
all of Australia’s remaining tropical rain forest). The Convention 
provides for the designation of natural and cultural areas of ‘out- 
standing universal value’ as World Heritage sites, in order to pro- 
mote their significance at local, national and international levels. It 
imposes a legal duty on contracting parties to do their utmost to 
protect their natural and cultural heritage; this obligation extends 
beyond sites inscribed in the World Heritage List. The Convention 
also has provision for aid and technical cooperation to be offered to 
contracting parties for the protection of their World Heritage sites. 
2 The Unesco Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) provides for 
the establishment of a worldwide system of ‘Biosphere Reserves’, 
which are intended to be representative of natural ecosystems, to 
conserve genetic diversity and to promote monitoring, research and 
training. Particular emphasis is placed on the restoration of degraded 
ecosystems to more natural conditions, harmoniously integrating 
traditional patterns of land use within a conservation framework and 
involving local people in decision-making processes. A network of 
biosphere reserves, distributed among a number of countries, has 
been set up in the region, but only eight, in three countries, contain 
tropical moist forest, namely Hurulu and Sinharaja Forest Reserves 
in Sri Lanka, Mae Sa-Kog Ma Reserve in Thailand and Cibodas 


Biosphere Reserve, Lore Lindu, Tanjung Puting and Gunung Leu- 
ser National Parks, and Siberut Nature Reserve in Indonesia. The 
MAB Programme is based on very sound principles, and the general 
approach is being adopted in many areas which are not formally 
designated as biosphere reserves. The main weakness of the pro- 
gramme is that, unlike conventions, it is not legally binding: imple- 
mentation of the programme ts the responsibility of National MAB 
committees, which lack legal powers. 

3 Three countries within the region have also signed the Convention 
on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl 
Habitat, otherwise known as the Ramsar Convention. This provides 
the framework for international cooperation to conserve wetlands. 
Contracting parties accept an undertaking to promote the wise use of 
all wetlands and to designate one or more wetlands for inclusion in a 
‘List of Wetlands of International Importance’. Red River Estuary in 
Vietnam is the only designated site in the region, but numerous 
freshwater and mangrove swamp forest areas would qualify for 
inclusion in this list. 

4 The six countries constituting the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN) participate in the ASEAN Environment Pro- 
gramme, which has been in existence since December 1978. One of 
the main goals of this programme is to develop and promote a 
regional network of protected areas of outstanding importance for 
their wilderness quality and biological diversity. Known as ‘ASEAN 
Heritage Parks and Reserves’, eleven such sites have been declared to 
date, all but one of which sull contain tropical moist forest. Under an 
agreement reached in 1985, member countries are obliged inzer alia to 
conserve the habitats of rare and threatened species through the 
establishment and maintenance of protected areas. 

5 Of the South Pacific countries considered in this atlas, only Papua 
New Guinea has signed, but not ratified, the 1976 Convention on the 
Conservation of Nature in the South Pacific. Known as the Apia 
Convention, it requires four more countries to deposit instruments of 
ratification to enter into force. The Convention is coordinated by the 
South Pacific Commission and represents the first attempt within the 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


South Pacific to cooperate on environmental matters. Among other 
measures, it encourages the creation of protected areas to preserve 
indigenous flora and fauna. 

6 Papua New Guinea, Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji 
are party to the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme 
(SPREP) 1986 but only Australia and Vanuatu have ratified the 1986 
SPREP Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and 
Environment of the South Pacific Region. The main objectives of the 
Convention are to combat pollution, although one article covers 
protected areas and protection of wild flora and fauna. Parties are 
required to protect and preserve rare and fragile ecosystems and 
depleted, threatened or endangered flora, fauna and their habitats. 
To date, however, insufficient countries have ratified the Convention 
for it to enter into force. 

7 Anew global Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diver- 
sity is in the process of being drawn up by IUCN and UNEP. The 
convention would extend across all species and habitats; moreover, it 
would provide for a global approach to financing the conservation of 
biological diversity. 


The Coverage of Tropical Moist Forests by Protected Areas 
Compared with other habitats, the world’s tropical rain and monsoon 
forests are among the least well protected. Not only do new sites need 
to be protected, but also protected areas must be larger than at 
present if their biological diversity is to be maintained. 

The protected areas systems of the Indo-Malayan and Oceanian 
realms have been reviewed by IUCN/UNEP (1986a) and IUCN 
UNEP (1986b), respectively. These reports conclude that, as 
elsewhere in the world, protection of tropical moist forests is inade- 
quate for most countries (Australia being a notable exception). Even 
where coverage appears to be sufficient, as in Thailand, effective on- 
the-ground protection is often lacking. Recommendations for de- 
veloping national protected areas systems are outlined in these 
reviews and also in action strategies prepared by field managers in the 
respective realms (IUCN/CNPPA, 1985; SPREP, 1985). 


Table 9.1 State parties to international and regional conventions or programmes concerned with the conservation of natural areas 


International 
World Heritage Biosphere 
Convention Reserves 
India 14 Nov 77 (3!) 
Sri Lanka 6 Jun 80 (1) (2) 
Bangladesh 3 Aug 83 
Burma 
Thailand 17 Sep 87 (1) 
Vietnam 19 Oct 87 
Cambodia 
Laos 20 Mar 87 
China 12 Dec 85 (0) 
Malaysia 7 Dec 88 
Singapore 
Indonesia (5) 
Brunei 
Philippines 19 Sep 85 (0) 
Papua New Guinea 
Australia 22 Aug 74 (1) (0) 
Vanuatu 
Solomons 
Fiji 


Regional 
Ramsar ASEAN Apia SPREP 
Convention Convention Convention Convention 
1 Oct 81 
1967 (2) 
20 Sep 88 (1) 
1967 (3) 
1967 (0) 
1967 (3) 
1984 (1) 
1967 (28) 
8 May 74 24 Nov 87 
Aug 89 


'! Where applicable, the number of tropical moist forest sites recognised under respective conventions is given in brackets. 


* Includes Mounts Iglit—Baco, which is deforested. 


63 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


One of the central purposes of this atlas is to map the distribution 
of protected areas larger than 50 sq. km in relation to remaining rain 
and monsoon forests. To date the published statistical information 
on this subject has been difficult to interpret. While it is possible to 
calculate the total extent of protected areas within a country, or 
within a biogeographical realm or vegetation type, this does not 
necessarily reflect the extent of forest remaining in them. The maps 
in chapters 12—29 enable the reader to see at a glance which are the 
key areas in which the moist forests of the Asia—Pacific region are 
protected. 

It would be immensely valuable to determine exactly how much 
tropical moist forest is distributed within the boundaries of protected 
areas, but to do this from the forest maps in this atlas would be 
unrealistic because of their small scale. Instead, all sites containing 
tropical moist forest have been identified in the tables of protected 
areas accompanying each country chapter. Data related to these 
properties are summarised in Table 9.2. 

Extreme caution needs to be exercised in drawing overly general 
conclusions from Table 9.2 because circumstances differ consider- 
ably between countries. Of the three nations with over 300,000 sq. 
km of tropical moist forest, Burma and Papua New Guinea have very 
small existing and proposed protected areas systems, while Indo- 
nesia’s is extensive. Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand 
each has between 100,000 and 200,000 sq. km of tropical moist forest 


and in all of these the extent of the existing and proposed protected 
areas systems Is over 10 per cent of remaining tropical moist forests. 
Itshould not be overlooked, however, that these percentages will rise 
as the forests outside protected areas systems are progressively 
destroyed. In the nations with less than 100,000 sq. km of tropical 
moist forest, Australia, Brunei, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are well 
endowed with existing and proposed protected areas, but on the 
other hand existing protection in Bangladesh, China and the Philip- 
pines is critically low. In countries such as Burma, Laos and Malaysia 
there is a large backlog of proposed gazettements to implement. 
Apart from inadequate representation of tropical moist forest 
within existing protected area systems, conservation efforts are 
limited by weaknesses in legislation and ineffective management. A 
recent survey of Indian protected areas, for example, shows that legal 
procedures have been completed in just 40 per cent of its national 
parks and 8 per cent of its sanctuaries (Kothari et al., 1989). The 
status of Indonesia’s national parks is even less secure; despite their 
being officially declared, there is no legal basis for their existence. 
The effectiveness with which protected areas are managed varies 
from country to country, often a reflection of relative economic 
prosperity. They also vary from site to site, depending on local 
conditions and other factors. India’s prestigious Tiger Reserves, 
supported with Central Government assistance, tend to be well 
managed compared to many of its sanctuaries, which are often 


Table 9.2 Protected area coverage of tropical moist forest (for definition see box, page 11) 


Land Approximate Remaining Total area of protected areas with Existing tropical moist Existing and proposed 
area original extent of area of tropical moist forest? forest protected areas as a tropical moist forest protected 
(7000 closed canopy tropical percentage of: areas as a percentage of: 
sq. km) tropical moist moist forest Existing Proposed Totals® Land Onginal Remaining Land  Onginal Remaining 
forests (adapted (sq. km)! (sq. km) (sq. km) (sq. km) area moist moist area moist moist 
from IUCN/ forest forest forest forest 
UNEP, 1986a) 
((000 sq. km) 
Australia 7,618 11 10,5163 7,605 — 7,6053 0.09 69.1 72.3 0.09 69.1 72.3 
Bangladesh 134 130 9,730 744 — 744 0.6 0.5 7.6 0.6 0.5 7.6 
Brunei 5.8 5 4,692 1,078 104 1,182 18.5 21.5 22.9 20.3 23.6 25.1 
Burma 658 600 311,850 5,641 7,399 13,040 0.9 0.9 1.8 2.0 2.2 4.2 
Cambodia 177 160 113,2504 20,351 4,675 25,026 11.5 1227, 18.0 14.1 15.6 22.1 
China and 9,363 340 25,860 3,865 290 4,155 0.04 1.1 14.9 0.04 1.2 16.1 
Taiwan 
India 2,973 910 228,330° 22,6585 18,8925 41,5005 0.8 2.1 9.9 1S 4.5 18.1 
Indonesia 1,812 1,700 1,179,140 137,875 128,108 265,983 7.6 8.1 11.7 14.6 15.6 22.5 
Laos 231 225 124,600 — 47,211 47,211 0 0 0 20.4 21.0 37.9 
Federal 329 320 200,450 13,263 14,388 27,651 4.0 4.1 6.6 8.4 8.6 13.8 
Malaysia 
Peninsular (132) (130) (69,780) (6,181) (6,519) (12,700) (4.7) (4.8) (8.9) (9.6) (9.8) (18.2) 
Malaysia 
Sabah and (198) (190) (130,670) (7,082) (7,869) (14,951) (3.6) (3.7) (5.4) (7.6) (7.9) (11.4) 
Sarawak 
Papua New 452 450 366,750 9,164 _ 9,164 2.0 2.0 2S 2.0 2.0 2.5 
Guinea 
Philippines 298 295, 66,020 1,775 620 2,395 0.6 0.6 2.6 0.8 0.8 3.6 
Singapore 0.6 0.5 c.l 0.7 — 0.7 0.1 0.1 70.0 0.1 0.1 70.0 
Sri Lanka 65 26 12,260 6,309 a 6,309 OFT, 24.3 51.5 9.7 24.3 a1 
Thailand 512 250 106,900 44,790 11,855 56,645 8.7 17.9 41.9 11.1 2257 53.0 
Vietnam 325 280 56,680 6,252 — 6,252 1.9 2e2 11.0 1.9 2.2 11.0 


' Figures given here are derived from the maps in chapters 12—29. As explained in these chapters some maps are based on more recent information than others. 

> It must be emphasised that these totals are for protected areas greater than 50 sq. km in extent, which contain at least some tropical moist forest as determined in the maps 
in chapters 12-29. Since many of these protected areas are only partially forested the coverage will be over-optimistic but the numerous forested protected areas less than 50 
sq. km in extent which have not been considered in this analysis will tend to redress the balance. 
* Note that data for Australia refer only to tropical rain forests. Temperate rain forests and tropical monsoon forests are not mapped in chapter 12. Protected areas data refer 
only to national parks, not to the World Heritage site. 


* Mapped data for Cambodia are out of date. FAO figures show closed forest extent in 1980 as 71,500 sq. km. See chapter 16 for details. 


* Note that these data refer only to the Western Ghats, north-east India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as mapped in detail in chapter 18. There are no tropical rain 
forests beyond these regions, but the monsoon forests are extensive. It has not been possible to estimate protected area coverage throughout the monsoon forests. 
© Totals are derived from those protected areas mapped in chapters 12—29 which feature moist tropical forest within their boundaries. 


64 


inadequately staffed. By contrast, Taiwan boasts an extremely effec- 
tively managed protected areas system, doubtless a reflection of its 
economic prosperity. Second in the world only to Japan in terms of 
its foreign reserves, it invests up to US$110,000 per sq. km of 
protected area, which is an order of magnitude greater than in many 
European countries. At the other end of the scale, in countries such 
as Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Cambodia, the repercussions of wars and 
civil unrest on protected areas have sometimes been disastrous. 

Even in the absence of wars or natural hazards, such as fires and 
cyclones, legal protection does not necessarily guarantee the survival 
of tropical moist forest. Many of Indonesia’s protected areas, for 
example, suffer from both legal and illicit logging. IUCN’s Commis- 
sion on National Parks and Protected Areas maintains a register of 
threatened protected areas in which several tropical moist forest sites 
in the Asia—Pacific region are currently listed. Most, such as Gunung 
Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Kutai in Indonesia, are threatened by 
illegal logging and settlement, while, for example, Thaleban Na- 
tional Park in Thailand is becoming isolated as a result of clearance of 
adjacent forests in Malaysia. As the list is not yet compiled on a fully 
systematic basis, it does not represent a quantitative estimate of the 
total number of protected areas under threat, which is certainly much 
higher. 


An Expanded Approach to Protecting Tropical Moist Forest 
Traditional approaches to conservation, based on the preservationist 
concept of ‘locking away’ areas, are becoming increasingly inap- 
propriate under ever mounting human pressures. They are being 
superseded by more modern strategic methods, that are based on the 
management of natural areas to support sustainable development 
(see McNeely and Miller, 1984; McNeely and Thorsell, 1985; 
McNeely et al., 1989). 

This new conservation ethic forms the basis of the World Conser- 
vation Strategy, which was prepared by the world’s leading conserva- 
tion agencies and launched in 1980 (IUCN, 1980). In the Strategy, 
the conservation of living resources is shown to be vital for sustain- 
able development. The essential contribution of protected areas to 
sustainable development is highlighted in the Bali Declaration pre- 
pared by participants at the Third World National Parks Congress 
(McNeely and Miller, 1984). Among the priorities idenufied, both in 
the Strategy and at the Bali Congress, is the need to ensure that 
tropical rain and monsoon forests are comprehensively represented 
within protected areas systems. The importance of developing 
national networks of protected areas to conserve tropical forests 1s 
endorsed by the Tropical Forestry Action Plan (FAO, 1985). This 
was formulated in recognition that failure to protect tropical forest 
ecosystems and their biological resources now will result in an 
inability to respond to future needs and challenges, as well as failure 
to take advantage of current opportunities for tourism, education, 
research and watershed protection (see chapter 10). 

The need for a more strategic approach to conservation that 
anticipates and prevents the more destructive impacts of develop- 
ment policies is clearly identified in the final report of the World 
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987). A 
useful tool in promoting such an approach is the preparation and 
implementation of national conservation strategies whereby the pro- 
cesses of conservation and development are integrated. These are 
already completed or under way in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, 
Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Fij1. 

Initiatives to link development and environmental protection are 
evident in a number of national and regional planning programmes. 
Palawan has been the subject of a strategic environmental plan based 
on a land capability assessment (see case study in chapter 8), and a 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


recent assessment of land use in Indonesia has given due considera- 
tion to ecologically sensitive areas, including those represented 
within the country’s protected areas system (see chapter 19). Another 
example is Siberut, off Sumatra, for which a plan was developed to 
zone the entire island and establish it as a biosphere reserve 
(McNeely et al., 1980). 

At the local level, protected areas need to be linked with rural 
development projects rather than become increasingly isolated from 
surrounding land usage. This can be achieved through the establish- 
ment of buffer zones in which natural resources are managed sus- 
tainably for the benefit of the local people. The development of 
buffer zones, by which the protection of undisturbed core areas of 
biological richness is enhanced by surrounding multiple-use areas 
managed at least partly by the local people, is central to the biosphere 
concept. Buffer zone management in tropical moist forests is re- 
viewed by Oldfield (1988), one example being a community-based 
forestry programme, which is being developed to stabilise the bound- 
aries of Cyclops Mountains Nature Reserve in Irian Jaya. The reserve 
is surrounded by a buffer zone in which hunting and felling of timber 
for local use is permitted and controlled by the community. 

In practice, the majority of protected areas tend to have uneasy 
relations with the people living around them. The reasons for this are 
apparent: the loca! people pay the costs of conservation through not 
being able to harvest resources as they might wish, while the bulk of 
the benefits go to the nation at large or even to the international 
community. Governments need to seek ways of redressing this 
imbalance to ensure that more of the benefits are delivered to the local 
community, because fostering local support for protected areas is 
essential for their ultimate survival. In Irian Jaya, where most 
protected areas are inhabited by traditional hunter-gatherers, 
farmers or fishermen, community involvement is central to their 
management. Arfak Mountains Nature Reserve, for example, is 
managed by a series of village committees, while in the surrounding 
buffer zone butterfly farming is being promoted. In neighbouring 
Papua New Guinea, where 97 per cent of the land is held under 
customary ownership, the protected areas system consists largely of 
wildlife management areas. These are reserved at the request of the 
land owners for the conservation and controlled utilisation of the 
wildlife and its habitat (Eaton, 1986). 

The case for protecting tropical moist forest has been made. Yet, 
despite their value, all but the most remote protected areas are under 
threat, and only a small proportion are large enough to support * 
ecological and evolutionary processes. There are no universal rules 
which address how areas should be protected, either in the short or 
long term. The concept of national parks as defensible treasure 
houses is becoming a thing of the past, but contemporary notions of 
buffering core areas with surrounding sustainable-use zones may also 
become outmoded as human values change. The concept of ‘pro- 
tected’ areas is already being replaced by ‘conservation’ areas and in 
time may be replaced by harmoniously integrated land-use which 
satisfies the requirements of both people and wildlife. 

Looking ahead 100 years or more, today’s protected areas may be 
viewed as ‘Holocene refugia’, harbouring plants and animals in much 
the same way as ‘Pleistocene refugia’ accommodated species during 
the last ice age. These refugia can act as bridges from the relatively 
pristine past to a more environmentally secure future. We must hope 
that by the year 2100 human populations will stabilise, and resource 
exploitation will be based on sustainable principles. The diversity 
and abundance of biological resources that the present generation 
bequeaths to its descendants will define their range of options. 
Protected areas, in whatever form, will be keystones in that heritage 
(Hales, 1989; McNeely, 1989). 


oa) 
nN 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


DIRECT BENEFITS OF PROTECTED AREAS 


Direct benefits of protected areas are those which are tangible, 
immediate and measurable. They can include: 


1 Protecting renewable harvestable resources 

Protected areas act as refugia for crucial life stages or elements of 
wildlife populations that are harvested beyond their boundaries. 
The mangroves of the Sundarbans bordering the Bay of Bengal, 
for example, provide the main nursery for shrimps along the 
entire coast of eastern India, as well as spawning grounds for a 
wealth of fish and crustaceans. 


2 Supporting nature-related recreation and tourism 

The protected areas of the Asia—Pacific region receive an esti- 
mated 400 million visitors per year. Villagers from Ban Sap Tai, 
adjacent to Khao Yai, for example, Thailand’s oldest protected 
area, act as guides and porters for trekking parties of 10-12 
tourists to supplement their income. Profits average US $200 per 
trek (Praween et al., 1988). Periyar, in the Western Ghats, is 


one of India’s most popular protected areas. Visitors, mostly 
nationals (91 per cent), totalled nearly 200,000 in 1986, generating 
some Rs400,000 (US $40,000) from entrance fees and further 
revenue from boat tours, treks and elephant rides (Bashir, 1988). 


3 Protecting wild species 

Some 15,000 species of plants and animals are known to be 
directly useful to mankind; some 100,000 have been used in the 
past, and many more may be of potential use. Protecting this 
biological diversity has immediate practical applications and also 
keeps options open for the future. Tropical forests support the 
greatest diversity of plants whose secondary compounds may be of 
potential pharmaceutical use. Villagers living around Gunung 
Leuser National Park in Sumatra, for example, rely almost 
entirely on 170 or more plants for all medical treatment (Bri- 
macombe and Elliott, 1985). 


INDIRECT BENEFITS OF PROTECTED AREAS 


Protected areas provide a number of indirect benefits in the form 
of services which depend on intact ecosystems. These can include: 


1 Stabilising hydrological regimes 

The value of maintaining natural rather than plantation forest is 
evident from a Malaysian study, in which peak run-off from 
forested catchments was found to be half that from rubber and 
oil palm plantations, while minimum flows were approximately 
double (Daniel and Kulasingham, 1974). The costs of protecting 
catchment areas can often be justified as part of the hydrological 
investment, as in the case of the US$1.5 million budgeted an- 
nually for protecting the watershed of Nam Pong Reservoir in 
Thailand (Hufschmidt and Srivardhana, 1986). 


2 Contributing to climatic stability 

Current evidence indicates that undisturbed forest helps to main- 
tain rainfall in its immediate vicinity and also keep down local 
ambient temperatures, benefiting agriculture and living condi- 
tions in surrounding areas. In Thailand, for example, Khao Yai’s 
extensive tropical forest appears to ameliorate climatic conditions 
in the region, thereby benefiting agriculture (Royal Forest De- 
partment, 1987). 


3 Protecting soils 
In Malaysia, erosion from plantations is from 11] to 20 times higher 


than from primary rain forest, depending on the crop (Myers, 
1988), while sediment loads increase by 70—97 per cent following 
logging. Apart from reducing erosion and sediment loads, pro- 
tected areas also safeguard coastlines. A notable example is the 
Sundarbans, one of the world’s most extensive mangrove forests, 
which helps to protect the plains of West Bengal (India) and 
Bangladesh from the ravages of cyclones. 


4 Contribution to the natural balance of the surrounding en- 
vironment 

Protected areas afford sanctuary to breeding populations of birds, 
for example, which control insect and mammal pests in surround- 
ing agricultural areas. In Sabah, high densities of birds that nest in 
natural forest limit the abundance of caterpillars that would 
otherwise defoliate Albizia plantations (Fitter, 1986). 


5 Providing facilities for scientific research and education 

Protected areas provide excellent living laboratories for applied 
and other research. For example, long-term ecological and socio- 
economic studies have been carried out at Sakaerat Environmen- 
tal Research Station in Thailand in order to provide a scientific 
basis for the management of forest resources (IUCN/CMC, 1987). 


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Anon. (1988) Development of an Integrated Protected Areas System 
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Banziger, H. (1988) How wildlife is helping to save Doi Suthep: 
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Ups. 28: 255-67. 

Bashir, S. (1988) Problems in the Development of Wildlife Tourism in 
Perwyar Tiger Reserve, India. M.Phil. Dissertation, Department of 
Applied Biology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. 

Brimacombe, J. and Elliott, S. (1985) The Medicinal Plants of 


66 


Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia. WWF, Gland, Switzer- 
land. 

Daniel, J. G. and Kulasingham, A. (1974) Problems arising from 
large-scale forest clearing for agricultural use. Malaysian Forester 
37: 152-60. 

Dikshit, D. D. (1986) Agriculture, Irrigation, and Horticulture in 
Ancient Sri Lanka. Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Delhi and 
Varanasi, India. 

Eaton, P. (1986) Grass roots conservation. Wildlife management 
areas in Papua New Guinea. Land Studies Centre Report 86/1. 
University of Papua New Guinea. 


FAO (1982) National Conservation Plan for Indonesia. 8 Vols. 
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FAO (1985) Tropical Forestry Action Plan. Committee on Forest 
Development in the Tropics. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

Hales, D. (1989) Changing concepts of national parks. In: West- 
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century. pp. 139-44. Oxford University Press, New York. 

Fitter, R. (1986) Wildlife for Man: How and Why We Should 
Conserve Our Species. Collins, London, UK. 

Hufschmidt, M. M. and Ruangde) Srivardhana (1986) The Nam 
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A. and Hufschmidt, F. (eds), pp. 141-62. Johns Hopkins Univer- 
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IUCN (1980) World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conser- 
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Switzerland. 

IUCN/CMC (1987) Directory of Indomalayan Protected Areas: Thai- 
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IUCN/CNPPA (1984a) Categories, objectives and criteria for Pro- 
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Role of Protected Areas in Sustaining Society McNeely, J. A. and 
Miller, K. R. (eds), pp. 47-53. Smithsonian Institution Press, 
Washington, DC, USA. 

IUCN/CNPPA (1985) The Corbett Action Plan for Protected Areas of 
the Indomalayan Realm. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and 
Cambridge, UK. 

IUCN/UNEP (1986a) 
Indo-Malayan Realm. 
Cambridge, UK. 

IUCN/UNEP (1986b) Review of the Protected Areas System in 
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Kothari, A., Pande, P., Singh, S., and Variava, D. (1989) Manage- 
ment of National Parks and Sanctuaries in India: A Status Report. 
Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. 

MacKinnon, J., MacKinnon, K., Child, G. and Thorsell, J. 
(1986) Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics. IUCN, 
Cambridge, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. 

McNeely, J. A. (1987) How dams and wildlife can co-exist: natural 
habitats, agriculture, and major water resource development pro- 
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McNeely, J. A. (1988) Economics and Biological Diversity: Develop- 
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IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 

McNeely, J. A. (1989) Protected areas and human ecology: how 
National Parks can Contribute to Sustaining Societies of the 
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Western, D. and Pearl, M. C. (eds), pp. 150-7. Oxford University 
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McNeely, J. A. and Miller, K. R. (eds) (1984) National Parks, 
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McNeely, J. A., Miller, K. R., Reid, W. V. and Mittermeier, R. 
(1989) Conserving the World’s Biological Resources. WRI/IUCN/ 
World Bank/Conservation International/WWF, Washington, 
DC, USA. 


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IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and 


THE PROTECTED AREAS SYSTEM 


McNeely, J. A. and Thorsell, J. W. (eds) (1985) People and 
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wood. Journal of Tropical Ecology 4: 209-21. 

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Authorship 
Michael Green and James Paine of WWCMC, Cambridge, and Jeffrey 
McNeely at IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 


67 


10 The Tropical Forestry 


Action Plan 


Introduction 


The World Conservation Strategy, published in 1980 by the major 
global conservation organisations, laid down new ground rules for 
natural resource conservation and management in the late 20th 
century (IUCN/UNEP/WWF, 1980). The basic thesis of the Strat- 
egy was that improvement of mankind’s lot in the world, if it is to be 
sustained in the long-term, must satisfy the ecological and biological 
constraints of the planet on which we live. We must learn to regulate 
our consumption of living resources, whether it be fish, or any other 
wildlife, grazing lands or forest timber, at a rate that allows sustained 
renewal of stocks. Furthermore, exploitive actions must not disrupt 
essential ecological processes, nor destroy biological and genetic 
diversity. 

These broad principles have come to be widely accepted, and in 
recent years organisations worldwide have begun to put them into 
practice. Many new initiatives owe their origin to the Strategy, 
including policy guidelines such as the report of the UN World 
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987), the 
strengthening of environment divisions in development banks and 
bilateral development assistance agencies, and the greatly increased 
public support for non-governmental organisations concerned with 
environment and development. 

Nowhere has the impact resulting from contravention of the 
principles of the World Conservation Strategy been more strongly 
felt than in the world’s tropical forests. Indeed, the Strategy recog- 
nised misuse of forest resources in the tropics as one of the major 
environmental issues. Deforestation across the spectrum of dry and 
moist, closed and open canopy forest has accelerated over the past 40 
years to such an extent that soil erosion and flooding are widespread, 
and the renewable supply of fuelwood, building timber and other 
forest products from these ecosystems is in jeopardy (see chapters 2 
and 11). 

In 1981 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation 
(FAO), which holds a mandate to monitor the world’s forest re- 
sources and their management, published the first detailed, country- 
by-country assessment of the extent of tropical forests, to a 1980 
dateline (FAO/UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1988). The results showed that 
in tropical Asia! there were some 2.9 million sq. km of closed canopy, 
broadleaved moist forests — about 25 per cent of the world total at that 
ume. Every year throughout the early 1980s, however, FAO esti- 
mated that 17,410 sq. km were being logged over and a further 
17,820 sq. km were being permanently cleared. 

In many areas, forest clearance followed on from logging. Landless 
people, faced with the daily problem of feeding their families, were 
taking advantage of logging roads to give them access to new forest 
lands that, for a year or two at least, could grow enough crops to keep 


68 


hunger at bay. Definition of the real causes of the deforestation was 
emotive and hotly disputed. The poor settlers were not to blame, in 
the sense that they had no alternatives, but at the same tme FAO 
declared that ‘It is now generally recognised that the main cause of 
the destruction and degradation of tropical forests is the poverty of 
the people who live in and around the forests’ (CDFT, 1985).2 
Logging companies, while bearing the onus of responsibility for 
mismanagement and degradation of many rain forests in the region, 
were not considered to be responsible for permanent deforestation to 
any great extent. 

Had the deforested lands brought long-term improvement in the 
standards of living of forest peoples, their activities would have been 
more acceptable. But spontaneous agricultural settlement provides 
no more than the bare minimum needed for individual survival, 
while the impoverishment of soils and the loss of ecological services 
incur costs for the entire nation. The industrialised nations, recognis- 
ing the dangers in this general pattern and spurred on by public 
concern, determined to focus development aid money on the tropical 
forests. They needed to coordinate their activities and their policies 
to achieve the best chance of reducing deforestation rates. The 
framework within which they chose to work is called the Tropical 
Forestry Action Plan (TFAP). 


How the TFAP was Prepared 

In 1983 the FAO Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics 
(CFDT), which brings together the Heads of Forest Departments 
from 45 tropical nations, representatives of the development agencies 
and observers from non-governmental organisations, noted with 
alarm that international funding for tropical forestry programmes, 
which had always been low in comparison with aid to agriculture, was 
decreasing sull further. The Committee recommended that FAO 
should elaborate proposals for action programmes in priority areas, 
which it did, with the help of an informal meeting of experts in 1985. 
IUCN joined the World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Bank, 
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and FAO in 
developing and promoting action programme proposals in five key 
areas of forestry (see Table 10.1) (WRI, 1985). 


! The compiled data from the FAO assessment on Asia differed from the present work 
in including data for Bhutan (c. 14,900 sq. km of closed broadleaved forest) and Nepal 
(c. 16,100 sq. km), but not including data for Australia (10,510 sq. km) and the 
Western Pacific Islands (c. 34,700 sq. km). The net difference of 14,210 sq. km is less 
than half a per cent of the forest estate and the FAO data are therefore deemed broadly 
comparable with the data in this atlas. 

2 This conclusion is challenged by some non-governmental organisations, whose 
position is discussed on page 72 under “NGO Involvement’. 


The TFAP was formally adopted by the forestry authorities in 
most tropical and industrialised countries at the 9th World Forestry 
Congress in Mexico City in 1985. Subsequently the Plan was also 
endorsed by the International Conference on Trees and Forests 
(‘Silva’) held in France, by the FAO Committee on Forestry, and at 
the FAO Council and Conference and the 1987 Strategy Conference 
on Tropical Forestry at Bellagio in northern Italy. Since then, the 
multinational and bilateral development banks, and development 
assistance agencies, have all recognised tropical forest conservation 
as meriting priority attention under their loan, grant and technical 
assistance programmes. 

The overall objective of the TFAP is to restore, conserve and 
manage forests and forest lands in such a way that they sustainably 
benefit rural people, agriculture and the general economy of the 
countries concerned. To do this, TFAP helps developing countries 
in deciding national priorities, in adapting their current policies to 
real needs, in preparing programmes and projects at the country level 
and in securing the financial support necessary to put those pro- 
grammes and projects into action (FAO, 1990). 

The essential tenet of the TFAP philosophy is that since poverty is 
the root cause of tropical deforestation, agencies should fund projects 
to alleviate that poverty and thus slow down deforestation. Many 
non-governmental organisations remain highly sceptical of the de- 
velopment agencies’ ability to do this. They point out that the great 
majority of development aid projects are the direct cause of deforesta- 
tion through alienation of forest lands for large-scale agricultural 
ventures, provision of roads, plantations of tree crops, mining and 
the building of hydroelectric dams. This much seems incontrovert- 
ible. But the development agencies rejoin that by learning from past 
errors, adding environmental expertise, and preparing a new breed 
of project, their growing investments in the forestry sector will 
indeed reduce deforestation. Whether they will succeed remains to 
be seen. 

The World Resources Institute played a central role in the de- 
velopment of TFAP by convening a Task Force to examine what 
might realistically be done to control deforestation more effectively 
and support the sustainable use and improved management of 
tropical forests. In 1985 WRI published Tropical Forests: A Call for 
Action, which included an estimate of the cost of implementing 
measures to counter deforestation in 56 developing countries at 
US $5320 million for the period 1987-91 (Table 10.27). Half of this 
amount was estimated to be overseas development assistance, the 
other half representing the contribution of national governments and 
the private sector. The WRI Task Force also estimated that the 
investment requirements for all tropical developing countries would 
add another 50 per cent to those for the 56 countries. In other words, 
investment needs in development aid for all tropical developing 
countries for the period 1987—91 could be estimated at about 
US $4050 million, or US $810 million per year, on average. 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 
Table 10.1 The five priority areas of the TFAP! 


1 Forestry in land use 

Action in this area is at the interface between forestry and agricul- 
ture, and aims to conserve the resource base for agriculture, integrate 
forestry into agricultural systems and, in general, use the land more 
rationally. 


2 Forest-based industrial development 

Action in this area aims at promoting appropriate forest-based 
industries by intensifying resource management and development, 
promoting appropriate raw material harvesting, establishing and 
managing appropriate forest industries, reducing waste, and de- 
veloping the marketing of forest industry products. 


3 Fuelwood and energy 

The aims are to restore fuelwood supplies in the countries affected by 
shortages, through global assistance and support for national fuel- 
wood and wood energy programmes, development of wood-based 
energy systems for rural and industrial development, regional train- 
ing and demonstration, and intensification of research and develop- 
ment. 


4 Conservation of tropical forest ecosystems 

The aims are to conserve, manage and utilise tropical plant and wild 
animal genetic resources through the development of national net- 
works of protected areas; plan, manage and develop individual 
protected areas, and conduct research into the management of 
tropical forests for sustainable production. 


5 Institutions 

The aims are to remove the institutional constraints impeding con- 
servation and wise use of tropical forest resources by strengthening 
public forest administrations and related government agencies, inte- 
grating forestry concerns into development planning, providing 
institutional support for private and local organisations, developing 
professional, technical and vocational training, and improving exten- 
sion and research. 


1 Whilst designed to be comprehensive in their coverage, they do not preclude other 
projects and activities since development priorities must be established at country 
level (FAO, 1987; 1990). 


Implementation of TFAP 

Activities taking place under the TFAP banner are expedited and 
monitored by a small Coordination Unit based at FAO, Rome, where 
five staff respond to requests for information and for forest sector 
reviews, monitor progress and coordinate the activities of donors. To 
facilitate coordination, twice yearly, four-day meetings of the TFAP 
Forestry Advisers are held which bring together representatives 
(usually foresters) from the bilateral development agencies and 


Table 10.2 Estimated costs of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, 1987-91 


Africa % of Asia % of Latin % of 5-year % of 
Activity total total America total totals total 
Forestry in land use 139 3 682 13 95 2 916 17 
Forest-based industrial development 167 3 565 11 584 11 1,316 25 
Fuelwood and energy 439 8 747 14 390 7/ 1,576 30 
Conservation of forest ecosystems 105 2 148 3 195 4 448 8 
Institutions 188 4 557 10 319 6 1,064 20 
Totals 1,038 20 2,699 SI 1,583 30 5,320 100 


(Source: WRI, 1985) 


69 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


banks, United Nations agencies (FAO, UNDP, UNEP and others), 
a number of NGOs, including ELC, IIED, IUCN, IUFRO, WRI 
and WWF, and representatives from countries with TFAP activities. 

Implementation of TFAP is described in general terms in Table 
10.3. Itis essential to recognise, however, that the TFAP is a proposed 
framework for action by governments. It is for them to decide the 
most appropriate way to adopt the concepts of TFAP for more 
effective conservation and utilisation of their forest resources. They 
also decide on their own needs and priorities. 

Participants in the process vary widely from one country to 
another. Some nations request technical assistance for the forestry 
sector review, while others (such as Malaysia and Indonesia) are 
carrying out the review as part of their national planning cycle, using 
local expertise. Participation by NGOs is explicitly encouraged by 
the TFAP guidelines and requested by some donors (see page 72). 

Implementation of the TFAP began in early 1986. By September 
1987 some 30 countries had initiated the planning process and by 
October 1989 67 countries had formally announced their decision to 
use TFAP to launch national forestry activities (Table 10.4). By 
October 1989 20 countries had completed forestry sector reviews, 
including Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Nepal, within the Asia— 
Pacific region. A further 38 reviews were on-going, including six 
within the region, while 15 countries had shown interest, including 
two in the region (see box on page 75 and country chapters). 

The 67 countries involved with TFAP at the end of 1989 represent 
52 per cent of the 129 potential participants and contain between 
them 87.4 per cent of the world’s tropical closed broadleaved forests 
(FAO, 1988). By any standards this is a remarkable achievement, 
and a measure of the global determination to develop tropical forests 
in a rational and sustainable way. 


Table 10.3 Elements in the implementation of the TFAP in a 
typical country exercise 


1 Tropical forest country notifies the TFAP Secretariat in FAO of its 
intention to carry outa forestry sector review within the guidelines of 
TFAP. 

2 Participation of donors is encouraged and, generally speaking, one 
donor country volunteers to act as the Lead Agency and to organise 
wide participation. 

3 In-country review takes place of the role of the forestry sector in 
the national environmental, economic and social scene, in order to 
devise or update a national forestry development plan that integrates 
with other sectors, such as agriculture, and identifies the main causes 
of forest degradation and destruction. 

4 Organisation of national seminars and round-table meetings to 
bring together concerned government sectors, non-governmental 
organisations, the private sector and the international voluntary 
community to raise awareness and discuss ways and means of 
addressing problems and priorities. 

5 On the basis of the above, a long-term forestry sector plan is drawn 
up, with a strategy of targets for forest resources development. 

6 A medium-term action plan is also prepared in the context of the 
long-term strategy and national development plan. This identifies 
priorities for immediate action, proposes precise programmes and 
projects, seeks legislative and institutional measures, if needed, and 
estimates costs and benefits. 

7 Once the plan has been endorsed at the highest decision-making 
level in government, a donor round-table meeting is held to secure 
financing for the various programmes that have been identified. 

8 With the necessary donor support assured, implementation of the 
TFAP programmes and projects begins. 

9 FAO’s TFAP Coordinating Unit monitors progress and promotes 
any complementary activities or follow-up that may be needed. 


70 


Harmonisation with Asian Development Bank Master Plans 
for Forestry Development 

The Asian Development Bank (AsDB) Master Plans for Forestry 
Development are being, or have already been, prepared for anumber 
of Asian countries. The broad objectives of these exercises are in line 
with the TFAP strategy, but tend to have longer-term objectives. In 
effect, Master Plans are TFAP exercises in which the Asian Develop- 
ment Bank takes the lead and thereby stamps its own particular 
pattern on the proceedings. Master Plans involve the formulation of 
long-term development programmes in the forestry sector broken 
down into five-year intervals. They take longer to prepare, mainly 
because fact-finding is lengthy, and they cost more than TFAP 
missions. The average cost of TFAP forest sector reviews is in the 
region of US $0.5 million, whereas Master Plans cost from US $0.75 
million (Bhutan) to US$1.1 million (Nepal) and even US $1.37 
million (Philippines) (Ganguli, 1988). They can take up to four years 
from initial contact to finalisation of reports and longer before 
projects to mitigate deforestation are in full swing. 


Monitoring the Progress of TFAP 

In recent meetings of the TFAP Forestry Advisers, there have been 
regular calls for a review of the achievements of TFAP. That so many 
countries wish to employ the strategy is to the credit of the Plan’s 
authors, but per se it is no measure of success in reaching the main 
objective — a reduction in deforestation rates. 

It is sull too early to judge the long-term impact of TFAP on 
deforestation, but any contribution made so far has certainly been 
swamped by the general rising trend in deforestation rates. Recent 
statistics released by FAO show that deforestation in open and closed 
canopy tropical forests has gone up from 11.3 million ha per year in 
1980 to 17.0 million ha per year in 1990. No precise data are available 
for closed forests alone, but the trend is similar. 

TFAP aims to control deforestation by raising the standards of 
living of people inhabiting forest lands, and by conserving produc- 
ton forests in permanent forest estates, and by improved land use 
planning. Data are still too scattered and preliminary to make clear 
judgements on the effects of TFAP on rural development. Integra- 
ton of TFAP into national development plans is only just beginning. 
However there is widespread concern that TFAP is not sufficiently 
influencing the agricultural sector, where many causes of deforesta- 
ton have their origin. 

What is possible is to examine some rather crude measures of 
success in raising investment levels in the tropical forest sector. Table 
10.5 is a breakdown of international technical aid and investment in 
tropical forestry in 1984, before the TFAP was operational, and in 
1988. Total technical aid and investment over the four-year period 
has increased by 80 per cent, and will probably double over a five- 
year period to 1989. However, as Table 10.7 shows, only US $576 
million of the total aid for 1988 of US $1092 million was in investment 
(53 per cent), the remaining US$455.9 million being disbursed to 
pay for technical advisers. The TFAP called for an average US $810 
million per year for 1987—91, so the 1988 level was still 29 per cent 
down (WRI, 1985). Bearing in mind that the Federal Republic of 
Germany was unable to disburse US $85 million of its allocation in 
1988, the amount spent was in reality 39 per cent down. 

This short-fall in spending is not easy to interpret. If the amounts 
derived by the World Bank/UNDP/WRI study are truly needed 
before any slowdown of deforestation might be expected, then clearly 
TFAP is not reaching its objectives. In reality, however, there are 
severe constraints on disbursement of such large sums. The expertise 
and infrastructures needed to handle the projects are simply not 
available in many parts of the tropical world (see section on con- 
straints, page 73). A very detailed analysis of spending on a country 
by country basis, is beyond the scope of this volume, however. 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


Table 10.4 Status of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan implementation in 67 countries (as of 31 October, 1989), and of the Asian 
Development Bank’s Master Plan for Forestry Development in 5 countries 


1 Planning phase finalised (8 countries) Mauritania 290 
Closed broadleaved Mexico 265,700 
forest area, sq. km Nicaragua 41,700 
Country (1980) Pakistan! 8,400 
Argentina 427,400 Philippines! 93,200 
Bolivia 440,100 Senegal 2,200 
Cameroon 179,200 Surinam 148,300 
Colombia 464,000 Togo 3,040 
Honduras 18,550 Venezuela 318,700 
Nepal! 16,100 Vietnam 74,000 
Peru 693,100 Ss 
Sudan 6,400 Sub total 3,216,190 


CARICOM countries 


1 2,244,85 : 
Se y Antigua and Barbuda 9 
Barbados — 
St Christopher and Nevis 5 
2 Forestry sector review missions completed (12 countries) DORE “al 
Grenada 5 
Closed forest area, : 
St Lucia 8 
Country sq. km (1980) 
: Montserrat 3 
Belize 12,570 ; : 
ate : F St Vincent and the Grenadines 12 
Dominican Republic 4,440 By 
ee Trinidad and Tobago 208 
Fiji 840 = 
Ghana 17,180 
GHEE 20,500 Sub total 2,910 
Guyana 184,750 
Panama 41,650 
Papua New Guinea 337,100 4 Requests for TFAP implementation received (9 countries) 
Sierra Leone 7,400 Angola 29,000 
Somalia 14,800 Burundi — 
Tanzania 14,400 Central African Republic 35,900 
Zaire 1,056,500 Kenya 6,900 
Niger 1,000 
Sub total 1,719,400 Nigeria 59,500 
Thailand 81,350 
Zambia 30,100 
Zimbabwe 2,000 
3 Ongoing forestry sector reviews (38 countries) 
Closed forest area, Sub total 245,750 
Country sq. km (1980) 
Bhutan! 14,900 
Burkina Faso 2,710 Buia : 
Ganso 213.400 nquiring (6 countries) 
: Brazil 3,562,800 
Costa Rica 16,380 
Ske Chad 5,000 
Cote d’Ivoire 44,580 5 
Chile 71,800 
Cuba 12,550 GineaRi 6.600 
Ecuador 142,300 Ea Pee , 
Equatorial Guinea 12,950 oe 
Eien 27,500 Solomon Islands 24,230 
Gabon 205,000 ; 
Cents 37,850 Sub total 3,670,430 
Haiti 360 Grand Total 11,099,530 (87.4% of 
Indonesia 1,135,750 world total) 
Jamaica 670 
Laos! 75,600 
Lesotho = 
Madagascar 103,000 1 Exercises led by the Asian Development Bank under the Master Plan for Forestry 
Malaysia 209,960 Development programme. The Bank is also involved in Master Plans in Pakistan, 
Mali 5,000 China and Sri Lanka. 


71 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


Table 10.5 International technical aid and investment for tropical 
forestry in 1984 and 1988 (millions of US dollars) 


1984 1988 
Development banks 
African Development Bank 5 1 
Asian Development Bank 30 75 
Inter-American Development Bank 32 i 
World Bank 106 130 
Sub totals 173 213 
International agencies 
FAO 8 11 
ILO n.d. 2 
UNDP 28 DS) 
UNEP 2 2 
Unesco n.d. 2 
UNIDO n.d. 3 
UNSO n.d. 12 
WFP 110 131 
Sub totals 148 188 
National agencies 
Australia 3 5 
Austria 1 <1 
Belgium 3 1 
Canada 15 75 
Denmark 10 29 
EEC 18 35 
Finland 12 22 
France 15 43 
Germany, Federal Republic 25 147! 
Ireland 1 <1 
Italy n.d. 1] 
Japan 13 86 
Netherlands 10 32 
New Zealand 3 4 
Norway 5 13 
Portugal n.d. <1 
Spain n.d. 1 
Sweden 35 58 
Switzerland 11 23 
UK 5 23 
USA 70 83 
Sub totals 282 694 
Grand Totals 603 1,095 


(Source: adapted from FAO, 1989) 


' US$85 million of this allocation was not disbursed during this year. 


It is interesting to note the distribution of TFAP spending, as 
shown in Table 10.7. IUCN and many other observers of TFAP hold 
the view that the need to raise the Jevel of investment in tropical 
forestry is secondary to the need to change the way in which the 
money is spent. Comparison between Tables 10.5 and 10.7 show that 
the proportions allocated to, and spent to date on, the five fields of 
action, are broadly similar. To date, fuelwood and energy have been 
under-funded, forestry in land use and forest-based industrial de- 
velopment have received a higher proportion than planned, while 
conservation and institutions are more or less on target. 


72 


On the face of it, this is good news for conservation, and certainly 
there has been a growing investment in the extension and manage- 
ment of protected area systems. However, it is implicit in the TFAP 
that the principles of the World Conservation Strategy should be 
applied in all five sectors of the plan, i.e. conservation applies as 
much to land use and industrial development sectors as to protection 
of biodiversity. It is in this regard that the implementation of TFAP 
sull has a long way to go. There are too many traditional project 
proposals being developed that fail to integrate the conservation of 
ecological services and biological diversity into the plans. This is 
particularly worrying in the case of project proposals for industrial 
logging. It is generally agreed that TFAP reviews have not been 
sufficiently robust in requiring sustainable management systems to 
be in place before further investment in industrial logging can be 
considered. Sustainability in this context must mean conservation of 
ecosystems and their biodiversity, and integration with the needs of 
local people as well as the fundamental requirement for controlled 
harvesting rates. 


NGO Involvement 

Non-governmental organisations share the same aim with the de- 
velopment banks and aid agencies that devised TFAP. They recog- 
nise that tropical deforestation is a global crisis that threatens us all. 
Nevertheless, many NGOs disagree fundamentally with FAO’s 
assessment of the causes of deforestation, and this means that they 
have a different set of priorities for action to prevent it progressing 
further. 

For example, in 1987 the Ecologist magazine launched its own 
‘Tropical Forests: A Plan for Action’ and petitioned worldwide for 
support (Ecologist, 1987). The editors gathered an astonishing 
3 million signatures, from 23 countries, which were presented to the 
UN Secretary-General, Perez de Cuellar, in September 1989 in 
support of a call for an emergency session of the UN to consider ways 
to put an end to global deforestation (Hildyard, 1989). At the time of 
writing, there had been no response. 


Table 10.6 The NGO perspective on TFAP 


View of the TFAP NGO community’s view of 


promoters as seen by NGOs TFAP 
1 Principal causes of deforestation: 
poverty consumerism 


population pressure 
shifting cultivation 


technological imperialism 
development aid 


2 Principal formulators of TFAP (national level): 
government local communities 
donors traditional practices 
expert missions forest dwellers 
planning from the top consultations at local level 


3 Principal aims of TFAP: 
more aid and investment quality of aid and 
sustainable development 
security 
self reliance 
improve welfare 


production 
commodities 
generate wealth 


4 Principal beneficiaries of TFAP: 
government bureaucracies 
business 
developed countries’ 

aid experts 


indigenous peoples 
rural poor 
landless 


(Source: adapted from the TFAP Forestry Advisors, 1989) 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


Table 10.7 The distribution of technical assistance (TA) and investment (I) by TFAP fields of action in 1988 (US$ millions) 


Donor countries Development Banks UN Organisations Grand Total 

Fields of Action TA I Total % TA I Total % TA I Total % TA I Total % 
Forestry in land 

use 98.2 51.8 150.0 27.4 1.3 12.6 13.9 6.5 4.8 45.2 50.0 26.6 104.3 109.6 213.9 22.6 
Forest-based 

industrial 

development 39.0 53.6 92.6 LO 322 133.2 146.4 GO) TIO 44.7 63.8 33.9 Mes 235 302.8 32.0 
Fuelwood and 

energy 75.4 22.5 97.9 17.9 1.2 11.7 12.9 6.1 2.0 45.2 47.2 Da 78.6 79.4 158.0 16.7 
Conservation of 

tropical forest 

ecosystems 46.5 3.8 50.3 9.2 1.8 18 20.0 9.4 4.4 8.8 13.2 7.0 5257 83.5 8.8 
Institutions 133.9 2156) 155-5 28.5 sae ih 19.4 91 13.4 0.4 13.8 7.4 149.0 3 188.7 1) 
Unallocated? 60.0 60.0 
Totals 393.0 238.71 691.71 100.0 19.2 193.4 212.6 100.0 43.7 144.3 188.0 100.0 455.9 576.4! 1,092.3! 100.0 


! Includes undisbursed US $85.4, 13.5% of the total, from the Federal Republic of Germany 


2 US $60m donated by Japan after the statistics were completed. 


(Source: FAO (1989) Review of International Cooperation in Tropical Forestry. Unpublished) 


Table 10.6 which was presented to the TFAP Advisors Group in 
Paris (May, 1989) by WRI summarises the main areas of conflict or 
differing perspectives. The contrasts are self-explanatory — for fur- 
ther details see Ecologist (1987), Muchiru (undated), Panos (1987) 
and Shiva (1987). In matters such as these, there 1s rarely one party 
which is entirely right or wrong. The most practical and achievable 
course of action generally lies somewhere between the two schools of 
thought. 

In theory, partnerships between donor agencies and NGOs should 
be flourishing, and indeed there is a growing collaboration between 
donors and those NGOs that have an operational capability (WRI, 
1988; 1989b). However, the majority of environmental NGOs are not 
operational in the sense that they do not carry out development and 
conservation projects in the field. They play a vital role in lobbying 
the public and spreading information about the problem of tropical 
deforestation. But if some of the more vociferous critics are to 
maintain their credibility they will have to show more willingness to 
work with others in tackling the practical difficulties. In too many 
cases the intransigent nature of NGOs does not now compare favour- 
ably with the fast-evolving attitude of the donor community. 

At its Eighth Session in September 1989, the CFDT recom- 
mended that NGOs should be provided with more and better 
information, and more opportunities to participate in TFAP. The 
Committee also said that fuller use should be made of the capabilities 
of NGOs (CFDT, 1989). There is no doubt that many national 
forestry action plans would benefit from the experience and advice of 
local NGOs, which have sensitivity and contacts at the local level. 
The NGOs must sieze the opportunities that the TFAP is presenting 
(see Table 10.8) and find common ground with their counterparts in 
government. Arguably, the future of the forests depends on this 
partnership. 


Constraints on Progress 

The TFAP procedures are regularly scrutinised and refined by the 
participants at the Forestry Advisors’ Meetings. Indeed, as this 
chapter is being prepared, the TFAP Coordination Unit is awaiting 
the conclusions of an independent review of achievements so far, for 
presentation to CFDT. Many NGOs are taking the opportunity to 
present their views to the review team. Constraints on progress are 
identified through the national forest sector reviews, which have 
been acknowledged as rather variable in their success, and through 
the feedback from the meetings between donors, national govern- 


ments and NGOs. The main bottlenecks that limit the TFAP in 
reaching its objective of reducing deforestation may be characterised 
as follows: 

1 Industrial Forestry — Plantations 

Sector reviews and project proposals tend to adopt traditional atti- 
tudes to industrial forestry, both in natural forests and plantations. 
The development of plantations for pulp, for ecological services and 
for protection of natural forests is crucial to slowing deforestation, 
but too many plantations still replace natural forests rather than 
rehabilitate degraded lands. 

2 Industrial Forestry — Natural Forest Management 

Natural forests under careful management secure from encroach- 
ment are vital for maintaining biodiversity. They are particularly 
valuable when they link or surround protected areas. There is a need 
for projects with multiple-use management objectives, combining 


Table 10.8 How the TFAP process is forging links with NGOs 


1 Three NGO workshops organised by WRI and ELC took place in 
Africa (Nairobi, November 1986), Latin America (Panama City, 
February 1987) and Asia (Bangkok, February 1987). Their reports 
were particularly influential in the redrafting of the TFAP from its 
original form (CFDT, 1985) to its revised edition (FAO, 1987). The 
new edition put a greater emphasis on the need for grassroots 
participation and the role of NGOs in arresting and reversing de- 
forestation. 

2 In 1987 ‘Guidelines for Implementation of the Tropical Forestry 
Action Plan at Country Level’ were prepared, explicitly requiring the 
involvement of NGOs in the consultative process and in project 
preparation and implementation. 

3 From 1988 WRI began regular monitoring of the participation of 
NGOs in TFAP forest sector reviews, enabling donors to judge 
whether the ‘guidelines’ were being implemented. 

4 From 1988 the meetings of the Forestry Advisors reserved a half 
day for public participation and dialogue (NGOs have observer status 
and can attend the meeting). 

5 In April 1989 WRI convened an NGO consultation on TFAP to 
review critically its implementation at national level (WRI, 1989a). 
Various constructive recommendations emerged and continue to 
receive attention. 


73 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


conservation of nature and sustainable utilisation of the natural 
resources (such as timber) which are of value to mankind. There are 
few examples of such systems in operation at present, yet the future 
of protected areas in rain forests may depend upon them. Projects 
combining timber extraction with harvesting of rattans, bamboos, 
fruits, nuts and other forest products are also needed. 

3 Protected Areas 

Rain forests in particular remain poorly protected in most countries 
of the tropics. Massive expansion of protected areas seems unlikely in 
most countries, and may not be desirable if resources to manage the 
reserves are scarce. The inclusion of most tropical forest species in 
protected area systems is a practical objective, but depends upon 
early identification of critical sites for conservation through analysis 
of the distribution of wildlife and ecosystems. Novel systems of 
conservation are needed in Melanesia, where forest lands are mainly 
in private hands. 

4 Leadership of National Planning/Finance Ministries 

Too often TFAP forest sector reviews have been carried out within 
the forestry sector alone, and in isolation from other natural resource 
related sectors and the national planning/financing authorities. The 
cross-sectoral nature of TFAP is central to its success, and applica- 
tions for forest sector reviews must have the support of the highest 
government Officials, preferably the heads of state. Bellagio, Italy, 
was the venue for a high-level meeting in 1987 to try to overcome 
such communication barriers, but it had little lasting effect. In many 
countries forests and Forestry Departments continue to suffer from 
agricultural and financial imperatives. Forests provide the short- 
term solution to the problem of feeding the nation and servicing 
debts, but the resulting deforestation has serious long-term con- 
sequences. 

5 Facilitation of NGO Participation 

The role of national and international NGOs in TFAP is growing. 
NGOs should be provided with more information and more oppor- 
tunities to participate in TFAP, in order to make full use of their 
capabilities. Ways must be found to involve rural populations that 
are directly involved in the use of tropical forest resources, and the 
guidelines on addressing indigenous people issues should be re- 
spected and adhered to. 

6 Facilitation of Private Sector Participation 

Participation by the private sector has not been achieved in many 
TFAP activities and the CFDT has called for improvements in this 
regard (CFDT, 1989). IUCN believes that alienation of timber- 
bearing land to the private sector, including attribution of land 
tenure, could favour the maintenance of near-natural forest in the 
tropics, provided that retention of forest cover is mandatory. 

7 Time Lag for Project Implementation 

Few TFAP programmes are being completely implemented. The 
long interval between formulation of the plan and actual implementa- 
tion is a severe constraint, and threatens to undermine political and 
financial support. TFAP must produce high-quality results quickly. 
8 Project Preparation 

One reason for slow implementation of TFAP is the shortage of 
national institutions and personnel capable of preparing projects for 


74 


funding. Ways of strengthening project preparation capabilities 
must be considered, including the possibility of twinning forestry 
institutes in the developing and industrial worlds (CFDT, 1989). 

9 Data Monitoring 

With over 60 tropical countries now involved, the TFAP Coordinat- 
ing Unit is already stretched. It is widely agreed that a computerised 
database would assist in monitoring the implementation and achieve- 
ments of TFAP, and steps are being taken to achieve this. 

10 A Wider View in Project Analysis 

Conservation objectives should be built into all projects. To demon- 
strate the value of conservation, a better system of accounting for 
externalities should be applied in project analyses. The development 
of sound and practical methodologies for project analysis, including 
coverage of social and environmental impacts, will ease the introduc- 
tion of new types of project. Analyses should be innovative and 
include environmental criteria such as conservation of genetic vari- 
ety, carbon dioxide absorption, and social criteria such as creation of 
jobs, redistribution of income and impacts on indigenous people. 
11 Training 

A serious constraint on all aspects of TFAP is the global lack of 
expertise in tropical forestry, including economic, legal, administra- 
tive, analytical and field skills. An expansion in training is essential. 


Conclusion 

Ideally, the tropical forest lands of the 21st century will consist of a 
network of totally protected areas covering perhaps 5—20 per cent of 
forest land area within an extensive and secure permanent forest 
estate covering a further 30-60 per cent. 

Outside these zones appropriate soils will be used for intensive 
agricultural and silvicultural production, as well as infrastructural 
development. This vision remains achievable, and the Tropical 
Forestry Action Plan is currently the best mechanism for focusing 
resources, intellectual as well as financial, on the problems along the 
way. 

There is optimism that the goals for the protected area estate will 
be achieved so long as forest-dwelling people are involved in the 
process. The provision of a permanent forest estate in all countries, 
which is essential to the well-being of the protected areas, is less 
certain. Management of natural forests seems to be in decline. Over 
the past 40 years narrowly-based economic analyses have favoured 
the alienation of natural forest to plantations and traditional for- 
esters’ skills have been lost. Promotion of mechanised forestry has 
led to natural forest degradation and favoured homogeneous planta- 
tons. 

Bureaucrats, and participants in forestry sector reviews, project 
preparation, and success analyses still tend to think of conservation 
as something that takes place only within protected areas. In reality, 
however, successful conservation and the continuing provision of 
ecological services and biological goods to the world depends upon 
management of forest lands outside protected areas. It will take time 
for institutional attitudes to evolve, but the winds of change are 
blowing and the Tropical Forestry Action Plan is at the centre of the 
storm. 


THE TROPICAL FORESTRY ACTION PLAN 


1 Bangladesh. TFAP/AsDB Master Plan exercise initiated June 
1989. Draft project document prepared by AsDB, FAO and 
national participants includes the following core components: 
forest policy and institutions; forest management; resource 
economics; social and participatory forestry and environmental 
conservation. WRI is working separately on environment/natural 
resources assessment. 

2 Bhutan. Government has agreed with AsDB to prepare a 
Master Plan. Donors met in July 1989, with wide participation 
(WB, AsDB, UNDP, FAO, WFP, DANIDA, SDC, HEL- 
VETAS, WWF). Government will set up a coordination unit. 

3 Fiji. Field work began within the UNDP/FAO project 
‘Forestry Sector Development Study’ in May 1988, including a 
national seminar seeking public opinion in November 1988. A 
national summit meeting was held in June 1989 to discuss the 
formulation of a national TFAP. 

3 Indonesia. A mission in December 1987 led to a five-year 
forestry sector plan, developed by the Indonesian Government as 
the basis for a TFAP. Detailed documentation was prepared in 
February 1990, based on a national workshop. The major NGOs, 
WALHI and SKEPHI have been involved in these later stages. 
4 Laos. Preparations began in September 1988, followed by a 
sector review one year later. A Symposium on ‘Forestry and 
Environment’ took place in October 1989. The draft plan is being 
reviewed at a series of regional seminars in 1990 and will be 
presented to a meeting of all donors. 

5 Malaysia. TFAP-style forest sector review carried out in 1988 
by the Government as part of the national planning cycle. A 
national workshop in July 1988 included NGO representation. 
Final draft submitted to Government in June 1989 (see also 
chapter 22). 


L___ 


STATUS OF TFAP MISSIONS IN THE ASIA—PACIFIC REGION 


6 Nepal. Master Plan finalised, identifying priority programmes 
and average annual investment requirements of US $79 million for 
the next 22 years. Ata meeting in May 1988 the Master Plan was 
well received by donors. Following a further meeting in August 
1989, 66 per cent of the external assistance was pledged. NGOs 
have not been involved, but the draft Master Plan was circulated. 
7 Pakistan. Preparatory missions took place in 1987 and 1988. 
Harmonisation between the Master Plan approach and TFAP is 
proceeding through the efforts of UNDP, AsDB and FAO. 

8 Papua New Guinea. Forest sector review took place in April— 
May 1989 with wide participation including NGOs. Draft report 
was circulated in October and is now finalised. Round table 
donors’ meetings took place early in 1990. 

9 Philippines. Terms of reference for a Master Plan project have 
been prepared by AsDB, co-financed by FINNIDA. Project work 
began in late 1988 and will be completed in 1990. Sectoral reports 
are already coming through (see chapter 23). 

10 Solomon Islands. A request for information has been received 
by the TFAP Coordinating Unit (1989). 

11 Sri Lanka was the subject of a Master Plan in 1986, before 
TFAP was fully operational. This was criticised by groups con- 
cerned at its emphasis on industrial timber production. Follow-up 
WB/FAO sector work has involved wide consultation with 
NGOs, including IUCN, and a WB loan will support implementa- 
tion of the plan, now modified to address conservation issues. 
12 Thailand. The government has agreed with UNDP and 
FINNIDA to prepare a Master Plan. Project implementation will 
begin in late 1990. 

13 Vietnam. TFAP initiated in November 1988. Issue papers 
have been prepared and the sector review will take place in the 
course of 1990. 


References 

CFDT (1985) Tropical Forestry Action Plan. Committee on Forest 
Development in the Tropics. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

CFDT (1989) Report of the Ninth Session of the Committee on Forest 
Development in the Tropics. FAO, Rome, Italy; v + 20 pp. 

Ecologist (1987) Tropical Forests: A Plan for Action (Editorial). 
Ecologist 17: 129-33. 

FAO (1987) The Tropical Forestry Action Plan. FAO, Rome. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

FAO (1989) Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics. 
Ninth Session. Papers supporting the Agenda. 

FAO (1990) The Tropical Forestry Action Plan. What itis and what it 
1s doing. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropial Asia. Vol. 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 
Ganguli, B. N. (1988) Tropical Forestry Action Plan and the Master 
Plan for Forestry Development: Need for Harmonization. Report to 

the Sixth TFAP Meeting, FAO, Rome, Italy. 6 pp. 

Hildyard, N. (1989) Three million signatures presented to UN. 
Ecologist 19: 210. 

IUCN, UNEP and WWF (1980) World Conservation Strategy: Liv- 
ing Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. IUCN, 
Cambridge, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. 

Muchiru, S. (undated) The Tropical Forestry Action Plan. NGO’s 
Concern. Environment Liaison Centre, Nairobi. 5 pp. + 2 an- 
nexes. 


Panos (1987) Focus on tropical forests. Panoscope 3: 2-11. 

Shiva, V. (1987) Forestry Crisis and Forestry Myths. A critical review 
of Tropical Forests: A Call for Acuon. World Rainforest Movement, 
Penang, Malaysia. 

TFAP Forestry Advisers (1989) Summary Report on the Eighth 
Meetng of the TFAP Forestry Advisors on Harmonizing Interna- 
tonal Forestry Development Cooperation. FAO, Rome, Italy. 


WCED (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, 
Oxford, UK. 
WRI (1985) Tropical Forests: A Call for Action. World Resources 


Institute, Washington, DC, USA. 
WRI (1988) Szatus Report on NGO Participation in Country-level 
TFAP Acnvities. Number 1. WRI, Washington, DC, USA. 


WRI (1989a) NGO Consultation on the Implementation of the Tropi- 
cal Forestry Action Plan. WRI Forestry Program, Washington, 
DC, USA. 

WRI (1989b) Status Report on NGO Participation in Country-level 


TFAP Activities. Number 2. WRI, Washington, DC, USA. 


Authorship 

Mark Collins at WCMC with contributions from Effendy Sumardja 
of the Department of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation in 
Bogor, Oscar Gendrano from the Asian Development Bank in 
Manila, and Robert Winterbottom at WRI, Washington, DC. 


75 


11 A Future for 
Tropical Forests 


Introduction 


This atlas is the first attempt to compile all available maps showing 
the remaining extent of tropical rain and monsoon forests in the 
Asia—Pacific region. These maps are a unique assemblage of data 
from published and unpublished sources, and represent the best 
information available at the end of 1989. We have consulted special- 
ists from relevant governments and international agencies, as well as 
numerous individuals with expertise in, and concern for, forest 
conservation (see ‘Contributors’ and ‘Authorships’ sections). 

The use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) in the prepara- 
tion of the maps has allowed an important advance over earlier 
reports. In the past there have been maps without statistics and 
statistics without maps, but combined maps and statistics have been 
available for only a few isolated countries. Once the coverages were 
filed using a GIS it was a simple matter to estimate the area of 
different forest types. The maps for every country have, therefore, 
been backed up by a table of statistics (Table 11.1). 

This approach is not without its difficulties, as more data have 
become available, more anomalies and difficulties have arisen. FAO 
has, over the past decade, made enormous advances in estimating the 
extent and productivity of the world’s forests. Tables 11.2 and 11.3 
are summaries of FAO statistics relating to the Asia—Pacific and 
gathered from the Forest Departments of the region. These statistics 
will be referred to repeatedly in the following chapters, but it is not 
always easy to make cross-comparisons since the dates of available 
statistics and maps rarely match, and the forest categories employed 
are usually different. 

Most of the maps are based on data from the late 1980s (Table 
11.1), the exceptions being Cambodia (1971), China (1979), Papua 
New Guinea (1975) and Sarawak (1979). While Papua New Guinea 
remains little changed to this day, the forests of Cambodia, China and 
Sarawak have been depleted, and new coverage is urgently needed. 


Overview of Forest in the Region 

Table 11.1 gives the original and remaining extent of tropical moist 
forests in the region, as judged from map coverages presented here, 
and FAO data. The message that emerges is gloomy. Throughout 
most of the region, the once abundant and majestic moist forests have 
been reduced to half of their original extent. In many countries they 
remain only as isolated fragments set in a landscape dominated by 
agriculture or, even worse, in vast areas of degraded scrub, bamboo 
and grassland. 

Even those forests that do remain have almost all suffered from 
human disturbance. Most have either at some time in their history 
been cleared by shifting agriculturalists, or suffer from poaching, 
exploitation for other non-timber products, and logging. The media 


76 


in the countries of the region and the industrialised north are replete 
with accounts of the effects of deforestation on their rural economies. 
The true impact, however, of tropical deforestation is only now 
beginning to be appreciated. The plight of these forests is of global 
concern. 

The leaders of Asian nations have been joined by those of the 
super-powers in committing their governments to halt deforestation. 
The world’s major financial institutions have announced policies to 
safeguard forests and allocate funds to conservation programmes. All 
this, however, does not seem to slow the inexorable process of 
destruction. With all the wealth and technology available to us, and 
an almost unanimous political and popular demand for action, we 
seem to be powerless in the face of one of the most serious environ- 
mental problems confronting mankind. 

Why this powerlessness? Are the problems really insurmountable? 
Or is it that we are dissipating our efforts fighting the symptoms of 
deforestation, when we should be applying our resources to the root 
cause of the problem? 

There is little question over what the root cause is. Forests are 
destroyed because people need land to grow food. Most Asian 
lowland forests were cleared long ago and the land now produces the 
crops that support a dense human population. But this population is 
sull growing explosively and many people in the region are desper- 
ately poor. To meet their subsistence needs, or to earn the cash that 
they need to improve the quality of their lives, they are forced to clear 
even more forests. The cleared land is often on steep hillsides and its 
soil poor. After one or two harvests these farmers are therefore 
compelled to move on, leaving degraded scrub and grassland behind 
them. 

The world’s population is approaching 6 billion and will probably 
reach 10 billion in 2035. As many as 80 per cent of these people will 
live in the tropics and sub-tropics. The Asia—Pacific countries cov- 
ered in this atlas already have a population over 2.5 billion (Table 
11.4), about half of the world’s total. It is predicted that their 
populations will stabilise at 4.75 billion by 2150, yet their forests are 
already under intense threat. 

Population growth is not the sole problem, however. The region’s 
economies are among the fastest growing in the world. Consumption 
is fuelled by the media which are creating expectations of a lifestyle 
similar to that of Japan, Western Europe, or North America. Thai- 
land’s economy, for instance, is growing at 9 per cent per year. Since 
land is needed to produce export crops to fuel the economy, and 
domestic consumption of paper and other forest products is acceler- 
ating, pressures on the remaining forests can only increase. 

In the face of these pressures it is futile for the conservation 


A FUTURE FOR TROPICAL FORESTS 


Table 11.1 Original extent of closed canopy moist forests (including tropical coniferous forests) in the Asia—Pacific region, compared 
with remaining extent as judged from most recently available maps and FAO statistics for 1980. 


Approximate original Remaining extent of moist forests (sq. km) % moist forest remaining 
extent of closed From atlas Publication FAO (1988) data for 1980, From map From FAO 
canopy tropical moist maps; rain date of maps closed broadleaved plus data (1988) data 
forests monsoon coniferous forests 
(sq. km) forests 
Australia 11,000 10,516 1988 10,516! 96 — 
Bangladesh 130,000 9,730 1981-6 9,270 7 i 
Brunei 5,000 4,692 1988 3,230 94 65 
Burma 600,000 311,850 1987 313,090 52 52 
Cambodia 160,000 113,250 1971 71,680 7 45 
Southern China and Taiwan 340,000 25,860 1979 25,860! 8 — 
Fiji 18,000 6,970 (1980s) 8,110 39 45 
India 910,000 228,330 1986 $04,010 25 552 
Indonesia 1,700,000 1,179,140 1985-9 1,138,950 69 67 
Laos 225,000 124,600 1987 78,100 55 35 
Malaysia 320,000 200,450 — 209,960 63 66 
Peninsular (130,000) (69,780) 1986 — (54) = 
Sabah (70,000) (36,000) 1984 — (51) — 
Sarawak (120,000) (94,670) 1979 — (79) = 
Papua New Guinea 450,000 366,750 1975 342,300 82 76 
Philippines 295,000 66,020 1988 95,100 22 32 
Singapore 500 20 (1980s) — 4 — 
Solomon Islands 28,500 25,590 (1980s) 24,230 90 90 
Sri Lanka 26,000 12,760 1988 16,590 47 64 
Thailand 250,000 106,900 1985 83,350 43 33 
Vietnam 280,000 56,680 1987 75,700 20 27 
Totals 5,749,000 2,849,608! 3,010,040! 50 52 


' In the absence of comparable data for Australia and southern China, the figures from the maps have been used in calculating the FAO total. 
2 Note that for India the FAO figures are not directly comparable with our maps. FAO included India’s extensive thorn forests in their forest assessment. 
* Data for Asian countries are adapted from IUCN, 1986; Sources for other countries are given in the relevant chapters. 


Table 11.2 FAO Rome statistics for remaining cover of tropical closed and open broadleaved, tropical coniferous, and bamboo forests 
in 1980 


Forest type (sq. km) 


Broadleaved Broadleaved Natural Bamboo Total natural 

closed canopy open canopy coniferous forest (sq. km) 
Bangladesh 9,270 — — — 9,270 
Brunei 3,230 — — _— 3,230 
Burma 311,930 — 1,160 6,320 319,410 
Cambodia 71,500 51,000 180 3,800 126,480 
China and Taiwan! (476,740) (172,000) (469,730) (32,000) (1,150,470) 
Fiji 8,110 — — = 8,110 
India 460,440 53,930 43,570 14,400 572,340 
Indonesia 1,135,750 30,000 3,200 — 1,168,950 
Laos 75,600 52,150 2,500 6,000 136,250 
Malaysia 209,960 = — — 209,960 
Papua New Guinea 337,100 39,450 5,200 — 381,750 
Philippines 93,200 — 1,900 — 95,100 
Singapore — _ — — — 
Solomon Islands 24,230 170 — —_ 24,400 
Sri Lanka 16,590 —_ — — 16,590 
Thailand 81,350 64,400 2,000 9,000 156,750 
Vietnam 74,000 13,400 1,700 12,000 101,100 


(Source: from FAO, 1988) 
! Tropical and temperate forests were not distinguished in China. 


77 


A FUTURE FOR TROPICAL FORESTS 


Table 11.3 FAO Bangkok statistics for remaining cover of tropical closed and open canopy broadleaved, tropical coniferous, and 


bamboo forests in 1980 and 1985, with extrapolations to 1990 


Forest type (sq. km) 


Broadleaved Broadleaved Natural Bamboo Total natural 
closed canopy open canopy coniferous forest 
Indonesia 1980 1,133,150 40,400 1,820 100 1,175,470 
1985 1,132,910 40,400 1,820 100 1,175,230 
1990 1,130,770 40,400 1,820 100 1,173,090 
Malaysia 1980 186,590 — = — 186,590 
1985 176,890 — — —_— 176,890 
1990 165,830 — — — 165,830 
Peninsular Malaysia 1980 66,220 — — — 66,220 
1985 61,870 — — —_ 61,870 
1990 57,090 — — — 57,090 
Sabah 1980 36,370 — = — 36,370 
1985 33,130 — = — 33,130 
1990 29,110 — = — 29,110 
Sarawak 1980 84,000 — = — 84,000 
1985 81,890 — — — 81,890 
1990 79,630 — — — 79,630 
Papua New Guinea 1980 357,310 — 5,200 — 362,510 
1985 356,230 — 5,200 — 361,430 
1990 355,630 — 6,200 — 360,830 
Philippines 1980 94,510 — 1,940 80 96,530 
1985 72,360 — 1,870 80 74,310 
1990 65,550 — 1,790 80 67,420 
Thailand 1980 86,160 79,540 2,000 8,900 176,600 
1985 61,490 77,340 1,720 8,500 149,050 
1990 50,200 75,300 1,500 8,000 135,000 
Vietnam 1980 59,350 4,120 2,300 14,000 79,770 
1985 47,020 3,120 1,600 15,000 66,740 
1990 32,760 2,520 1,300 14,020 50,600 


(Source: FAO, 1987) 


community to call for a halt to deforestation. We must know exactly 
what it is we wish to conserve and why. We must develop strategies 
which pay full attention to the inevitable changes which will take 
place in the societies and economies of the countries of the region. 
Above all, we must seek a realistic and optimum compromise over 
the allocation of land to different uses. 

Most of the countries of the region have laws which allocate their 
forest lands to various categories of use. Most recognise the need to 
designate significant areas of their forests to nature conservation in 
totally protected parks or reserves. Many have adopted a target of total 
protection for 10 per cent of their forests. An important but variable 
proportion of the forests is allocated as protection forest to protect 
water catchments and prevent erosion. Other forests are identified as 
situated on land with agricultural potential and classed as conversion 
forests; to be cleared for farms or tree crops. 

Very large forest areas have been allocated to production forest. In 
most cases, the policy of the governments of the region is selectively 
to log these forests and then to protect and manage them in such a 
way that it will be possible to obtain further timber crops on a 25—70- 
year cycle. 


78 


Totally Protected Forests 

The first of these four categories of forest — totally protected forest—is 
the most secure. With the exception of Burma, Laos and Cambodia, 
protected areas covering many of the region’s most biologically rich 
sites have been gazetted. These areas are not without their problems 
though. In many cases, even national parks are subject to poaching, 
logging and agricultural encroachment (see chapter 9). The good 
intentions of governments have often run far ahead of their capacity 
to undertake sound conservation management. Areas have been 
gazetted but no funds allocated to ensure their protection. Protected 
areas have also been established in situations where conflict with the 
interests of local people was inevitable. 

Thailand has gazetted 59 national parks and plans a further 50. Yet 
few of these areas are adequately protected. Some people believe that 
Thailand would be better off with a small number of well-managed 
areas. Pragmatists, however, take the view that one should gazette as 
many areas as possible while it is still possible to do so, and worry 
later about managing them. 

Across the board, the area of parks and reserves is increasing, as 
chapter 9 shows, and the government agencies responsible for their 


management are receiving more funding and employing better 
qualified staff. Even more significantly, in many countries a new 
generation of educated concerned citizens has emerged, constituting 
a powerful force for the support of protected areas. Conservation 
organisations are forming and the news media of India, Indonesia, 
Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are quick to seize upon 
abuses of national park and wildlife conservation laws. 

The battle to allocate 10 per cent of land area to nature conserva- 


tion is eminently winnable. The completion and consolidation of 


these protected area systems must be the first priority of the conser- 
vation community. 


Protection Forests 

The security of forests officially allocated to environmental protec- 
tion varies greatly from country to country. In a few localities, strict 
measures are applied to protect the catchments of irrigation and 
hydro-power schemes. In these situations, protection forests are as 
secure as national parks. But this is the exception rather than the 
rule. In most countries, protection forests suffer from benign neg- 
lect. They are delimited on maps, but few resources are available to 
maintain them. Vast areas of protection forest in India, Indonesia, 
Laos, Thailand, and elsewhere, have already been seriously de- 
graded by shifting agriculture and fire. 

In most cases, it would be better if those protection forests which 
have features of special biological value were reallocated to park or 
reserve status. Those which do not should be reallocated to some 
form of production. In steeply sloping, highly erodible areas this 
should not be timber production. There is, however, a wealth of non- 
wood products which can be obtained from forests without detriment 
to their environmental protection role. Management systems must be 
developed whereby the communities living in or around forests can 
derive more benefits from the maintenance of forests for these non- 
umber products than from non-forest use of the land. Often, it is not 
difficult to achieve this. Attribution of land ownership, or at least 


Table 11.4 Population statistics for countries in the Asia—Pacific 
region (millions of people) 


1989 Population In % of world 

stabilises at year total at 

(millions) stabilisation 
Australia 16.8 20.4 2025 0.03 
Bangladesh 114.7 341.5 2150 3.16 
Brunei 0.3 0.6 2075 — 
Burma 40.8 102.1 2150 0.95 
Cambodia 6.8 20.1 2150 0.19 
China 1,103.9 1,694.8 2100 16.05 
India 835.0 1,697.1 2150 15.72 
Indonesia 184.6 354.9 2150 3.29 
Laos 3.9 15.33 2150 0.14 
Malaysia 17.4 32.3 2100 0.31 
Papua New Guinea 3) 48) 28) 2150 0.09 
Philippines 64.9 137.0 2150 1.27 
Singapore Dell 3.0 2050 0.03 
Sri Lanka 16.9 29.8 2125 0.28 
Taiwan 20.0 30.6 2150 0.92 
Thailand 55.6 98.9 2150 0.92 
Vietnam 66.8 167.8 2125 1.57 
Western Pacific 

Islands! 2.1 


(Source: after Vu et al., 1989) 


' Data for the Western Pacific Islands are incomplete. 


A FUTURE FOR TROPICAL FORESTS 


Parks need production forests to buffer them from deforestation, as here on the 
boundary of Gunung Leuser National Park, Sumatra. A. J. Whitten 


secure rights to the forest’s resources, are the prerequisites of success 
(see chapter 3). 

The harvesting of non-wood forest products does not usually 
require major investments. It is therefore a suitable enterprise for 
people in small rural communities. It may be easier to ensure 
sustainability of this sort of forest management than for timber 
harvesting, where expensive infrastructure requires heavy invest- 
ments from powerful corporations (see chapter 7). 


Production Forests 

The conservation battle which is being fought most fiercely is for the 
future of production forests. Logging is inevitably noisy, dramatic 
and conspicuous. It arouses people’s emotions and is widely per- 
ceived as one of the principal causes of forest destruction. Its 
immediate visible impact is often devastating. Yet most Asian rain 
forests will regenerate following the selective logging to which they 
are normally subject. Regenerating forests generally retain most of 
the animal and plant species of the original forest (see chapter 2), and, 
except in the immediate post-logging period, provide adequate 
protection of watersheds and soils. They may not be such rich 
sources of timber as the original forest, but a variety of silvicultural 
treatments can be applied to ensure good subsequent crops of 
valuable species (see chapter 6). 

Most countries have strict laws governing timber harvesting and 
post-logging management. The conventional argument decrees that 
applying these rules results in a regenerating forest of such high value 
that it is in the interest of the country to protect the timber resource 
until the next harvest cycle. The dilemma is that this value does not 


79 


A FUTURE FOR TROPICAL FORESTS 


accrue to the people living in and around the forest, nor to the timber 
concessionaires. The regulations are therefore widely abused and 
little is done to prevent farmers encroaching along logging roads and 
clearing the forest to plant their crops. This pattern is repeated 
throughout the Asian tropics. In a few situations, where pressure 
from landless farmers is not high —as in the remote parts of Indonesia 
and Papua New Guinea — or where post-logging protection rules are 
vigorously applied — as in parts of Burma, India and Malaysia — 
logged forests are left to regenerate naturally, and in fact do so very 
well. But such areas are exceptions, and throughout the majority of 
the region, logging is inevitably followed by slash-and-burn farming 
and degradation of the forest to scrub and grassland. Such degrada- 
tion has almost invariably followed logging on the island of Borneo, 
in the Philippines and in Thailand. A study carried out by the 
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on 
behalf of the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) 
has shown that intensive silvicultural management is applied to less 
than 0.1 per cent of the tropical forests of ITTO member countries 
(Poore et al., 1989). In our region, it is only in parts of Australia, 
Burma, India and Peninsular Malaysia that management of produc- 
ton forests has even come close to sustainability. 

Notwithstanding the present failure to manage production forests 
effectively, most foresters and many conservationists still view a 
healthy timber industry, dependent on an extensive natural forest, as 
the only hope for the long-term survival of extensive areas of moist 
forest. They believe that ethical and environmental arguments alone 
will never justify protecting more than 10 per cent of the region’s 
forests in parks and reserves. They consider that the isolated forest 
fragments within these totally protected areas will neither protect all 
forest species, nor provide all the environmental services needed 
from forests. The only viable option is for the pristine parks and 
reserves to be buffered by extensive areas of near-natural forest 
which are put to productive, but sustainable, use. Timber produc- 
tion is held to be the only use of sufficient economic value to justify 
the maintenance of really large tracts of forest. 

The ITTO is a major forum for debating the issue of natural forest 
management. The International Tropical Timber Agreement is a 
commodity agreement whose mandate calls for it to work with 
industry, governments and the conservation community in order to 
bring about the sustainability of the tropical timber trade. The bi- 
annual meetings of ITTO have become a meeting point for non- 
governmental organisations campaigning to save forests, the umber 
industry and the forest departments of tropical countries. 

Most specialists agree that sustained yield management of tropical 
forests is technically feasible. It requires highly-skilled supervision 
and a disciplined workforce and, forest departments must be given 
political and material support by their governments. The techniques 
are relatively easy in the forests of the seasonal, monsoon tropics; the 
sal (Shorea robusta) forests of India are good examples. In the very 
humid tropics, however, the higher diversity of species, the greater 
erodibility and nutrient poverty of soils, and the proliferation of 
climbers and shrubs that grow when the canopy is opened by logging 
make management more difficult. Nevertheless, aseasonal rain for- 
ests in Malaysia and Australia have been successfully managed, and, 
in parts of Indonesia, rain forests that have escaped the attentions of 
shifting cultivators have regenerated satisfactorily after logging. 

The stated policy of some countries with proportionally large 
forest areas — Burma, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New 
Guinea and Sri Lanka — is to allocate a major proportion of the 
permanent forest estate to sustained yield timber production. It is 
only Thailand, with its recent logging ban, and Australia who have 
decided that all remaining natural forests should be totally protected 
and that timber should either be imported or produced on planta- 
tions. 


80 


However, nota single country is making the investments needed to 
ensure that sustained forest management policies work. Forest de- 
partments responsible for forest management are almost always 
under-staffed and under-funded. Taxes imposed on the timber 
industry, ostensibly to pay for forest regeneration and management, 
are rarely used for this purpose. The Indonesian Reforestation 
Guarantee Fund, intended for reimbursing concessionaires who 
apply the Indonesian Selection System, is now used exclusively to 
establish plantations. 

The policies and regulations which exist should ensure the sus- 
tainability of production from natural forests. But they are not 
applied and it appears that neither the governments concerned nor 
the tropical timber industry have a sincere commitment to selective 
harvesting from natural forests as a basis for the timber industry of 
the future. Throughout the region, the really big investments in both 
the private and public sector are in plantations of fast-growing 
species. 


Plantations 

The Asian Development Bank is investing heavily in plantations of 
Acacia mangium is Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah. These 
will feed Japanese pulp mills. There are numerous private sector 
initiatives to plant Albizia, Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus in India, 
Indonesia, Sabah and Thailand. Multinationals such as Mitsubishi 
and Shell are investing in plantations and a private sector consortium 
is embarking upon a massive Eucalyptus planting programme in Irian 
Jaya in response to the world’s insatiable appetite for tissue paper. 

These plantations can also produce utility grade lumber which can 
serve as a substitute for the bulk of natural forest timber. The high- 
grade timbers for joinery and decorative veneers will continue to be 
obtained largely from natural forests. But even for these uses, the 
teak plantations of India, Java and Thailand, and the mahogany 
(Swietenia macrophylla) plantations of Sri Lanka, Fiji, and 
elsewhere, could meet demand. 

Fashions and technologies evolve rapidly. At present there is a 
strong demand for plywood faced with the dark colours of some 
tropical hardwoods. This is true of the red merantis (Dipterocar- 
paceae) from Indonesian and Malaysian forests and the rosewoods 
and pallisander (Pterocarpus spp.; Dalbergia spp.) from mainland 
Asia. These timbers can fetch very high prices, but in terms of 
volume they represent only a tiny proportion of the production of 
tropical forests. The vast majority of tropical timber is used to 
produce utility-grade plywood or in construction. There are huge 
umber reserves in the temperate forests of North America, Europe 
and parts of Asia that could satisfy this sector of the market. If 
tropical timber becomes scarce or excessively expensive, these tem- 
perate zone timbers will take its place. 

Enormous progress has been made in recent years in developing 
new wood-based products. Products such as ‘medium-density fibre 
board’ and ‘scrimber’ can be made from a variety of low-grade timber 
by adding synthetic glue and filler. These timber substitutes can be 
made to whatever dimensions and specifications the market requires. 

Natural forests under sustained yield management commonly 
produce 1—2 cu. m of timber per ha per year, whereas plantations in 
the tropics can produce 20-70 cu. m per ha per year. The World 
Bank has estimated that the world’s industrial timber requirements 
for the year 2000 could be met if a mere five per cent of the tropical 
forests that existed in 1980 were converted to plantations of fast- 
growing species. All the world’s predicted pulp and paper require- 
ments could be met if plantations of fast-growing species were 
established on 10,000 sq. km of plantations in the wet tropics. This 
would be achieved using known tree varieties and existing plantation 
management techniques. New varieties and techniques are produc- 
ing higher yields all the time. 


Many countries in the tropics are turning to the private sector for 
the economic activity needed to fuel their development. Private 
industry favours clear commercial targets and is happiest with 
uniform products and intensive management systems. We may 
therefore, have to look to a future when most wood and wood- 
products will come from plantations. The conservation community 
must recognise that vast areas of natural forest managed for selective 
logging may be an illusory goal. 


International Support 

The rich nations of the industrialised world can influence events in 
the forested countries of the tropics through trade and aid. Many 
developed countries have pledged increased support for tropical 
forest conservation programmes. It is now broadly recognised that 
aid has often caused more harm than good. The Tropical Forestry 
Action Plan was born out of the desire to change aid, to improve the 
way in which it is coordinated and to focus it on the needs of tropical 
forest conservation. The plan calls not only for vastly increased aid to 
forestry in the tropics, but also advocates that aid should recognise 
the full social and environmental values of forests and the need to 
invest in maintaining the resource base. The TFAP includes a 
commitment from all the major aid donors to support totally pro- 
tected parks and reserves in tropical forest areas (see chapter 10). 


Conclusion 

It is now unfashionable for conservationists to advocate a protection- 
ist approach. The current approach is to support buffer zones, 
extractive reserves, sustained yield management. These all have their 
part to play. But our conclusion is that the highest priority must be to 
ensure that the remaining rain forests are managed to conserve the 
fabulous wealth of animal and plant species they contain. This will 


References 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 
Unhzation of Forest Resources in the Developing Regions. Asia— 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. 
FAO, Bangkok. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countnes. FAO, Rome. 18 pp. + tables. 

Poore, D., Burgess, P., Palmer, J., Rietbergen, S. and Synott, J. 
(1989) No Timber Without Trees: Sustainability in the Tropical 
Forest. Earthscan, London, UK. 


A FUTURE FOR TROPICAL FORESTS 


mean a major increase of investment in totally protected areas, parks 
and reserves. We must not only establish new ones, but ensure the 
protection of those already existing. It is inevitable, however, that 
extensive areas will be cleared so that food crops and forest products 
to fuel the region’s development can be produced. Wealth must be 
generated and employment created to meet the needs of the rural 
poor who are at present destroying the forests. 

Protected areas must be complemented by natural forests managed 
for tmber and non-wood products, but this will only succeed if 
governments recognise that the main objective of these forests is 
environmental conservation. Awarding long-term logging conces- 
sions will probably be incompatible with the sound management of 
these forests. A better approach might be to sell the rights to stated 
umber volumes or timber products, with very strict control main- 
tained by a forest department. This would be similar to the system 
applied to communally-owned forests in Switzerland, where the 
forests are considered to be far more than timber sources. 

The fate of much of Asia’s remaining forest will be determined in 
the next decade. We doubt if there is time for international diplo- 
macy, debt swaps, action plans, conventions and other agreements to 
follow their tortuous paths to the point where they result in practical 
conservation on the ground. The scale of the problem is such that 
only a massive popular movement within the region’s countries can 
bring about the necessary change. In Australia, the result of the 1989 
general election was swayed by popular concern for the Queensland 
rain forests. Similarly, public concern at the floods and landslides in 
southern Thailand in late 1988 led to a logging ban. In India, 
deforestation is becoming an increasingly important political issue. 
The question is whether this wave of public sentiment will come in 
ume to avert the frightening consequences of the loss of forests 
elsewhere in the region. 


Vu, M. T., Bos, E. and Bulatao, R. A. (1989) Asia Region Popula- 
tion Projections. Population and Human Resource Department, 
World Bank. 


Authorship 
Jeffrey Sayer at IUCN, Switzerland and Mark Collins at WCMC, 
Cambridge, UK. 


81 


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Map Compilation and Conservation Areas 


The maps were compiled on computer using a Geographic Informa- 
tion System at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in 
Cambridge. The sources of each map are given at the end of the 
appropriate chapter. For ease of comparison the editors used a 
uniform scale wherever possible and most have been produced at 1:3 
million. All scales, however, are clearly given in the keyboxes. The 
editors have generally followed the placename style of The Times 
Atlas of the World, but where appropriate local names or anglicised 
names have been used. 

It has only been possible to map conservation areas of 50 square 
kilometres and over. However in each chapter there is a list of all 
conservation areas, existing and proposed, including those of less 
than 50 sq. km. In some instances maps showing the exact bound- 
aries of a protected area were unavailable, in which case the protected 
area is shown by a circle of an appropriate size. 

Proposed and existing protected areas have been denoted by 
superimposing two shades of red over the different categories of 
forest. This produces a gradation of tone in the conservation colour. 
On each map there is a key to the conservation areas whereby each 
category of forest is shown combined with the conservation tint as it 
appears on the map. 


IPR Sistralia 


Land area = 7,6)7,930 sq. km 
Population (1989) 16.8 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 
Maximum expected population (2025) 
Gross national product (1987) US$ 1,100 per capita = 
Tropical rain forest 10,516 sq. km mas 
Roundwood production* 20,677,000 w. m 
Roundwood exports” 


8,497,000 cu. m ? 
see 
Fuelwood and charcoal production” 2,886,000 cv. m | ae y 


1.4 per cent 
20 million 


Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 8,816,000 wu. m 
Sawlogs and veneer logs exports* 26,000 cu. m D 


1988 dato from FAO (1990) 


A small area of the great Malesian tropical rain forests extends into Australia. The flora and fauna have some Malesian affinities, 
but include many unique species. The forests occur as small patches mainly close to the coast of Queensland. Despite their 
limited extent much of the original area has survived. Disturbance of the forest, including selective felling for high-quality 
timber, has been stopped by federal government decree and the forests have been listed as a World Heritage area. 


INTRODUCTION 


The huge continent of Australia extends between approximately 10°— 
50°S latitude and 110°—155°E longitude. The climate, soils, topogra- 
phy and vegetation are, necessarily, very varied over this large land 
mass. The tropical rain forests occur in Queensland, in the north-east 
of the continent, where they take up only a little over 0.1 per cent of 
the country. They are found along the coastal plains at sea level, over 
the undulating tablelands and reach to almost the top of the highest 
mountain in the area (Mount Bartle Frere, 1612 m). Much of the 
topography in the region is rugged, with numerous fast-flowing 
rivers, gorges and waterfalls. The rain forests are fringed and dis- 
sected by other vegetation types including sclerophyll forest and 
woodland, mangroves and swamps. This varied array of habitats 
supports a rich and diverse flora and fauna. 

Rainfall is higher in the region of tropical rain forest than anywhere 
else in Australia. In some areas as much as 4000 mm can fall in a year, 
most of it in the summer months (December to April). At tmes, 
tropical low pressure systems cause continuous heavy rain and high 
winds for up to a week. Cyclones affect the rain forest region about 
once a year, damaging tens or even hundreds of square kilometres of 
trees. Mean maximum temperatures are as high as 29.5°C, though 
summer temperatures are influenced more by elevation than latitude. 
Mean minimum temperatures are around 20°C near sea level but, 
above 700 m, it can be cold enough in winter for frost damage to be 
significant. 

Australia’s population is concentrated along the damper, eastern 
coasts. Sugar cane has replaced some lowland tropical rain forest and 
the areas of higher population densities (between 3 and 25 people per 
sq. km), found between Cairns and Mackay, are associated with the 
sugar industry. The increasing popularity of the region for tourism 
implies substantial future population growth in urban and coastal 
areas. 


The Forests 

Australia has only a small area of tropical rain forest composed of 
what is believed to be residual fragments of the forests that covered 
Antarctica and Australia until about 15 million years ago. However, 
the forests are of particular interest because of their high southern 


latitude and the high degree of endemism of their plant and animal 
species. They are also a point of concentration of tropical Asian 
plants and animals that have migrated into Australia from Malesia. 

Tropical moist forests occur in both north and north-eastern 
Australia. However, the monsoon forests that are scattered along the 
north coast are not mapped in this volume. Rain forests are found ina 
comparatively narrow strip along the north-east Pacific coast and are 
replaced inland in drier more seasonal climates by sclerophyll forests 
and woodlands. Temperate rain forests, not considered here, reach 
southwards to Tasmania (43°S). 

A complex physiognomic classification of Australian rain forests 
was introduced by Webb (1959) and modified on several occasions 
since (e.g. Tracey and Webb, 1975). It is widely used in Australia, 
but has never been taken up by the rest of the world. 


Forest Resources and Management 

Australia’s tropical rain forests cover about 10,516 sq. km (Bellet al., 
1987) and lie along the north-eastern coastline from 11°S to 22°S. 
They form two broad groups, the largest of which (7900 sq. km) lies 
between Townsville and Cooktown and covers part of the coastal 
plain as well as the mountain ranges lying parallel to the coast. These 
ranges reach to 900 m in many areas; the highest peak is Mount Bartle 
Frere (1612 m). Rain forest is found where the rainfall exceeds about 
1500 mm per year, or where other conditions are favourable for the 
retention of moisture. West of the ranges, rainfall declines rapidly in 
the rain shadow and rain forest is replaced, often abruptly, by dry 
sclerophyll forest where the canopy is more open. This forest con- 
tains numerous eucalypts (Figgis, 1985). 

The second major group of rain forests, 2600 sq. km in extent, lies 
further north and is separated from the Townsville forests by an area 
of open eucalypt forest. It consists of scattered patches of rain forest 
on the Cape York Peninsula. The largest is in the area between the 
Mcllwraith Ranges and the Iron Range, just north of Coen. Smaller 
patches are found in the headwaters of the Jardine River and on the 
northern tip of Cape York at Lockerbie. 

In both groups of forest, small-scale maps tend to exaggerate 
discontinuities of rain forest distribution. Except for the corridors of 


85 


AUSTRALIA 


drier open eucalypt forest, the larger patches of forest are linked by 
frequent outlying clumps of rain forest occurring on suitable moist 
sites in gullies, along streams and on hill and mountain tops. South of 
latitude 19°S where frosts sometimes occur, fire-adapted rain forest 
species are sometimes present in open eucalypt woodlands on favour- 
able soils. In addition there are some smaller patches of rain forest 
near Mackay at about 21°S. These are poorly documented but are 
believed to have southern subtropical floristic affinities. 

Unul recently most forests in the Townsville to Cooktown area 
have been administered as state forests or national parks by the State 
of Queensland. Historically this prevented indiscriminate felling for 
agriculture in the heyday of the dairy industry, and is the reason why 
so much forest cover has survived until today. 

Part of the forest estate was production forest, felled on a selection 
system with a 30—40 year cutting cycle (Frawley, 1985; Queensland 
Department of Forestry, 1983). The Forest Department was able to 
show that tree species diversity at compartment scale was increased 
by this practice. It was claimed that there was no long-term eco- 
system decline. Problems arose, however, because Department of 
Forestry management prescriptions were not strictly adhered to; in 
particular there was the problem of re-logging of forests at short 
intervals as markets developed for species which had not been 
commercially valuable at the me of former logging cycles. 

The primary objective of forest managers has been to provide a 
sustained yield of rain forest timber. In the late 1940s the estimated 
sustainable yield was 75,000 cu. m per year. This rose to 600,000 
cu. m per year in the late 1960s, but was then tightened to less than 
80,000 cu. m per year in more recent years (Cassels er al., 1988). 
These adjustments, while based on professional silvicultural practice 
and rigorously enforced, fuelled public unease that management for 
umber did not necessarily ensure the future of other forest values 
and, coupled with concern that the national park system was inade- 
quate, led to moves by the Federal Government to have the bulk of 
the Townsville and Cooktown rain forests included on the Unesco 
World Heritage List and to ban logging completely. The listing 
procedure was formally completed in 1988 amidst considerable 
controversy and opposition from the Queensland Government of the 
day. In late 1989, however, the newly formed Queensland Govern- 
ment stated that it was supportive of the nomination. 

The northern rain forests of Cape York Peninsula are not included 
in the ‘Wet Tropics’ World Heritage site. Some of these are national 
parks, but the remainder are not and are unmanaged because of their 
isolation. Feral animals such as pigs and cattle are a particular 
problem in some areas, as is fire (Lavarack and Godwin, 1987). 


Deforestation 
Estimates of the proportion of existing original rain forest cover vary 
widely, and have been as low as only 50 per cent. Recently, detailed 
studies by Winter et al. (1987), however, suggest some of these earlier 
estimates included vegetation that was probably not originally rain 
forest. These researchers estimate 81 per cent of the southern group 
of rain forests (Townsville to Cooktown) and 99.5 per cent of the 
northern group (Cape York Peninsula) have remained uncleared. 

Clearing has not been carried out uniformly and as a consequence 
of this, certain types of rain forest have been severely reduced in area 
while others have been hardly affected. Thus, in the Townsville to 
Cooktown region some 57 per cent of lowland rain forest below 80 m 
elevation has been cleared but only 14 per cent of that lying above 300 
m. About 5 per cent of rain forest in the lowland foothills between 80 
m and 300 m elevation has been cleared. Most of the forest clearing in 
the Cape York region has been carried out in the forests near 
Lockerbie. 

Much of the deforestation in lowland areas has been to make way 
for agriculture, especially sugar-cane farms, and it first began in the 


86 


late 1870s. In the uplands, clearing was mostly carried out to develop 
cattle pastures, especially on the Atherton Tableland. This too began 
many years ago and was mostly completed in the 1920s. In both cases 
rain forest on basalt soils was favoured for clearing. 

Fire affects the Australian tropical rain forests, especially at its 
margins. Fires escaping from sugar-cane fields destroy the rain 
forest, and wet sclerophyll forest grows in its place. Aborigines who 
formerly lived in part of the area used fire to manipulate their 
environment and caused replacement of rain forest by scattered 
eucalypts (especially Eucalyptus grandis) growing in grassland. Now 
areas can be found where old relic eucalypts occur over a dense rain 
forest, the rain forest margin having advanced by several kilometres 
in places. 

Small areas of deforestation have occurred as a consequence of 
road building. These roads have mostly been located in the more 
accessible areas below 1200 m. Two recent and environmentally 
damaging roads have been those constructed through the Cape 
Tribulation National Park between Daintree and Cooktown and the 
‘Quaid’ road (named after a real estate agent). This latter road was 
important because it passed through the Black Mountain corridor, a 
narrow band of rain forest which links the Mount Carbine tableland 
and the Lamb Range rain forests. 


Mangroves 

Patches of mangroves occur round the Australian coast; they are 
most extensive in the north and north-east. There has been no heavy 
commercial exploitation. At their southern limit the mangrove for- 
ests are stunted and consist solely of Avicennia. In some places, 
especially Queensland, conversion to urban development is a threat. 
There is a copious recent literature (Clough, 1982; Davie, 1987; 
Galloway, 1982; Semeniuk, 1987 and Wells, 1982). 


Biodiversity 

Australia’s tropical rain forests lie at the fringe of the great Malesian 
rain forest massif and havea strongly Malesian flora, which, due to its 
peripheral location, is rather less rich in species than much of the 
Malesian heartland. The flora and fauna also contain a Gondwanic 
element, which is shared to some extent with New Caledonia to the 
east and has dispersed into Malesia to the north, especially New 
Guinea. 

A number of estimates have been made of floristic composition of 
the rain forests. A recent study (Rainforest Conservation Society of 
Queensland, 1986) estimated there were 1161 species of higher plants 
in the Townsville to Cooktown rain forests. These were represented 
in 516 genera and 119 families. Of the 516 genera, 68 are endemic to 
Australia and 36 are restricted to the region. With respect to the 
species, 710 are Australian endemics. Some 43 genera are monotypic, 
of which 37 genera are endemic to Australia. Another estimate 
(Barlow and Hyland, 1988) considered northern and southern blocks 
together and found 1328 species and 534 genera. 

The forest fauna in Australia is also not particularly rich by 
Malesian standards. However, it also is strongly Australian in af- 
finity, has numerous endemics and for several groups, such as 
butterflies, includes a high proportion of all Australia’s species. 
About 95 bird species are associated with rain forests or with the land 
at their perimeters. Ten of these species are restricted to the low- 
lands, 25 are known only from the tablelands, and the remainder are 
widespread (Kikkawa, 1982). 

Deforestation has had indirect effects on wildlife by increasing the 
degree of habitat fragmentation. This has caused the loss of certain 
vulnerable species. In the Atherton Tablelands, for example, Law- 
rence (1987) believed fragmentation had probably contributed to the 
local losses of spotted-tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus, cassowary 
Casuarius casuarius and lemuroid ring-tail possum Hemibelideus 


The spotted tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), a marsupial carnivore of the 
Australian rain forest, has suffered from forest fragmentation and from the 
skin toxins of the introduced cane toad. WWF/G. D. Baker 


lemuroides. Amongst plants, however, it is not at all clear what exact 
effect forest clearance and fragmentation has had on species loss over 
the years. Individuals are scattered, most species are uncommon or 
rare, and no information for documenting changes has been recorded. 
The exotic cane toad Bufo marinus has spread into many deforested 
areas and its lethal skin toxin has had a devastating effect on many 
animals. Carnivores such as quolls seem to be sensitive to the toad’s 
poison and the spotted-tailed quoll is now thought to have suffered a 
major population reduction as a result. Its conservation prognosis is 
poor (Winter, 1985). Feral pigs also cause severe wildlife manage- 
ment problems by upsetting the balance of indigenous species. 


Conservation Areas 

Most of the rain forest in the Townsville to Cooktown region was 
included in the World Heritage listin 1988 (IUCN, 1988; Government 
of Australia, 1988). Figure 12.1 shows the boundary of the World 
Heritage site. Under Australian commonwealth government legisla- 
tion linked to the World Heritage Convention, all further disturbance 
of rain forests has been prohibited. World Heritage listing supersedes 
earlier conservation measures, summarised in Table 12.1. This 
decision was challenged by the Queensland Government in 1989, but 
the elections later that year brought in a new government and the 
challenge to World Heritage status has been dropped. 

Not all forest types or areas of particular biological interest were 
included in the original reserves. Webb (1966) identified a number of 
areas having high conservation interest and Queensland Department 
of Forestry (1983) has provided an analysis of subsequent changes. 
Webb (1987) noted other omissions from the protected area system. 
Further details are given by the Rainforest Conservation Society of 
Queensland (1986). 


AUSTRALIA 


The identity of critical sites and areas of special ecological sen- 
sitivity is a subject over which there was considerable debate during 
the years prior to the decision to include much of the rain forests of 
the southern area on the World Heritage List. There has been general 
agreement, however, that some of the most important areas are the 
higher elevations and mountain tops of the Great Dividing Range as 
well as wet gullies and deep moist gorges of the coastal lowlands. 
These are some of the sites that are likely to have acted as refugia 
during periods of climatic stress in the Quaternary, when conditions 
were drier and cooler than at present (Webb and Tracey, 1981; 
Winter, 1985). Faunal and floral communities within these refugia 
have persisted as assemblages representative of a previously more 
widely-distributed rain forest, making these sites of special interest 
to rain forest conservationists. In recent times optimal conditions for 
rain forest growth were achieved between 7000 and 5000 years ago, 
and biota have expanded beyond the bounds of these refugia. Webb 
and Tracey (1981) estimate the total area of highland refugia to be 
about 1800 sq. km, while the refugia on the very wet lowlands total 
somewhere less than 4000 sq. km. Other probable refugia sites on 
Cape York include small areas on Mount Tozer, Mount Webb and 
the McIlwraith Range (Webb and Tracey, 1981). 


Figure 12.1 
The World Heritage Boundary in North-East Queensland. 


Source: Adapted from Queensland Government, 1987 


@/ Cooktown 


Daintree 


Hinchinbrook Island 


Townsville 


Queensland 


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AUSTRALIA 


Table 12.2 Conservation areas of Australia (Queensland) 


Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. The 
remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest 
reserves are not included. For data on World Heritage sites see 
chapter 9. 


Existing 
area 
(sq. km) 

National Parks 
Archer Bend 1,660 
Bellenden Ker* 310 
Bladensburg 337 
Blackdown Tableland 238 
Bowling Green Bay* 553 
Cape Melville 360 
Cape Palmerston 1p 
Cape Tribulation* 170 
Cape Upstart 56 
Carnarvon 2,170 
Cedar Bay* SV 
Conway Range* 238 
Daintree* 565 
Dipperu 111 
Edmund Kennedy 62 
Eungella* 508 
Great Basalt Wall* 524 
Herbert River Falls, Herkes 

Creek Falls and Yamanie Falls* 1,238 
Hinchinbrook Island, Nypa Palms 

and Hinchinbrook Channel* 452 
Hook Island 52 
Iron Range* 346 
Isla Gorge 78 
Jardine River* 2,350 
Lakefield 5,370 
Mitchell and Alice Rivers 371 
Mount Spec* 2 
Palmerston* 142 
Robinson Gorge 773 
Rokeby 2,910 
Staaten River 4,700 
Starcke* 80 
Whitsunday Group 244 
Environmental Parks 
Goneaway 248 
Fauna Reserves 
Palmgrove 256 
Fauna Refuges 
Taunton 53 
Sub total 27,726 
Other Areas 4,223 
TOTAL 31,949 


Source: IUCN, 1990; Mobbs, 1988 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


90 


Table 12.1 The status of rain forests in north-east Australia 


% of land as 
Region Area State Timber Private —- National 
(sq. km) Forest Reserve Leasehold Park 
or Freehold 

Townsville— 

Cooktown TON Sil 9.8 23.3 1553* 
Cape York 2,603 0 17.4 58.9 23.7 
Total 10,516 38.9 11.7 32.1 17.3 


(Source: Bell et al., 1987) 


* In the Townsville-Cooktown region 13.6 per cent of the land below 300 m 
elevation, and 14 per cent of the land above 300 m, is in the national park. 


References 

Barlow, B. A. and Hyland, P. (1988) The origins of the flora of 
Australia’s wet tropics. Proceedings Ecological Society of Australia 
15: 1-17. 

Bell, F. C., Winter, J. W., Pahl, L. and Atherton, R. (1987)  Dis- 
tribution, area and tenure of rainforest in north-eastern Australia. 
Proceedings Royal Society of Queensland 98: 41-7. 

Cassels, D. S., Bonell, M., Gilmour, D. A. and Valentine, P. S. 
(1988) Conservation and management of Australia’s tropical 
rainforests: local realities and global responsibilities. Proceedings 
Ecological Society of Australia 15: 313-26. 

Clough, B. F. (ed.) (1982) Mangrove Ecosystems in Australia. ANU 
Press, Canberra, Australia. 

Davie, J. D. S. (1987) Mangrove Ecosystems in Australia. In: 
Field, C. D. and Dartnell, A. J. (eds) (op. cit.) pp. 3-23. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-1988. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome, Italy. 

Field, C. D. and Dartnell, A. J. (1987) Mangrove Ecosystems of Asia 
and the Pacific: Status, Exploitanon and Management. Australian 
Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. 

Figgis, P. (ed.) (1985) Rainforests of Australia. Sydney: Weldons 
Pty. Ltd. 264 pp. 

Frawley, K. (1985) Rainforest Management in Queensland after 
1900. Habitat 13: 4-7. 

Galloway, R. W. (1982) Distribution and physiographic patterns 
of Australian Mangroves. In: B. F. Clough (ed.) (op. cit.): pp. 16- 
26. 

Government of Australia (1988) Nomination of Wet Tropical Rain 
Forests of North Queensland. By the Government of the Com- 
monwealth of Australia for inclusion in the World Heritage List. 

IUCN (1988) Technical Evaluation of the Old Wet Tropics World 
Heritage Nomination. Report to the World Heritage Committee. 
December 1988. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. '\UCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 

Kikkawa, J. (1982) Ecological association of birds and vegetation 
structure in wet tropical forests of Australia. Australian Fournal of 
Ecology 7: 325-45. 

Lavarack, P. S. and Godwin, M. (1987) Rainforests of northern 
Cape York Peninsula. In: The Rainforest Legacy. National Rain- 
forest Study Volume 1. Special Australian Heritage Publications 
Series No. 7(1). Australian Government Publishing Service, Can- 
berra: pp. 201-22. 

Lawrence, W. (1987) 
25: 9-12. 


The rainforest fragmentation project. Liane 


AUSTRALIA 


DOWNEY CREEK CATCHMENT 


Downey Creek lies 30 km south-west of Innisfail and covers an 
area of 70 sq. km. The valley floor lies at an elevation of about 
300 m while the surrounding ridges reach up to 900 m. Rainfall is 
about 3750 mm per year. The floor of the valley is mostly basalt 
but other soil parent materials include granites and meta- 
morphics. 

The forests of Downey Creek are important because: 
© Most of the forest cover is considered to represent the optimum 
development of rain forest in Australia under the most favourable 
conditions of climate and soil in the tropical humid lowlands. 
@ Very little of this forest type remains, making this an important 
conservation site. 


e@ Furthermore the area contains at least two primitive plants, 
Austrobaileya scandens and Galbulimima belgraveana. 

Some selective logging has been carried out in parts of the area 
since most of the land lies within several state forests. However, a 
part of the catchment has been designated a scientific area (960 ha) 
and six smaller areas (each 40 ha) have been set aside as 
benchmark reserves. The scientific areas cover much, though not 
all, of the most important forest type. Much of the area is now also 
within the World Heritage site. This system of setting aside part 
of the site for scientific purposes seems well designed to meet 
conservation interests, as well as allowing for umber production. 


Mobbs, C. J. (ed.) (1988) Nature Conservation Reserves in Australia. 
Occasional Paper No. 19, pp. 32—9. Australian Parks and Wildlife 
Service. 

Queensland Department of Forestry (1983) Rain Forest Research in 
North Queensland. Queensland Department of Forestry, Aus- 
tralia. 

Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland (1986) Tropical 
Rainforests of North Queensland: Their Conservation Significance. 
Special Australian Heritage Publication No. 3. Australian Govern- 
ment Publishing Service, Canberra. 

Semeniuk, V. (1987) Threats to, and exploitation and destrucuon 
of, mangroves in Western Australia. In: Field, C. D. and Dartnell, 
A. J. (eds) (op. cit.): pp. 228-41. 

Tracey, J. and Webb, L. (1975) Vegetation of the Humid Tropical 
Region of North Queensland. Fifteen maps at 1:100,000 scale and 
key. CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Queensland, Australia. 

Webb, L. (1966) The identification and conservation of habitat 
types in the wet tropical lowlands of north Queensland. Proceed- 
ings of Royal Society of Queensland 78: 59-86. 

Webb, L. (1987) Conservation status of the rainforests of North 
Queensland. In: The Rainforest Legacy. National Rainforest Study 
Volume 1. Special Australian Heritage Publications Series No. 7: 
pp. 153-8. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. 

Webb, L. and Tracey, J. (1981) Australian rainforests: patterns 
and change. In: Ecological Biogeography of Australia, pp. 605—94. 
A. Keast (ed.), The Hague, The Netherlands. 

Webb, L. J. (1959) A physiognomic classification of Australian 
Rainforests. Journal of Ecology 47: 551-70. 

Wells, G. (1982) Mangrove vegetation of northern Australia. In: 
Clough, B. F. (ed.) (op. cit.): 57-8. 


Winter, J. (1985) Problems of wildlife management peculiar to the 
tropical forests. In: Wildlife Management in the Forests and Forestry 
Controlled Lands in the Tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. J. 
Kikkawa (ed.). Proceedings of a workshop held at the University 
of Queensland 1984 IUFRO. Group $1.08: 7-14. 

Winter, J., Bell, F., Pahl, L. and Atherton, R. (1987) Rainforest 
clearing in north-eastern Australia. Proceedings Royal Society of 
Queensland 98: 41-57. 


Authorship 

David Lamb at the University of Queensland, with contributions 
from Alia Keto of the Queensland Rainforest Conservation Society 
and G. M. Shea of the Queensland Forestry Department. 


Map 12.1 Forest cover in Queensland 


Rain forests and protected areas shown in this map are taken from two published 
maps at 1:500,000 scale: Department of Forestry Edition 1 Far North Queensland 
(1988) and Department of Forestry Edition 4 North Queensland (1987). These two 
maps are very detailed and it has been necessary to generalise the data and show 
only the main blocks of forest. 

The recent listing under the Unesco World Heritage Convention has put most 
of the forests between Townsville and Cooktown within the World Heritage Site 
listing. Forests in Cape York are not, however, included on the World Heritage 
listing. The limits of the World Heritage Site shown in Figure 12.1 are taken from 
the Nomination of Wet Tropical Rainforests of North-East Australia for Inclusion in 
the World Heritage List Map 2: Wet Tropical Rainforests of North-East Australia at 
1:500,000 scale (1987). This unpublished report of 31pp and lengthy annexes was 
reprinted in 1988 with corrections made by the Queensland Government, but only 
minor changes in boundaries have been made since the site was inscribed in 1988. 


91 


13 Bangladesh 


Land area = 133,910 sq. km 

Population (1989) 114.7 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 
Maximum expected population (2150) 
Gross national product (1987) US$164 
Rain forest (see map) 964 sq. km 
Monsoon forest (see map) 90 sq. km 


2.4 per cent 
342 million 
0 per capita 


Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)¢ 9270 sg. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-85)¢ 80 sq. km 


Roundwood production* 


29,368,000 cu. m 


Fuelwood and charcoal production® 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 


28,504,000 cu. m 
467,000 cu. m 


~ 1988 dato from FAO (1990) 
t FAO/UNEP (1981) 


Bangladesh, once forested with mangroves, rain forests and monsoon forests from the delta up into the hills, is now almost 
completely deforested. Less than five per cent of the original cover remains. Patches of rain forest only survive in the Chittagong 
Region in the south-east, where four hill ranges run parallel to the coast. 

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world and the main reason for forest loss is demand for agricultural land. The 
already dense population, almost 800 per sq. km, is still growing rapidly. 

The country’s principal remaining forest heritage is the Sundarbans, a massive area of mangrove forest, 75 per cent of which 
lies in Bangladesh and 25 per cent in India. The mangroves are managed for timber production and wildlife conservation. 

The mangrove forests of the Sundarbans serve many purposes, including providing substantial quantities of fuelwood and 
building timber. They also act as a refuge for the Bengal tiger. Species protection is especially important as, with the demise of 
its forests, Bangladesh has already lost most of its larger mammal species, including the rhinoceros, banteng, nilgai and swamp 


deer, while the elephant survives in only small pockets. 


The country’s system of protected areas is not extensive, and the future for forest habitat conservation must lie in improved 
management, both in totally protected areas and in forest reserves for timber production. 


INTRODUCTION 


Bangladesh has the largest area of river delta in the world, with three 
main rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. 

Three geographical zones can be distinguished: 

1 Hills occupy 10 per cent of the country. The Chittagong Hill 
Tracts in the south-east consist of a series of parallel ridges reaching 
1000 m. Other hilly terrain occurs in the north-east. 

2 The delta at the Bay of Bengal occupies the south and south-west. 
3 The plains, generally composed of level alluvium, occupy most of 
the country and are the most fertile and heavily populated region. 
Vast areas of these plains are seasonally flooded. 

In addition, the coastal area is broken into islands and tidal marshes, 
and the entire country is divided by the myriad tributaries and 
distributaries of the three main rivers. 

With the highest population density in the world outside city- 
states, Bangladesh is also one of the poorest countries. Over 90 per 
cent of the population lives in rural areas and the mainstay of the 
economy is agriculture; rice and jute are the most important crops. 
About 60,000 families in the Chittagong Hill Tracts practise shifting 
cultivation, and there are extensive plantations of bananas and sugar- 
cane in coastal regions and tea in the hills. Inland fishery is the second 
most important economic activity (UNEP, 1986). 

The climate is tropical and wet to extremely wet, with annual 
rainfall ranging from 1200 to 6500 mm. Rainfall distribution patterns 
are uneven and erratic. A large part falls during the monsoon season, 
while the period from November to February is usually dry and 
relatively cool. Cyclones, coming from the Bay of Bengal, bring 
torrential rains, frequently followed by tidal waves that cause severe 
destruction in the coastal regions (UNEP, 1986). 


92 


The Forests 
Most of Bangladesh was originally forested, with coastal mangroves 
backed by swamp forests and a broad plain of tropical moist decid- 
uous forest (IUCN, 1986a). However, most of the original vegetation 
has been cleared. 

There used to be three main forest formations (Ahman, 1987; 
FAO/UNEP, 1981): 
1 The hills were once covered by tropical evergreen and semi- 
evergreen rain forest. Remnants of these forests are found in the 
eastern part of the country in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chittagong, 
Cox’s Bazar and the Sylhet Forest Division. The merchantable 
species growing in the forests include Dipterocarpus spp., Sterculia 
alata, Swintonia floribunda and Tetrameles nudiflora. Bamboos, 
mainly Melocanna bambusoides, are abundant. 
2 Tropical monsoon forests in Bangladesh, as in India, are known as 
sal forests after the main timber tree, Shorea robusta. At one time 
they covered relatively small areas of the inland plains of the 
Madhupur Tract. Relicts and may still be found in the Dhaka, 
Tangail and Mymensingh Forest Divisions and some badly managed 
patches survive in the north. 
3 Tidal forests (mostly mangroves) are located in the Sundarbans 
(which continue into India) (see case study page’95), with small areas 
in the Chittagong district. 


Forest Resources and Management 

Scientific forest management in Bangladesh is more than fifty years 
old (FAO, 1987). Before independence (1971) it focused on teak 
production from plantations. The adoption of a National Forestry 
Policy in 1979 is indicative of the Government’s desire to safeguard 


and manage scientifically the forest wealth, but its implementation 
has been slow (BARC, 1987). In view of the depleted forest reserves, 
the objectives of the Government’s third Five-Year Plan (1985—90) 
are: 

e To increase production of timber and non-timber crops through 
afforestation, reforestation and social forestry programmes. 

e To accelerate the development of plantations of fast-growing 
trees. 

e To exploit the forest resources to best advantage to meet the 
demand for timber, fuelwood, fodder, rubber and raw materials for 
paper and other industries, without disturbing the ecological bal- 
ance. 

Apart from a few privately owned forests, there are two main legal 
forest categories: 

1 Reserved Forests and Protected Forests, managed by the Depart- 
ment of Forestry, which recognises some local rights. 

2 Unclassed State Forests, mainly situated in the hill regions and 
managed by the District Administration. 

The tropical rain forests are subject to working plans that involve 
either clear felling, followed by aruficial regeneration or plantations; 
or selective logging based on short (30-40 years) or long (60—80 
years) cycles (FAO/UNEP, 1981). The timber extracted is used for 
construction, pulping, packaging and plywood. In the Chittagong 
Hill Tracts large areas of bamboo are managed on a 3—4 year rotation. 
The sal forests, in former days managed under regimes of clear felling 
with coppice regeneration, are now excluded from production to 
recover from damage incurred during the War of Independence 
(FAO/UNEP, 1981). 

The mangroves are covered by working plans based on forest 
inventories of 1960 and 1983, and a 20 year rotation operates that 
depends on natural regeneration (FAO/UNEP, 1981). However, 
overexploitation for firewood and timber has resulted in the erosion 
of this important barrier against cyclones and tidal waves. Reforesta- 
tion is now being undertaken in a systematic manner and mangrove 
species are planted extensively under coastal afforestation projects 
(UNEP, 1986; see also case study on Sundarbans). 

The most important forest products are construction timber, 
fuelwood and raw material for the wood-based industry. Fuelwood 
consumption, however, has fallen since the 1960s and crop residues, 
animal manure and bamboo tops are also important as an alternative 
source of energy. Bamboo is also used for paper pulp (FAO, 1987). 
Other forest products include golpata (leaves of Nypa fruticans), 
honey, wax, sungrass and cane (FAO/UNEP, 1981). The contribu- 
ton of the forestry sector to GDP was 2.4 per cent in 1981—2 and 3.4 
per cent in 1985—6 (BARC, 1987). 

Plantation forests are now a major part of the country’s timber 
resources, with about 2000 sq. km planted by 1985 (FAO/UNEP, 
1981; BARC, 1987). About 70 per cent of this is teak, the remainder 
mainly being eucalypts and pines (Siddiqi, 1986). 


Deforestation 

A principal cause of deforestation in the hill regions is heavy en- 
croachment by shifting cultivation (jhum) (BARC, 1987). In forest 
reserves, demand for timber is resulting in shorter rotations and 
greater forest degradation, including serious erosion. 

Official forest figures for Bangladesh indicate that about 16.5 per 
cent of the country remains under forest cover: some 22,052 sq. km. 
Other estimates, including the accompanying Map 13.1, put the 
figure at well under half this amount (see Table 13.2), and much of 
what remains ts certainly heavily degraded. 

There are a number of forest cover estimates available, often 
conflicting and difficult to compare, but they all indicate forest cover 
of less than 14 per cent of land area and most recent figures given are 
around 7 per cent. As far back as 1976 and 1978 Unesco/MAB and the 


BANGLADESH 


Table 13.1 Estimates of forest extent in Bangladesh, based on 
analysis of Map 13.1 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 5,310 4.0 
Mangrove 4,330 3.2 
Sub totals 9,640 V2 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 90 0.1 
Totals 9,730 7.3 


(See Map Legend on p. 97 for details of sources) 


Asian Development Bank respectively estimated forest cover at 
14,000 sq. km (10.5 per cent) and 12,000 sq. km (9 per cent) (DS/ 
DT, 1980). Gittins and Akonda (1982) put the figure at almost 16,000 
sq. km (Table 13.2), but classed over half of this as degraded scrub 
forest. Further estimates were given by Khan (1985b), Olivier (1979) 
and Sarker and Fazlul Huq (1985). 

FAO estimated that in 1980, 4700 sq. km of hill forest, 520 sq. km 
of monsoon forest and 4050 sq. km of mangrove forest remained, 
giving a total forest area of 9270 sq. km or 6.9 per cent of land area. 
Map 13.1 is in broad agreement as Table 13.1 shows, although the 
division between forest types is at variance. Both the FAO statistics 
and Map 13.1 are based on late 1970s data, and the situation now is 
certainly even more serious. The data in Table 13.2 are instructive in 
indicating the state of degradation of the forests. The estimated rate 
of deforestation for the years 1981—5S was 80 sq. km per year (FAO/ 
UNEP, 1981). If we are to assume that this rate has prevailed 
throughout the 1980s, forest cover will now be reduced to little more 
than 6 per cent of land area. 


Mangroves 
The main area of mangrove, the Sundarbans, is described in a 
separate case study (see page 95). 


Biodiversity 

Bangladesh, an important transition zone between Indo-China, the 
Himalaya and the rest of the Indian subcontinent was once rich in 
wildlife species. These tropical moist forests were botanically 
amongst the richest in the Indian subcontinent, and they also 
supported the greatest diversity of mammals and a high diversity of 
birds. 

In 1982, Khan published a complete fauna list of Bangladesh, 
updated by Rahman and Akonda (1987). The country has 113 species 
of mammals (out of 500 species in the Indian subcontinent), 574 
species of birds (out of 1200), 123 species of reptiles, 19 species of 
amphibians, 107 species of freshwater fish and 120 species of es- 
tuarine fish, but only the turtle Trionyx nigricans is known to be 
endemic (DS/DT, 1980). 

Although the species richness is relatively large for the small area 
of Bangladesh, endemism is low and the population size of most of 
the species has declined drastically (Khan, 1984, 1985; Sarker and 
Sarker, 1983). Eighteen species of wildlife are now extinct from 
Bangladesh (Rahman and Akonda, 1987). Among them are several 
internationally threatened species such as the three species of Asian 
rhinoceros, and also the gaur, banteng, nilgai Boselaphus tragoca- 
melus, swamp deer Cervus duvauceli, pink-headed duck Rhodonessa 
Caryophyllacea, Bengal florican Houbaropsis bengalensis and mugger 


93 


BANGLADESH 


Table 13.2 Estimated forest cover of Bangladesh (sq. km) 


Natural % of Scrub %of Total %of 
Forest land forest land forest land 
area (degraded) area area 
Rain forest paypal ez 7,269 5.4 Coe oll 
Monsoon 
forest 187 0.1 458 0.3 645 0.48 
Mangrove 
forest 2,274 Ned 1,533 iil 3,807 2.8 
Totals 4,782 3.5 9,260 6.8 14,042 10.42 


(Adjusted from Gittins and Akonda, 1982) 


crocodile Crocodylus palustris. Except for the rhinoceroses, wild 
buffalo and pink-headed duck, all other locally extinct species 
disappeared from the country within the last two decades (WCMC, 
1989). 

There are several initiatives underway to conserve wildlife. For 
elephants (of which there are between 150 and 350) (IUCN/SSC, 
n.d.), primates (IUCN/SSC, 1987), and turtles and tortoises (IUCN/ 
SSC, 1988), international action plans are proposed which include 
conservation activities in Bangladesh. A plan for artificial breeding of 
the endangered white-winged wood duck (Carina scutulata) is under 
consideration (Rahman and Akonda, 1987). The tiger is nowadays 
confined to the Wildlife Sanctuaries of the Sundarbans, where there 
are estimated to be between 350 and 600 individuals (see case study 
opposite). 

About 5000 species of higher plants are known from Bangladesh, a 
third of the number on the whole Indian subcontinent, where the 
main floristic affinities lie. The Chittagong area, however, has many 
Indo-chinese plant species. 


Conservation Areas 

The responsibility for wildlife conservation, as well as forest manage- 
ment for timber and other products, lies with the Forest Depart- 
ment. Divisional forest officers are able to deploy staff to protect 
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, but in reality a large propor- 
tion of wildlife depends upon forest reserves. Management of these 
reserves is generally not adequate to ensure wildlife conservation 
(Blower, 1985; Olivier, 1979; Sarker and Fazlul Huq, 1985). 

Major conservation efforts started in the 1960s, when, as a result of 
the recommendations of two surveys supported by WWF, the 
Government was urged to appoint its own Wildlife Inquiry Commit- 
tee. Initial progress in the protected areas system, however, broke 
down during the War of Liberation (1971). 

Existing and officially approved protected areas currently cover 
1102 sq. km or 0.82 per cent of the total land area (Table 13.3) 
(WCMC, 1989). Protected areas comprise four national parks, ten 
wildlife sanctuaries (including three proposed sites) and one game 
reserve. This network is neither adequate nor representative of the 
country’s range of habitats (IUCN, 1986b). It falls well below the 
target of 5 per cent of total land area recommended by the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Forestry task force (Rahman and Akonda, 1987). 
Small fragments of the main forest types, however, are represented in 
the protected areas network, as the accompanying map demon- 
strates. 

The main areas of protected forest are as follows: 

@ Bhawal National Park, once almost completely deforested, is now 
90 per cent covered in regenerating sal forest. 


94 


e Himchari National Park, a steep area in the Chittagong Hill 
Tracts, contains semi-evergreen rain forest. 
e Madhupur National Park has the best sal forest in the country. 
e@ Pablakhali Wildlife Sanctuary, important for its elephants, has a 
small area of forest which suffers from encroachment. This is an 
important wetland with perennial rivers, lakes and forest pools. 
e@ Rema—Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary has the last rain forests in 
Sylhet District. 
e Teknaf Game Reserve is the most important area of rain forest in 
south-east Bangladesh, with one-third of the nation’s elephants. 
e@ The Proposed Wildlife Sanctuaries of Hazarikhil and Rampahar- 
Sitaphar include rain forest within their boundaries. 
The existing system of protected areas is not comprehensive. Some 
effort has been made to include representative samples of the major 
habitats, but marine and freshwater areas have been largely neg- 
lected. Some areas have not been clearly defined or officially gazetted 
and few, if any, are effectively managed and protected. Lack of 
personnel trained in wildlife conservation is a further handicap 
(Olivier, 1979; Gittins and Akonda, 1982; Khan, 1985a). 
The following actions have been recommended by Olivier (1979) 
and IUCN (1986b): 
@ Gazette proposed wildlife sanctuaries. 
e Establish Rajkandi as a protected area. 
e Discontinue forestry operations in protected areas. 
e@ Develop and extend Madhupur National Park as the main conser- 
vation area for sal forest. 
e Establish an independent Wildlife and Protected Areas Depart- 
ment. 
e@ Improve levels of staffing and training in all protected areas. 
e@ Improve conservation awareness at all levels within the country. 
Further recommendations specific to Bangladesh are made in the 
Corbett Action Plan for protected areas in the Indomalayan Realm 
(IUCN, 1985). These include the establishment of St Martin’s Island 
as a national park, the establishment of Teknaf Game Reserve and 
the Sundarbans wildlife sanctuaries as ‘demonstration protected 
areas’, the development of conservation policies which are socially 
acceptable and integrated into national development, and the 
strengthening of cooperation in the development of conservation 
activities in the region. As an example of the latter, the establishment 
of both the Sundarbans and the Kassalong reserved forests of India as 
an ‘international peace park’ is proposed. 


Initiatives for Conservation 
In September 1986, consensus was reached to move ahead with the 
National Conservation Strategy, at a seminar held in Dhaka (Rah- 
man and Akonda, 1987). Bangladesh acceded to the World Heritage 
Convention on 3 August 1983, but no sites have been inscribed to 
date. Bangladesh has signed and ratified CITES. The country has a 
national committee for the Unesco-MAB programme, although no 
biosphere reserves have been established. Furthermore Bangladesh 
is a member of IUCN and of SACEP (South Asia Cooperative 
Environmental Programme) and an active partner of UNEP and 
ESCAP. Bangladesh is not yet a party to the Ramsar Convention. 
The Bangladesh Government is considering a request for a forest 
sector review within the context of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan 
(de Montalembert, 1988). Having completed the forest inventories, 
management plans are being drawn up for the Sundarbans and the 
forests of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. 
Research and training will receive new support. However, wildlife, 
an essential component of the forests and the national heritage, 
receives only passing mention in these plans (BARC, 1987). 


Table 13.3 Conservation areas of Bangladesh 


Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. The 
remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest 
reserves are not included. 


Existing Proposed 
area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 


National Parks 

Bhawal 50 
Madhupur 84 

Wildlife Sanctuaries 

Chunati 78 
Pablakhali* 420 
Sundarbans East* 54 
Sundarbans South* 179 
Sundarbans West* 91 

Game Reserves 

Teknaf 116 

Sub total 1,072 

Other Areas 30 73 
Totals 1,102 73 


(Sources: Y'UCN, 1990; WCMC data im itt.) 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


BANGLADESH 


The Sundarbans are the most extensive mangroves in the world. A haven for 
wildlife, such as the Bengal tiger, they also provide the day to day needs of 


thousands of people. WWF/X. Lecoultre 


SUNDARBANS 


The Sundarbans of Bangladesh consist of over 4000 sq. km of 
mangrove forest. It extends westwards into India and is the largest 
mangrove forest in the world, followed by the mangroves of Irian 
Jaya (Scott, 1989). 

Protected as Reserved Forest since 1875, the greater part is 
covered with tidal swamp consisting of a mosaic of mangrove 
forest types differing considerably in species composition. The 
main type is dominated by sundri (Heritiera fomes), which grades 
into low-stature stands with mixed sundri, gewa (Excoecaria 
agallocha) and goran (Ceniops decandra). A forest inventory was 
carried out by ODA in 1983. It is only to the west, where it 
borders with the similarly forested Indian Sundarbans, that any 
significant movement of terrestrial wildlife into or out of the area 
is possible (Blower, 1985). The whole area is intersected by an 
intricate network of interconnecting waterways, of which the 
large channels run in a generally north-south direction. 

The major recent change in the physical environment of the 
Sundarbans is a reduction in the amount of fresh water flowing 
into the area. This is due to natural changes, river diversions and 
withdrawals of fresh water for irrigation. It is believed to be the 
cause of unusual mortality in some areas of the main commercial 
species sundri, especially since 1970 (Christensen, 1984). It seems 
unlikely that the trend of decreasing freshwater discharge can be 
reversed, indeed the problem is likely to be aggravated by a rise in 
sea level caused by global warming. 

The Sundarbans provides ideal habitats for a variety of mam- 
mals (32 species are recorded), waders and seabirds and also 
suitable nesting sites for both marine turtles and the endangered 


estuarine terrapin Batagur baska (Blower, 1985). But above all the 
Sundarbans are well known as the home of the royal Bengal uger 
Panthera tigris gris, whose population is estimated at 350 to 600, 
one of the largest surviving populations in the world. 

There has long been a problem of man-eating tigers in the 
Sundarbans, and this has attracted various studies. Siddiqi and 
Choudhury (1987) found that about 20 persons were killed an- 
nually between 1956 and 1983. The reasons why tigers become 
man-eaters are still not fully understood. 

The Sundarbans are heavily utilised (Ahmad, 1984; Khan and 
Karim, 1982). One-third of the local population depends in one 
way or another on the mangroves for a livelihood. Sundn and gewa 
are harvested on a 20 year felling cycle. Other species, used mainly 
for timber and firewood, are harvested largely at the same ume. 
Fishing takes place along the waterways throughout the year 
(Salter, 1984). 

In 1966 the Forest Department programme to plant mangroves 
for protection and to encourage land accretion outside the coastal 
embankments was initiated. After ten years, 300 sq. km had been 
planted and cut in rotation. The project is now supported by the 
World Bank. 

In 1977 three wildlife sanctuaries were declared. These are the 
91 sq. km Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary, the 179 sq. km. 
Sundarbans South Wildlife Sanctuary and the 54 sq. km Sundar- 
bans East Wildlife Sanctuary. In 1978, under the joint WWF 
IUCN Project Tiger, a management plan (Seidensticker and Hai, 
1983) was prepared for the tigers in these sanctuaries, but it has 
not yet been implemented (Rahman and Akonda, 1987). 


BANGLADESH 


ees 


| Tropic of Cancer 


| IN ee 
| eee een ateRe |e Accs } Map 13.1 Bangladesh 
Pesci Mue Fy (and West Bengal, India) 
pe N or Rain Forests 
OF lowland 
nae mangrove hal 
Monsoon Forests 
f 26°N | lowland rane eT | 
ai a Z Conservation areast 
: existing _l- 
Non Forest 
+ Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 
3 1:3,000,000 
0 50 kilometres 
50 miles 


Sundarbans 
Mm ogsionton tions: 


88°E 


Sundarbans 
West 


o f 


90°E 


Teknaf 


Tekhat ) 
Penjnsula 


\ 


96 


References 

Ahmad, N. (1984) Some aspects of economic resources of Sundar- 
ban mangrove forest of Bangladesh. In: Soepadmo et al. (eds) (op. 
cit.) pp. 644-51. 

Ahman, M. (1987) Bangladesh: How forest exploitation is leading 
to disaster. Ecologist 17: 168-9. 

BARC (1987) National Conservation Strategy for Bangladesh. Draft 
prospectus (Phase I). Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council/ 
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 154 pp. 

Blower, J. H. (1985) Sundarbans Forest Inventory Project, 
Bangladesh: Wildlife Conservation in the Sundarbans. Project Re- 
port 151. ODA Land Resources Development Centre, Surbiton, 
UK. 39 pp. 

Christensen, B. (1984) Integrated Development of the Sundarbans, 
Ecological Aspects of the Sundarbans. TCP/BGD/2309 (Mf) FAO, 
Rome, Italy. 

DS/DT (1980) (Draft) Environmental Profile on Bangladesh. Sci- 
ence and Technology Division, Library of Congress, Washington 
DC, USA. 98 pp. 

FAO (1987) Forestry Project Profile Bangladesh. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

FAO (1990), Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO Forestry 
Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol 3 of 3 volumes. FAO, Rome. 
475 pp. 

Gittins, S. P. and Akonda, A. W. (1982) 
Bangladesh? Oryx 16: 275-81. 

IUCN (1985) Corbett Action Plan for Protected Areas of the Indo- 
malayan Realm. Prepared during the 25th Working Session of 
IUCN’s Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas, 4— 
8th February 1985 Corbett National Park, India. IUCN, 
Cambridge, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. 23 pp. 

IUCN (1986a). Plants in Danger. What Do We Know? IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 461 pp. 

IUCN (1986b) Review of the Protected Areas System in the Indo- 
Malayan Realm. Consultants: MacKinnon, J. and K. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 284 pp. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. \UCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

IUCN/SSC (n.d.) (Draft) Action plan for Asian Elephant Conserva- 
tion. WWF, Gland, Switzerland. 

IUCN/SSC (1987) Action Plan for Asian Primate Conservation. 
IUCN/UNEP/WWFE, Gland, Switzerland. 

IUCN/SSC (1988) Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group: 
Conservation Action Plan. YUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 

Khan, M. A. R. (1984) Endangered mammals of Bangladesh. Oryx 
18: 152-6. 

Khan, M. A. R. (1985) Future conservation directions for 
Bangladesh. In: Conserving Asia’s Natural Heritage. Thorsell, J. 
W. (ed.) pp. 114-22. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 

Khan, M. S. and Karim, A. (1982) Study of the growth of plants in 
relation to edaphic factors in coastal afforestation plantation in 
Chittagong. In: Soepadmo E., Rao, A. N. and McIntosh, D. J. 
(eds) (1984) Proceedings of the Asian Symposium on Mangrove 
Environment Research and Management. University of Malaya and 
Unesco Kuala Lumpur pp. 195-9. 

Montalembert, M. R. de (1988) TFAP-Update. Tigerpaper 19: 10. 

Olivier, R. C. D. (1979) Wildlife Conservation and Management in 
Bangladesh. UNDP/FAO Project No. BGD/72/005. Forest Re- 
search Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh. 

Queensland Government (1987) Wet Tropical Rainforests of North- 
east Australia. 

Rahman, S. A. and Akonda, A. Q. (1987) Bangladesh National 
Conservanion Strategy: Wildlife and Protected Areas. Department of 


What survives in 


BANGLADESH 


Forestry, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Unpublished report. 33 pp. 

Salter, R. E. (1984) Integrated Development of the Sundarbans, 
Bangladesh: Status and Unlization of wildlife. TCP/BGO/2309 
(MF) FAO, Rome, Italy. 

Sarker, S. U. and Sarker, N. J. (1983) 
Bangladesh. Tigerpaper 10: 26-8. 

Sarker, N. M. and Fazlul Huq, A. K. M. (1985) Protected Areas of 
Bangladesh. In: Conserving Asia’s Natural Heritage, Thornsell, 
J. W. (ed.) pp. 36-8. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 

Scott, A. D. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Seidensticker, J. and Hai, M. A. (1983) The Sundarbans Wildlife 
Management Plan: Conservation in the Bangladesh Coastal Zone. 
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 120 pp. 

Siddiqi, N. A. (1986) Impact of forest management practices in 
Bangladesh on wildlife and the environment. Tigerpaper 13: 8-9. 

Siddiqi, N. A. and Choudhury, J. H. (1987) Maneating behaviour 
of tigers of the Sundarbans. Tigerpaper 14: 26-32. 

UNEP (1986) Environmental Problems of the Marine and Coastal 
Area of Bangladesh: National Report. UNEP Regional Seas Re- 
ports and Studies No. 75. 

WCMC (1989) Bangladesh, an Overview of its Protected Areas Sys- 
tem. WCMC, Cambridge, UK. 

World Bank (1981) Bangladesh-General Vegetation Sheet No. G8 at 
1:500,000. Prepared by the Resources Planning Unit, Agriculture 
and Rural Development Department, World Bank, Washington, 
USA. 


Endangered wildlife of 


Authorship 
Guido Broekhaven at IUCN, Gland, with contributions from Franca 
Monti at FAO in Rome and Peter Stevens at FAO, Dhaka. 


Map 13.1 Forest cover in Bangladesh 


Forest cover in Bangladesh has been derived from Bangladesh-General Vegetation 
(1981) Sheet No. G8 at 1:500,000 scale, prepared by the Resource Planning Unit, 
Agriculture and Rural Development Department, World Bank, Washington. 
This is derived from updated and ground-truthed 1977 Landsat satellite imagery. 
(Categories used for the map in this atlas were numbers 25 and 26, main land use 
Forest and Forest or Forest Reserve.) 

A useful additional map is Bangladesh 1984 Landsat Satellite Digital Mosaic 
Sheet 4, Forest Areas, published at a scale of 1:1 million by FAO (1986). The map 
theoretically accompanies Field Document No. 12 Ecological Zones and Forestry in 
Bangladesh by J. Davidson, of the UNDP/FAO Project BGD/79/017 Assistance to 
the Forestry Sector, but the editors have not been able to obtain the report. This 
map is overlaid by legal forest reserve boundaries, and shows that some of the 
reserves are no longer forested. Data for this map were obtained from 1984 
satellite imagery; however, according to the literature some regeneration of forest 
has occurred in some protected areas occurring within the forest reserves; e.g. sal 
forest in Madhupur National Park. 

Protected areas information has been largely derived from unpublished data on 
file at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 


97 


14 Brunei 


Land area 5765 sq. km 

Population (1989) 300,000 

Population growth rate 2.7 per cent 

Maximum expected population (2075) 600,000 

Gross national product (1987) US$15.390 per capita 

Rain forest (see map) 4692 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980) 3230 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)f 50 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 294,000 cu. m (1988) 

Fuelwood and charcoal production” 79,000 cu. m (1987) 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 206,000 cu. m (1987) 


1988 dato from FAO (1990 
t FAO/UNEP (1981 


The small Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam is wealthy, its population is mostly urban and well-educated, and the Government 
has been careful in planning its land-use policies. This, combined with high oil revenue, has meant that to date the country has 
had little need for revenue from timber, and forest exploitation has been limited. No timber is exported, so large-scale forest 
destruction has not occurred. Timber extraction for local consumption is allowed, but only under strict control by the Forest 
Department, and clear felling is prohibited. Thus, Brunei is one of the few countries in the region, or, indeed, in the whole of 
the tropics, where widespread felling of the forests for shifting cultivation or the timber industry has not occurred to date. This 
explains why about 81 per cent of the land is still under forest cover, and about 59 per cent under primary forest. 


INTRODUCTION 


Brunei Darussalam is a small Sultanate in the north-west region of 
Borneo which became independent from Britain in 1984. It is inset 
into the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and comprises two sections 
which are separated by the Sarawak district of Limbang, which is 
about 6 km wide at the coast. Lying between 4°02'N and 5°03'N, and 
114°04'E and 115°22’E, Brunei has a coastline of about 161 km facing 
the South China Sea. 

Annual rainfall varies between 2310 mm on the coast to more than 
5080 mm in the mountains. The north-east monsoon (December to 
mid-March) brings drier weather from January through to March. 
During the south-west monsoon period (mid-May to the end of 
October) it rains more frequently. November and December can 
often be rainy months also. 

In western Brunei (the Districts of Brunei-Muara, Tutong and 
Belait), an alluvial and often swampy coastal plain is backed by low 
hills, with further swamps inland along the valleys of the Belait and 
Tutong rivers. Most of the interior in this part of the country lies 
below 90 m altitude, but rises to almost 400 m in the Labi Hills to the 
extreme west. Temburong District, the eastern part of Brunei, 
comprises a swampy coastal plain, rising to hilly and mountainous 
terrain inland. The main mountains are along the border with 
Sarawak, and rise to a peak of 1850 m above sea level at Gunung 
Pagon Priok. 

The population is principally urban, with more than 85 per cent 
living in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, and in the oil-producing 
areas along the western coast. Malays comprise about 68 per cent of 
the population, followed by Chinese (18 per cent). Both groups live 
almost exclusively in Bandar Seri Begawan and the other coastal 
areas. A further 5 per cent of the population comprises a variety of 
races indigenous to Borneo such as Ibans, Dusuns, Muruts and 
Penans living in scattered rural communities. 

The economy of Brunei depends almost entirely on the exploita- 
tion of its rich reserves of oil and natural gas. Between them, these 
account for more than 88 per cent of Government revenue. The 


98 


abundant reserves of hydrocarbons and a relatively small population 
means that the country has one of the highest standards of living in 
eastern Asia. Brunei is now starting to plan diversification of its 
economy so that it will remain viable when oil supplies start to decline 
in the next century. 


The Forests 

The natural vegetation of Brunei includes various rain forest forma- 
tions (Table 14.1). 

@ Most of the country is under lowland evergreen rain forest, rich in 
dipterocarps. 

e@ From about 1000 m above sea level upwards, this gives way to 
montane forest, where dipterocarps are gradually replaced by 
Fagaceae and Lauraceae. 

© Upper montane forest is only found above 1500 m, principally on 
Gunung Pagon Priok in the Temburong area. 

e@ There are small areas of heath forest near the coast. 

Mangroves (see below) and peat swamp forests, although repre- 
senting only a small proportion of the total forest cover, are especially 
important because both have been disturbed excessively in other 
parts of northern Borneo (see chapter 24) and Brunei has probably 
the largest remaining intact patches. The main areas of peat swamp 
forest are in the Belait River basin in western Brunei, where charac- 
teristic raised peat swamp forests exist in a pristine state. All six 
characteristic peat swamp forest types occur here (Scott, 1989). 


Forest Resources 

Most of the population in Brunei live along the coast, and most of the 
country’s development and economy has been centred around oil and 
gas. This means that the forest has not been widely exploited— 
almost 81 per cent of the land area is still under forest cover (Table 
14.1; Map 14.1) and 59 per cent of the country is still under primary 
forest (Anderson and Marsden, 1988). Just over half of this is 
lowland evergreen rain forest rich in dipterocarps, and a further 


Table 14.1 Estimates of forest extent in Brunei 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 2,670 46.3 
Montane 70 1.2 
Inland swamp 1,750 30.4 
Mangrove 200 3.5 
Totals 4,690! 81.4 


This is based on analysis of Map 14.1 (see map legend for details). The totals accord 
very closely with those of the authors of the source map, Anderson and Marsden 
(1988). 


' Anderson and Marsden (1988) estimated that secondary forest covered 
1279 sq km. 


quarter is peat swamp forest. The rest comprises freshwater swamp 
forests, heath and montane forests (Table 14.1 and Map 14.1). 
Estimates of closed forest cover made during the FAO survey (3230 
sq. km) are considered to be underestimates (FAO/UNEP, 1981). 


Forest Management 

The country has an extensive permanent forest estate, consisting of 
eleven legally constituted forest reserves totalling 2277 sq. km which 
are managed by the Forest Department. Forest reserves cover 39 per 
cent of Brunei’s total land area. Almost 86 per cent of the whole 
reserve area is still under primary forest, three-quarters of it 
dipterocarp-rich rain forest. Swamp forest covers only 7.3 per cent of 
the primary reserved forest and 6.5 per cent of the total reserve area. 
This is a poor representation of the forest type, which covers over 30 
per cent of Brunei’s land area. Within forest reserves, a total of 151 
sq. km has been exploited, almost entirely dipterocarp and peat 
swamp forests. 

About 52 per cent of all forested land in Brunei, and 43 per cent of 
all primary forest, lie on state land outside the permanent forest 
estate. A portion of this state land forest is scheduled for conversion 
to other purposes. 

There are no plans to export timber from Brunei, but internal 
demand for wood is expected to increase as the standard of living goes 
up. Brunei is aiming to increase its permanent forest estate with the 
aim that it can be self-sufficient in timber in perpetuity. Proposals to 
implement this ideal have been written as part of an overall strategic 
planning study on Brunei’s forest resources (Anderson and Marsden, 
1988) which suggests that a large new forest reserve, the Belait Peat 
Swamp Forest Reserve, should be created. In addition, the Forestry 
Department proposes to incorporate more lowland dipterocarp for- 
est into the permanent forest estate. This proposal would include 
creating a second new reserve, the Bukit Biang Forest Reserve (27 sq. 
km), as well as extending several existing forest reserves, including 
an area contiguous with Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak (see 
chapter 24). If all these proposals go ahead as planned, the total area 
of permanent forest estate in Brunei would increase by 937 sq. km, an 
increase of 41 per cent in the area of reserved forest. 

In 1989, the Forest Department began formulating proposals for 
forest development and conservation in a ‘Forestry Strategic Plan’ 
for Brunei. It stated that its four main priorities are: 
© Adequate timber production. 
© Development of the timber industry. 

e@ Environmental conservation. 
© Development of non-forest resources such as bamboo and rattan. 


These objectives would be met by rehabilitating natural forest after 


BRUNEI 


logging and reducing timber wastage, coordinating the development 
of rattan and bamboo with that of the local furniture industry, and 
launching a tree plantation programme. The aim would be to have an 
annual yield of plantation timber of 100,000 cu. m by the year 2015. 


Deforestation 

The deforestation rate in Brunei was estimated at 50 sq. km per year 
by FAO (FAO/UNEP, 1981). No new statistics are available, but the 
rate is generally believed still to be very low indeed. The deforesta- 
tion which has taken place has been largely associated with towns, 
roads, and the development of the oil and gas industry in coastal 
areas. The latter is a major factor that will continue to affect the 
conservation of coastal heath forests all along the west Bornean coast, 
including the Brunei coastal heath forests which are acknowledged as 
some of the finest in Borneo. Agriculture, however, is not a major 
cause of forest loss. Shifting agriculture is relatively rare, and is 
mainly practised by a small number of Ibans. 

Plans to diversify the economy could result in further forest 
clearance, especially in the coastal areas, and indeed the Forestry 
Plan proposes increases in the amount of forest to be selectively 
logged. If carefully planned and tied in with an appropriate system of 
conservation areas, however, this should not result in further major 
forest loss. The only habitat which could be overexploited if plans go 
ahead are the peat swamp forests, specifically the zones rich in Shorea 
albida. Although the combined area of existing and proposed peat 
swamp conservation areas (Anduki and Badas Forest Reserves, the 
Ulu Mendaram Conservation Area, and the Belait Peat Swamp 
Forest Research Area) cover some 80 sq. km, these forest formations 
are under-protected at present. 


Mangroves 

Brunei Bay contains some of the most extensive and best-preserved 
mangroves in Southeast Asia. They cover a total area of 184 sq. km or 
3.2 per cent of Brunei’s total land area, and extend into Sarawak and 
Sabah, both of which also fringe the Bay. The mangrove forests of 
Brunei are used to a limited extent for fuelwood and poles. There 
have also been proposals for clearance to make way for fish and prawn 
ponds. 


The Penan are nomadic hunter-gatherers of the rain forests of Brunet and 
elsewhere in Borneo. Families follow traditional trails, gathering the sago 


99 


BRUNEI 


Around the capital the mangrove forests are reported to have been 
damaged by effluent from Kampung Air, the old part of the town 
built out over the water, and by oil spills and industry at the mouth of 
Brunei River. The Brunei Bay mangroves in addition are under 
threat from clearance (mostly illegal) within Limbang, Sarawak, and 
from pollution by silt and debris from forests being logged inland 
(Scott, 1989). There is also a pollution threat from a paper pulp mill 
at Sipitang, Sabah, which discharges effluent into the heart of the 
bay, where it can remain for up to a month (Anon., 1985). 

There are proposals to create mangrove conservation areas on 
Pulau Berambang (7 sq. km) and Pulau Siarau (5 sq. km) and to 
prohibit all timber exploitation in the Brunei mangrove forests 
(Farmer, 1986). The Forestry Department is examining plans to 
allocate more mangrove areas for conservation within the Labu and 
Selirong Forest Reserves. 


Biodiversity 

For two main reasons the diversity of flora and fauna in Brunei is at a 
particularly high level for a country of its size. 

1 It lies within a zone where the floristic diversity is amongst the 
highest in the world and which has large stretches of primary forest of 
several different formations. 

2 Animal diversity has been maintained — largely because a hunting 
lifestyle is not prevalent in Brunei. Guns have been prohibited since 
1962, and the only hunting allowed is on a small scale in the interior, 
using strictly traditional methods (Mittermeier, 1981). Indeed com- 
pared to Sarawak and Sabah, hunting is likely to have a negligible 
effect on wildlife abundance. 

Large tracts of primary forest and lack of hunting mean that many 
species and habitats which are declining rapidly in other parts of 
northern Borneo are still well preserved over significant areas of 
Brunei. All of northern Borneo’s major species are likely to occur 
here, the only notable exceptions being the orang utan and Sumatran 
rhinoceros, which, for reasons unknown, have never been found. 

A fair abundance of Brunei’s species currently suffer little distur- 
bance because of the inaccessibility of much of the interior of the 
country. Species which are close to the Sarawak borders, however, 
are subject to hunting by outsiders. Proboscis monkeys in the Bay 
migrate across from Brunei into Sarawak, where they are hunted, 
and this is depleting the population of the whole area. Similarly, 
flying foxes are often hunted when they fly into Sarawak. More 
seriously, there are reports that illegal poachers from across the 
border enter to shoot them at their roosts. 

Wildlife in Brunei has been given added protection by the 1978 
Wild Life Protection Enactment. This protects 34 species from being 
hunted, kept or exported without a special licence. They include the 
proboscis monkey, clouded leopard, dugong Dugong dugon, great 
argus pheasant Argusianus argus, all eight of Borneo’s hornbill species 
and all three of its marine turtles (Mittermeier, 1981). In addition, 
the Forestry Enactment (1934) and Forest Rules (1956, 1960) regu- 
late the taking of forest produce, whether mineral, plant or animal. 


Conservation Areas 

There is no special legislation allowing for the establishment of 
national parks in Brunei, although the 1978 Wild Life Protection 
Enactment provides for the establishment of wildlife sanctuaries by 
decree of the Sultan. The concept of wildlife sanctuaries in this 
Enactment is not narrowly defined and in current terms should cover 
a range of protected areas, including national parks. 

Prior to this enactment, at least one wildlife sanctuary was estab- 
lished in the mangroves of the northern Temburong District: Labu- 
Selirong Wildlife Sanctuary (25 sq. km), which was gazetted in 1948 
and extended in 1954 (to 90-sq. km) (Scott, 1989). It is included 
within the Labu and Selirong Forest Reserves. 


100 


All existing protected areas are within Forest Reserves, and are 
classified for the purposes of protection, conservation or research by 
the Forestry Department (Table 14.2). The Primary Conservation 
Areas at Ulu Temburong/Batu Apoi Forest Reserve, Sungei Ingei (in 
Labi Hills Forest Reserve) and the Ulu Mendaram are the most 
significant because of their large size, but no less value is accorded to 
Secondary Conservation Areas and other protected sites, which, 
although smaller, contain important samples of Brunei’s varied 
forest and vegetation types. 

Secondary Conservation Areas consist of small reserves or com- 
partments within forest reserves, containing samples of various 
forest types. They occur in Andulau Forest Reserve (13 sq. km), 
Badas Forest Reserve (less than one sq. km), Anduki Forest Reserve 
(9 sq. km) and Bukit Biang (27 sq. km). Additional proposed areas 
include Tasek Merimbun (77 sq. km), Pulau Berambang (7 sq. km) 
and Pulau Siarau (5 sq. km), and the Belait Peat Swamp Forest 
Research Area (15 sq. km) (see below). 

Four ‘Recreation Areas’ have been established by the Forestry 
Department within Forest Reserves. These do not have any legal 
protection above that of Forest Reserve, but they have been set aside 
for education and recreation, with visitor facilities. These are: Sungai 
Liang Arboretum Reserve (less than one sq. km); Luagan Lalak (3 
sq. km); Berakas Forest Forest (2 sq. km) and Peradayan Forest 
Reserve (10 sq. km). A fifth area, at Bukit Shahbandar (c. 2 sq. km), 
is being developed. 

Five Protection Forests play an important environmental role, as 
well as conserving wildlife. The two main areas, Bukit Teraja (68 sq. 
km) and Bukit Bedawan (76 sq. km), are shown on Map 14.1. 
Smaller areas are Bukit Batu Patam (9 sq. km), Bukit Ulu Tutong (3 
sq. km) and the Benutan Catchment (29 sq. km). 


Table 14.2 Conservation areas of Brunei 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. 
The remaining areas are combined in a total under each designation. 
Only areas 50 sq. km or above are mapped. 


Existing Proposed 
area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 
Wildlife Sanctuaries 
Labu-Selirong* 90 
Primary Conservation Areas 
Ulu Temburong/Batu Apoi* 488 
Sungei Ingei* 185 
Ulu Mendaram* 62 
Secondary Conservation Areas 
Four sites (see text)* 50 
Additional Areas 
Tasek Merimbun* 77 
Three sites (see text)* 27 
Protection Forests 
Bukit Teraja* 68 
Bukit Bedawan* 76 
Three sites (see text)* 41 
Recreation Areas (within forest reserves) 
Five sites (see text)* 18 
Totals 1,078 104 


(Source: 1989 data from the Forestry Department, Brunei Darussalam im /itt) 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


BRUNEI 


| 
Map 14.1 Brunei 


Rain Forests S 
lowland 

montane* 

inland swamp 

mangrove 
Conservation areas+ 
| existing 

| proposed 


Non Forest 


115°E 


Labuan |. 


“Higher than 914m (3000') 
| + Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 


_-1:1,000,000 
| 0 10 20 30 kilometers 
io 10 20 miles 


114°E 


Ulu 
Mendaram 


Brunei Bay 
5. See 
i 5°N 
Labu- 
Selirong 
Bedawan 
Pagon Priok 
(1850m) 
Sungei 
Ingei 
4°N 


EASTERN MALAYSIA 


iba 


Six key critical sites merit priority attention and continued protec- 
ton: 

1 The primary inland forests of Ulu Temburong. These include the 
only montane forests of Brunei and the catchment zones of the 
important rivers Temburong, Temawai and Belalong. During a 
single three-week survey in the inland forests of the Upper Tem- 
burong, 48 species of mammals and 105 species of birds were 
recorded. Two species of leaf-monkey recorded were found at higher 
densities than at other sites surveyed in Borneo (Bennett et al. , 1984). 
2 The peat swamp forests of the Belait. These should be given 
greater attention than proposed at present since they will soon be the 
region’s only peat swamp forests that have not been highly disturbed. 
Present proposals suggest protecting only non-commercial forest 
types, but larger areas of the Shorea albida forest should also be 


protected. The commercial peat swamp forests are more diverse 
floristically than other types, and are likely to havea greater diversity 
of fauna. 

3 The mangroves of Brunei Bay harbour important populations of 
the proboscis monkey, which is endangered in Sarawak and Sabah 
and greatly under-protected throughout its range. Within those 
mangroves lies the island of Pulau Siarau, which has a large colony of 
flying foxes. They can be seen leaving the island in thousands every 
evening to forage for fruit in the forests far inland. The mangroves 
also contain significant populations of silvered leaf-monkeys, which 
are endangered in Sarawak, and a variety of coastal birds. 

4 Tasek Merimbun, a unique area of freshwater and peat swamps. 
5 The Batu Patam-Sungei Ingei area, important mainly because 
it is contiguous with Sarawak’s Gunung Mulu National Park. Its 


101 


BRUNEI 


protection would contribute to an extremely spacious conservation 
area, which would offer effective protection even to the larger species 
of mammals and birds. 

6 The coastal belt, where settlement and development will have an 
increasingly significant influence on Brunei’s coastal heath forests. 
This also includes the Arboretum Forest Reserve and compartments 
seven and eight of Andulau Forest Reserve (coastal mixed dip- 
terocarp forests) and the Anduki Forest Reserve, which contains 
Brunei’s only sizeable tract of actively regenerating, dense Dry- 
obalanops rappa swamp forest. 


References 

Anderson, J. A. R. and Marsden, D. (1988) Brunei Forest Resources 
and Strategic Planning Study. Unpublished report to the Govern- 
ment of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara 
Brunei Darussalam. 

Anon. (1985) Environmental impact assessment of the Sabah Tim- 
ber, Pulp and Paper Project, Sipitang, Sabah. In: Reports and 
Recommendations to the Dewan Undangan Negeri Select Committee 
on Flora and Fauna in Sarawak, Appendix B, Ad-hoc Subcommittee 
on Fisheries, Reptiles and Amphibians. Pp. 158-60. Dewan Un- 
dangan Negeri, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. 

Bennett, E. L., Caldecott, J. D. and Davison, G. W. H. (1984) A 
Wildhfe Study of Ulu Temburong, Brunei. Forest Department, 
Kuching and Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia. 61 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-1988. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series 90. FAO, Rome, 
Italy. 

FAO/UNEP (1981). Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 475 pp. 

Farmer, A. S. D. (1986) Negara Brunei Darussalam Master Plan. 
Background Paper: Fisheries and Aquaculture. Huszar Brammah 


102 


Initiatives for Conservation 

The Strategic Forestry Plan for Brunei, mentioned in Forest Re- 
sources and Management above, will be the main vehicle for consol- 
idating the nation’s protected area system and maintaining sustained 
use of production forests. The main features of the plan already exist 
in an unpublished form, following extensive consultations with a 
range of NGOs in recent years. 


and Associates and Department of Town and Country Planning, 
Bandar Seri Begawan. 
Mittermeier, R. A. (1981) 
67-70. 
Scott, D. A. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 1181 pp. 


Brunei Protects Its Wildlife. Oryx 16: 


Authorship 

Elizabeth Bennett in Kuching, with contributions from Wong 
Khoon Meng, Haji Mohd Yassin Bin Ampuan Salleh and Awang 
Haji Abd. Rahman of the Forestry Department and Peter Eaton of 
the University in Brunei Darussalam. 


Map 14.1 Forest cover in Brunei 


The distribution and areas of forest types were obtained from the Brunei Forest 
Resources and Strategic Planning Study prepared by Anderson and Marsden 
(1988), consultants to the Brunei Forest Department. Data on protected areas 
follow the existing classification of the Forestry Department, Brunei Darussalam. 


Land area’ 657,740 sq. km | 
Population (1989) 40.8 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 
Projected maximum population (2150) 
Gross national product US $200 per capita 

Rain forest (see map) 223,390 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 88,460 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)¢ 313,090 sq 
Annual deforestation rate: (1981-5)t 1015 sq. km! LE 
Roundwood production* 21,033,000 wu. m { 
Roundwood exports* 206,000 cu. m 

Fuelwood and charcoal production® 17,046,000 cu. m 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production® 2,789,000 cu. m 


Sawlogs and veneer logs export* 206,000 cu. m 
Also estimated at 6000 sq. km (Allen, 1984 
1988 data from FAO (1990 

ft FAO/UNEP (1981 


15 Burma 
Myanmar 


2.2 per cent per year 
102 million 


m 


The forests of Burma! are of enormous economic, social and environmental significance, but this wealth could be lost in just a 
few decades if the present rate of deforestation and degradation continues. Although Burma has a relatively low population 
density, population pressure is leading to land hunger in some areas, and unsustainable shifting cultivation is causing forest 
depletion on a huge scale. Timber poaching, especially to feed markets in neighbouring countries, and unsustainable felling 
rates in production forests, have also contributed to push Burma’s rate of deforestation up to one of the highest in the world. 
The 1988 ban on logging in Thailand has exacerbated the situation; Thai logging entrepreneurs are shifting their attention to 
Burma as a source of material for the Thai timber mills. 

Burma’s potential for sustainable development will suffer an irreversible setback if present trends run their full course. 
Burma, an economically fragile nation, derives 25 per cent of its foreign earnings from timber exports, and most of this comes 
from teak. Burma once supplied 75 per cent of the world demand for teak, but timber from plantations in Java and elsewhere is 
now on the market. 

Burma’s wildlife populations, which are extremely diverse, with elements of central and Southeast Asian origin, are in 
decline, and becoming increasingly fragmented. Legally protected areas currently cover only 1 per cent of the country. 
Proposals to extend this to 4 per cent by the gazettement of new reserves and parks have stood neglected since 1984. Even these 
proposals fall far short of the minimum network of protected areas that would be required to include representative examples of 
all Burma’s threatened ecosystems. Even the future of the elephant, a symbol of Burmese wildlife and industry, is far from 


assured and two species of rhinoceros, which occurred until well into this century, are now probably extinct. 


INTRODUCTION 


The Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma extends some 2093 km 
between 9°53’N and 28°25’N. An ecological spectrum of great 
variety is found between these extremes, ranging from tropical rain 
forests and coral reefs in the south to montane rain forests with a 
predominantly temperate flora of conifers, oaks and rhododendrons 
in the far north, where snow-capped peaks up to 5729 m mark the 
eastern extremity of the Himalayas. Mountain ranges, known in 
Burma as yomas, form a continuous barrier along the western border 
with India and Bangladesh, and extend southward parallel with the 
coast to the Irrawaddy Delta. In the north-east, the border with 
China follows the high crest of the Irrawaddy—Salween divide, then 
bulges out eastward to enclose the ruggedly mountainous Shan 
Plateau forming the border with Laos and Thailand. 

Between these eastern and western mountain barriers lie the 
fertile, heavily populated plains of the Irrawaddy, with its largest 
tributary, the Chindwin, joining from the north-west. Burma’s other 
great river, the Salween, lies further east. It enters Burma from 
neighbouring Yunnan and flows south, cutting through the Shan 
Plateau in deep gorges, once heavily forested, before running into the 
Gulf of Martaban. In the south lies Tenasserim, which extends south 
to the Kra Isthmus as a long hilly arm. 


The Forests 
Rain forests occur on the west-facing slopes of the mountains which 
run south to north along the western and eastern frontiers. Some 
tropical evergreen rain forests occur in the extreme south, but most 
of the rain forests are semi-evergreen. They have varied floras and in 
the far south there is a strong Malesian influence. To the north, 
temperate elements enter, and in the far north, on the south slopes of 
the Himalayas the montane rain forest has a completely temperate 
flora with various conifers and many rhododendrons. At the upper 
limit of the forest subalpine formations, with temperate floras, are 
found. Tiny patches of tropical montane rain forest occur further 
south, for example on Natma Taung (Mount Victoria, 3053 m). 
The Irrawaddy plains, now almost enurely cleared for agriculture, 
lie in the rain shadow of the western ranges and, especially in the 
central area, have a very dry and seasonal climate. This area orig- 
inally supported so-called indaing, a dry deciduous woodland domi- 
nated by species of Dipterocarpus, and, at its driest central part, a 
small area of tropical thorn forest. Around this dry core occur 


! During the preparation of this atlas, Burma changed its name to Myanmar. The 
country chapters are arranged alphabetically and the editors have used the former, 
more commonly known, name in order to avoid major restructuring. 


103 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 


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105 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 


Elephants have been used for generations n the teak forest of the Pegu Yomas. 
Modern machines, increasingly in vogue, are far more damaging to the 
environment. J. A. McNeely 


monsoon forests, which cover the eastern flanks of the Arakan Yoma 
and Chin Hills. Monsoon forests also occur east of the Salween on the 
Shan Plateau and to the south on the hills along the Thai border. The 
monsoon forests are rich in teak and are also important for pyinkado 
(Xylia dolabriformis). The once extensive inland swamp forests along 
the floodplains of the major rivers have been mostly cleared for 
agriculture (see case study, page 109). 


Forest Resources and Management 

Forest resource inventories in Burma date back to the 1850s, when 
D. Brandis inventoried the teak forests of the Pegu Yomas to obtain 
data for compiling working plans. In the late 1940s there remained 
almost 500,000 sq. km of forest. Aerial photographs taken between 
1953 and 1962 showed an estimated 59 per cent of the country still 
under closed rain and monsoon forest (386,000 sq. km). The FAO/ 
UNEP Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project reported 
closed forest cover reduced to 47 per cent (311,090 sq. km), based on 
1972-5 Landsat satellite imagery. New imagery for 1979-81, stud- 
ied as part of the FAO-assisted National Forest Management and 
Inventory Project, showed a further reduction of intact forest to 42 
per cent (276,250 sq. km) and a recent national report to FAO 
suggested that no more than 36 per cent remained in 1988 (245,000 
sq. km) (U Shwe Kyaw, 1988). 

Based on the 1979-81 imagery, updated by aerial photography, 
FAO produced in 1987 a map showing ‘actual forest’ and ‘forest 
fallow’ (Britto, 1987). The ‘actual forest’ was further subdivided into 
intact and degraded forests, which form the basis of Map 15.1. Table 
15.1 gives estimated areas of these forests. Intact rain and monsoon 
forests cover 257,390 sq. km, which accords well with the FAO 
Statistics given above. A further 54,460 sq. km were considered to be 
degraded at that time. Now, perhaps five years after the last aerial 
photographs were taken, it is certain that the extent of degradation is 
greater still, but as long as forest cover remains, there must be some 
hope for regeneration and recovery. 


106 


The earlier FAO studies undoubtedly overestimated the forest 
area through failing to distinguish bamboo forests and regrowth 
following shifting cultivation from high forest; nonetheless there has 
clearly been a rapid deterioration of the situation in recent decades. 
The now limited areas of monsoon forests (Table 15.1) are being 
degraded particularly rapidly, and valuable timber resources are 
being lost. 

The large-scale forest inventories conducted by the Forest Depart- 
ment since 1982, with the assistance of UNDP/FAO, have focused 
on western Burma and are designed to provide a basis for forest 
development, management and monitoring, and to allow medium 
and long-term planning. By 1987 nearly 110,000 sq. km had been 
surveyed. The inventory data has been computerised, and can be 
used for projecting growth rates, the formulation of forest manage- 
ment plans, the study of silvicultural methods and to supply informa- 
tion to a number of agencies, especially the Ministry of Industry, for 
the planning of industrial and commercial development (U Shwe 
Kyaw, 1988) 


Table 15.1 Estimates of forest extent in Burma, based on analysis 
of Map 15.1 


Areas %of Area %of Totals %of 
intact land degraded land land 
(sq. km) area (sq.km) area area 
Rain forests 
Lowland 147,340 22.4 16,460 2.5 163,800 24.9 
Montane 56,520 8.6 — — 56,520 8.6 
Inland 
swamp — — 170 <0.1 170 <0.1 
Mangrove —_— — 2,900 0.4 2,900 0.4 
Sub totals 203,860 31.0 19,530 3.0 223,390 34.0 
Monsoon 
forests 
Lowland 49,260 7.5 34,930 5.3 84,190 12.8 
Montane 4,270 0.6 —_ — 4,270 0.6 
Sub totals 53,530 8.1 34,930 523) 88,460 13.4 
Totals 257,390 39.1 54,460 8.3 311,850 47.4 


(See Map Legend for details of sources on page 110) 


Burmese teak is a highly-prized timber, now much in demand by Thai timber 
companies frustrated by the e logging ban in Thailand. ae A. McNeely 


1 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 


The Arakan Yomas have suffered extensive degradation.Their monsoon forests, now penetrated by extensive bamboo, have lost much of their value. J. A. Sayer 


Forest-type maps are being prepared by the Burma Forest Depart- 
ment at 1:50,000 scale for the western part of the country, encom- 
passing about 40 per cent of the closed forests. To 1987, 90 maps had 
been prepared, and half of them printed. 

The monsoon forests in the hills and foothills are of supreme 
commercial importance for their stands of teak and this is one of the 
few areas where management for timber has proved sustainable over 
a long period. Twenty-five per cent of Burma’s national revenue is 
sull derived from the sale of teak, harvested under the ‘Burma 
Selection System’, a polycyclic silvicultural system in which low 
volumes of mature trees of stipulated minimum girth are harvested 
on a 25—40 year felling cycle. This system has been practised for 
longer than any other in the tropics and the forests of the Pegu 
Yomas, north of Rangoon, are now undergoing their third or fourth 
cycle of extraction. Traditionally, elephants are used to haul the logs 
to river banks from where they are floated to railways or ports. Post- 
logging silvicultural treatments include cutting of climbers and 
killing of uneconomic trees that are competing with desirable trees. 
This system has been in operation since the mid-19th century and has 
proved most successful in maintaining a sustained yield of top quality 
umber with minimum environmental disturbance. 

The numerous external forestry aid projects during the 1980s, 
however, have favoured more intensive forest exploitation, with 
large investment in mechanised logging equipment. This trend has 
been exacerbated by Thailand’s 1988 ban on umber exploitation, 
which has intensified the pressure to exploit Burma’s forests. The 
replacement of elephants by machines has inevitably had serious 
environmental consequences. Not only will this cause degradation 
that could spell the end of economic logging but it will also diminish 
the value of the forests as wildlife habitat. 

Even more seriously, the economies of scale associated with 
mechanisation will favour monocyclic clear-felling systems, or even 
the complete abandonment of natural forest management in favour of 
timber production from plantations. (For explanation of timber 
felling systems see chapter 6.) 

The managed teak forests of the Pegu Yomas still retain most of the 
species of animals and plants found in natural forests, but if the 
present trends continue, and these are gradually converted to planta- 
uons or to more uniform systems, many species will be lost. 


An associated problem has arisen, resulting from the amount of 
funds channelled into the State Timber Corporation for logging 
operations. This has diverted national personnel and funds away 
from the Forest Department, which has consequently been neg- 
lected, thereby greatly reducing its capacity for effective forest 
conservation and management. 

There is great potential for plantation forestry on degraded and 
deforested lands in Burma, to relieve pressure on the remaining 
natural forests. However, by 1985 the total area of plantation forest in 
Burma was only about 2210 sq. km, less than one per cent of the 
country. In former times there was extensive planting of teak and 
other hardwoods, much of it by shifting cultivators using the taungya 
system (see below). More recently the trend has been towards fast- 
growing exotics, especially eucalypts, which are grown both for 
fuelwood and paper production. By 1985 175 sq. km of eucalypts had 
been planted, much of it in the central dry zone. 


Deforestation 

Prior to the second Anglo-Burmese war in 1852, large areas of the 
Irrawaddy delta and plains were still clothed in mangrove, monsoon 
and rain forests. At that time, the economic centre of Burma was in 
the dry zone around the ancient capital of Sagaing and cultivation in 
Lower Burma was limited to the Irrawaddy, Bassein and Sittang 
valleys. British officials however, regarded mangrove forest and 
lowland rain forest as impediments to economic development, and 
under the British colonial administration there was a great expansion 
of rice production in this area. In 1830 an estimated area of 2670 sq. 
km was under rice cultivation in Lower Burma, but this rose rapidly 
to 5397 sq. km in 1860, 34,610 sq. km in 1900 and 51,810 sq. km in 
1940 (Golay et al., 1969; Bixler, 1971). The consequences for natural 
forest cover were devastating. Today, virtually the entire lowland 
area, apart from a few forest reserves in the delta, is used for growing 
rice. Crops are grown right up to the edges of river banks and only 
scattered trees remain. The estimated rate of deforestation is 6000 sq. 
km per year, equivalent to 0.88 per cent of the total land area, and is 
equal to over 2 per cent of the estimated remaining rain and monsoon 
forest cover (Allen, 1984). This is one of the highest deforestation 
rates in the world, representing a catastrophic rise from the previous, 
1975, estimate of around 1250 sq. km per year (Allen, 1984). 


107 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 


The 1972—5 and 1979-81 satellite assessments estimate the areas 
of rain and monsoon forests affected by shifting cultivation as about 
26 and 28 per cent of the country respectively (U Shwe Kyaw, 1988). 
The total remaining area of relatively undisturbed closed canopy rain 
and monsoon forest is probably less than 20 per cent of the total land 
area, much of it fragmented and in remote hill country. The pro- 
posed Pakchan Reserve with about 650 sq. km is the most viable site 
for protection, but even here the proportion of lowland forest is very 
low and considerable disturbance has already occurred (see case 
study). 

Over a very long period of time the low-lying and densely popu- 
lated Irrawaddy delta, Irrawaddy and Sittang plains, and the coastal 
regions of Arakan, Mon and Tenasserim have lost virtually all forest 
cover (Allen, 1984). Some coastal regions were settled by the Mons 
more than a thousand years ago. From the 9th century onwards, the 
Burmans settled in the Irrawaddy plains and forest destruction was 
probably underway many centuries ago, although some areas of 
swamp forest still existed along the Sittang valley until the Second 
World War (Smythies, 1953) in areas now totally devoted to agricul- 
ture. 

In the uplands, shifting cultivation, known as taungya in Burma, is 
still the major agent of forest destruction, even in some areas which 
are theoretically protected as reserves. All forest types are affected as 
rising populations of itinerant farmers are steadily eating into the 
forest. Taungya farming has been practised for many years in the 
uplands by non-Burman Karen, Shan, Chin, Kachin and Chinese 
tribes. In the past, most forests were minimally affected by ‘slash and 
burn’, as a cultivation cycle of 20 years allowed fertility to be 
restored. However, increasing population pressure has led to a 
reduction in the number of years of the cycle and has forced farmers 
to penetrate further and further into the forest. The impact of 
shifting cultivation is most acute in the remote hill areas occupied by 
the ethnic minorities. Very large areas of forest have been cleared in 
eastern Shan State along the border with Laos and China; in Kayah 
State; in the north-east of Sagaing Division of upper Salween State, 
along the border with India; and in Chin State. In the Chin Hills, 
Arakan, and Pegu Yomas and on the Shan Plateau there are areas 
where the original forest is so degraded that it has been replaced by 
bamboo or by /mperata grasslands. Vast areas along the western 
flanks of the Arakan Yomas are now covered by virtually pure stands 
of the bamboo Melocanna bambusoides. 

The precise impact of deforestation on Burma’s environment is 
hard to gauge. Widespread clearance could lead to a cycle of 
droughts, floods and erosion as the protective forest cover is lost. 
However, it is worth noting that severe drought also occurred in the 
late 19th century, when forests were very much more extensive than 
today, and flooding in the Irrawaddy valley has underpinned rice 
production for centuries. 


Mangroves 

Mangrove forests occur along the coastline and their area has been 
variously estimated at 5000-8000 sq. km (FAO/UNEP, 1981; 
Saenger et al., 1983). Map 15.1 and Table 15.1 probably underesti- 
mate the total area remaining now, but it is certain that very little 
remains pristine. Exploitation by rural people is considerable. 

The mouths of the Irrawaddy once had huge mangrove forests. 
Most remaining mangrove is in isolated blocks in the Irrawaddy 
Delta, on the Tenasserim and Arakan coasts and on offshore islands, 
notably Meinmahla Island. 

Mangrove plantations have been established in Taikkyi, near 
Rangoon, at the rate of approximately 16 sq. km per annum, in an 
attempt to relieve exploitation pressure on natural forest. Areas for 
conservation have been suggested (FAO, 1985b; Scott, 1989), in- 


108 


cluding Meinmahla Kyun (Island), 129 sq. km, where exploitation is 
light (FAO, 1985b) and where an estuarine crocodile ranching 
operation is proposed. 


Biodiversity 

Approximately 7000 flowering plant species have been recorded in 
Burma (Hundley and Chit Ko Ko, 1961) and some 1071 vascular 
plant species have been identified as endemic (Chatterjee, 1939, cited 
in Legris, 1974). Burma is home to about 300 mammal species, and 
large mammals such as elephant, gaur, banteng, sambar, barking 
deer, tiger and leopard Panthera pardus are widely distributed in 
many of the less disturbed forested regions. The Javan rhinoceros 
and the Sumatran rhinoceros, however, are now almost certainly 
extinct in Burma (Blower, 1982). In the south, the lowland rain 
forests of Tenasserim support a quite distinct fauna with a Malesian 
character. Two species of mouse deer and the endangered tapir, 
which reaches its northerly limits in Tenasserim, add yet another 
element of diversity to Burma’s forests. 

About 1000 bird species have been recorded (Smythies, 1953). 
This enormously high diversity is due to the country straddling two 
zoogeographic regions, each with a different avifauna. The forests of 
Tenasserim in the south contain many Malesian species, whereas in 
the central and northern part of the country the birds have Indian and 
Chinese affinities. A large number of Himalayan species also occur in 
the montane forests of north and west Burma. Some 40 species 
throughout Burma are under world-wide threat (Collar and Andrew, 
1988). 

In general, Burma’s wildlife is very diverse, but has few species 
which are native to the country. For example, 68 swallowtail but- 
terflies are present, a total exceeded only by Indonesia, China, Brazil 
and India. This represents 12 per cent of all known swallowtail 
butterfly species in the world, but no endemic species have been 
found (Collins and Morris, 1985). Similarly, the avifauna includes 
about 12 per cent of all the birds in the world, but with unusually low 
endemism (Smythies, 1953). The forests of Burma can therefore be 
thought of as important reservoirs of biodiversity, supporting Indian 
and Chinese species in the north and Malesian types in the south. 


Conservation Areas 

The legal protection of natural resources in Burma rests on two laws, 
both dating from the colonial period. The 1902 Burma Forest Act (as 
amended) enables the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests to estab- 
lish, manage and protect game sanctuaries and reserved forests on 
any government land. Reserved forests are production forests subject 
to exploitation for timber and other forest produce, but they are 
maintained under natural forest cover, and so have a valuable role to 
play in ecological conservation. A large number of reserved forests 
were established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, 
covering approximately 100,000 sq. km, or 15 per cent of land area. 
The distribution of these reserved forests, which almost exclusively 
fall between the 1000 mm and 2000 mm rainfall bands, indicates that 
the British colonial administration established them to provide a 
sustained output of hardwood timber, especially teak. 

Wildlife in reserved forests in theory may not be hunted without a 
permit, but the conservation of biological resources per se was only 
addressed through the creation of game sanctuaries. These were 
primarily intended to protect hunting stock and the first was estab- 
lished in 1918. Local authorities were enabled to administer hunting 
in their areas but comprehensive game rules were not formulated 
until 1927 (Weatherbe, 1940). 

The 1902 Forest Act was enhanced by the 1936 Burma Wildlife 
Protection Act (amended in 1954), which provides for the establish- 
ment of game sanctuaries on any government land or on private land 
where the owner’s consent has been obtained. The Act prohibits 


hunting and fishing in game sanctuaries and requires a licence for 
these activities in reserved forests. One shortcoming, however, is 
that although the 1902 Forest Act and the 1936 Wildlife Protection 
Act theoretically provide protection for wildlife in both reserved 
forests and in game sanctuaries, neither act includes measures which 
specifically protect habitat. 

Responsibility for managing forest resources, protecting wildlife 
and managing the 15 existing game sanctuaries rests with the Forest 
Department, which is one of the oldest in Asia. Its power is limited, 
however, because the State Timber Corporation, responsible for 
umber extraction, processing and sale (but which is not involved in 
forest management) is politically more influential (Blower, 1985). 
Due to the fact that the State Timber Corporation is a more powerful 
body, its interests have tended to predominate in decisions on the use 
of forest resources. 

Between 1981 and 1984 UNDP and FAO carried out a Nature 
Conservation and National Parks Project to identify areas suitable for 
national parks and nature reserves. Surveys and feasibility studies 
were conducted over 24 areas, and several critical sites were identi- 
fied in the rain forests, namely Nam Lang Valley, Packchan, Al- 
aungdaw Kathapa, Lampi, Kyaukpandaung and the Moscos 
Islands. A proposal to follow up the work has not been pursued, at 
least partly because of political uncertainties. 

The current, fully gazetted protected areas network comprises 15 
game sanctuaries, two parks with primarily recreational functions, 
and a single national park. The legislative basis for the latter is not 
clearly defined. The 15 game sanctuaries have been badly neglected 
over the past 30 years and many of them have been encroached and 
have lost most of their conservation value. (See Table 15.2.) 

The protected areas system covers 7080 sq. km, or one per cent of 
the national land area, an inadequate sample of the nation’s natural 
resources (FAO, 1985a). If all proposed sites were to be gazetted, 
approximately 4 per cent of land would be protected, but even these 
areas do not provide adequate coverage of all major ecosystems, nor 
ensure the survival of even such significant species as elephant. In 
1985 it was proposed that new legislation be passed which would not 
only strengthen conservation efforts but also make provision for the 
establishment of national parks and nature reserves (FAO, 1985b). 
However, these proposals have yet to be implemented. 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 
Table 15.2 Conservation areas of Burma 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. 
The remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. 
Forest reserves are not included. 


Existing Proposed 
area area 

National Parks (ek ie) (Sibley) 
Alaungdaw Kathapa* 1,606 
Kyaukpandaung* 1,300 
Lampi* 3,885 
Natma Taung* 364 
Pegu Yomas* 1,462 
Game Sanctuaries 
Inle Lake 643 
Kahilu* 161 
Kyatthin 268 
Maymyo 103 
Minwun Taung 201 
Mulayit* 139 
Pidaung* 705 
Shwe u Daung* 327 
Shwesettaw* 552 
Tamanthi* 2,151 
Wildlife Sanctuaries 
Meinmahla Kyun* 129 
Mohingyi 90 
Nature Reserves 
Pakchan* 259 
Sub total 6,856 7,489 
Other Areas 224 12,201 
Totals 7,080 19,690 


(Sources: IUCN, 1990; WCMC data im litt.) 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


PROPOSED PAKCHAN NATURE RESERVE 


The proposed Pakchan Nature Reserve (259 sq. km) lies between 
the Andaman Sea and the Thailand border in the far south of 
Burma. The reserve would be established in the Pakchan Re- 
served Forest (1453 sq. km), which was established in 1931. The 
land rises steeply from sea level to a north-south oriented water- 
shed up.to 900 m high. This constitutes part of the Isthmus of 
Kra, separating the Gulf of Thailand from the Andaman Sea. The 
climate is monsoonal, with a mean annual rainfall of about 4000 
mm, and it is at a transition point between the distinct wet and dry 
seasons of most of Burma and the more even rainfall patterns of 
Peninsular Malaysia. The surrounding areas are sparsely popu- 
lated, and there is thought to be no resident population in the 
reserved forest with the possible exception of a few resin tappers. 
© Some of the little remaining mature rain forest in Burma is 
found here, although it is under threat by legally sanctioned 
umber extraction in the low-lying western areas and, more ser- 
iously, by extensive illegal logging in the east, allegedly by loggers 
from Thailand. 

@ The reserve is highly valued for its extensive and largely 
untouched evergreen dipterocarp rain forest. 


e The forests support a diverse fauna and protect the watershed 
between the coast and the Pakchan Valley. 

e@ The forest is characterised by a number of species restricted 
within the country to Tenasserim. Dipterocarpaceae are the 
dominant trees and the Burmese endemic palm Calamus 
helferianus is present. 

@ The coastal strip supports mangrove forests in excellent condi- 
tion and these merge into small freshwater swamp forests. The 
latter, with an abundance of orchids and ferns, are now rare in 
Burma. 

@ Both typical Burmese species, such as elephant, tiger and 
leopard, and Malaysian species, such as clouded leopard, Malayan 
sun-bear and tapir, are found in the forest. 

@ Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), the rare great argus pheasant, 
Malay peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron malacense), crested fire- 
back pheasant (Lophura ignita rufa), kalij pheasant (L. leuc- 
omelana crawfurdi), wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus), and 
and possibly the endangered Gurney’s pitta, are just a few of the 
birds to be found here. 


109 


BURMA (MYANMAR) 


The deficiencies of the protected areas system include the follow- 
ing: 
e No significant rain forests are included in the present protected 
area system, although the proposed Pakchan Nature Reserve would 
to some extent rectify this. 
e There are also no protected areas in the entire upper catchment of 
the Irrawaddy to the north of Myitkyina, where maintenance of 
forest cover is critical for watershed protection and where many rare 
and unusual plants and animals occur. 
e No protected areas have been gazetted in North Kachin, the Chin 
Hills or the Arakan or Pegu Yomas (Blower, 1982; 1985). 
e Monsoon forests are not widely represented but do occur in the 
proposed national park at Alaungdaw Kathapa and in the deciduous 
dipterocarp (indaing ) woodlands of the game sanctuary at Kyatthin. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Cooperative projects between the Government and international 
bodies are relatively rare, as the Burmese Government has for many 
years pursued an isolationist foreign policy. Individual researchers 
and international non-government organisations have had difficulty 


References 

Allen, P. E. T. (1984) A quick new appraisal of the forest cover of 
Burma, using Landsat satellite imagery at 1:1,000,000 scale. 
Technical Note 11, FAO/UNEP National Forest Survey and In- 
ventory. BUR/79/011. 6 pp. 

Bixler, N. (1971) Burma: a profile. Preager Publishers, New York, 
USA. 244 pp. 

Blower, J. (1982) Species conservation priorities in Burma. In: 
Species conservation priorities in the tropical forests of south-east 
Asia. [UCN SSC Occasional Paper No. 1. Mittermeier, R. A. and 
Konstant, W. R. (eds), pp. 53-8. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 

Blower, J. (1985) Conservation priorities in Burma. Oryx 19: 
79-85. 

Britto, N. B. (1987) National forest management and inventory of 
Burma. Report on cartographic consultancy. Forest Department 
of Burma/FAO, Rangoon. 21 pp. and 3 appendices. 

Champion, H. G. (1936) A preliminary survey of the forest types of 
India and Burma. Jndian Forest Record (n.s.) Silva 1(1). 

Chatterjee, D. (1939) Studies on the endemic flora of India and Burma. 
Fournal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal Science 5: 19-67. 

Collar, N. J. and Andrew, P. (1988) Birds to watch. The ICBP 
World checklist of threatened birds. Technical Publication No. 8. 
International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK. 

Collins, N. M. and Morris, M. G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail 
Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. UCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 401 pp. 

FAO (1985a) Burma: survey data and conservation priorities. Nature 
conservation and national parks project FO:BUR/80/006. Techni- 
cal Report No. 1. FAO, Rome, Italy. 102 pp. 

FAO (1985b) Burma: project findings and recommendations. Nature 
conservation and national parks project FO:DP/BUR/80/006. 
Terminal Report. FAO, Rome, Italy. 69 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products, 1977-78. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series 1990. FAO, Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 475 pp. 

Golay, F. H., Anspach, R., Pfanner, M. R. and Ayal, E. B. (1969) 
Burma. In: Underdevelopment and Economic Nationalism in South- 
east Asia. Golay, F. H. (ed.), pp. 203-65. Cornell University Press. 

Hundley, H.G. and Chit Ko Ko, U.(1961) List of trees, shrubs, herbs 
and principal climbers etc. recorded from Burma with vernacular names. 
Third edition. Government Printing Press, Rangoon. 532 pp. 


110 


gaining access to the country. Consequently, efforts to mitigate or 
reduce deforestation through development assistance programmes 
have been quite limited. In addition to the UNDP/FAO activities 
described above, US-based organisations such as US—AID, US 
National Parks Service, and WWF-US, have made a limited contri- 
bution to the training of protected areas management staff in the 
Forest Department. Burma has not yet made any request for assis- 
tance under the Tropical Forestry Action Plan (see chapter 10). 

An FAO/UNEP project provided technical advice and material 
support to nature conservation from 1981 to 1984. The project was 
then temporarily suspended. Negotiations for a resumption of ac- 
tivity were almost complete when the civil disturbance of 1988 
intervened to cause further delays. In the meantime nature conserva- 
tion activities are continuing at a modest level under a small division 
within the Forest Department. The Alaungdaw Kathapa National 
Park in the monsoon forests of the lower Chindwin and the Hlawga 
zoo and educational facility just outside Rangoon are the main focus 
of attention. No conservation programmes as such are being under- 
taken in rain forest areas and even the forest management work in 
these areas is suffering from neglect. 


IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. (UCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Legris, P. (1974) Vegetation and floristic composition of humid 
tropical continental Asia. In: Natural Resources Research 12: 
217-38. Unesco, Paris, France. 

Saenger, P., Hegerl, E. J.and Davie, J. D.S.(1983) Globalstatus of 
mangrove systems. Commission on Ecology Papers No. 3. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland. 88 pp. 

Salter, R. E.(1983) Summary of currently available information on 
international threatened species in Burma. FAO Nature Conserva- 
tion and National Parks Project. Field Document 7/83. FAO, 
Rangoon, Burma. 76 pp. 

Scott, D. A. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. UCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 1,181 pp. 

Smythies, B. E. (1953) The Birds of Burma. Oliver and Boyd, 
London, UK. 

U Shwe Kyaw (1988) In: National report: Burma. Ad Hoc FAO/ 
ECE/FINNIDA Meeting of Experts on Forest Resource Assessment. 
Bulletins of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 284, pp. 147-52. 
FINNIDA, Helsinki, Finland. 

Weatherbe, D.A.(1940) Burma’s decreasing wildlife. Journal of the 
Bombay Natural History Society 42: 150-60. 


Authorship 

John Blower in Guernsey and James Paine at WCMC, Cambridge, 
with contributions from U Saw Hahn and U Ohn in Rangoon and 
Harold Sutter in FAO, Rome. 


Map 15.1 Forest cover in Burma 


Forest cover is taken from Britto (1987) Appendix III, an A4 sized coloured map, 
based on 1:1 million Landsat MSS and RBV imagery of 1979-81 carried out for 
the FAO/UNDP Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project and updated 
using aerial photography. This map, essentially unpublished, is a product of the 
FAO Burma National Forest Management and Inventory Project, which included 
a report on cartography. ‘Actual forest’ category has been selected and ‘Forest 
fallow’ omitted on the grounds of low value for biological diversity and poor 
prognosis for the future. As in Britto’s (1987) original map, forest cover is divided 
between intact and degraded forests. Forest types have been extrapolated from 
Champion (1936). Protected areas and proposed protected areas are taken from 
Salter (1983), an unpublished report of the FAO Nature Conservation and 
National Parks Project. 


16 Cambodia 


Land area = 176,520 sq. km 
Population (1989) 6.8 million 
Expected maximum population (2150) 20 million } 
Rain forest (see map) 65,500 sg. km } 
Monsoon forest (see map) 47,750 sa. km | | 
Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest 1980f 71,680 sq. km @ 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)t 250 sq. km a y 
Roundwood production* 5,677,000 cu. m 
Roundwood exports* No data 

Fuelwood and charcoal production*® 5,110,000 cu. m 
Sawlog and veneer log production® 105,000 cu. m 
Sawlog and veneer log exports* No data 


~ 1988 data from FAO (1990 
t FAO/UNEP (1981 


Until the 1970s, Cambodia was a tranquil backwater in the heart of Indo-China. It had extensive forests whose valuable timber 
was largely unexploited, some of Southeast Asia’s most important wetlands and the Khmer Ruins, a spectacular reminder of the 
turbulent history of the region. Then the Vietnam War spilled over into the country, and for 20 years every aspect of Cambodian 
life was totally disrupted. Data on the remaining extent and condition of Cambodia’s forests are extremely poor. The only 
mapped information dates back to 1970 and statistical data to 1980. 


INTRODUCTION 


Cambodia is situated in tropical Indo-China, straddling the great 
Mekong River between Thailand and Vietnam, with Laos to the 
north-east. The greater part of Cambodia comprises the plain of the 
lower Mekong valley, with the western slopes of the Annamite chain 
in the east lying along the Vietnam frontier, and the isolated high- 
lands of the Elephant and Cardamom mountains in the west, adjacent 
to south-east Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand. The country has a 
short coastline of only 435 km. The climate is dominated by the 
south-west and north-east monsoons; the south-west monsoon last- 
ing from May to October and the north-east from November to 
March. The average annual rainfall is between 1200 mm and 1875 
mm, with a pronounced dry season between November and March, 
but rainfall up to 3000-4000 mm may be experienced in the south- 
west (Legris and Blasco, 1972). 

The Mekong river runs southward across the plains, its delta lying 
in Vietnam. Part of the western plains are occupied by the huge, 
shallow Tonlé Sap or Great Lake, which flows into the Mekong 
throughout most of the year, but which usually floods back from the 
main river during the rainy season, becoming a vast storage reservoir. 
During the dry season, the vast floodplains of the Mekong River and 
Tonlé Sap are extensively cultivated. The Cardamom mountain 
range dominates the south-west of the country, rising to an elevation 
of 1563 m. In the south and south-east are low plains bordering the 
Mekong River, extensive areas of which are seasonally flooded. 
North of Tonlé Sap, the area leading to the borders with Laos and 
Thailand consists of rolling savanna country with some open grass- 
land and areas of deciduous forest. 

The 1989 population was estimated at 6.8 million, more than 90 
per cent of whom were Khmer, with small minorities of Vietnamese 
and Chinese. The southern part of the country is densely settled and 
largely given over to rice growing; indeed agriculture and fisheries 
are by far the most important sources of livelihood. Some 93 per cent 
of the cultivated land is dedicated to rice production, which accounts 
for 40 per cent of the gross domestic agricultural product. To the 
north the human population is generally low; for example, there are 
as few as four persons per sq. km in the Stung Treng and Mondulkiri 
Provinces. 


The Forests 

The Elephant and Cardamom mountains in the west, and the western 
slopes of the eastern Annamite chain, are open to the full force of the 
south-west monsoon. The tropical moist forests of these ranges and 
adjoining lowlands covered over half of Cambodia as recently as the 
1960s. Evergreen rain forests were confined to the western slopes of 
the Elephant and Cardamom ranges, while semi-evergreen rain 
forests were extensive in the lowlands to the east of the Tonlé Sap and 
on the western slopes of the Annamite chain. The forests on the 
Annamite mountains have largely been cleared or severely damaged 
by shifting cultivation. They also suffered from defoliation and 
bombing during the Vietnam war. 

By contrast, the forests of the Elephant and Cardamom moun- 
tains, particularly the rain forests on the western slopes, are said to be 
little disturbed, due to the very low human population of this region. 
Rollet (1972), and Legris and Blasco (1972) have described these rain 
forests. At lower elevations, Palaquium obovatum is common. Five 
species of Dipterocarpaceae — Anisoptera costata, A. glabra, Dip- 
terocarpus costatus, Hopea odorata and Shorea hypochra — are wide- 
spread. Palms, particularly rattans, are especially abundant. 
Fagaceae are also present, notably Castanopsis and Lithocarpus. 
Curious patches of dwarf forest occur in poorly drained depressions. 
These are rich in palms, and also include the conifers Dacrydium 
pierre and Podocarpus neriifolius. At elevations above 700 m, the 
forests are subject to frequent fog, high winds and low winter 
temperatures. Species of Fagaceae are more frequent and include an 
endemic oak, Quercus cambodiensis. 

Freshwater permanent and seasonal swamp forest once occurred 
in the area surrounding the Tonlé Sap. The same formation, domi- 
nated by Melaleuca, also occurred in the Mekong delta on the south- 
east frontier adjacent to Vietnam. Mangroves were once extensive 
around Veal Renh and Kompong Som bays, and north of Kas Kong, 
up to the border with Thailand. Only discontinuous bands of 
mangrove now remain and production of firewood and charcoal has 
declined. 

The rest of Cambodia has a drier, more seasonal climate and the 
climax vegetation normally consists of a variety of dense deciduous 
and semi-deciduous monsoon forest formations. Vast areas, 


111 


CAMBODIA 


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112 


however, have been degraded by shifting agriculture and fire, and 
these areas are now covered with open savanna woodlands. It is this 
which is the predominant vegetation east of the Mekong River and in 
the area north of Tonlé Sap up to the borders with Thailand and 
Laos. 


Forest Resources and Management 

The most recent information on the forest resources of Cambodia 
derives from FAO/UNEP (1981), which was republished in FAO 
(1988). Closed broadleaved forests were estimated to cover an area of 
71,500 sq. km in 1980, with open forest (woodlands) to cover a 
further 51,000 sq. km. The only available forest map of Cambodia, 
however, was published in 1971, based on late 1970 data (Legris and 
Blasco, 1971), and in the absence of anything more recent this forms 
the basis of Map 16.1. With 20 years intervening, it will come as no 
surprise that the forest areas indicated by this map are seriously at 
variance with current estimates. Table 16.1, derived from Map 16.1, 
for example, indicates closed forest cover of 113,250 sq. km up to 
1970, over 50 per cent greater than the FAO/UNEP 1980 estimate of 
71,500 sq. km and 70 per cent greater than a reasonable 1990 estimate 
of 66,500 sq. km. Estimates of closed forest cover of 131,735 sq. km 
in 1960-62 indicate a reduction of Cambodia’s forests by half during 
the last 30 years (US Department of Energy, 1986). (See map legend 
on page 115 for further discussion. ) 

In 1970, 39,000 sq. km, 30 per cent of the national forest area, was 
given reserve status. Of this, 24,000 sq. km, or 62 per cent, was 
described as dense forest. The forest reserves were open to exploita- 
tion for timber and other products under Forest Department control. 
They were to be managed as permanent forest estate, but there were 
no plans to help forest regeneration (FAO/UNEP, 1981). Disruption 
caused by the war, however, has meant that the Forest Department 
has ceased virtually all activity in the past two decades. In recent 
years, some limited support has been obtained from Vietnam and 
FAO to rebuild an effective forest service, and FAO has begun work 
on an assessment of forest resources. 

The forest reserves have an important part to play in the economy 
of Cambodia. The country produced 600,000 cu. m of sawlogs and 
peeler logs in 1969, which were mostly for domestic consumption. 
Nearly all forest exploitation was carried out by small-scale local 
enterprises. It has been tentatively estimated that production 
declined to about 100,000 cu. m per annum during the 1970s (FAO/ 
UNEP, 1981). Although 105,000 cu. m is quoted at the top of this 
chapter, in reality there is little information available on present 
production levels. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) estimated the standing crop of timber in 
closed broadleaved forests in Cambodia in 1980 to be 1061 million cu. 
m. This is three times the volume (325 million cu. m) estimated for 
Thailand and double the volume estimated for Laos (644 million cu. 
m). This suggests that forestry could become a major contributor to 
the Cambodian economy. But it also points to the possibility that 
heavy commercial pressure from timber-starved Thailand, which 
banned logging in 1989, and from Vietnam, will force an acceleration 
of the logging of Cambodian forests. During 1989, reports appeared 
in the Thai press of Thai entrepreneurs negotiating contracts for 
large consignments of timber and rattan from Cambodia. Significant 
amounts of timber from northern Cambodia are already imported 
into Thailand through the Lao frontier post of Pakse. 

Important yields of several non-timber products also have been 
obtained from Cambodia’s forests in the past. These products were 
subject to government controls until 1970 and included honey, wood 
oil, resins from Dipterocarpaceae and Pinus merkusii, rattans, car- 
damom, bamboos and a variety of barks and tannins. Local exploita- 
tion of these products presumably continues, but no data are 
available and government control is presumably minimal. 


CAMBODIA 
Table 16.1 Estimates of forest extent in Cambodia 


Area remaining 


(sq. km) 
Rain forests 
Lowland 55,500 
Montane 2,250 
Inland swamp 7,500 
Mangrove 250 
Sub total 65,500 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 47,750 
Sub total 47,750 
Total 113,250 


Based on analysis of Map 16.1, which is derived from data published in 1971. (See 
Map Legend for details.) 


Deforestation 

Cambodia’s great fertile plains, productive fisheries and valuable 
forests have been the home of several great kingdoms. The most 
powerful and influential of these was the Khmer empire of the 12th 
and 13th centuries. During this period most of the central forest 
lands of the country were cleared and farmed, and a formidable 
system of irrigation canals and reservoirs established. Tropical mon- 
soon forests that now grow on these lands are sufficiently old to be 
indistinguishable from primary forest. 

Ever since the collapse of the Khmer empire in the 15th century, 
Cambodia has suffered successive invasions by the Thais in the north 
of the country, and has also lost most of the Mekong delta regions to 
Vietnamese colonists in the south. Its population was small and the 
country itself remained a quiet backwater until colonisation by the 
French in the 19th century. At this time most of the moist forest 
types remained undisturbed. Some forest was cleared at this time for 
umber and more for industrial plantations, notably of rubber, but 
the pace of development did not noticeably quicken. The deciduous 
savanna forests were thinned by man-made fire, but this was 
used more as a hunting technique than an agricultural aid 
(Wharton, 1957). Semi-evergreen rain forests on the southern face of 
the Dangrek mountains were, however, destroyed by repeated 
burning. 

The biggest incursions into the remaining forests were made 
during the Indochinese wars (starting in the 1960s) and during the 
brief regime of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s under Pol Pot. 
Although officially outside the declared war zone, the eastern border 
of Cambodia was the scene of intense fighting. The various paths of 
the famous Ho Chi Minh trail, which provided a means of supplying 
the Vietcong forces fighting in South Vietnam, wound through the 
forests. The American airforce attempted to disrupt this supply line 
by repeated bombing, herbicide spraying, laying of mines and other 
military operations, and these forests are still littered with bomb 
craters and unexploded mines. 

The Vietnam war was followed by civil war in Cambodia. The 
Khmer Rouge used the forest as a refuge and recruiting area until 
they were able to launch their successful attack on Phnom Penh in 
1974. Immediately upon assuming power, the Khmer Rouge leaders 
ordered a redistribution of the population. Rural people were moved 
from one side of the country to the other and the entire population of 
Phnom Penh and of other towns was forced into the country to clear 
new lands for agriculture. 


113 


CAMBODIA 


Apart from causing indescribable human misery and the deaths of 
perhaps as many as three million people, this policy had disastrous 
environmental consequences. Extensive areas of forest were cleared 
and the huge quantities of rat poison used in agriculture poisoned 
waterways, which in turn damaged the country’s formerly prolific 
fisheries. Many of the originally well-organised irrigation and agri- 
cultural systems collapsed. Those who could escape the reign of 
terror fled the country or took refuge in the deep forests. 

In 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia, ousted Pol Pot, and set up an 
alternative government under Hun Sen, restoring some sense of 
normality. But Vietnamese occupation resulted in condemnation 
world-wide, continuation of the civil war in several areas and an 
international embargo on aid and bank loans. In 1990 the situation 
remains uncertain. However, many of the northern forests are still 
littered with mines and these will remain a hazard to wildlife, 
forestry, and conservation efforts for many years to come. 

FAO (1988) estimated that of the 71,500 sq. km of closed forests 
and 51,000 sq. km of open forests (woodlands) existing in 1980, 250 
sq. km of closed forest and 50 sq. km of logged broadleaved forest 
were cleared for agriculture each year during 1981 to 1985. 

Most forest loss was thought to be caused by shifting cultivation, 
known, in Cambodia, as chancar leu. In 1960, a study by the Mekong 
Committee estimated that 2.5 per cent of all Cambodia’s forests were 
subject to clearance for swidden agriculture in any one year (cited in 
FAO/UNEP, 1981). A large proportion of the forest cleared for 
shifting cultivation will regenerate as secondary forest, but no figures 
are available. 

The disruption caused by the events of the past 20 years will have 
had profound effects on the pattern of deforestation. In some de- 
populated areas, forest will have advanced into agricultural lands. In 
others, the arrival of displaced people will have intensified the 
pressures of shifting cultivation on the forest. The most recent 
attempt at assessing forest cover estimated that only about a quarter 
of the original forest cover remained, and that only a tenth was truly 
primary forest (IUCN, 1986). 

Much lowland forest has been converted to agriculture and much 
has also been degraded to scrubland and Jmperata grassland. The 
Tonlé Sap swamp forests have been greatly altered by the fishing 
communities living nearby. Misguided attempts to drain the swamps 
and cultivate the soil mean that the Melaleuca swamp forests have 
now been replaced by highly acidic treeless plains, covered exten- 
sively with reeds — useless for agriculture but a haven for waterfowl. 

Opinions differ on the status of mangroves. FAO/UNEP (1981) 
states that they have been reduced to remnants, but IUCN (1986) 
indicate that they are still in a relatively good condition. 

The authorities in Vietnam and Cambodia agree about one conse- 
quence of deforestation — that it has affected water-flow in the 
Mekong River system. The river now floods more frequently and 
violently in the wet seasons, and is very low during the dry seasons as 
a result of the loss of forest in its water catchments. The problem is 
compounded by similar deforestation in Laos, Thailand and south- 
ern China. To the many people living along the river this means 
fluctuating agricultural yields, and reduced fisheries. It also leads to 
premature siltation of reservoirs and hydropower projects. The most 
severe impact is felt outside Cambodia, in neighbouring Vietnam. 
Here the Mekong delta constitutes 50 per cent of the country’s 
agricultural land and the erratic flow is causing increasing problems 
for local agriculture. 


Biodiversity and Conservation Areas 


Some nature reserves were proposed during the French period of 
rule, but were never adequately mapped or demarcated. Angkor Wat 


114 


was declared a National Park in 1925 and was greatly extended in the 
1960s. Reserves have been gazetted to protect the highly endangered 
kouprey, proclaimed the national animal by Prince Sihanouk. Three 
large reserves which fall within the habitat range of the kouprey are 
Phnom Prich, Prear Vihear (Koulen) and Lomphat. A number of 
faunal reserves were established in 1960 although there is no available 
information on them. Besides Angkor Wat National Park, in 1985 
there were 172 production forest reserves covering 38,750 sq. km and 
six forest reserves for wildlife protection. In addition, a few new 
reserves have been proposed (Chan Suran, 1985), although most of 
these have never been subject to any conservation management. 
Some lie in military security zones, others in areas still controlled by 
the Khmer Rouge. 

In total, 11.5 per cent of the country is legally protected, with new 
proposals adding a further 2.6 per cent. Table 16.2 gives a list of 
protected areas. This list may not be comprehensive as information is 
scanty. 

There are no proposals to protect mangrove forest. This gap in the 
planned reserve system should be filled as soon as possible. The 
freshwater swamp forests around Tonlé Sap are amongst the most 
extensive in Southeast Asia, serving as a haven for wildlife and 
protecting the hydrological regime. The forests act as a huge sponge, 
absorbing the backflow of the Mekong River when it is in flood and 
releasing it slowly at drier times of the year. The forests thus perform 
an enormously important water regulatory function. In addition, the 
forests are also the breeding area for many of the fish in the Tonlé 
Sap, which is potentially one of the most productive freshwater 
fisheries in Southeast Asia. Protection of part of these forests has 
been proposed but, ideally, forest cover should be maintained over as 
much of the area as possible. 

Although largely deforested, the Melaleuca swamp areas are crit- 
ical sites for wetland bird conservation, being important feeding 
grounds for the eastern sarus crane Grus antigone and possibly the 
giant ibis Pseudibis gigantea and white-shouldered ibis P. davisont. 

Other important conservation sites in the country include the 
tropical forests of the north and east, which constitute important 
refuge and migration areas for large wildlife such as elephant, gaur 
and banteng. They are also still believed to shelter small populations 
of kouprey and Javan rhinoceros. Parts of this habitat may be 
gazetted as reserves for kouprey, but protection of the interconnect- 
ing forest is also important. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Projects to conserve wildlife include: 

e An international kouprey project co-ordinated by IUCN and 
WWF. Under this project, Cambodian personnel are being trained in 
reserve management and planning. Minor items of field equipment 
are being supplied, together with conservation awareness leaflets for 
local distribution. 

e A joint project is underway with Vietnam to protect wetland birds 
in the Plain of Reeds area and Tonlé Sap forests. 

@ The Department of Forestry has plans for rational exploitation of 
its forest resources. In addition to the proposed and existing pro- 
tected areas, sustainable logging of the 172 production forest reserves 
is planned. At present, some timber is harvested for domestic use and 
for export to Vietnam. Thailand has recently become an important 
market. However, until the threat of civil war is removed, and 
international relations become stable, little can be done in the way of 
scientific management. Indeed, most of the maps and documentation 
of forest blocks from the Lon Nol regime were destroyed during Pol 
Pot’s regime, and many trained foresters were killed or fled the 
country. 


Table 16.2 Conservation areas of Cambodia 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. 
Forest reserves are not included. All areas include moist forest 
within their boundaries. 


Existing Proposed 
area area 
(sq.km) (sq. km) 
National Parks 
Angkor Wat 107 
Reserves 
Kirirom 817 
Lomphat 1,975 
Phnom Aural 2,500 
Phnom Prich 1,951 
Unclassified 
Phnom Kravanh 2,806 
Preah Vihear 14,670 
Hondrai Sou 200 
Totals 20,351 4,675 


(Sources: IUCN, 1990; WCMC in litt.) 


References 

Chan Suran (1985) Intervention de la delegation du Kampuchea. 
In: Conserving Asia’s Natural Heritage, Thorsell, J. W. (ed.) pp. 
23-5. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome. 18 pp. + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol. 3 of 3 volumes, FAO, Rome, 
Italy. 475 pp. 

IUCN (1986) Review of the Protected Area System in the Indo- 
malayan Realm. Consultants MacKinnon, J. and MacKinnon, K. 
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. \UCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Legris, P. and Blasco, F. (1971) Carte Internationale du Tapis 
Vegetal et des Conditions Ecologiques, Cambodge. Institut Fran¢ais, 
Pondicherry. One sheet. 


CAMBODIA 


Map 16.1 Forest cover in Cambodia 


Forest distribution and formations are extracted from the 1:1 million full colour 
Carte Internanonale du Tapis Végeétal et des Conditions Ecologiques, Cambodge 
prepared by P. Legris and F. Blasco (1971). This is the most recent forest cover 
map for Cambodia. 

Lowland rain forests were equated to Legris and Blasco’s evergreen and semi- 
evergreen formations, monsoon forests to their deciduous dense forest, fresh- 
water swamp forest to their inundated forest, and mangrove swamps to their 
direct equivalent. Montane forests were delimited by a 3000 feet (c. 914 m) 
contour taken from the Jet Navigation Chart (JNC) 53, 1:2 million scale. 

Because the basis of this map is 20 years old, some interpretation of the likely 
present scenario may be helpful. In their original form, the forests of Cambodia 
would probably have been evergreen over almost the entire area except in a south- 
easUnorth-west swathe from the delta along the line of the Tonlé Sap (Legris and 
Blasco, 1972). In Indochina, evergreen forests degrade first to semi-evergreen. As 
fire begins to play a dominant role, the forests become deciduous, and finally 
degrade to open woodland formations, bamboo and grasslands. The monsoon 
forests shown in the east of the country would not have been a climax vegetation 
even in the late 1960s, when the data were gathered, and now they are further 
degraded over large areas to open savanna woodlands. Similarly, many of the rain 
forests shown in the east will now certainly be more deciduous in character. In 
short, if it was possible to reassess the vegetation cover of Cambodia, we might 
find that much of the monsoon forest shown on the map has now been degraded to 
open woodland or grassland, and that the rain forest areas east of Tonlé Sap have 
been degraded to monsoon forest. It is probably no coincidence that the area of 
rain forest shown is 65,500 sq. km (Table 16.1), an area very close to current 
expectations of Cambodia’s total forest cover area of all forest types. 

Protected area data are taken from IUCN (1986). 


Legris, P. and Blasco, F.(1972) Notice de la carte: Cambodge, Carte 
International du Tapis Vegetal. Extraits des travaux de la Section 
Scientifique et Technique de l'Institut Francais de Pondichéry: 
hors série no 1, Toulouse, France. 

Rollet, B. (1972) La Végétation du Cambodge. Bois et Foréts des 
Tropiques, Nos. 144, 145 & 146, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. 
US Department of Energy (1986) A Comparison of Tropical Forest 

Surveys. US Department of Energy, Washington DC, USA. 66 pp. 

Wharton, C.H.(1957) Anecological study of the Kouprey Novibos 
sauveli. Monographs of the Institute of Science and Technology, 
Manila, Philippines. 111 pp. 


Authorship 
Based on materials provided by John MacKinnon, with added data 
from James Paine at WCMC. 


115 


17 China 
and Taiwan 


People’s Republic of China 

Land area 9,326,410 sg. km 
Population (1989) — 1,103.9 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 
Expected maximum population (2100) 


1.3 per cent 
1695 million 


Gross national product (1987) 


US$290 per capita 


Rain forest (see map) 


7150 sq. km 


Monsoon forest (see map) 


17,050 sg. km 


Roundwood production* —276,060,00] w. m 
Roundwood exports* 10,000 w. m 

Fuelwood and charcoal production* 177,610,000 cw. m 
Sawlog and veneer log production* 53,770,000 w. m 
Sawlog and veneer log exports” 10,000 cu. m 


Taiwan 

Land area 36,179 sq. km 

Population (1987) 19.7 million 

Gross national product (1987) —US$5,075 per capita 
Rain forest (see map) 1660 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 


1988 dato from FAO (1990) 


A nationwide conference on forestry in China in 1979 warned that by the end of the century there will be no trees to harvest. 
Deforestation is contributing to desertification, erosion and air pollution. It is thought to have caused marked increases also in 
the frequency and extent of droughts and flooding. 

Deforestation continues despite the great importance placed on protection of tropical forests through the establishment of 
institutions and regulations. This is largely due to overcutting; land clearance for growth of cereals, tropical crops and rubber 
trees; collection of firewood; and forest fires. Lack of an effective scientific approach to afforestation, lack of skilled manpower 
and funds, the absence of personal responsibility in a system of collective leadership, repeated policy reversals, combined with 
unrealistic goals and desperation of poor peasants, are all contributing to the problem (AsDB, 1987). 

The Chinese have for centuries shown a love and respect for natural beauty, but there is a clear desire to tame and even to 
improve on nature rather than appreciate it im situ. There remains a need for public education to generate awareness and 
appreciation of natural habitats. The country’s leaders have, nevertheless, recognised the need for conservation areas and for a 
more rational exploitation of natural resources. Legislation for wildlife protection, passed in November 1988, included harsh 
penalties for the killing of protected species. But these new approaches are not fully understood by the majority of people and 
conflict with traditional views and immediate economic needs. 

High demand for timber for furniture, construction, paper and fuel, places an impossible strain on the remaining natural 
forests. The rate of cutting far exceeds the rate of regrowth. Large areas have been replanted, but almost entirely in the 
temperate zone and with monocultures. A new reafforestation programme is planned and may be assisted by loans from the 
World Bank. Despite these efforts, there will inevitably be a period of timber shortage when the natural forests have all been 
exploited but the newly planted forests are not yet mature for harvesting. Indeed timber imports have been steadily growing 
since the 1950s. 

China, now has, on paper at least, a good system of nature reserves, covering most natural habitats, as well as laws to protect 
these areas and flora and fauna outside the reserve system. However, China has not yet developed adequate reserve management 
capability, or shown the determination to enforce the new laws. 


INTRODUCTION 


For convenience, the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, 
Macau and Taiwan are considered together in this chapter; but 
virtually all of the remaining rain forests occur in the People’s 
Republic of China and Taiwan. Despite its enormous total area of 9.3 
million sq. km, greater China has only five tiny regions with moist 
forest in the far south. These are in Assam, south-west Yunnan, 
coastal southern China, Hainan and Taiwan. All of the rain forest 
areas in Assam claimed by China are within the disputed border areas 
with India and are currently controlled by India as part of Arunachal 
Pradesh (see chapter 18). They will not be considered further in this 
chapter. 


116 


China’s attitudes to forests are overshadowed by population growth 
and lack of finance. Realising that overpopulation is crippling the 
country’s attempts to modernise, China’s leaders have introduced 
some of the most stringent family planning regulations in the world 
with only one child per family allowed for Han Chinese and only two 
per family for ethnic minorities. Even so the population continues to 
grow. Secondly, money for conservation activities is always short. The 
importance given to environmental protection in government policy is 
not always matched by the operational budgets eventually released. 
Despite this, compared to many other Asian countries, China has 
already put up large budgets for priority projects. 


The Forests 

As Map 17.1 shows: 

e@ Lowland rain forest occupies a very small area in southern Hainan 
(Guangdong Province), southern Taiwan, southern China (Guangxi 
Province on the border with Vietnam) and southern Yunnan. 

e Montane rain forests occur in Yunnan. 

e Monsoon forest occurs on limestone in southern Guangxi and 
more extensive monsoon forest occurs in western and southern 
Hainan. 

Small areas of rather stunted northern mangrove forests exist in 
southern China, Hainan, Hong Kong and Taiwan (FAO, 1982), but 
could not be mapped at the scale used here. 

The lowland rain forests include some dipterocarp genera, such as 
Dipterocarpus, Hopea, Shorea, Parashorea and Vatica, but other tree 
families are also important, including Annonaceae, Lauraceae, 
Meliaceae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae and Sapindaceae (FAO, 1982). 
These rain and monsoon forests lie at the absolute limits of the moist 
tropics; some of them are situated further away from the equator than 
tropical rain forests anywhere else in the world. The climate of the 
region is barely warm and moist enough for some of the types of 
forest that occur, and rain forest can only persist in pockets in this 
climate because it creates its own microclimate. Delicate seedlings 
are protected from desiccation, wind and cold and other elements, by 
the humid air trapped within the forest canopy. Thus, evergreen 
forest is able to reproduce itself in a climate that is not truly 
perhumid. High humidity is maintained during the dry season by 
morning fog that often forms in the lower valleys. It is possible that 
these rain forests originally came into existence during a period of 
warmer climate and have been able to persist after the climate 
changed. As a result, the Chinese rain forests are a very fragile 
ecosystem. This means that when the canopy is opened up by 
removal of large trees, the exposed seedlings of the climax trees are 
unable to survive, and the forest changes its composition. These 
forests may be sensitive to further climatic change and close monitor- 
ing would be of great importance to detect any kind of change. 

In larger clearings, the change in microclimate is so great after 
clearance that rain forest is unable to regrow. Instead the forest may 
be recolonised by species of subtropical forest, but only if there are 
suitable parent trees nearby. Although subtropical forest is the 
natural vegetation surrounding the tropical forests, and particularly 
to the north of the rain and monsoon forest patches, it has been 
extensively cleared. As a result subtropical forest seeds are usually 
unavailable near rain forest clearings. This means the rain forest 
clearings therefore become over-run by grass and shrubs. 


Forest Resources and Management 

The forest lands of China, including rain forest lands, are under the 
management of a national forest system for production and regenera- 
tion (FAO, 1982). Natural forests and plantations are used in the 
following ways: 

© Nearly 80 per cent are designated for timber production. 

© Seven per cent are allocated for tree crops (rubber, fruit, tung oil, 
medicines). 

© Six per cent are kept as shelter. 

e@ Three per cent are maintained for bamboo production. 

© Four per cent are held for other uses such as fuelwood. 

Natural forest cover in China is very limited in area and unevenly 
distributed. Most is in remote frontier regions of the temperate 
north-east and south-west regions, and consists of conifer forest. 
FAO (1982) gives data on the percentage forest cover in the 22 
provinces and five autonomous regions of China, and also shows the 
distribution of the major forest types in China. However, there are no 
data on the remaining extent of natural forest types in each province, 
or in China as a whole. Since the 1960s, three nationwide inventories 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


Table 17.1 Estimates of the extent of rain and monsoon forests in 
China and Taiwan 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

China 
Rain forests 
Lowland 6,600 0.07 
Montane 550 <0.01 
Sub total 7,150 0.08 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 14,600 0.16 
Montane 2,450 0.03 
Sub total 17,050 0.18 
Totals 24,200 0.26 
Taiwan 
Rain forests 
Lowland 1,660 4.58 
Totals 1,660 4.58 


(See Map Legend for details of sources.) 


of forest resources have been conducted, the last one from 1977 to 
1983 (Liu Longhui, 1987; Li Jinchang er al., 1988). This showed 
forest cover over 12 per cent of the nation (excluding Taiwan), i.e. 
1.15 million sq. km. Three-quarters of this was natural forest, but 
again no indication is given regarding the extent of rain forests (Liu 
Longhui, 1987). 

Table 17.1, which is an analysis of the forest cover on Map 17.1, 
shows that rain forest covers only 7150 sq. km in mainland China, 
and 1660 sq. km in Taiwan, while monsoon forests cover a further 
17,050 sq. km in China. The remaining moist forests therefore cover 
no more than 0.26 per cent of China’s land area and 4.58 per cent of 
Taiwan. Even these statistics, taken from rather generalised maps 
published in 1979, are certain to be optimistic. 

In 1979 China adopted a new Forestry Act, which strictly forbade 
illegal felling of trees in state forests. Those convicted of violations 
are subject to heavy fines and also have to replant three new trees for 
every one cut (FAO, 1982). The reality, however, looks quite 
different since the provisions of the Act are largely unenforceable 
(Smil, 1983). The Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Forestry 
asserts that since 1979 forest destruction has actually spread, with 
‘hordes of people’ illegally cutting and buying timber (Policy Re- 
search Office, 1981). 

Another response to the shortage of forest products has been an 
increase in imports from 14,000 cu. m in the early 1950s to over 9.7 
million cu. m in 1985 (Li Jinchang er al., 1988). Were it not for 
constraints on foreign exchange, especially in 1986 when imports 
declined as part of a nationwide effort to balance foreign trade 
accounts, import volumes would certainly be substantially higher (Li 
Jinchang et al., 1988). 

Finally, although it is difficult to be specific about forest manage- 
ment in the humid zones, one observer stated that ‘forest manage- 
ment is chaotic with overlapping, competing uncoordinated 
bureaucracies trying blindly to fulfil asserted plans’ (Smil, 1983). 
“One hoe making forests but several axes cutting them down’, goes a 
new Chinese saying. Some of the statistics in the following section 
appear to bear this out. 


IY 


Rain forest at Mengla in Yunnan, China. Mengla is part of the 
Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve. WWF/J. MacKinnon 


Deforestation 

The main reasons for the loss of Chinese rain forests are shifting and 
settled agriculture. Following logging, people migrate into new areas 
to collect fuelwood and to acquire new land for agriculture. Shifting 
cultivation is widespread among the ethnic minorities that inhabit 
these forest areas and whose population densities have greatly in- 
creased in recent years. Forests have been cleared to make way for 
crops and plantations and some sites have degraded to Imperata 
grassland or Melastoma shrublands. 

In her long period of closed-door policy, China wished to be self- 
sufficient in many tropical commodities for which there was very 
little suitable land. The expansion of rubber plantations in Hainan 
and south-west Yunnan was particularly destructive of habitat be- 
cause, here, rubber can only be grown below 800 m so its planting has 
involved the clearing of the best lowland rain forests. 

There has also been extensive forest clearance to meet the fuel- 
wood requirements of the dense population. Although China has 
applied strict birth control policies to its Han Chinese population, the 
same strict regulations are not applied to the minority groups that 
inhabit most rain forest regions. Their numbers have increased 
dramatically over recent decades, and so therefore has the amount of 
forest they need to fell for fuelwood and for agriculture. 

Two historical events greatly accelerated the loss of forests. 
Firstly, in the Second World War massive cutting occurred to 
provide fuelwood for factories. In the 1950s, during the Great Leap 
Forward, the Chinese government ordered the establishment of 
thousands of village iron-smelting works. The policy was an eco- 
nomic and ecological failure, producing only small amounts of poor- 
quality iron, but at the expense of the forests. 

In recent times, illegal logging, forest fires and shifting cultivation 
have destroyed about 330 sq. km per year of forest in Yunnan’s 
southernmost region, Xishuangbanna, on the Burma/Laos border, 
which was formerly China’s richest tropical rain forest. Rubber 
plantations are now extensive, and although the remaining rain forest 
is a protected conservation area, more than 7000 people have settled 
there in recent decades. They have established 40 villages and felled 
trees for building and firewood (Yang Yuguang, 1980). It has been 


118 


estimated that each rural household burns 10 cu. m of wood per year, 
more than is utilised for all other purposes. Natural forests in 
Xishuangbanna covered about 60 per cent of the area in the early 
1950s, but only 32 per cent in 1981, a decrease of 2 per cent per year 
(Jiang Youxu, 1986). 

In Xishuangbanna even the climate appears to have changed in 
recent times. Local weather is marginally warmer than it was 20 years 
ago, the dry season is longer, rainfall has become more erratic and, 
perhaps most serious of all, there is less dry-season fog. This loss of 
fog may cause not only the loss of the remaining rain forests but even 
of tropical crops such as rubber that are cultivated here at the limit of 
their climatic tolerances. Research has shown that Xishuangbanna is 
now also being subjected to acid rain caused by air pollution from 
heavy industries in distant parts of China. 

The loss of rain forest and the increasingly large areas given over to 
shifting agriculture, unterraced dryland farming and plantations, 
have led to very high levels of soil loss in Xishuangbanna and 
elsewhere. Many rivers are now permanently polluted with red 
topsoil. This constitutes a waste of a precious resource, and renders 
large areas of the region agriculturally useless. It also causes siltation 
downstream, kills fish and reduces the quality of water for drinking 
and bathing (Dowdle, 1987). 

China’s other large area of tropical moist forest, on Hainan Island 
in the South China Sea, has suffered even greater ravages. In 1949 
8630 sq. km (25.7 per cent of the island’s area) was covered by 
tropical forests. Despite similar high levels of forest cover indicated 
by Map 17.1, recent reports suggest that the figure has now dropped 
to about 2420 sq. km. Timber resources have been reduced from 64 
million cu. m in 1949 to 29 million cu. m by 1980 (Zhang Tianxiong, 
1980). The Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Forestry 
estimates that between 1978 and 1980 nearly 4700 sq. km of forest, 
containing more than 9 million cu. m of wood, were destroyed in the 
whole province (Policy Research Office, 1981). Much of this was the 
result of shifting cultivation (Lu Junpei and Zen Qingbo, 1986). 

Like Hainan, Taiwan once had a small area of rain forest along the 
southern and eastern coastal areas (Map 17.1). The forests were 
exposed to typhoons and generally stunted in appearance. Data on 
the rate of deforestation on Taiwan are lacking, but it is believed that 
Map 17.1 is very optimistic and that only relict stands remain, in 
Kenting National Park and on Orchid Island. 


Mangroves 

Chinese mangroves are stunted northern examples, and limited in 
extent. They have been heavily degraded or changed and many have 
been completely destroyed (Lin Peng, 1984, 1987, 1988; Lu Chang 
and Lin Peng, 1987; Wang Bao-Can, 1984; Yang Hanxi, 1985). No 
remaining areas are large enough to be shown on Map 17.1. Isolated 
examples of mangroves are as follows: 

1 In Hong Kong the Mai Po marshes constitute a small but very well- 
managed mangrove reserve which includes some managed fish- 
ponds. 

2 Much of the coast of Hainan was originally fronted with mangrove, 
but most has been destroyed. However, fairly extensive and well- 
formed mangrove forests are still protected in the Xin Ying Gang, 
Hua Chang, Dong Zhai Gang and Qing Lan Gang reserves. 

3 A number of small mangrove forests are protected on Taiwan, 
including the Chang-Yun-Chia reserve. 


Biodiversity 
China is biologically very rich, with approximately 30,000 species of 
higher plants, including about 7000 tree species (IUCN, 1986b). 
15,000 species occur in tropical and subtropical regions, of which 
7000 are in Yunnan (NCC, 1982). Of 2980 higher plant genera, 214 
are endemic. 


The rain forests contain many species which are not found any- 
where else in the country. The Xishuangbanna area alone contains 
4000-5000 species of higher plants and over 500 species of verte- 
brates (Zhao Songqiao, 1986). However, many formerly widespread 
birds and mammals are now restricted to Mengla in the extreme 
south-east of Xishuangbanna. Some have already become extinct in 
China and many others are seriously threatened, for example: 

@ The brow-antlered deer (Cervus eldi) was formerly found in the 
swampy land along the Lancang River, but no longer occurs in 
China. 

e The green peacock (Pavo muticus), which is the symbol of 
Xishuangbanna, may still occur in Mengkao and Mengyang reserves 
but appears to be extinct elsewhere. 

e The sarus crane used to breed in swampy riverine habitat; no 
breeding birds remain, though the occasional crane sull flies over the 
area. 

e Tigers may number no more than 20 animals. 

e Black gibbons (Hylobates concolor) are almost extinct. 

Hainan island has a high rate of endemism with four endemic 
vertebrate species and 24 endemic subspecies, many of them en- 
dangered forest-dwellers. The black gibbon is reduced to 25 individ- 
uals in the Bawangling reserve. Other endemics are the Hainan 
moonrat (Neohylomys hainanensis) and the Hainan flying squirrel 
(Peunomys electilis) (IUCN, 1986a). The endemic Hainan partridge 
(Arborophila ardens) is not uncommon in Bawangling reserve, nor is 
the endangered silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera), although they 
are very scarce elsewhere. 

Species losses among plants and invertebrates are probably occur- 
ring at an even faster rate, and many southern Chinese species are 
presumed to have become extinct in the last 30 years. 

Species are being lost as a result of over-exploitation, habitat loss or 
habitat fragmentation. Over-exploitation in Xishuangbanna includes 
excessive hunting of animals and overcollecting and cutting of 


Rivers running through Xishuangbanna, China’s most important rain forest rese 


ek a eel Re 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


medicinal and other useful plants (see case study). The Chinese 
depend heavily on their traditional medicines, many of which contain 
parts of animals and plants. Habitat fragmentation is a major prob- 
lem; the total area of forest may still be extensive but it is fragmented 
into small, isolated blocks each too small to sustain populations of 
some species. 

Serious loss of fish species is due partly to overfishing and the use 
of poisons and nets to catch fish, but is also due to the high levels of 
sediment in the rivers caused by soil erosion resulting from loss of 
tree cover. Higher temperatures in rivers, resulting from climate 
change, result in too many fish being the same sex (sex in many river 
fish is determined by temperature). The net result has been a drastic 
reduction of this important source of protein and this in turn has 
prompted an increase in hunting of other wildlife (J. Mackinnon, in 
litt.) 

Some of the recent economic reforms in China have also had 
adverse side-effects on wildlife. People are now encouraged to de- 
velop private businesses in an attempt to generate greater wealth in 
the country. Economically this may be a good thing, but the exploita- 
tion of wild animals and plants has increased dramatically as a result. 
In particular, plants are sought after for medicinal purposes and 
mammals for their skins. 


Conservation Areas 

The concept of allocating wild areas for conservation was realised late 
in the People’s Republic of China. The first nature reserves were 
established in 1956 amid a surge of interest that followed the 
establishment of the Republic. Both research and conservation 
activity slowed to a standstill during the Cultural Revolution of the 
late 1960s and early 1970s. This was a bleak period for nature 
conservation as well as many other academic and cultural aspects of 
life in China (Wang Yuqing, 1987). In the mid-1970s the bamboo in 
the Min Mountains of Sichuan flowered and died. Many pandas died 


rve, an important resource for people in the region. J. A. McNeely 


—_ re 4 


< ; E Ty 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


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Monsoon Forests 
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120 


Fenshuiling 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


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CHINA AND TAIWAN 

of starvation. The crisis which ensued caused great concern; a huge 
programme of panda conservation was initiated, and a number of 
new panda reserves were established (Campbell, 1986). Following 
the panda crisis there has been a nationwide resurgence of interest in 
conservation and new reserves are being declared so fast it is difficult 
to keep up-to-date lists. In 1983 China had more than 120 nature 
reserves, but by 1988 the figure had topped 400. New areas are still 
regularly being established. 

These reserves have been designed to include: representative 
examples of many typical natural landscapes and their ecosystems in 
different biogeographical zones; the habitats of threatened and en- 
dangered species of plants and animals; and places with outstanding 
geological or physical features. Established by several authorities, 
the reserves protect natural and scenic sites of national and interna- 
uonal importance, and other places of special scientific, educational, 
or recreational interest. Over 300 reserves are in forested areas and 
were established by the Ministry of Forestry; thirty of these are 
national reserves administered directly from Beijing, but the re- 
mainder are established and managed at provincial level. The En- 
vironmental Protection Agency is also involved in establishing 
reserves in less forested parts of the country, including the Arjin 
Mountain reserve, which is the biggest in China. 

Local government at town and county level can also establish 
reserves and natural park areas. Three reserves — Changbai, Wolong 
and Dinghu — are International Biosphere Reserves as part of the 
Man and Biosphere Programme of Unesco. 

Finally, on Hainan Island there are a number of protected areas, 
including at least two with moist forest remnants: Bawangling 
Natural Protected Area and Jianfengling NPA in central/west 
Hainan. Wuzhishan NPA, established to protect the threatened 
black gibbon, is also presumed to contain some forest. 

It is to China’s credit to have allocated areas for conservation at a 
ume when the country is facing so many other pressing priorities for 
social reform and modernisation. However, it must be recognised 
that the level of protection afforded to these reserves is generally low. 

Hong Kong, on the other hand, despite its high human density and 
small size, has established some important and well-managed parks. 
Almost 40 per cent of the territory is what is called ‘country park’, 
each park having a protected wilderness zone. These parks are 
gradually reforesting after being almost totally cut for firewood 


122 


during the period of Japanese occupation in the Second World War. 
In addition the energetic WWWF-Hong Kong has established a 
valuable mangrove and wetland reserve at the Mai Po marshes, which 
is an excellent place for viewing wetland and shore birds and is 
equipped with a fascinating visitor centre (Hong Kong is not mapped 
in this atlas). 

Lastly, Taiwan has four national parks accounting for 6 per cent of 
its land surface, and a number of small coastal reserves protecting 
mangroves and other habitats. Yushan is the largest and most remote 
of Taiwan’s parks and here the rare Taiwan serow (Capricornis crispus 
swinhoe1) and black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus) can be found, to- 
gether with the vulnerable Taiwan macaque (Macaca cyclopis) and 
the endemic emperor pheasant (Lophura impenalis). True rain forests 
are confined to the south of the island and they are protected in 
Kenting National Park and on Orchid Island. 

See Tables 17.2a and b overleaf for details of all reserves described 
above. 


Initiatives for Conservation 
During recent years, China has taken great strides in the conserva- 
uon of wildlife and natural resources, and this is reflected in official 
government policies and actions. In 1980 China joined IUCN, 
became a party to CITES, and formulated a new Wildlife Policy Act, 
stressing the rational use and conservation of wildlife (FAO, 1982). 
Xishuangbanna forest in Yunnan Province has been selected to 
partner Kinabalu National Park, Sabah, in a joint research pro- 
gramme within Unesco’s Man and Biosphere Programme (see 
chapter 9). The two sites, representing extremes of the Southeast 
Asian fauna and flora, will be used for the study of the ecology of the 
forest canopy. Research will be multidisciplinary and multinational 
and will address species diversity and dispersal patterns, growth rates 
and reproduction strategies. Extensive walkways will be constructed 
in the canopy. Linked with the canopy research will be a series of 
conservation efforts that take account of human needs and economic 
realities as well as genetic richness and biological potential. This 
integrated approach in both Malaysia and China could serve as 
illustrative examples for other tropical forest areas, in Asia and 
elsewhere. The ultimate objective is to conserve remaining tropical 
rain forests through their management as a renewable resource. 
(Source: M. Hadley and K. Schreckenberg im litt., February, 1989.) 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


KENTING NATIONAL PARK — TAIWAN 

In Taiwan, tropical moist forest is confined largely to the south, 
where stands are protected within Kenting National Park and 
Orchid Island. 

Kenting National Park is situated on the southern up of 
Taiwan, bordered by the Taiwan Straits to the west, the Bashi 
Channel to the south, the Pacific to the east, and the north side of 
Nanjenshan to the north. On | January 1984 the park was 
officially established, and the Government of the Republic 
of China designated the Kenting area as Taiwan’s first national 
park, covering an area of 326 sq. km (land and sea areas in- 
cluded). 

The climate is sub-tropical, with hot, wet summers and dry 
winters, and variable weather between October and March due to 
the north-eastern monsoon, the ‘Lo-shan-fong’. The geology and 
topography of the park is varied and can be roughly divided into a 
western and an eastern part, separated by the Hengchun valley 
plain. The western part is mainly composed of the Hengchun 
plateau, with coastal cliffs and fringing coral reefs. The eastern 
part mainly comprises sandstone peaks, limestone caves, uplifted 
cliffs, low-lying coral reefs, estuaries and lakes. Consequently an 
extraordinary variety of plant species thrive here. The shore, for 
example, maintains a complex of coastal coral reef plants and 
tropical coastal forests. 

Two major belts of forest vegetation occur within the park, 
evergreen rain forest in the north-east and semi-deciduous mon- 


soon forest in the south-west. The rain forests receive enough 
moisture from north-east winds to support evergreen trees, 
whereas in the leeward south-west district thorn scrub and decid- 
uous woodlands predominate due to the drier climate (Horng-jye 
Su and Chung-yuan Su, 1988). More than 1000 species of vascular 
plants (one-quarter of the total for Taiwan) grow in the rain 
forests, including such rare and endemic species as Schizea digi- 
tata and Actinostachys digitata. There were once vast stretches of 
tropical coastal forest from South Bay to Oluampi, but only a 
remnant is left, at Banana Bay. 

This great variety of topography and vegetation ensures a high 
faunal diversity. Although large mammals have become extinct in 
Taiwan, small mammals such as the squirrel can be found in the 
upland region (CPA, n.d.). The butterfly fauna includes the rare 
endemic Taiwan birdwing Troides aeacus kaguya. Bird life is rich, 
with more than 60 resident species. The Hengchun Peninsula is 
an important staging area for winter migratory birds, including 
brown shrikes (Lanius cristatus), grey-faced buzzards (Butastur 
mdicus ) and Chinese goshawks (Accipiter soloensis ). 

In 1969 the endemic Formosan sika deer (Cervus nippon 
tiouanus ) became extinct in the wild. Twenty-two animals held in 
Taipei zoo were bred up to a herd of 42, and six have recently been 
released into a large fenced area around the Research Centre in 
Kenting. 


MEDICINAL PLANTS OF XISHUANGBANNA 


Approximately 60 per cent of the world’s population are depend- 
ent on traditional medicines as their principal source of treatment 
for illness. In some countries, such as India and China, 80—90 per 
cent of traditional medicines are based on plant material. 

In China these medicinal plants are especially abundant in the 
tropical forests of Xishuangbanna, where there are over four 
thousand species of higher plants, including three hundred or 
more of medicinal plants, over two hundred species of edible 
plants, over a hundred species of timber trees, over a hundred 
species of oil producers, and over fifty species of bamboo (Li 
Wenhua and Zhao Xianying, 1989). However, overcollection and 
loss of habitat have in some cases caused a serious decline in their 
abundance. 

Even serious diseases have traditional remedies. 

@ Cancer is treated with a medicine made from the Hooker 
mayten Maytenus hooker. 

e@ Many-leaf paris Paris polyphylla and the chaulmoogra tree 
Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus form the basis of the product ‘Yun- 
nan white medicine’, which is used as a cure for leprosy. 

e@ The Yunnan devil pepper Rauvolfia yunnanensis is used to 
combat hypertension. 

@ Other medicinal plants include the cocaine tree Erythroxylum 
coca, cassia-bark tree Cinnamomum cassia, Japanese snowbell 
Styrax japonica, cablin potchouli Pogostemon cablin and cutch 
Acacia catechu. 


In Nanyang Village, Xishuangbanna, a traditional doctor treats a 
patent. The backdrop to his surgery is a sacred grove, revered for the 
bounty of the forest. WWF/P. Wachtel 


123 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


Table 17.2a Conservation areas in Southern China 


Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which we have location 
data, are listed below. The remaining areas are combined in a total 


under Other Areas. Forest reserves are not included. 


Existing 
area 
(sq. km) 

GUANGDONG (including Hainan) 
Nature Reserve 
Wuzhi Mountain* 187 
Other Areas 771 
Province Total 958 
GUANGXI 
Nature Reserves 
Buliu River 453 
Chengbi River 162 
Chongzuo 350 
Chuangdon River 116 
DaYao Mountain 135 
Daming Mountain 582 
Daping Mountain 204 
Dawingling 192 
Daxin* 299 
Dehou* 122 
Fusui 100 
Huagon 157 
Longgang* 80 
Nongxin 105 
Shiwandashan 267 
Sub total 3,324 
Other Areas 808 
Province Total 4,132 
YUNNAN 
Nature Reserves 
Ailao Mountain 504 
Dawei Mountain 154 
Daxue Mountain 158 
Fenshuiling* 108 
Huanglian Mountain* 138 
Xishuangbanna: 

Mangao 

Mengla* 2,000 

Menglun* 

Mengyang* 
Nangun River* 70 
Tongbiguan 342 
Wuliang Mountain 234 
Sub total 3,708 
Other Areas 6,739 
Province Total 10,447 


(Sources: Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, adapted from Li Wenhua and Zhao 


Xianying, 1989) 
* Area containing moist forest within its boundaries. 


124 


Table 17.2b Conservation areas of Taiwan 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which we 
have location data, are listed below. The remaining areas are 
combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest reserves are not 


included. 
Exisung 
area 
(sq. km) 
National Parks 
Taroko 920 
Yushan 1,055 
Kenting* 326 
Yangmingshan 115 
Orchid Island* 
Nature Preserves 
Ta-Wu Mountain 470 
Other Protected Areas 
Chang-Yu-Chia Coast 993 
Hua-Tung Coast* 535 
Northeast Coast 137 
Sue-Hua Coast 71 
Sub totals 4,622 
Other Areas 244 
Totals 4,866 


(Sources: IUCN 1990, WCMC 1m litt.) 


* Area containing moist forest within its boundaries. 


Proposed 
area 
(sq. km) 


290 


290 
1,002 


1,292 


References 

AsDB (1987) People’s Republic of China, Environmental and 
Natural Resources Briefing Profile. Environment Unit, Asian De- 
velopment Bank, Manila, Philippines. 11 pp. + 4 annexes. 

Campbell, J. J. N. (1986) Giant panda conservation and bamboo 
forest destruction. JNTECOL Bulletin 13: 121-5. 

CPA (n.d.) A Journey Through the National Parks of the Republic of 
China. Construction and Planning Administration, Ministry of 
Interior, China. 80 pp. 

Dowdle, S. (1987) Seeking higher yields from fewer fields. Far 
Eastern Economic Review 135: 78-80. 

FAO (1982) Forestry in China. FAO, Rome, Italy. 305 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23. FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome. 

Hou, H. Y. (ed.) (1979) Vegetation Map of China: Scale 
1:4,000,000 (In Chinese but with separate 12-page legend in 
English.) Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. 

Horng-jye Su and Chung-yuan Su (1988) Multivariate analysis on 
the vegetation of Kenting National Park. Quarterly Fournal of 
Chinese Forestry 21: 17-32. 

IUCN (1986a) Review of the Protected Areas System in the Indo- 
Malayan Realm. Consultants J. and K. Mackinnon, IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland. 284 pp. 

IUCN (1986b) Plants in Danger. What do we know? IUCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 461 pp. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. \UCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Jiang Youxu (1986) Ecological exploitation of tropical plant re- 
sources in China. INTECOL Bulletin 13: 13-75. 

Li Jinchang, Kang Fanwen, He Naihui and Lester Ross 
(1988) Price and policy: the keys to re-vamping China’s forestry 
resources. In: Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources. 
Repetto, R. and Gillis, M. (eds). Cambridge University Press, 
UK. 432 pp. 

Lin Peng (1984) Ecological notes on mangroves in southeast coast 
of China including Taiwan Province and Hainan Island. In: 
Proceedings of the Asian Symposium on Mangrove Environment 
Research and Management. Soepadmo, E., Rao, A. N. and McIn- 
tosh, D. J. (eds) pp. 118-20. Kuala Lumpur: University of 
Malaya and Unesco. 

Lin Peng (1987) The mangroves of China. In: Mangrove Ecosystems 
of Asta and the Pacific: Status, Exploitation and Management. Field, 
C. D. and Dartnell, A. J. (eds). Australian Institute of Marine 
Science, Townsville. 

Lin Peng (1988) Mangrove Vegetation. Beijing: China Ocean Press. 

Li Wenhua and Zhao Xianying (1989) China’s Nature Reserves. 
Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, China. 191 pp. 

Liu Longhui (1987) National report — China. In: Ad Hoc FAO/ 
ECE/FINNIDA Meeting of Experts on Forest Resources Assessment. 
Bulletins of the Finnish Forest Research Institute No. 284. Fin- 
nida, Helsinki, Finland. 433 pp. 

Lu Chang and Lin Peng (1987) Economic value of mangroves 
communities in China. In: Mangrove Ecosystems of Asia and the 
Pacific: Status, Exploitation and Management. Field, C. D. and 
Dartnell, A. J. (eds), pp. 143-50. Australian Institute of Marine 
Science, Townsville. 


CHINA AND TAIWAN 


Lu Junpei and Zeng Qingbo (1986) Ecological consequences of 
shifting cultivation and tropical forest cutting on Jianfeng Moun- 
tains, Hainan Island, China. INTECOL Bulletin 13: 57-60. 

NCC (1982) Nature Conservation Delegation to China, 4—24 April 
1982. Nature Conservancy Council, London, UK. 44 pp. 

Policy Research Office (1981) Run forestry work according to the 
law. Hongqi (Red Flag) 5: 27. (1 March). 

Smil, V. (1983) Deforestation in China. Ambio 12: 226-31. 

Wang Bao-Can (1984) Utilisation and development prospects of 
mangrove in China. In: Proceedings of the Asian Symposium on 
Mangrove Environment Research and Management. Soepadmo, E., 
Rao, A. N. and McIntosh, D. J. (eds), pp. 684-95. Kuala 
Lumpur: University of Malaya and Unesco. 

Wang Yuqing (1987) Natural conservation regions in China. 
Ambio 16: 326-31. 

Yang Hanxi (1985) The Mangroves of China. In: Man’s impact on 
Coastal and Estuarine Ecosystems. Saeki, T., Hino, A., Hirose, T., 
Sakamoto, M. and Ruddle, K. (eds), pp. 41-6. Proceedings MAB/ 
COMAR Regional Seminar, Tokyo, 23-26 November, 1984. 

Yang Yuguang (1980) Protecting wildlife reserves of 
Xishuangbanna. Guangming Ribao January 18: 2. 

Zhang Tianxiong (1980) Vigorously protect Hainan Island’s forest 
resources. Guangming Ribao July 2: 2. 

Zhao Songqiao (1986) Physical Geography of China. Science Press, 
Beijing, and John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA. 


Authorship 
John MacKinnon in Cambridge and Mark Collins at WCMC, with 
assistance from Michael Green, also at WCMC. 


Map 17.1 Forest cover in China and Taiwan 


A detailed Vegetation Map of China was published by the Institute of Botany of the 
Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1979 (edited by H. Y. Hou) at a scale of 1:4 
million. This shows both the remaining natural vegetation and the main croplands 
and is accompanied by a legend in English (Hou, 1979). This is the most recent 
and authoritative map of the vegetation of China and has been used to delimit 
tropical rain and monsoon forests of China in this atlas. It must be acknowledged, 
however, that deforestation has been extensive in the intervening decade. In 
Taiwan, for example, there is reported to be little or no remaining rain forest 
outside Kenting National Park and Orchid Island (M. J. B. Green, pers. comm.), 
and deforestation has also been heavy on Hainan. 

Two vegetation types have been selected from the Vegetation Map of China for 
portrayal here. Rain forests have been delimited using categories 33 a—d ‘Tropical 
broadleaf evergreen rain forest’. Monsoon forests have been delimited using 
categories 31 ‘Seasonal forest on limestone soil’ and 32 ‘Seasonal forest on acid 
lateritic soil’. The limestone forest occurs mostly in southern Guangzi Province, 
while the seasonal forest on acid soil is mostly on Hainan Island. Forests in 
montane areas have been delimited using a 3000 ft (914 m) contour. 

The system of protected areas depicted in this atlas is very selective. As 
indicated in the text, the protected areas system is changing rapidly and it has 
proved impossible to prepare definitive tables and maps. Instead, only those 
protected areas in or near the remaining forest areas are shown, based on location 
data supplied by John MacKinnon, currently working on a WWF project in 
China. Data on the protected areas of Taiwan were obtained from various 
documents held at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 


125 


Land area = 2,973,190 sq. km 
Population (1989) 835 million . 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 1.8 per cent oe 
Expected maximum population (2150) 1697 million 
Gross national product (1987) —US$300 per capita 


18 India 


Rain forest (see maps and Figure 18.1) 158,950 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see maps) 162,170 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)f 504,010 sq. km ; 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)f 1320 sq. km ¥ 
Roundwood production* 264,412,000 cu. m \ 

Roundwood exports* 76,000 cu. m \ i 
Fuelwood and charcoal production* 240,184 cu. m 0) 

Sawlog and veneer log production® 18,350,000 cu. m y 
Sawlog and veneer log exports* 41,000 cu. m 

“1988 dota from FAO (1990 


t FAO/UNEP (1981) 


Fifty years ago, India had extensive natural forests with a rich diversity of animal and plant life. Now, the rapid growth in 
human population and in cattle herds in recent decades has put these forests under more pressure than they can bear. The 
resource is dwindling and the country as a whole has much less forest cover than is required to maintain environmental stability. 
The extent of pressures on the forests can be judged from the fact that with less than two per cent of the total forest area of the 
world, the country supports over 15 per cent of global population and nearly 15 per cent of the cattle. Many of the people and 
cattle are totally dependent on the forest resources. 

During the three decades from 1950 to 1980, India lost large areas of its tropical forests. Fortunately, in the 1980s a strong 
political will developed to conserve and protect them. New laws have been enacted, new policies have been formulated, and 
steps have been taken to reduce human pressures. These efforts to conserve and protect forests are continuing but the socio- 
economic pressures are great, and it will take great political determination and social effort to save the remaining tropical forests 


from destruction. 


INTRODUCTION 


India, home for about 15 per cent of the world’s population, is the 
seventh largest country in the world and Asia’s second largest nation 
after China. For administrative purposes India is divided into 24 
states and seven union territories. Physically, the massive country is 
divided into four relatively well-defined regions — the Himalayan 
mountains, the Gangetic river plains, the southern (Deccan) plateau, 
and the islands of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar. The Hima- 
layas in the far north include some of the highest peaks in the world. 
The highest in India is Khangchenjunga (8586 m). The northern 
plains are crossed by the great rivers Ganga (Ganges), Ghaghara, 
Brahmaputra and Yamuna. Topographically homogenous, the varia- 
tion in relief does not exceed 300 m, but the soils vary widely in 
fertility. The Deccan plateau constitutes peninsular India, generally 
sloping eastwards from the Western Ghats, drained by large rivers 
such as the Mahanadi, Krishna and Godavari. The Western Ghats 
rise to 2450 m and the smaller Eastern Ghats to 600 m. 

The climate of India is dominated by the monsoons, most import- 
antly by rains from the south-west between June and October, and 
drier winds from the north between December and February. From 
March to May the climate is dry and hot. 

Half the population of India lives on less than one-quarter of the 
available land; one-third is concentrated on less than 6 per cent of the 
land (Sukhwal, 1987). The peoples of India are extremely varied, 
best described in terms of communities that are primarily separated 
by religion, but with an overlay of race, language, geography and 
culture. Most Indians are Hindus (83 per cent in 1981), but Muslims, 


126 


Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Jews are also present. There 
are also more than 400 ethnic groups (c. 44 million people) who are 
collectively referred to as the ‘Scheduled Tribes’. These commu- 
nities are distinct from one another in terms of language, religion, 
social structure and economic condition. Most inhabit the less 
accessible, often forested areas of India and, with the exception of a 
few hunter-gatherers, depend primarily on permanent or shifting 
agriculture. 


The Forests 
India possesses a distinct identity, not only because of its geography, 
history and culture, but also because of the great diversity of its 
natural ecosystems. The panorama of Indian forests ranges from 
evergreen tropical rain forests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 
the Western Ghats, and the north-eastern states, to dry alpine scrub 
high in the Himalaya to the north. Between the two extremes, the 
country has semi-evergreen rain forests, deciduous monsoon forests, 
thorn forests, subtropical broadleaved and subtropical pine forests in 
the lower montane zone and temperate montane forests (Lal, 1989). 
One of the most important tropical forest classifications was 
developed for Greater India (Champion, 1936) and later republished 
for present-day India (Champion and Seth, 1968). This approach has 
proved to have wide application outside India. In it 16 major forest 
types are recognised, subdivided into 221 minor types. Structure, 
physiognomy and floristics are all used as characters to define the 
types. Here we are concerned mainly with the tropical types. 


The main areas of tropical rain forest are found in the Andaman 
and Nicobar Islands; the Western Ghats, which fringe the Arabian 
Sea coastline of peninsular India; and the greater Assam region in the 
north-east. Small remnants of rain forest are found in Orissa State 
(see Figure 18.1). Semi-evergreen rain forest is more extensive than 
the evergreen formation partly because evergreen forests tend to 
degrade to semi-evergreen with human interference. There are 
substantial differences in both the flora and fauna between the three 
major rain forest regions (IUCN, 1986; Rodgers and Panwar, 1988). 
For example, the Western Ghats have 13 species of the important tree 
family Dipterocarpaceae, and the north-east has nine species, but 
they have none in common, and all but two of the eight species of the 
Andaman and Nicobar Islands are endemic. In the Western Ghats 
different floristic associations have been recognised and related to the 
length of the dry season (Singh er al., 1983; Pascal, 1988), which 
varies from three to seven or eight months between the south and 
Maharashtra further north. 


The Western Ghats Monsoon forests occur both on the western 
(coastal) margins of the Ghats and on the eastern side where there is 
less rainfall. They include several tree species of great commercial 
significance (e.g. Indian rosewood Dalbergia latifolia, Malabar kino 
Pterocarpus marsupium, teak, and Terminalia crenulata), but these 
have now been cleared from many areas. 

In the rain forests there is an enormous number of tree species — 
indeed at least 60 per cent of the trees of the upper canopy are of 
species which individually contribute not more than one per cent of 
the total number (Champion and Seth, 1968). Giant trees with 
buttressed bases and boles that are unbranched for over 30 m are 
common; typical components include species of Calophyllum, Dip- 
terocarpus, Hopea and Mesua (Pascal, 1988.) 

The montane rain forests of the Western Ghats include an ever- 
green formation commonly referred to as shola forest, which contains 
both tropical and temperate floristic elements. This forest is associ- 
ated with rolling grasslands (sholas) and is found in patches on the 
higher hills of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala above 1500 m 
where the rainfall may vary from 1500 to 6250 mm or more. 

Clumps of bamboo occur along streams or in poorly drained 
hollows throughout the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of south- 
west India, probably in areas once cleared for shifting agriculture. 


North-east India The tropical vegetation of north-east India (which 
includes the states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura 
and Meghalaya as well as the plains region of Arunachal Pradesh) 
typically covers elevations up to 900 m. It embraces evergreen and 
semi-evergreen rain forests, moist deciduous monsoon forests, 
riparian forests, swamps and grasslands. Evergreen rain forests are 
found in the Assam Valley, the foothills of the eastern Himalayas and 
the lower parts of the Naga Hills, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Ma- 
nipur, where the rainfall exceeds 2300 mm per annum. In the Assam 
Valley the giant dipterocarps Dipterocarpus macrocarpus and Shorea 
assamica occur singly, occasionally attaining a girth of up to 7 manda 
height of up to 50 m. They tower over a closed evergreen canopy at 
about 30 m, often with Mesua and Vatica predominant and many 
palms and orchids (Rao, 1974). 

The monsoon forests are mainly moist sal (Shorea robusta) forests. 
They occur widely in this region (see Map 18.2). Some subtropical 
hill forests have developed on the upper slopes of the Khasi and other 
adjacent hills below an altitude of 1500 m, but in many parts repeated 
shifting cultivation with felling and burning have cleared and greatly 
altered the original forest cover. 

Tropical rain forest in the lowlands alters in character with increas- 
ing elevation developing strong temperate floristic affinities in mon- 
tane areas. The different formations are variously described as 


INDIA 


subtropical and temperate montane evergreen forests. Such forests 
extend westwards along the south-facing slopes of the ranges of the 
Himalayas, where they have been highly disturbed and over large 
areas replaced by Pinus roxburghu, P. k. hasiana and P. wallichiana 
woodland over grass, or by treeless land. Singh and Singh (1987) give 
a good account. This western extension is not mapped here. Much 
less extensive stands of temperate rain forests also occur east of India 
in upper Burma and in China, where they have been included in our 
maps because, as in Assam, there is no sharp boundary or distinction 
between them and tropical formations. 


Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of about 350 islands 
situated in the Bay of Bengal, with a combined area of 8249 sq. km 
(Saldanha, 1989). Since 1960 the human population of the Andamans 
has grown from 50,000 to 180,000 (Whitaker, 1985) and forestry 
exploitation has disturbed much of the natural vegetation. The 
interior regions remain relatively undeveloped (IUCN, 1986). The 
Andamans have tropical evergreen rain forest and tropical semi- 
evergreen rain forest as well as tropical moist monsoon forests 
(IUCN, 1986). The tropical evergreen rain forest is only slightly less 
grand in stature and rich in species than on the mainland. The 
dominant species is Dipterocarpus grandiflorus in hilly areas, while 
Dipterocarpus kerrii is prominent on some islands in the southern part 
of the archipelago. The monsoon forests of the Andamans are 
dominated by Pterocarpus dalbergioides and Terminalia spp. 

The flora of the Nicobar Islands (which are located approximately 
300 km south of the Andamans) 1s allied to that of Sumatra and 


Tropical moist forests in the Blue Mountains of Nilgirt Tamil Nadu; habitat 
of the threatened Nilgini woodpigeon, the Nilgiri tahr and many other endemic 
species. WWFE/M. Rautkari 


INDIA 


Malaysia (IUCN, 1986). These 22 islands have rain forest which 
includes species of Calophyllum, Garcinia, Mangifera and Terminalia 
but no dipterocarps. The remaining forested areas are under some 
pressure from agricultural activities. Scrub forest occurs on the low, 
flat islands at the northern end of the archipelago (IUCN, 1986). The 
coastal margins of both the Andamans and Nicobars support man- 
grove forests, beach forests and various other littoral formations. 


Forest Resources and Management 
The majority of India’s forest lands (97 per cent) are under public 
ownership and most of these (85 per cent) are managed by the forest 
departments of the different state governments. Others are owned by 
corporate bodies (eg municipalities, village communities) and by 
private individuals (FAO/UNEP, 1981). 

Three main legal classes of forest are recognised: 
1 Reserve forests: these are primarily for conservation or scientific 
management for various forest products or for watershed protection. 
They attract the highest degree of state control and local villagers are 
excluded from entering them. 


2 Protected forests: these are similar to reserve forests but the 
government exercises a lower degree of control. Local villagers can 
exercise certain, defined rights. 
3 Unclassed forests: these are all the other publicly owned forests, 
where the state government exercises the lowest degree of control. 
India has about 751,000 sq. km of ‘legally classified forests’, but 
only 640,134 sq. km has been officially recognised as ‘effective forest 
zone’. Of this area, only 378,470 sq. km is ‘adequately stocked forest 
land’, ie with greater than 40 per cent crown cover (Table 18.1). On 
the basis of visual interpretation of 1985—7 Landsat imagery, the 
Forest Survey of India has estimated further coverage of woodland 
(257,409 sq. km) and mangrove (4255 sq. km) (Table 18.1), a total 
which is less than a quarter of the geographical area of the nation 
(FSI, 1989). These figures, covering the whole of India, include 
woodlands as well as temperate tropical forests making up about 40 
per cent of the total. In the 1987 assessment based on 1981-3 satellite 
imagery, tropical rain forests were said to occupy about 77,700 sq. 
km (FSI, 1987). Our maps, based on 1986 imagery, indicate a total of 
69,380 sq. km including mangroves (Table 18.2). 


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128 


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Table 18.1 Estimate of forest and woodland cover in India 


Area % of 
(sq. km) — land area 
Forest (crown density 40% and over) 378,470 11.51 
Woodland (crown density 10-40%) 257,409 7.83 
Mangrove forest 4,255 0.13 
Total 640,134 19.47 


(Adapted from FSI, 1989) 


Table 18.2 (shown on page 130) is a breakdown of the areas of rain 
and monsoon forest shown in a generalised form in Figure 18.1, with 
details of the Western Ghats and north-east India shown in Maps 
18.1 and 18.2. The total area of rain forest is 69,380 sq. km, or 2.3 per 
cent of India’s land area. In Maps 18.1 and 18.2, there are an 


INDIA 


additional 64,030 sq. km of monsoon forest, or 2.2 per cent of India’s 
land area, but this is incomplete as monsoon forests are extensive in 
central India. Figure 18.1 (overleaf) is a sketch map showing the 
approximate extent of monsoon forests throughout India. This 
indicates a total area of monsoon forest of 158,950 sq. km (5 per cent 
of land area). 

The National Forest Policy of India (1952) suggested that the 
nation as a whole should aim to maintain one-third of its total land 
area under forests and this remains part of the 1988 policy (see 
Initiatives for Conservation on page 138). In the hills, the proportion 
of forests should be 60 per cent and in the plains 20 per cent. 

A new national forest policy was adopted in 1988 which specifically 
laid down that environmental stability is to be the primary considera- 
tion in forest management. Efforts are now directed towards ensur- 
ing that ecological considerations are not subordinated to immediate 
material needs. Moreover, the country has launched a large-scale 
programme of wasteland afforestation in order to develop new fodder 
and firewood reserves to reduce the two main pressures on natural 
forests (see Initiatives for Conservation). 


Bangalore 


Comorin 


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INDIA 


Table 18.2 Estimates of the extent of rain forests and monsoon forests in India with emphasis on the Western Ghats, north-east India 


and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands 


Area % of 

(sq. km) land area 
Western Ghats 
Rain forests 
Lowland 15,010 0.5 
Montane 4,950 0.2 
Inland swamp 110 — 
Mangrove 130 —_— 
Sub totals 20,200 0.7 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 15,850 0.5 
Montane 2,560 0.1 
Sub totals 18,410 0.6 
North-east India 
Rain forests 
Lowland 18,860 0.6 
Montane 22,530 0.8 
Mangrove! 2,320 — 
Sub totals 43,710 1.5 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 25,340 0.9 
Montane 13,440 0.4 
Sub totals 38,780 1.3 


Area % of 
(sq. km) land area 

Andaman and Nicobar Is 
Rain forests 
Lowland 2,650 0.1 
Mangrove 570 — 
Sub totals 3,220 0.7 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 3,620 0.1 
Other regions 
Rain forests 
Lowland (Orissa) 915 0.03 
Mangrove? 1,235 0.04 
Sub totals 2,250 0.07 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 98,140 3.3 
Total rain forests 69,380 (A) 
Total monsoon forests 158,950 5.0 


Statistics are based on analyses of Maps 18.1 and 18.2 (see Map Legends for details of sources) 


' This area refers to the Sundarbans in India, which are portrayed on the western border of Bangladesh on Map 13.1. 
2 This figure is deduced from the State of the Forest Report 1989 (FSI, 1989), in which an analysis of the same imagery used here gave an estimated total of 4255 sq. km of 


mangrove in all India (see Table 18.1). 


A major drawback in forest resource management is that it has not 
been sufficiently integrated with general land use planning, and 
overall has been notably isolated from agriculture, fisheries and 
grassland management. The management of grasslands has a signifi- 
cant effect on the maintenance of forests because if they are not 
sufficiently productive, domestic animals are forced to move into the 
forests to graze. 


Deforestation 

Mainland India has suffered rapid deforestation in the past few 
decades. As much as 1500 sq. km of forest lands have been officially 
diverted per year to non-forest use. In addition, some 7000 sq. km of 
forest lands have been illegally occupied for settled cultivation and 
43,500 sq. km have been used for shifting cultivation. The remaining 
forest lands have suffered extensive degradation because of the 
enormous demands for firewood (FSI, 1987). 

Much of this forest conversion was not inevitable, and if the state 
governments had considered the situation from the national perspec- 
tive, it would not have been allowed, as the environmental costs 
resulting from forest depletion have often exceeded the economic 
gains. 

To check indiscriminate conversion of forests, the Central Govern- 
ment enacted the Forest (Conservation) Act in 1980 whereby state 
governments were required to obtain prior Central Government 
agreement. Permission for conversion of forests is only given after all 


130 


possible alternatives have been examined and when the project will 
give more economic benefits than the environmental loss entailed. 
The Act is reported to have produced the anticipated results: official 
forest land conversion has been reduced from 1500 to 65 sq. km per 
annum. 

Ecological considerations in forest management have only started 
gaining precedence over socio-economic factors in the late 1980s with 
the issue of a circular by Central Government to state governments 
that replacement of natural forests by monoculture plantations must 
be stopped, and that ecologically sensitive areas should not be 
disturbed in any way. 


Agriculture Shifting agriculture is one of the most important factors 
in the conversion of the country’s forest vegetation (see chapter 4). It 
is widely practised in the north-eastern states of India (i.e. Arunachal 
Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, 
see Table 18.3) where it is legally recognised as an acceptable form of 
land use. Practised on a small scale by a very small population using 
clearing cycles of 15—20 years, shifting agriculture has little lasting 
impact on the environment and the forest eventually recovers. In 
many parts of India, however, the rapid shortening of the cycle, due 
to increased population pressure and decreased land availability, has 
resulted either in the colonisation of vast areas of forest land by exotic 
weeds or in extensive ‘desertification’ of the landscape; this has 


occurred even in high rainfall areas. In Meghalaya the reduced cycle 
combined with the steepness of the terrain and the high rainfall of the 
region (which averages 2—3000 mm per annum) has caused par- 
ticularly severe erosion. 

Large areas of reserve forest have been released for permanent 
agricultural expansion since the Second World War. Between 1951 
and 1976 agricultural land increased by 430,000 sq. km (15 per cent 
of the land area), much of this through conversion of non-reserve 
forests which were originally intended to meet rural fodder, fuel and 
small timber supplies. This policy was followed in order to meet the 
food needs of the human population and to cash in on timber assets 
before nationalisation, but has now been reversed because forest 
products are in short supply, and the ecological changes associated 
with forest clearance are causing human suffering (Shyamsunder and 
Parameswarappa, 1987). 


Logging Logging operations, originally entrusted to private contrac- 
tors but now increasingly coming under the control of public forest 
corporations, have also contributed to the overall decline in the 
country’s moist forest resources. In theory contractors are expected 
to follow ecologically sensitive ‘working plans’, but in practice poor 
management and slack supervision of timber harvesting operations 


Key 


montane formations 


INDIA 
Table 18.3 Shifting cultivation details by state/union territories 


Shifting cultivation takes place on almost 10,000 sq. km in any one 
year, with almost 68,000 sq. km being affected during the 
cultivation cycle (mid-1980s data). Over 40 per cent of this activity 
takes place in the forest lands of the north-east, while more than 
50 per cent occurs in the now largely deforested state of Orissa. 


Area under Shifting Estimated 
cultwwation cultivation total area 
in a year cycle under shifting 

(sq. km) (years) culnvation 

(sq. km) 
Arunachal Pradesh 703 4 2,812 
Assam 700 7 4,900 
Manipur 500 6 3,000 
Mizoram 600 8 4,800 
Meghalaya 760 6 4,560 
Nagaland 730 9 6,570 
Tripura 170 8 1,360 
Total North Eastern States 4,163 - 28,002 
Andhra Pradesh 173 6 1,038 
Bihar 162 6 972 
Kerala 19 6 114 
Madhya Pradesh 81 6 486 
Orissa 5,298 7 37,086 
Total Southern States 5,733 - 39,696 
Total India 9,896 - 67,698 


(Adapted from Report of Task Force on Shifting Cultivation, im li.) 


Figure 18.1 Sketch map 
of the remaining moist 
forests of all India. 
(Source: Data from the 
National Forest Vegetation 
Map (FSI, 1986), inter- 
preted through Das 
Gupta, 1976.) 


Rain forests, including lowland ond montane 
formations, inland swamps and mangroves B 


Monsoon forests, including lowland and 


131 


INDIA 


ia BF, 


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= 


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Catchmen 


Cancer 


fa lowland 


Map 18.2 N.E. India, 
Andamans & Nicobars 


Rain Forests 
montane * ee | 
mangrove Peerorme. 


Monsoon Forests 


lowland 


montane* 


Conservation areast 


existing 
proposed 


Non Forest 


* Higher than 914m (3000') 
T Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 


1:4,000,000 
4 50 100 150 kilometres 
0 50 100 miles 


| 96°E 


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Channel 
14°N 
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Coco Channel 
North Andaman Peninsula 
(738fgNo rth Andaman Ridge 
i North 
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Interview Austin-Kishorinagar Mangroves 
Island 
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Middle “4 
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South Archipelago = 
Andaman Port es 
B 7 pela 
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Nth, i 
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Little 
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ee 26:N) | Andaman 8 
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=== > ; 
5 Little Nicobar Little| Nicobar 
o Great Nicobar. Mount 
5 _Thullier 
® Great Nicobar 
Great Channel 
22°N 
94°E 
98°E 100° 


INDIA 


have caused a widespread decline in forest quality. The environmen- 
tal advantages of enforcing non-destructive timber extraction tech- 
niques and maintaining a substantial forest resource base are 
recognised by the Indian authorities, but in many cases inadequate 
control and short-term economic considerations have superseded the 
application of sound ecological principles. This insensitive forest 
destruction has caused a reduction in species diversity. 

Harvesting of fuelwood is an important factor in deforestation. 
India produces thirteen times as much fuelwood as sawlogs (FAO, 
1990) and fuelwood is an important source of energy for Indian rural 
households, which make up 75 per cent of the population. Although 
some villagers have been granted the right to take fallen material 
from certain forests for their domestic requirements, a far larger 
quantity is illegally removed by way of lopping and cutting of small 
trees. With growing population pressure, there is an increasing gap 
between supply and demand, and there can be no doubt of the serious 
impact this demand is making on forests. In 1975—6, 183 million cu. 
m of firewood were consumed in mainland India, while the sustain- 
able level of production was estimated to be less than 41 million cu. m 
per annum (FSI 1987). Over the last few years the firewood cut has 
far exceeded the prescribed silvicultural limit. Current requirement 
for fuelwood is running at about 240 million cu. m per year, 1.e. 199 
million cu. m above the sustainable yield. The situation is aggravated 
by industrial wood requirements that are over twice as high as the 
silvicultural productivity. India has the potential to meet these 
demands from the nation’s forest lands, but plantation forestry will 
need to be extended and natural forests managed more carefully. 


Grazing on forest land Since the time when India’s forests were first 
reserved, India’s human population has more than trebled and the 
cattle population has grown by a factor of 2.5 (Shyamsunder and 
Parameswarappa, 1987). In 1975 India had about 15 per cent of the 
world’s cattle, 46 per cent of its buffaloes, 17 per cent of its goats and 
4 per cent of its sheep (Centre for Science and Environment, 1982). 
With the rapid increase in the size of irrigated and cultivated lands in 
recent years, many livestock owners have been forced to rely on 
forest areas as grazing land for their herds. Of over 400 million cattle, 
about 90 million graze in the forests, where the carrying capacity is 
estimated at only 31 million (FSI, 1987). In Karnataka, one of the 
leading forestry states, cattle-grazing was formerly restricted and 
regulated, but today it has become uncontrollable because of the 
huge numbers involved. This is leading to heavy trampling, fodder 
lopping and fire-setting, which significantly diminish opportunities 
for forest regeneration. 


Hydroelectric projects Dams are very often built on rivers running 
through the most fertile forest lands, which means that dam con- 
struction has become part of the destructive process. Between 1947 
and 1957 about half a million hectares of forest were lost due to major 
river-valley projects (Centre for Science and Environment, 1982). By 
the late 1980s it is expected that several million hectares of reserve- 
forest land will be lost through submergence and clearance for 
irrigated agriculture (Shyamsunder and Parameswarappa, 1987). 
The intensive utilisation of water resources in the Western Ghats 
gives particular cause for concern. This escarpment is the major 
watershed in peninsular India and the steep western slopes of the 
Ghats are ideal for generating hydroelectric power. Eleven dams have 
already been constructed along the course of the Periyar River (one of 
the largest waterways in the state of Kerala) and their creation has 
submerged large stands of valley forest. The activities associated with 
their construction (e.g. improved or new access roads) have also led 
to increased human encroachment and to the irreversible fragmenta- 
tion of more than 60 per cent of the remaining vegetation in the 
river’s catchment area (Nair, 1985). In the headwaters of the Chal- 


133 


INDIA 


akudi River construction of four dams has not only resulted in the sub- 
mergence of large areas of forest (Sebastine and Ramamurthy, 1966), 
but the increased human use of the area associated with the operation 
of the dams has had an adverse impact on the integrity of habitats, and 
on populations of certain animal species (Vijayan, 1978). 

Deforestation in the catchment areas of India’s dams and reser- 
voirs is a major problem because it has led to widespread siltation and 
correspondingly reduced storage capacity. By 1980 India’s invest- 
ment in reservoirs was of the order of US $12 billion (Government of 
India, 1980), but most major reservoirs are silting up at rates several 
times faster than those projected at the time of their construction. 
The capacity of the Nizamsagar Reservoir has been more than halved 
from almost 900 million cu. m to less than 340 million cu. m. There is 
now not enough water in this dam to irrigate the 1100 sq. km of sugar 
cane and rice for which it was built, and therefore there is insufficient 
sugar cane to supply local sugar factories (Das, 1977). 

The ecological damage which may result from the construction of 
artificial reservoirs is beginning to cause much concern in India. 
For example, public opposition to the loss of habitat, and species 
extinctions which would result from inundation of 540 ha of tropical 
rain forest along the Kunthipuzha River, was instrumental in halting 
the Silent Valley Hydroproject in January 1980 (Goodland, 1985). 


Deforestation in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands The forests of 
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, though widely logged-over, have 
remained relatively intact. Nevertheless they are under threat from a 
growing population and from unsustainable industrial logging prac- 
tices. The north and middle Andamans have suffered severe degrada- 
tion, and forests in the south Andamans are over-exploited, the only 
pristine stretch being the Jarawa reserve (Centre for Science and En- 
vironment, 1985). Parts of Great Nicobar also support pristine forests. 


Mangroves 

There is a very extensive block of mangrove forests on the east coast 
of India 2000-5000 sq. km (Scott, 1989), part of, and contiguous 
with another block of mangrove in Bangladesh. This is the Sundar- 
bans mangrove forest, the largest in the world, infamous for man- 
eating tigers (see chapter 13). Apart from the Sundarbans, man- 
groves are not extensive in India (Blasco, 1975). In the north-west 
they are near their northern limits of occurrence and are poor in 
species and low in stature. 


Biodiversity 

The rich and diverse flora and fauna of India are a reflection of the 
country’s wide range of climates, latitudes, elevations and bio- 
geographical history. The rain forests hold a high concentration of 
the nation’s total plant and animal diversity and include many species 
which are endemic. 

The Indian mainland flora has been largely derived from Indo- 
china via the Assam corridor, but 35 per cent of species have South- 
east Asian affinities. The Andaman Islands have floristic affinity with 
Burma, the more southerly Nicobars with Malesia. Taken together 
these two archipelagos have 2200 higher plant species with 10 per 
cent endemism. 

There are estimated to be possibly 45,000 species of plants in India 
(Lal, 1989). Of these, 15,000 are higher plants, over 4000 species 
being found in the Western Ghats, just 5 per cent of the land area. Of 
the 4000, 1800 species are endemic to the Ghats, most of them found 
in the evergreen forests. 

Several distinct centres of endemism exist (Ahmedullah and 
Nayar, 1987; Nair and Daniel, 1986). The Agastyamalai Hills in the 
southern part of the Western Ghats are home for at least 150 localised 
endemics. The Silent Valley-New Amarambalan Reserve basin, also 
in the Ghats, contains some of the least disturbed rain forest in India, 
and many rare species. Periyar National Park in Kerala contains no 
less than 60 per cent rain and monsoon forest and has a rich diversity 
of plant life. 


Threats to plant diversity A workshop held in 1982 indicated that as 
many as 3—4000 higher plants may be under a degree of threat in 
India. Since then, the Project on Study, Survey and Conservation of 
Endangered Species of Flora (POSSCEP) has partially documented 
the problem, and published its findings in Red Data Books (Nayar 
and Sastry, 1987). 

Certain groups of plants are particularly at risk, notably medicinal 
plants. A wide variety of these are harvested from the wild in India, 
and have been over-exploited as local pharmaceutical industries have 
developed (Husain, 1983). The market continues to grow; demand is 
estimated to have risen by 7 per cent over the last two decades (Gupta 
and Sethi, 1983). In the forests, food plants are also widely collected. 
India, a centre of diversity of wild relatives of domestic food crops, 
has about 250 such species identified of which 60 are either rare or 
threatened (Arora et al., 1983). 


The lion-tailed macaque is one of the very few mammals that are 
truely endemic to the south Indian rain forest. Slow to reproduce, 
itis threatened by loss of habitat, and the long-term stability of the 
rain forest is vital to its survival. 

Its habitat is now confined to the Western Ghats mountain 
ranges in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. About 
60 per cent of the existing 5000 sq. km of habitat has been 
fragmented into small patches ranging in area from 20 ha to 20 sq. 
km, and only 20 per cent occurs as patches of more than 100 sq. 
km. The present population of the lion-tailed macaque is about 3— 
4000, and about 60 per cent of them are scattered between isolated 
populations confined to small patches of rain forest, some as small 
as 30 ha. Many of the patches support only one group, and many 
more only two or three groups. Patches with more than ten groups 
are very few. 

More than 90 per cent of the existing habitat has been selec- 
tively logged in the recent past, but logging activities have now 


CONSERVING THE LION-TAILED MACAQUE (Macaca silenus) 


ceased. Nevertheless the smaller forest patches, in particular, are 
under great pressure from demand for firewood, timber and other 
forest produce. Hunting in some areas has caused severe popula- 
tion depression or even local extinction of the macaque. Many of 
the small patches are privately owned and have been underplanted 
with cardamom or coffee. 

Although clear felling and selective logging in rain forest have 
been stopped, a major threat still facing the lion-tailed macaque 
comes from proposed hydroelectric projects, especially in the 
region of Kerala. 

More areas of rain forest need to be given the better protection 
status of a sanctuary or national park if further loss and fragmenta- 
tion of habitat are to be prevented, and hunting is to be controlled. 
In addition, more intensive management measures have to be 
planned in order to ensure the continued survival of macaque 
populations in small forest patches. 

al 


Source: Ajith Kumar 


134 


INDIA 


The reserves in the Nilgiri area of Tamil Nadu are treated as a national biosphere reserve with multiple-use objectives. Here a stream runs through the summer 


resort, used for relaxation by locals and tourists alike. WWF/M. Rautkari 


Animal species All vertebrate groups are abundant in India, which 
has 365 species of mammals, about 1250 species of birds (14 per cent of 
the world total), over 180 amphibians and over 60,000 described 
invertebrates (Zoological Survey of India, 1980; WCMC, 1989). 

Six endemic mammals are found in the Western Ghats: lion-tailed 
macaque (Macaca silenus) (see case study), Nilgiri leaf monkey 
(Trachypithecus johnit), palm cwet (Macrogalidea musschenbroeki) Mal- 
abar civet (Viverra megaspila), spiny-tailed mouse (Mus spp.) , and 
Nilgiri tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius). These and many other vertebrates 
and invertebrates, are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 
1972 (as modified), but the legislation does little or nothing to prevent 
the main cause of threat — loss of habitat. 

The rain forest ecosystems of India are very important also for bird 
diversity. At least 20 threatened species are found there (Collar and 
Andrew, 1988; WCMC, 1989), most of them in north-east India and 
on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the Western Ghats the 
Nilgiri woodpigeon is threatened. 

Finally the Western Ghats are renowned for their extraordinary 
richness of amphibians. Of India’s 112 endemic amphibians, 84 are 
found there (Inger and Dutta, 1987). 


Conservation Areas 

Protection of wildlife has a long tradition in India, with the establish- 
ment of forest reserves and sanctuaries for wildlife advocated as far 
back as the fourth century Bc. Uniform federal legislation for conser- 
vation areas came in after Independence in 1947, but well before this 
a number of national parks and sanctuaries were designated by 
respective states under a variety of laws. One of the oldest of the 
sanctuaries is Orang in Assam, established in 1915, while Corbett in 
the sal forests of northern Uttar Pradesh became the country’s first 
national park in 1936. 

An extensive system of protected areas was not developed until the 
1970s, however, following the enactment of the Wildlife Protection 
Act in 1972. By 1988 there were 66 national parks and 434 wildlife 
sanctuaries, covering an area of approximately 141,000 sq. km (4.7 
per cent of land area). 

In 1988, the Wildlife Institute of India published a comprehensive 
review of the protected areas system, as part of the National Wildlife 


Action Plan (see Initiatives for Conservation below) (Rodgers and 
Panwar, 1988). Based on a biogeographical analysis, the report 
recommends increasing coverage to 148 national parks and 503 
sanctuaries, making a total area of 151,342 sq. km (5.1 per cent of 
India’s land area). A number of these recommendations have already 
been accepted and the network in December 1989 totalled 65 na- 
tional parks and 407 sanctuaries, covering 131,787 sq. km. In fact, 
however, only in about 40 per cent of national parks and 5 per cent of 
sanctuaries have legal procedures of establishment been completed. 
This is among a number of significant findings emanating from a 
recent assessment of national efforts to safeguard and manage India’s 
biological diversity through its protected areas network (Kothari et 
al., 1989). 


The Western Ghats cover an estimated 159,000 sq. km in which 
there are currently eight national parks with a total area of 2848 sq. 
km (1.8 per cent) and 39 wildlife sanctuaries covering 13,862 sq. km 
(8.7 per cent). The management status of the wildlife sanctuaries in 
this part of India varies enormously. Tamil Nadu’s Nilgir1 Wildlife 
Sanctuary (also known as Mukurthi Sanctuary) for example, has no 
human inhabitants and only small abandoned plantations, while the 
Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala includes considerable 
areas of commercial plantations with heavy resource exploitation. 
Proposals contained in the Wildlife Institute of India Report increase 
the number of parks from 7 to 18 and the number of sanctuaries from 
37 to 50. The overall extent of protected area coverage would 
decrease, however, from 15,935 sq. km or just over 10 per cent of the 
zone to 15,528 sq. km or 9.7 per cent of the zone. This is the result of 
actions that have already been taken to degazette much of the large 
Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka from 5730 sq. km to two 
smaller areas (Rodgers and Panwar, 1988). Proposed and existing 
parks in the forest zones are listed in Table 18.4. 


North-east India is one of the most crucial areas in the sub-continent 
for attempts to develop a comprehensive conservation network. It 
includesarich diversity of habitats, and significant levels of endemism 
are present in all animal and plant groups. The states of Assam, 
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagalandand Tripura cover 171,423 


12}5) 


INDIA 


Table 18.4 Conservation areas of India 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. The remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. 
Forest reserves are not included. For data on World Heritage sites, see chapter 9. 


WESTERN GHATS - Gujarat 


Sanctuaries 
Purna* 


WESTERN GHATS — Maharashtra 


National Parks 
Sanjay Gandhi* 


Sanctuaries 
Bhimashankar* 
Chandoli* 
Chaprala* 


Kalsubai-Harishchandragad 


Koyna* 
Mahabeleshwar* 
Phansad* 
Radhanagri 

Rev. Fr. Santapau* 
Tansa* 


WESTERN GHATS - Goa 


National Parks 
Bhagwan Mahavir* 


Sanctuaries 
Bhagwan Mahavir* 
Cotigao* 


WESTERN GHATS — Karnataka 


National Parks 
Bandipur* 
Kudremukh* 
Nagarhole* 


Sanctuaries 
Ammedikal* 
Bhadra* 
Brahmagiri* 
Dandeli* 
Gunjawatti/Anjni* 
Honavar* 
Mookambika* 
Pushpagiri* 
Sharavathi* 
Shettihalli* 
Someswara* 
Talakaveri* 


WESTERN GHATS - Kerala 


Natnonal Parks 
Agastyamalai* 
Anamudi* 
Evarikulam* 
Karimpuzha* 
Periyar* 

Silent Valley* 


Sanctuaries 
Agastyamalai* 
Anamudi* 
Aralem* 


136 


Existing Proposed 


area area 


(sq. km) (sq. Rm) 


160 
87 30 (ext) 
131 
309 
135 
362 
424+ 
50 
70 
372t 
70 
305 
107 
133 
105 
874 
600 
643 78 (ext) 
100 
492+ 
181+ 
5,730 995 
350 
50 
247 120 (ext) 
108 
43] 210 (ext) 
396 80 
88 53 (ext) 
105 
200 
300 
97 
225 
350 50 (ext) 
90 
181 
207 
55 


Chimmony* 105 40 (ext) 
Idukki* 70 

Kurathimalai* 200 
Neyyar* 128 

Palamala* 100 
Parambikulam* 285 405 
Peechi-Vazhani* 125 

Periyar* 427 427 
Peppara* 53 

Ponmudy* 100 
Shenduruny* 100 

Shola Forest 100 
Wynad* 344 

WESTERN GHATS — Tamil Nadu 

Sanctuaries 

Anamalai 850T 

Boluvampatti 107 
Kalakad* 224+ 50 (ext) 
Megamalai* 400 
Mudumalai* 322, 
Mundanthurai* 567T 

Mukurthi 78t 

Sub totals 16,597 5,546 
Other Areas 338 c. 88 
WESTERN GHATS Grand Totals 16,935 5,634 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Assam 

National Parks 

Dhansiri-Kaki* 100 
Kaziranga* 430 

Manas* 317 
Tinkhopani* 100 
Sanctuaries 

Barail* 300 
Barak* 190 
Barnadi 26 74 (ext) 
Desangmukh 90 
Dhansiri-Kaki* 100 
Dibru* 425 
Digboi* 50 
Hollongapar* 50 
Innerline* 100 
Laokhowa 70 125 (ext) 
Manas 391F 

Mikhir Hills* 200 
Nameri* 137 

Orang 73 

Pabha 49 41 (ext) 
Pobitora 16 44 (ext) 
Ripu-Chirang* 300 
Sonai-Rupai* 175 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Meghalaya 

National Parks 

Balphakram* 220 150 (ext) 


Nokrek* 68 

Nongkhlaw 150 
Sanctuaries 

Nongkhyllem* 24 156 (ext) 
Rongrengri 200 
Saipung Link* 300 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Tripura 

Sanctuaries 

Central Catchment 50 
Trishna 171+ 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Nagaland 

Sanctuaries 

Intanki* S6t 46 (ext) 
Shiloi* 100 
Phuliebadze* 70 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Manipur 

National Parks 

Dzuko* 300 
Siroi* 200 
Sanctuaries 

Dzuko* 100 
Kaihlam* 260 
Siroi* 100 
Taret-Lokehao* 100 
NORTH-EAST INDIA — Mizoram 

National Parks 

Phawngpui/Blue Mts 60 
Murlen* 200 
Sanctuaries 

Dampa* 681+ 

Murlen* 200 
Ngengpui* 100 
Palak* 200 
Twai 104 

Sub totals 2,587 5,752 
Other Areas 343 237 
NORTH-EAST INDIA Grand Totals 2,930 5,989 
EASTERN HIMALAYA — Arunachal Pradesh 

National Parks 

Nampdapha* 1,985 515 (ext) 
Mouling* 483 317 (ext) 
Dibang Valley* 1,000 
Lado* 500 
Walong* 800 
Tirap Evergreen* 100 
Tawang 300 
Sanctuaries 

Itanagar* 140 150 (ext) 
Mehao* 282 


(Adapted from Rodgers and Panwar, 1988; IUCN, 1990 and WCMC im litt.) 


D’Ering Memorial 
Pakhui* 

Tawang 
Kalaktang* 
Dibang Valley* 
Palin* 

Lado* 
Namdapha* 
Mouling* 
Walong* 


Sub totals 
Other Areas 


ARUNACHAL PRADESH 
Grand Totals 


EAST COAST (West Bengal) 
National Parks 
Sundarbans* 


Sanctuanes 
Sajnakhali* 


EAST COAST Grand Totals 


ANDAMAN ISLANDS 
National Parks 

Little Andaman* 

Mount Diavolo* 

Mount Harriet* 

West Rutland Island* 


Sanctuaries 

Austin-Kishorinagar Mangroves* 
Interview Island* 

Mount Diavolo* 

North Andaman Peninsula* 
North Andaman Ridge* 


Sub totals 


Other Areas 


ANDAMAN ISLANDS Grand Totals 


NICOBAR ISLANDS 
National Parks 

Little Nicobar* 
Mount Thullier* 


Sanctuaries 
Great Nicobar* 


Sub totals 


Other Areas 


NICOBAR ISLANDS Grand Totals 


190+ 
862+ 


INDIA 


138 (ext) 

300 

300 
1,000 

250 

500 

200 

700 

700 


3,942 


7,770 
65 


3,942 


1,330 


362 


7,835 


1,692 


134 


300 
200 
110 


134 
386 


520 


NB Only conservation areas in the following biogeographical zones are listed: East Himalaya, Malabar Coast, Western Ghat Mountains, Brahmaputra Valley, Assam Hills, 
Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, West Coast, East Coast (West Bengal only); (Rodgers and Panwar, 1988). 


* Area containing moist forest within its boundaries. 


+ Part or all of sanctuary proposed for designation as national park. 


(ext) = extension 


137 


INDIA 


sq. km, and yet by December 1989 only four national parks and three 
wildlife sanctuaries with a total area of 1880 sq. km (1.1 per cent) had 
been established. Rodgers and Panwar (1988) put forward 
recommendations for 17 new parks and 50 new sanctuaries which 
would create a protected area estate of 9381 sq. km (5.5 per cent of the 
zone’s total land area). Protected areas are listed in Table 18.4. 


Andaman and Nicobar Islands Six parks and 94 wildlife sanctuaries 
covering 708 sq. km have already been created on the Andaman and 
Nicobar Islands. Of the existing protected area system 500 sq. km is 
terrestrial. This represents six per cent of the islands’ combined land 
area of 8327 sq. km. However, the vast majority of protected areas 
are small islet reserves (57 have an area of less than one sq. km, only 
eight cover more than 10 sq. km). 

Furthermore, the larger and biologically more significant islands 
of the Andaman archipelago (North, South, Middle, Little, Baratang 
and Rutland) have only three small national parks and one tiny 
wildlife sanctuary. The biggest island, Middle Andaman, has no 
protected area except the Jarawa Tribal Reserve, which is not 
designed specifically to protect flora and fauna, although it may play a 
role in this regard. Proposals published by Rodgers and Panwar 
(1988), however, would redress this imbalance (see Table 18.4). 


Initiatives for Conservation 

National Forest Policy The serious depletion of India’s forest re- 
sources has made it necessary for the Ministry of Environment and 
Forests to revise the National Forest Policy of 1952. In December 
1988 the Ministry announced the new National Forest Policy, the 
main objectives of which include the following: 

@ Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and 
restoration. 

© Conservation of the country’s national heritage by preserving the 
remaining natural forests. 

e@ Checking soil erosion and denudation of water-catchment areas. 
e@ Preventing sand-dunes increasing in desert areas and coastal 
tracts. 

e Initiation of afforestation and social forestry programmes to in- 
crease tree cover. 

e Ensuring that rural and tribal peoples have adequate supplies of 
fuelwood, fodder, minor forest products and timber, and increasing 
the productivity of forests to meet essential needs. 

e Encouragement of efficient utilisation of forest produce and max- 
imising the substitution of wood with other products. 

@ Creation of a people’s mass movement, with the involvement of 
women, to achieve the policy’s objectives and to minimise pressure 
on existing forests. 

The Government aims to have at least one-third of the total land area 
under forest or tree cover. Moreover, in the hilly and mountainous 
regions, two-thirds of the area should be maintained under such cover 
to prevent erosion and land degradation. Forest management must 
also provide ‘corridors’ of forest to link protected areas and enable 
separated populations of migrant animals to interbreed. The National 
Forest Policy makes allowances for tribal and poor people whose 
livelihoods revolve around forests, by stating that their rights and 
concessions should be fully protected (Government of India, 1988). 


National Wildlife Action Plan At the 15th meeting of the Indian 
Board for Wildlife in October 1982, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi 
outlined the basis for a strategy to protect the nation’s wildlife 
resources. A National Wildlife Action Plan was subsequently formu- 
lated and presented to the Government of India in November 1983. It 
was accepted as an official prospectus of actions for wildlife conserva- 
tion. The main objectives of the National Wildlife Action Plan 
are: 


138 


1 Establishment of a representative network of protected areas. 
This would cover all significant biogeographic sub-divisions within 
the country. In 1984 the Government of India commissioned the 
Wildlife Institute of India to review the existing system and to 
formulate plans for a revised network of national parks, sanctuaries 
and biosphere reserves. This review has been completed and many of 
its conclusions described above (see Rodgers and Panwar, 1988). 

2 Management of protected areas and habitat restoration. In 
order to improve the management of protected areas this would: 

e@ Develop appropriate management systems for protected areas, 
giving due consideration to the needs of the local population. 

e@ Develop a professional cadre of personnel fully trained in all 
aspects of wildlife management. 

e@ Restore degraded habitats to their natural state. 

3 Wildlife protection in multiple-use areas. The aim is to provide 
adequate protection for wildlife in multiple-use areas so as to form 
corridors linking protected areas, and providing for genetic con- 
tuinuity of flora and fauna between them. Specifically the aims are to: 
@ Evolve guidelines for the management of multiple-use areas which 
provide for wildlife habitat needs and protection alongside the 
production of timber, fuelwood and other forest products. 

e@ Develop courses for India Forestry Service probationers and 
officers in the management of multiple-use areas which include 
catering for wildlife needs and requirements. 

4 Rehabilitation of threatened species. The objective is to rehabili- 
tate indigenous, threatened species of Indian flora and fauna and 
restore them to protected portions of their former habitats in a 
manner which reflects their distribution in recent historic times 
(100-150 years ago). Action required includes: 

e@ The development of guidelines for the assessment of degrees of 
threat, as a prelude to drawing up a list of threatened species. 

e@ The Government of India should set up a Central Wildlife Trans- 
location Unit in order to assist translocation and re-introduction 
projects. 

5 Captive breeding programmes. This would introduce captive 
propagation and breeding programmes for selected plants and ani- 
mals, reintroduce threatened species to the wild, and commercially 
exploit those species which are plentiful. Specifically the aims are to: 
@ Identify candidate species for Government-sponsored captive 
propagation and breeding, and design specific projects for each 
species. 

e Provide training in the propagation of plants and breeding of 
animals in captivity. 

6 Wildlife education and interpretation. The Government is speci- 
fically encouraged to promote the concept of wildlife education by: 
e Addressing wildlife education to a broader range of target groups, 
particularly politicians, decision-makers and administrators; school 
and college students at all levels; and communities living in and 
around wildlife areas. 

e Improving training of government personnel in wildlife educa- 
tion. 

e Increasing support for non-governmental organisations. 

7 Research and monitoring. The Government aims to develop a 
better scientific understanding of wildlife populations and habitats to 
provide for their proper management and, where appropriate, util- 
isation. This initiative would include collation of data on ecosystems, 
communities and species, according to priorities determined by a 
national committee on wildlife research. 

8 Domestic legislation and international conventions. Under the 
Action Plan the Government will review and update statutory provi- 
sions which provide protection to wildlife and will regulate all forms 
of trade. The specific aims are: 

e@ Production of comprehensive legislation, including provision for 
wildlife and habitat protection; improvement of protected area man- 


agement; compulsory assessment of environmental impact for all 
development projects impinging on wildlife areas; and assessment of 
trade in wildlife. 

e@ Implementation of international conventions, e.g. CITES in India. 
9 National Conservation Strategy. A National Conservation Strat- 
egy for all living natural resources is already being formulated along 
the lines of the World Conservation Strategy launched in 1980 by the 
IUCN, with the collaboration of WWF and UNEP. 

10 Collaboration with voluntary bodies. The aim is to enlist 
support from and collaborate with voluntary non-governmental 


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INDIA 


agencies in achieving the objectives identified by the Action Plan. 
There is an urgent need to define the role of such organisations and 
identify particular ways in which they can be of assistance. The 
Ministry of Environment and Forests has taken a number of 
initiatives in this respect, including the establishment of ten 
Environmental Information System (ENVIS) centres, some of which 
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Indira Gandhi Conservation Monitoring Centre, in New Delhi, 
recently created to serve as a central repository for information on 
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Botanical Survey of India, Howrah. 

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non of Tropical Plant Resources, pp. 110-17. Botanical Survey of 
India, Howrah. 

Inger, R. F. and Dutta, S. K. (1987) An overview of the amphibian 
fauna of India. Fournal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 
1886-1986, Centenary Supplement, 135—46. 

IUCN (1986) Review of the Protected Areas System in the Indo- 
Malayan Realm. Consultants J. and K. MacKinnon. IUCN, 
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ment of National Parks and Sanctuaries in India. Indian Institute of 

Public Administration, New Delhi. 298 pp. 

Lal, J. B. (1989) India’s Forests: Myth and Reality. Natraj Pub- 
lishers, New Delhi, India. 

Mani, M. S. (ed.) (1974) Ecology and Biogeography in India. Junk, 
The Hague, The Netherlands. 

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opadhyay, J., Jayal, N. D., Schoettli, U. and Chhatrapati Singh 
(eds), India’s Environment, pp. 41-51. Natraj, Dehra Dun. 

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Indian Academy of Sciences (Suppl.). Nov. 1986, pp. 127-63. 

Nayar, M. P. and Sastry, A. R. K. (eds) (1987) Red Data Book of 
Indian Plants, Vol. 1. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta. 367 pp. 

Pascal, J. P. (1986) Explanatory Booklet on the Forest Map of South 
India. Travaux Francais de Pondicherry, India. 87 pp. + 3 map 
sheets. 

Pascal, J. P. (1988) Wet Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats of 
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Institut Frangais de Pondicherry. Tome 20. 

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Burma. In: Mani, M. S. (ed.) Ecology and Biogeography in India, 
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Rodgers, W. A. and Panwar, H. S. (1988) Planning a Wildlife 
Protected Area Network in India. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra 
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New Delhi, India. 

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Forestry in India 


Authorship 

J. B. Lal of the Forest Survey of India with Alan Rodgers and Ajith 
Kumar of Dehra Dun, with contributions from Duleep Matthai of 
the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Delhi, V. H. Meher- 
Homji in Pondicherry, K. Ravindran at the Kerala Forest Research 
Insutute, Shekhar Singh and Pallava Bagla at the Indian Institute of 
Public Administration in Delhi and Sultana Bashir of Cambridge 
University, UK. 


140 


Maps 18.1 and 18.2 Forest cover in India 


In preparing map coverage of India, the editors have been guided by the central 
purpose of this atlas, which is to portray the remaining rain forests of the region. 
Where monsoon forests abut onto the rain forests, these have been mapped, but in 
India, where monsoon forests are very widespread, we have not given complete 
coverage on the colour maps. There are extensive monsoon forests in central and 
eastern India, in northern India along the foothills of the Himalaya, and to the 
west of Bangladesh, as well as in the western and north-eastern areas shown here. 
These are shown in a generalised way in Figure 18.1. 

Forest cover data were digitised from the National Forest Vegetation Map (FSI, 
1986) published by the Forest Survey of India in 26 sheets at 1:1 million scale. 
Map sheets used in this analysis were 2. Arunachal Pradesh, 3. Assam, 5. Gujarat, 
9. Karnataka, 10. Kerala, 12. Maharashtra, 13. Manipur, 14. Meghalaya, 
15. Mizoram, 16. Nagaland, 21. Tamil Nadu, 22. Tripura, 24. West Bengal, 
25. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and 26. Union Terntories (Goa only). In 
addition the following maps were used in preparing figure 18.1: 1. Andhra 
Pradesh, 4. Bihar, 11. Madhya Pradesh, 11B. Madhya Pradesh, 12. Maharashtra, 
17. Orissa, 23. Uttar Pradesh, 24. West Bengal. For each map, the two categories 
dense forest (crown density above 40 per cent) and mangrove forest were 
extracted. 

Monsoon and rain forests were further delimited using Champion (1936), 
Champion and Seth (1968) and, in particular, the Adlas of Forest Resources of India 
(Das Gupta, 1976). Map sheets 16-20 from the atlas, showing forest types of 
India, were digitised, harmonising forest categories as follows: ‘tropical wet 
evergreen’, ‘tropical semi-evergreen’, ‘subtropical broadleaved hill’ and ‘montane 
wet temperate’ forests were combined into rain forests. The categories ‘tropical 
moist deciduous’ and ‘tropical dry evergreen’ forests were used to delimit 
monsoon forest. Montane sectors were delimited using a 3000 ft (914 m) contour 
taken from JNC (Jet Navigation Charts) 36, 37 and 53. Further information on 
the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans was taken from Department of Forests, 
Government of West Bengal (1973). Forest Map of South India (Pascal, 1986), 
published by the Karnataka and Kerala Forest Departments and the French 
Insutute, Pondicherry, in three sheets at 1:250,000 scale with an explanatory 
booklet by J. P. Pascal was a valuable reference, but was not used in the 
preparation of our maps. The islands of Lakshadweep (Laccadive) have not been 
mapped as FSI (1986) and Das Gupta (1976) indicate no tropical forests exist 
there. 

Protected area locations are based on Rodgers and Panwar (1988). Maps 
showing precise boundaries are unfortunately unavailable to us, and protected 
areas are represented by circles of an appropriate size. 


19 


Indonesia 


Land area = 1,811,570 sq. kmt, 1,918,663 
Population (1989) 184.6 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 
Expected maximum population (2150) 
Gross national product (1987) US$45 
Rain forest (see maps) 1,148,400 sq. k 
Monsoon forest (see maps) 30,740 sq 
Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)t 
Annual deforestation rate (late 1980s 


T 


sq. km (official 


1.7 per cent 
355 million 
per capita 


km 
1980)¢ 1,138,950 sq. km 
6000 sq. km 

up to 12,000 sq. km 


Roundwood production® 173,598,000 cu. m ee 


Roundwood exports* 1,131,000 wv. m rs 
Fuelwood and charcoal production” 133,989,000 cu. m ia fF Q | 
Sawlog and veneer log production* 36,690,000 cu. m y ~~ 
Sawlog and veneer log exports” 3000 cu. m a 

1988 data from FAO (1990) ie 


{ FAO/UNEP (1981); FAO (1988 NM 


Indonesia is a huge archipelago extending for 4500 km between the Asian and Australian continents. Once more or less 
completely covered in tropical rain and monsoon forests, Indonesia still retains well over one million square kilometres of such 
forests, more than any other nation in the region. Worldwide, only Brazil has more rain forest than Indonesia. There are major 
biogeographical differences between the different parts of Indonesia, of which the most important are between the western and 
the eastern ends. This difference is most clearly seen in the animals, which form two groups, divided by Wallace’s Line, which 
lies east of Borneo at the edge of the Sunda continental shelf and is one of the sharpest zoogeographical frontiers in the world. 
The single most important family of tropical timber trees, the Dipterocarpaceae, is found almost entirely in the lowland rain 
forests west of Wallace’s Line, but in general this frontier is much less important for plants than for animals. 

Major exploitation of the Indonesian rain forests for timber began in the 1960s and is continuing today. The lowland rain 
forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan have been particularly heavily logged and now, although very large areas of forest cover 
remain, very little is pristine. Exploitation has often been destructive because Forest Department rules have been widely 
ignored. Moreover, once roads have given access to formerly inaccessible areas, farmers have often moved in after the timber 
companies and then cleared the relict, regenerating forest for either permanent or shifting cultivation. An exceptionally long 
and severe drought in 1982—3 was followed in Kalimantan by forest fires, mostly started inadvertently by these farmers. Over 
thirty thousand sq. km were burned, mostly comprising logged forest containing a lot of dry debris, but there are reports of 
widespread regeneration. Forests have also been lost through conversion of land to plantation agriculture and to transmigration 
schemes (see chapter 5). 

In recent years the government has progressively tightened enforcement of regulations concerning forest exploitation and 
timber processing. Indonesia prohibited log exports in 1980; all exported timber is now either sawn or converted to plywood, of 
which Indonesia is a major world supplier. Export of raw rattan was banned in 1986. 

Indonesian forests are fabulously diverse and rich in species. Serious damage, however, has been done over the past quarter 
century by the rampant timber industry, especially to the west Indonesian dipterocarp rain forests. Some wildlife is known to 
have been seriously affected, for example clouded leopard, Sumatran rhinoceros and elephant in Sumatra. Exploitation is now 
starting to focus on the east Indonesian forests. In the late 1970s, FAO and IUCN collaborated on a major review of the 
requirements for adequate conservation. Reserves which exist, or were proposed following this review, cover 10 per cent of the 
land area and if effectively implemented should conserve most of the nation’s heritage of species. In Indonesia there is now a 
need to implement existing conservation plans and this will necessitate the strengthening of conservation institutions and a 
greater conservation awareness amongst decision makers and the public. 


INTRODUCTION 


Indonesia comprises a 4500 km long chain of islands stretching from 
Sumatra in the west to Irian Jaya, the western half of the island of 
New Guinea, in the east. This archipelago of 13,667 islands, of which 
about 1300 are habitable, forms the greater part of the phytogeo- 
graphic region technically termed Malesia. 

The three islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java, together with 
intervening smaller ones, lie on the Sunda continental shelf and 
formed part of mainland Southeast Asia until geologically recent 
umes. To the west of Sumatra, however, lie the Mentawai Islands 
separated from it by a deep ocean trench. New Guinea lies on the 
Sahul continental shelf and has had a land connection with Australia. 


In contrast Sulawesi and many of the Moluccan islands appear to 
have had no recent connection with either continent and to have been 
islands for a very long time. 

The long arc of Sumatra, Java and the Lesser Sundas has a spine of 
high mountains which in Sumatra runs close to the western coast and 
which contains many extinct and a few active volcanoes. The island 
of Borneo is mountainous in the centre and to the north, and has a 
main range separating Kalimantan from Sarawak and Sabah. Sula- 
wesi is mountainous virtually throughout. New Guinea contains 
some of the highest country in the southern hemisphere, with most of 
its Mountain ranges lying just to the north of the island’s north-west/ 


141 


INDONESIA 


south-east axis. Much of this high country exceeds 4000 m and it 
culminates in Irian Jaya, in the 5039 m Gunung Jaya (Mount 
Carstenz). In contrast the eastern half of Sumatra, southern and 
eastern Borneo, and south-western New Guinea are low-lying and in 
parts swampy. 

The peoples of Indonesia are diverse in racial origin, and the nation 
contains a rich mixture of languages, cultures, religions and customs. 
There is a central government based in Jakarta (which as Batavia was 
capital of the former Dutch East Indies), but the country is divided 
for many administrative purposes into provinces. 


The Forests 

Indonesia was once clothed in tropical rain forests except for the 
southern islands of eastern Java, Madura, Bali and the lesser Sunda 
islands which had tropical monsoon forests. This belt of seasonally 
dry climate and forests extends into southern Irian Jaya, and north- 
wards into parts of southern Sulawesi. 

Indonesia contains more tropical rain forest than any other nation 
in the Asia—Pacific region. All the different tropical rain forest 
formations found in Malesia occur in Indonesia, and in fact form 
their greatest extent here, as is described in the next section. 

There are major regional differences in the floristics of the forests. 
The most important is that lowland rain forests of the Sunda shelf 
islands, Sumatra and Borneo, have an abundance of Dipterocar- 
paceae. Animals show even stronger regional differences between 
western and eastern Indonesia, bounded by Wallace’s line. Some key 
features of the original forest cover may be summarised by islands 
and island groups as follows: 


Sumatra (Sumatera) 

e Lowland evergreen rain forest, dominated by dipterocarps, once 
occurred throughout the lowlands. 

e@ Peat swamp forest and mangroves are extensive along the eastern 
coast. 

e The major mountain spine has extensive montane rain forest, 
much of it still intact. 

e In parts of the slightly dry central intermontane valley and in the 
far north occur the only natural pine (Pinus merkusi) forests in 
Indonesia (FAO, 1982; Whitten et al., 1984). 


The Toraut River in Dumoga-Bone Nanonal Park, Sulawesi, provides water for irrigation schemes in the valley below. N. M. Collins 


o - 


TORRY 


142 


Java 

e Rain forests were probably originally found in south-western Java 
and in montane areas, but are now restricted to isolated montane 
patches. 

e@ Teak, probably introduced by man, is extensively planted in the 
seasonal lowlands in the centre and east. 

e Natural monsoon forests, formerly extensive in northern and 
eastern Java, are now all heavily disturbed. 

e@ Where fire is excluded the forest begins to change to lower 
montane forest, subalpine forests and, on the highest mountains, 
temperate herbaceous formations. Extensive montane grasslands 
have resulted from forest destruction by fire. 

e@ Limestone karst occurs on the southern and north-eastern coasts, 
most of which are now planted with teak. 

e Freshwater swamp forests and mangroves occur in a few small 
patches. 


Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara) 

e Savanna woodland with Casuarina and Eucalyptus now covers 
most of these islands. 

e Evergreen rain forest was never extensive and only survives in 
isolated patches in steep valleys on south-facing sides of mountain 
ranges; elsewhere, there are monsoon forests and extensive grass- 
lands. 

e Timor once had extensive natural sandalwood (Santalum album) 
forests (FAO, 1982). 

e The montane rain forests are not luxuriant and are characterised 
by an absence of swathing bryophytes, although some have beards of 
the lichen Usnea. 


Kalimantan 

e Lowland evergreen rain forests occur up to about 1000 m; above 
them occur montane forests which, as is the case everywhere in the 
region, have abundant Fagaceae, Lauraceae and Myrtaceae. 

e Kalimantan has massive areas of lowland rain forest as well as 
extensive mangroves, peat and freshwater swamp forests, and the 
largest heath forests (kerangas) in Southeast Asia. 

e@ Degradation is extensive, and there are now large areas of second- 
ary forest, and Jmperata cylindrica grasslands on land degraded by 
shifting cultivation and excessive forest exploitation. 


Sulawesi 

e Extensive tracts of montane rain forests sull occur. 

e Tracts of lowland rain forests, except in the southwest peninsula, 
also occur extensively. 

e There are few dipterocarps; the main timber species include 
Agathis dammara and ebony Diospyros spp. and the flora is less rich 
than on islands to the west. 

e@ Sulawesi has the biggest tracts of forest over ultrabasic rocks in the 
tropics (at the head of the Gulf of Bone) with their distinctive forest 
formation, and also has large areas of karst limestone (especially in 
the south-west). 

e There are only small areas of inland swamp forests. 

e Mangroves occur in isolated patches in the south. 

e@ Seasonal climates which once supported monsoon forests occur, 
mainly in the south (Whitten ez al., 1987a). 


Moluccas (Maluku) 

@ The Moluccan archipelago is partly perhumid and partly seasonal 
so has both rain and monsoon forests, both lowland and montane. 
@ Other formations include small areas of mangroves and freshwater 
swamps with extensive stands of sago (Metroxylon sagu). 


Irian Faya 

e Apart from a belt of monsoon forest and savanna woodland in the 
far south, the vegetation is one of the largest expanses of pristine 
tropical rain forest in Southeast Asia. 

e@ Timber trees include Calophyllum and Intsia in the lowlands and 
Agathis and Araucana in the hills, where they occur as dense stands. 
e Lower montane rain forests are found at 1400-3000 m, upper 
montane forests up to 3400-3600 m, above which subalpine forest 
and alpine heathland are found. 

e Freshwater swamp forests with sago palm and extensive mangrove 
forests are present, as well as huge tracts of peatswamp forest on the 
west coast, only discovered in the 1980s. 

e@ In the south is monsoon forest, savanna woodland with much 
Eucalyptus, and grassland. 

e@ The Fak Fak Mountains have limestone forest and large areas of 
anthropogenic grassland. 

e@ Beach forests have a typical Indo-Pacific strand flora and are better 
preserved than elsewhere in Malesia. 


Forest Resources and Management 

Land-use planning in Indonesia depends upon a process of land-use 
classification at provincial level. This process resulted in the publica- 
tion of an account of Indonesian forest resources in 1985 (Table 19.1). 
The Consensus Forest Land Use Plan reveals that about 1.13 millionsq. 
km of permanent forest has been identified, and that a further 0.3 
million sq. km of forest land is suitable for conversion to non-forest 
use. This is in addition to 0.49 million sq. km already alienated. Since 
this assessment was undertaken, there have been improvements in the 
availability of data on slope, soil, climate and vegetation coverage that 
have enabled some fine-tuning. The Regional Physical Planning 
Programme for Transmigration (RePPProT), funded by a loan from 
the World Bank and bilateral aid from the UK, has undertaken a 
complete reclassification of Indonesia, based on available satellite 
imagery, aerial photography and local information. At the time of 
writing, the data are being drawn together and cannot be presented in 
detail (RePPProT, 1990), but the general conclusions are clear. There 
has been considerable agricultural encroachment into forest reserved 
for conservation or timber production purposes, and there is an urgent 
need for enforcement of conservation laws. At the same time, the new 
review of land use potential is likely to recommend that substantial 
areas of land previously classified as production forestis in fact suitable 


INDONESIA 


Table 19.1 Indonesian forest resources 


Area % of 
(sq. km) land area 

Permanent forest 
Protection forest 303,160 16 
Nature conservation forest 175,213 9* 
Production forests 

Permanent 338,660 18 

Limited 305,250 16 
Sub totals 1,122,283 58 
Other land 
Forests for alienation 305,370 16 
Alienated 491,010 26 
Sub totals 796,380 42 
Total 1,918,663 


(Adapted from Departamen Kehutanan (1985), Burgess (1988) and RePPProT 
(1990) ) 


* This figure includes gazetted terrestrial reserves (see Table 19.3), but not marine 
reserves. It differs slightly from the figure of 187,250 sq. km given by Burgess 
(1988), which cannot be reconciled with data available for this atlas. 


for alienation (i.e. conversion to other uses), particularly to 
agricultural tree-crops. 

The official statistics resulting from the RePPProT study are as yet 
unpublished, but the RePPProT team has generously released a set 
of 1:2.5 million scale forest cover maps for use in the preparation of 
this atlas (see Map Legend). Using GIS techniques it has been 
possible to estimate forest cover statistics, detailed in Table 19.2. It 
must be emphasised that these data are for use only untl the official 
RePPProT report is available, but the data on these maps are ex- 
pected to be accurate within fairly narrow limits. 

Table 19.2 indicates 1,179,140 sq. km of tropical moist forest in 
Indonesia, of which 1,148,400 sq. km are rain forest. Rain forests 
occur throughout the archipelago but the greatest extents are in 
Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, each with over a third of a million sq. km, 
and Sumatra with almost a quarter of a million. Monsoon forests are 
much less extensive, only found in the Lesser Sundas, Sulawesi and 
the Moluccas, with a total of just 30,740 sq. km. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) estimated the closed broadleaved and con- 
iferous forest cover of Indonesia in 1980 at 1,138,950 sq. km. In 1987 
FAO in Bangkok published a slightly adjusted figure of 1,134,970 sq. 
km for 1980, a figure of 1,134,730 sq. km for 1985 and a projected 
figure of 1,132,590 sq. km for 1990 (FAO, 1987). 

As so often is the case, the mapped information is slightly more 
generous in terms of forest cover than data from FAO would suggest. 
Nevertheless, the difference between the two sets of figures is small, 
only 4 per cent. It is encouraging to know that the RePPProT project 
has been able to produce a set of reliable forest maps for one of the 
largest and most important rain forest areas of the world. 

The present extent of unlogged productive forest remains in 
doubt. Large-scale logging began in 1967 and production figures 
show that some 435 million cu. m of timber were removed over the 
following 20 years. Burgess (1988) estimated that this represents the 
produce from about 120,000 sq. km of production forest and that 
524,000 sq. km of unlogged production forest remains as operable 
production forest and forest for alienation (Table 19.1). This figure 
does not include the 305,000 sq. km of limited production forest 
which is at present inaccessible and assumed to be unlogged, al- 
though some will have been affected by shifting cultivation. 


143 


INDONESIA 


[eae peg S tet ene ‘4 Dolok “Ss 
ps Gunung= = Sembeli Toba Lake 
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| . Ww GY ot) % 2 
Sumatra (Indonesia) => Simauie barat 
aM 
we: ye 
Rain Forests iccreaty 
lowland | = aeae =e || | Babi 5 oN Tuangku 
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Conservation areas + | < 4 
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Non Forest [ene] : As\ 
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144 


INDONESIA 


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145 


INDONESIA 


Table 19.2 Estimates of forest extent 


Area % of 
(sq. km) land area 
SUMATRA (472,610 sq. km) MOLUCCAS (69,230 sq. km) 
Rain forests Rain forests 
Lowland 123,150 26.1 Lowland 44,160 63.8 
Montane 32,190 6.8 Montane 1,310 1.9 
Inland swamp 65,310 13.8 Inland swamp 60 0.1 
Mangrove 10,010 2.1 Mangrove 1,610 23 
Sub totals 230,660 48.8 Sub totals 47,140 68.1 
Monsoon forests 
JAVA and BALI (138,580 sq. km) Lowland 8,820 P57 
Rain forests Montane 110 0.2 
Lowland 7,370 5.3 — sa 
Montane 5,450 3.9 Sub totals 8,930 12.9 
Inland swamp 70 0.1 
Mangrove 850 0.6 
IRIAN JAYA (410,650 sq. km) 
Sub totals 13,740 a9 Rain forests 
Lowland 232,610 56.6 
Montane 54,660 13.3 
See SUN Dies oe) sa a) Tips Sones 49,590 12.1 
Rain forests Mangrove 17,500 4.3 
Lowland 130 0.1 2 
Montane 210 0.2 
niet diewamp 70 01 Sub totals 354,360 86.3 
Mangrove 490 0.5 
1 
Coniaek: 900 1.0 aero (1,918,663 sq. km) 
ain forests 
Lowland 783,170 40.8 
Monsoon forests Montane 141,280 7.4 
Lowland 12,590 14.0 Inland swamp 179,820 9.4 
Montane 1,100 1.2 Mangrove 44,130 2.3 
Sub totals 13,690 15.2 Sub totals 1,148,400 59.9 
Monsoon forests 
KALIMANTAN (534,890 sq. km) Lowland 29,530 1.5 
Rain forests Montane 1,210 0.1 
Lowland 298,070 S6// 
Montane 25,540 48 Sub totals 30,740 1.6 
Inland swamp 62,210 11.6 
Mangrove 11,500 DAI GRAND TOTALS! 1,179,140 61.5 
Sub totals 397,320 74.3 
SULAWESI (184,840 sq. km) 
Rain forests 
Lowland 77,680 42.0 
Montane 21,920 11.9 
Inland swamp 2,510 1.4 
Mangrove 2,170 12 
Sub totals 104,280 56.4 
Based on analyses of Maps 19.1 to 19.7. See Map Legend for details of sources. 
Monsoon forests : oe 
Lowland 8.120 44 | The areas of the regions are estimated from the maps and are not official statisucs. 


The total area of the country by this method is 1,900,570 sq. km, but for calculating 
the percentage forest cover for the whole nation we have adopted the official figure 
Sub totals 8,120 4.4 for total land area, i.e. 1,918,663 sq. km. 


146 


Regional Resources 

Sumatra 

e@ The population density on Sumatra (59 people per sq. km in 1980) 
is relatively high and large areas of rain forest have been cleared for 
agriculture or industrial plantations (Whitten et a/., 1984). On the 
flat lowlands of southern Sumatra, for example, the great stands of 
ironwood Eusideroxylon zwagert, a species of great commercial im- 
portance producing an exceptionally durable timber, have been 
almost entirely destroyed. 

e Relatively large areas of the shallower peat swamp forests along 
the Malacca Strait are being drained to provide farmland for new 
transmigrants (see chapter 5). 

e About 230,660 sq. km, or 49 per cent, of the original forest cover 
remains (Table 19.2 and Map 19.1), but there is no doubt that large 
areas are degraded. 

e Inrecent years there has been heavy logging in the lowlands east of 
the main mountain spine. Estimates from 1975 indicated that 42 per 
cent of Sumatra was covered with primary forest at that time (FAO/ 
UNEP, 1981), but the figure is certainly much lower now. 

e@ Figure 19.1 dramatically illustrates the rapid depletion of pristine 
lowland tropical rain forest in Sumatra (Map 19.1 shows logged as 
well as pristine forest). 

e@ Sumatra probably continues to lose its natural vegetation faster 
than any other part of Indonesia. 


Figure 19.1 Pristine forests in Sumatra 


This is based on data from 1932 (Whitten er a/., 1984), about 1980 (Whitmore, 1984a) and the 
mid-1980s (Laumonier et al., 1986). Note that logged forests are excluded from this overview, 
but are included in Map 19.1, which therefore shows more extensive cover. 


INDONESIA 


Java and Bah 

@ Java, one of the most densely populated islands in the world, has 
lost more than 90 per cent of its natural vegetation. 

e Primary forests remain only in mountainous regions at elevations 
above 1400 m. 

e Virtually all lowland rain forests have been replaced by farms or 
plantation forests. 

e@ At the end of 1980 closed broadleaved forest cover was estimated 
to be only 8 per cent, 11,800 sq. km (FAO/UNEP, 1981), although 
Map 19.2 indicates slightly more, 13,740 sq. km or 9.9 per cent. 


Lesser Sunda Islands 

e Tropical rain forests were never extensive and survive only in 
small isolated patches, usually in steep valleys. Map 19.3 indicates 
900 sq. km remaining. 

e@ Seasonal monsoon forests were more widespread, and still cover 
13,690 sq. km (15 per cent of land area). 

e@ Closed broadleaved forests were estimated by FAO to cover 
25,250 sq. km (28 per cent) at the end of 1980 (FAO/UNEP, 1981), 
over 10,000 sq. km more than our maps suggest. 

@ Much of the original forest cover has been degraded by human 
activity to open savanna woodlands or converted to agriculture. 


Kalimantan 

e Kalimantan supports the largest expanse of tropical rain forest in 
Southeast Asia. It is less densely populated than other parts of the 
archipelago and our data indicate that almost three-quarters of the 
land surface was still under natural vegetation in the second half of 
the 1980s, an esumated 397,320 sq. km (Map 19.4 and Table 19.2). 
e FAO estimated only 353,950 sq. km of closed forest in 1980, so 
there is some discrepancy between the data-sets (FAO/UNEP, 
1981). 

e The lowland forests have been heavily logged since the late 1960s. 
e@ In 1983 a huge area (over 30,000 sq. km) of Kalimantan, including 
8000 sq. km of primary forest, was destroyed by fire or drought 
(Malingreau et al., 1985) (see case study). 

e@ Much of the land officially classed as forest is seriously degraded 
and huge areas of /mperata grassland exist. 


Sulawesi 

@ Sulawesi has extensive tracts of primary rain forest although large 
areas in the south and some parts of the centre and north of the island 
have been cleared for permanent and shifting cultivation. Table 19.2 
and Map 19.5 indicate forest cover over about 60 per cent of the 
island, virtually all of this being rain forest. 

e The forest cover per inhabitant is greater than in Sumatra, Java, 
Bali, or the Lesser Sundas. This is partly due to the high proportion 
of land on steep slopes which are unsuitable for agricultural develop- 
ment (Whitten er al., 1987a). 


Moluccas 

e@ The Moluccas comprise an archipelago of hundreds of islands 
ranging in size from Seram and Halmahera, c. 18,000 sq. km each, to 
small, mostly uninhabited islets with an area of only a few ha. 

e@ The largest tracts of tropical rain forest occur in Halmahera and 
Seram. 

e@ The small areas of freshwater swamp forest have been partly 
replaced by stands of sago palm introduced from Irian and cultivated 
as an important source of starch. 

e@ The Moluccas have an estimated 56,070 sq. km of moist forest, 
covering over 80 per cent of the land area. 

e Although Map 19.6 indicates monsoon forest on Batjan Island and 
southern Halmahera, recent reports indicate that this may in fact be 
rain forest. 


147 


INDONESIA 


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148 


INDONESIA 


0 
fs E A | 
@)Bawean | 
6°S 
im | 
| 
Nair Kangean 
Madura ° . Saputi Qe on F L 0 R E S 
Q SS pags ot, Sepanjang 
Brantas Madura Strait S Ee 
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y ; Dataran Tinggi—Aunung Baluran 
8 ptsteaue edie @ Bali LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS 
Barat 5 A L | 8°S | 
| j Pulau Moyo - iets Pulau 
p Pulau icy PP. GRAN \Tambora *ansianggy 
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Complex 
| (ume 
1 Se 
10°S 
112°E 114°E 116°E |118°E 
126°E 128°E 130°E |132°E 
9 4 4? Molu | 
Man (N.D.) 
s E A ° (N.D.) y, Fordate 
Damar Pulau t ; Larat 
(ND) Nuswotar * z o O42 
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%, (N.D.) 1, Sera EE Yamadena | 
Gunung Arnau git? So id ror 
3 (N-B-}——} Babat. LS 
Pat {ND:) p TANIMBAR | 
Ce 7 e Babar Tenasela , Pe ISLANDS | 
ermata I | 
islands (ND) Islands fae | 
<// Danau Ira 
‘7 _ Lalora-Pulau 
“Lore Yaco Ali AP WR A SE A 
Map 19.3 The Lesser Sundas 
N 
Rain Forests 
lowland wate] Non Forest SSS] 
montane* [eel 
i | M 0 R inland swamp “Higher than 1000m 
mangrove ES +Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 
Monsoon Forests (N.D.) No data 
lowland : 
Ss E A montane* ee See 1 4,000,000 
| Conservation areas+ 0 50 100 kilometres} 
| existing eS | 
proposed = | ® Sms 
| 


149 


INDONESIA 


a, : pi 4 


Logged-over and heavily degraded forest on Obi Island in the Lesser Sundas, Indonesia. D. Laurent 


Irian Faya 

e Irian Jaya, the eastern-most province of Indonesia, shares a 
common 736 km long border with Papua New Guinea. 

e@ The freshwater swamp forests include huge stands of native sago 
palm, managed and utilised as their staple food by the indigenous 
people. 

e The mangrove forests are second in extent only to those of the 
Sundarbans forest of India and Bangladesh. They have recently come 
under threat of exploitation, and possible destruction, to provide 
wood chips (Petocz, 1985). 

e@ About 86 per cent (354,360 sq. km) of Irian Jaya remains forested 
and relatively undisturbed, because the population is low and con- 
centrated mainly in some parts of the mountains. 

e Extensive logging concessions have now been granted and there 
are plans for substantial transmigration schemes. 


Deforestation 

The annual rate of deforestation in Indonesia was estimated at 5500 
sq. km per year for the years 1976-80, and 6000 sq. km per year 
for 1981-5. More recently rates of 7000 sq. km per year have 
been quoted (Repetto, 1988), but 11,000 sq. km per year (Gillis, 
1988) and even 12,000 sq. km per year (Myers, 1989) have been 
feared. Such deforestation rates place Indonesia second in the world 
only to Brazil. Despite the high rate of deforestation in the 
Indonesian archipelago, however, tropical rain forests still occur 
extensively on all the large islands. Nevertheless, the area of the 
original vegetation cover has been considerably reduced, and much 
of the remaining forest has been seriously disturbed by logging and 
shifting agriculture. 


Agricultural settlement Traditional swidden agriculture within large 
expanses of rain forest is relatively harmless, in contrast to small- 
holder agricultural settlement, which gradually makes inroads at the 
forest margins. Where the latter is unplanned, it has become a major 
factor contributing to the degradation of Indonesia’s forests. All too 
often spontaneous agricultural settlement (shifting cultivation) along 


150 


eT) = 


the forest margins employs crude and exploitative agricultural tech- 
niques which, combined with inappropriate soils, inevitably lead to 
forest and soil degradation (see chapter 4). 

Shifting cultivation is far more extensive than traditional swidden 
and is now the dominant form of land-use in most of Kalimantan and 
Irian Jaya, and frequently in Sumatra, Sulawesi and the Lesser 
Sundas. Indonesian Forestry Department Statistics (1985-6) indi- 
cate that approximately one million families are practising shifting 
cultivation on 73,000 sq. km of land. However, the number of part- 
time shifting cultivators in Indonesia undoubtedly far exceeds this 
figure, and the national Land Resources Development Centre esti- 
mates the area under shifting cultivation in Kalimantan alone to be 
112,000 sq. km. Furthermore, the area of forests affected by shifting 
agricultural activities in the Indonesian archipelago is increasing, 
possibly by as much as 5000 sq. km per year (chapter 5). There is 
some local resistance to suggestions that shifting cultivators are 
responsible for forest degradation, particularly from people who 
believe that the response will be attempts to relocate families from the 
forest without providing them with an alternative means of support. 
This is a valid concern because a number of such initiatives which 
were sponsored by Indonesian agencies in the past (e.g. village 
ment programmes), have failed because they involved forced reloca- 
tion or because they provided insufficient land to maintain 
productivity. 

In addition to the enormous spread of unplanned smallholder 
agricultural settlement, Indonesia has undertaken a substantial 
planned settlement programme within the rain forests. This “Trans- 
migration Programme’, and its impact on the forests, is described in 
detail in chapter 5. 

Substantial areas of Indonesia’s lowland forests have been con- 
verted, or are scheduled to be converted, to industrial tree crop 
plantations such as oil palm and rubber. The recent reassessment of 
land use potential throughout the archipelago has indicated that 
many more areas currently under natural forest are suitable for such 
conversion (RePPProT, 1990). Deforestation to accommodate these 
crops is likely to accelerate rapidly in years to come. 


Logging The logging industry has developed from almost nothing 
since about 1967, soon after President Suharto came to power, 
though the groundwork had been laid several years earlier. The new 
government awarded generous timber concessions to foreign 
companies eager to exploit the vast, untapped stands of valuable 
hardwoods. By 1988 concessions had been established over approx- 
imately 534,000 sq. km (Burgess, 1988), slightly in excess of Indo- 
nesia’s potentially productive lowland forests (see Forest Resources 
and Management, page 143). There has been progressive replace- 
ment of foreign by local companies and an increase in local processing 
of the timber so that, instead of logs, sawn timber and plywood have 
been exported since 1980. 

Timber concessions are granted by the Forestry Department for 
20 years, which is substantially shorter than the harvest cycle of 35 
years. This encourages some timber companies to take a short-term 


INDONESIA 


view because they believe it is not likely that they will be able to take 
advantage of a second harvest. Dipterocarp forests are exploited on a 
selection system with a minimum felling diameter of 50 cm dbh, but 
enforcement of concession terms has been difficult as there are 
insufficient staff to monitor harvesting in remote areas. Felling below 
the legal girth limit is apparently rarely practised, but the residual 
stand is very badly damaged because of poor techniques (Burgess, 
1988). Concessions tend to be creamed for the best trees so that the 
whole forest is logged long before the expiry of the cycle; this is then 
followed by requests to relog before the cycle period has elapsed 
(Burgess, 1988). The Forest Department has progressively tightened 
enforcement of the regulations, but huge areas of forest have been 
destructively exploited and these degraded areas pose a serious future 
challenge. A completely unexpected hazard of logging is that the rain 
forest becomes vulnerable to fires (see case study below). 


THE GREAT FOREST FIRE OF BORNEO, 1982-3 


At the end of an uncommon (but not unprecedented) 18-month 
long drought in 1982—3 the largest forest fire in recorded history 
burned a huge area of East Kalimantan. The total area destroyed 
either by fire or by the drought itself was c. 33,000 sq. km, equal in 
size to the whole of Taiwan or the Netherlands (Figure 19.2), 17 to 
20 times the area of the much publicised Australian bush fires of 
1982, or about 1500 times the size of the area burned by forest fires 
which raged in France at the end of 1984. In East Kalimantan, the 
province which makes the greatest contribution to Indonesia’s 
tmber production, the area affected included approximately 8000 
sq. km of unlogged dryland primary rain forest, 5500 sq. km of 
peat swamp forest, 12,000 sq. km of selectively logged forest and 
7500 sq. km of shifting cultivation and settlements (Malingreau er 
al., 1985). In the Malaysian state of Sabah a further 10,000 sq. km 
of forest lands were severely damaged. 

The drought was associated with the 1982—3 El Nino Southern 
Oscillation Event. The fire started during the drought in the fields 
of farmers who had moved in after logging, in many cases illegally. 
It was able to spread quickly in logged forest where dead, dry 
remains of trees littered the forest floor and also in peat swamp 
forest, where the dry surface peat burned fiercely, destabilising 
trees which were then toppled by the wind. In the peat swamps 
near the Mahakam River coal seams at the surface also caught 
alight and assisted the fire’s progress. 

Besides damage to the 
forests, other consequences of 
the Great Forest Fire of 20 
Borneo included: 

e Significant increases in 
erosion (with associated 
damage to fisheries and 
reduced navigability of rivers). 
e Disruption of the traditional 
lifestyles of local inhabitants 
through loss of forest 


products. 

e@ Destruction of wild animal 

populations. 

The same drought also etre 


resulted in fires in Sumatra 
and Halmahera (Moluccas). 
Another lesser drought in 1987 
was followed by fires in 
Sumatra and in south 
Kalimantan. 


Figure 19.2 The location of 
forest areas killed by drought 
and fires in Borneo, 1982-3 


(Source: after Malingreau et al., 1985) 


Logging in Indonesia leaves behind large quantities of debris that represent 
a serious fire risk during periods of drought. WWF/A. Compost 


There is little or no published information about the regenera- 
tion of the drought-stricken and burnt forests; indeed there was 
little information made available at the time of the drought itself. 
There are now reports that over 600 sq. km of former natural 
forest land is being turned over to industrial timber plantations, 
mainly of Albizia, Gmelina and Eucalyptus. At the height of the 
drought vast areas of forest appeared to be dead. Only the biggest 
trees, such as Koompassia excelsa, remained in leaf. By 1989, 
however, P. Burgess, a forester working in the region, noted that 
many of the dipterocarps were turning green once more. The 
areas affected by drought and fire have not been excised from Map 
19.4 partly because of a lack of detailed data, but also because 
regeneration appears to be quite possible if the forest is given an 
opportunity to recover. 


151 


INDONESIA 


110°E 
a Sh Oy Ua 
wy 
r GoW es! oN 
Sungai 
Mentarang 
S ESA 
: isa 
be EASTERN MALAYSIA 
2°N mn 
tl eng en 
au S 
S S 
ig ~~ gun 7 
te : 
7 # ae hs 
0° \ ND hd Se oi Lé ) : eit : 
Ue az FP ; F § 
vert p. Rongga nal 
| “ i ' f. 
q aya 
> i é baa y ee nis 
; Buk a 
oa f Sukadana | \\" z r 
Karimata . Bay s 
Ketapang@ al 
2°S 
; el “lbs 
? -¥ = Tartunt ~<a sae 
Kumai 
Bay 
7a. Ping Kelompok 
49S J A V A Pleihari 
Tanah 
Laut 
Tg. Selatan 
S E A ‘| 


152 


Ge) @b @s 


S é@a 


aX Maratua 


Tg. Mangkalihat 


Makassar 


St i @ itt 


INDONESIA 


Consequences of deforestation Loss of Indonesia’s tropical rain for- 
ests has had severe biological, social and physical consequences. In 
Indonesia, as elsewhere, careless forest exploitation with cynical 
disregard of the rules laid down for log extraction and road con- 
struction, has led to substanual soil erosion, with consequent silting 
of rivers and irregularity of river flow. In the uplands of Java dense 
populations, continually advancing into steeper upper watersheds 
and more marginal environments, have had significant and destruc- 
uve effects on nutrient outflow, total water yield, peak stormflows 
and stream sedimentation (see also Bengkulu case study for 
Sumatra). On Java, particularly extensive erosion has occurred, 
notably in areas under annual cropping systems where the soil is 
disturbed and left exposed during critical periods (e.g. during the 
transition from the dry to the wet seasons). A variety of government 
projects and programmes seek to promote changes in farming sys- 
tems and land use in order to limit environmental degradation, but in 
many upland communities soil and water conservation practices have 
been adopted only to the extent that they serve to improve yields in 
the short term. 

Erosion can also make a serious and expensive impact on irrigation 
schemes. For example, in 1973 the Gumbara irrigation scheme was 
initiated in the Palu valley (Sulawesi) with the intention of supplying 
water for the development of 115 sq. km of rice fields. Twenty-three 
years later, however, only 50 sq. km were being irrigated and the 
irrigation canals now have to be dredged every year when about 
30,000 cu. m of soil is removed. This excessive siltation results 
largely from the activities of a logging company which has been active 
since 1978 (Whitten er al., 1987a). 


Pamukan 


Tanjung 
) Dewa Barat 


( Sebuku 


1& Laut 


Map 19.4 Kalimantan 


(Indonesia) 
Rain Forests 
lowland =e eee 
montane* ae 
inland swamp ae Seo 
mangrove 
Conservation areast 
existing a | 
proposed es 
Non Forest 


* Higher than 1000m 


+ Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 


(N.D.) no data 

1:4,000,000 
0 50 100 150 kilometres 
0 50 100 miles 


HEAVY FLoops FOLLOW FOREST 
DESTRUCTION IN BENGKULU PROVINCE, 
SUMATRA 


The conversion of forest into agricultural holdings, some of 
which have proved ephemeral and been abandoned, is a par- 
ucularly serious cause of conservation problems in Sumatra. It 
is estimated that between 65 and 80 per cent of the forests in the 
lowlands of Sumatra have already been lost (see Figure 19.1). 
The mountain areas have so far been less seriously affected, but 
the disruption of continuous cover is already substantial in 


some cases (see Kerinci-Seblat case study), and perhaps 15 per 
cent of their total area has already been removed. 

The lowland forests that are so rich in both plants and 
animals are being destroyed indiscriminately in Bengkulu 
Province and this has led to serious environmental problems 
affecting thousands of villages. The loss of lowland forests is 
nowhere more serious than on either side of the main road 
running north from Bengkulu to Muko-Muko. The scale of 
deforestation of such rich wildlife habitat is enormous, and 
their destruction had been carried out with international in- 
volvement in replacing tropical rain forest by monocultures of 
oil palm and cocoa. These activities were directly responsible 
for floods which in 1988 in Bengkulu province destroyed the 
possessions of thousands of people. Deforestation was fol- 
lowed by soil erosion and massive landslides and floods when 
the rains finally arrived. In the absence of forests, flood control 
measures have proved both expensive and rather ineffective. 

Source: Charles Santiapillai 


153 


INDONESIA 


Mangroves 

Mangroves are estimated to cover 44,130 sq. km in Indonesia (Table 
19.2), representing a major increase over an earlier estimate of 21,700 
sq. km (IUCN, 1983). They are most extensive in Irian Jaya, 
particularly around Bintuni Bay in the north-west, but large tracts 
and many smaller formations occur scattered throughout the archi- 
pelago (Koesoebiono et al., 1982; Soegiarto and Polunin, 1982; 
Petocz, 1985 and Subagjo, 1987). 

Indonesian mangroves were little affected by large-scale forest 
exploitation until 1975 (IUCN, 1983), but they are probably now the 
most threatened forests in the archipelago (Petocz, 1985). Some 
destruction of mangroves has occurred as a result of over-exploitation 
by traditional users, but most destruction results from conversion of 
the land for agriculture, brackish water fishponds, salt ponds, and 
human settlement (Hanson and Koesoebiono, 1987). Fishponds are 
particularly extensive in Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra, extending to 
about 1850 sq. km by 1982 (Soemodihardjo, 1984). 

Since the mid-1970s mangrove forests in Indonesia have also been 
utilised for wood chips, exported to Japan for the production of 
cellulose or paper. There is no evidence that the care necessary to 
exploit the mangroves in a non-destructive manner is being taken, 
and in consequence forest regeneration is poor. 


Biodiversity 

No other country has responsibility for more diverse and unique 
species than does Indonesia. Although Indonesia occupies only 1.3 
per cent of the land surface of the globe it contains an estimated 10 
per cent of all plant species, 12 per cent of mammals, 16 per cent of 
reptles and amphibians and 17 per cent of birds. This is partly 


because it is situated at the heartland of the Asia—Pacific humid 
tropics, but also spreads into large areas of seasonal climate, so that 
both rain forest and monsoon elements occur. Indonesia’s wildlife is 
influenced by both the geological supercontinents of Gondwanaland 
and Laurasia, each of which has contributed a rich and distinctive 
biota, fairly sharply delimited (especially for animals) at Wallace’s 
Line. The small geologically isolated islands west of Sumatra, par- 
ucularly the Mentawai Islands, have developed a suite of endemic 
species, including four primates. New Guinea and Borneo are prob- 
ably the individual islands with greatest richness and diversity. 
Information on the non-Indonesian parts of these great islands may 
be found in chapters 21 and 24 respectively. 

Indonesia’s flora is one of the richest in the world, encompassing 
most of the Malesian floristic region, which has over 25,000 species of 
flowering plants including about 10,000 trees (FAO, 1982). About 40 
per cent of plants are endemic at the generic level. Western Malesia is 
the centre of diversity of dipterocarps, which form the basis of the 
logging industry. About 262 of 386 species of dipterocarps are found 
in Kalimantan, which is being heavily logged as a result. On small 
plots of about one hectare Bornean rain forests are uniquely rich in 
tree species, only equalled by parts of Amazonia (Whitmore, 1990). 

About 430 of Indonesia’s 1500 species of birds, almost 200 of its 
500 mammals, and a large proportion of the 1000 reptiles and 
amphibians and unknown numbers of invertebrates are found no- 
where else. Even within Indonesia many are very localised. The parts 
of Indonesia lying on the Sunda Shelf, i.e. Sumatra, Java, Bali and 
Kalimantan, include some of the large placental mammals, such as 
uger, rhinoceros, elephant, orang utan, serow and banteng. In 
contrast, the mammalian fauna of Irian Jaya, on the Sahul Shelf, is 


The consequences of total deforestation are disastrous for soils. Even on gentle slopes, gulley erosion can occur, as here in Sulawesi. N. M. Collins 


characterised by marsupial cuscuses (Phalanger spp.), tree kangaroos 
(Dendrolagus spp.), and bandicoots (Echymipera spp.), and the 
monotreme long-nosed echidna (Zaglossus bruijn1). Other than man, 
there are no primates in Australia and New Guinea. Between these 
Sunda and Sahul groups of islands lies Wallacea, a biogeographical 
zone that includes Sulawesi, the Lesser Sundas and the Moluccas, 
which contain a curious mixture of Asian and Australian fauna 
including bizarre forms such as the babirusa and the anoas (Bubalus 
spp.), as well as macaques, tarsiers, squirrels and cuscuses. Rodents 
and bats are numerous and include a wealth of endemic forms such as 
the true giant rats and water rats of Irian Jaya as well as smaller 
nectar-eating bats upon which many fruit trees are dependent for 
pollination. 

The bird life is extraordinary in its richness and range of form and 
habitat. Among the endemics are the birds of paradise and bower 
birds, the flightless cassowaries, diverse families of honeyeaters, 
kingfishers, pigeons, and various parrots. The megapodes are large 
ground-nesting birds that incubate their eggs in soil warmed by hot 
springs or rotting organic matter. Other spectacular species include 
hornbills, many raptors and a wealth of forest specialists such as 
barbets, pittas, pheasants, flycatchers and whistlers. 

Four species of crocodiles occur in swampy and coastal areas, some 
of which are bred in special ranches that bring revenue to rural 
people. The small islands off Flores are home to the world’s largest 
lizard, the Komodo dragon Varanus komodoensis. Flying and frilled 
lizards, freshwater turtles, skinks, geckos and tree frogs form rich 
assemblages of species. 

Insect life is spectacular, and includes the birdwings (Troides and 
Ornithoptera spp.), which are the largest butterflies in the world and 
some of the rarest (Collins & Morris, 1985). Several species are being 
reared in butterfly farms to supply zoos in Europe and North 
America. 

There have already been extinctions, of which the Bali and Java 
subspecies of tiger (Panthera tigris balica and P. tigris sondaica) are 
probably best known. Unfortunately Indonesia has the world’s 
longest list of vertebrates threatened with extinction, including 126 
birds (Collar and Andrew, 1988), 63 mammals and 21 reptiles 
(IUCN, 1988). Most species are threatened because they cannot 
survive rain forest clearance. A few examples may be given here: 

1 The most serious threat to the clouded leopard and other large 
mammals in Sumatra is clear felling of forests for conversion to 
agriculture or human settlements. At the turn of the century when 
much of Sumatra was principally covered with primary rain forest, 
the clouded leopard probably maintained continuous populations 
throughout the island. Today this species, although still found in the 
eight provinces of Sumatra, occurs only in a few isolated areas 
(Santiapillai, 1986). 

2 Forest clearance has also adversely affected the status of some bird 
populations. The last recorded sighting of the Caerulean paradise- 
flycatcher took place in 1978 on the upper slopes of Mount Awu on 
Sangihe, an island located off the northern tip of north Sulawesi 
(White and Bruce, 1986). Virtually all of Sangihe has now been 
converted to coconut and nutmeg plantations or else is covered by 
patches of secondary forest. Some primary forest remains on Mount 
Sahendaruman in the south of Sangihe, but even if a few flycatchers 
remain in this small area it is unlikely to be large enough to ensure the 
survival of the species (Whitten et al., 1987b). The Javan wattled 
lapwing (Vanellus macropterus) is already believed to be extinct 
(MacKinnon, 1988). 

To those who appreciate Indonesia’s incredible natural wealth, 
little more needs be said to warrant its preservation and protection. 
To the vast number of rural Indonesian citizens, whose lives are 
closely tied to the forests or depend upon the sea for their subsistence 
and livelihood, conservation of natural resources has become a 


INDONESIA 


growing imperative, so that the benefits they now enjoy can be 
sustained into the future. Those who seek to exploit the natural 
resources on an industrial scale remain to be persuaded that the long- 
term wealth of the archipelago, and perhaps the welfare of the world, 
is linked with sustainable utilisation of this biological diversity. 


Conservation Areas and Initiatives for Conservation 
Conserving the nation’s biological heritage presents an exceptional 
challenge to Indonesia, but one that can be met. The Government has 
recognised the urgent need for conservation and, in view of the 
progressive loss of its natural vegetation, is planning to increase 
substantially the area of forest estate under protection by the end of 
the century. With the present rate of change, any areas left un- 
protected by that time are not likely to remain intact. 

At present the archipelago has over 320 conservation reserves 
covering some 175,000 sq. km or 9.1 per cent of land area (Table 
19.3). In addition to these gazetted areas, there are several major 
sources of proposals for new protected areas and extensions to 
existing areas. 

1 A further 185 areas encompassing almost 30,000 sq. km have been 
recommended by PHPA, and await a decision by the Ministry of 
Forestry. Many of these areas have been chosen because of their 
water catchment functions as well as to protect areas of biological 
richness (FAO, 1982; IUCN/UNEP, 1986). 

2 Additional proposals have been made in an eight-volume National 
Conservation Plan produced in 1982 by the government of Indonesia 
with FAO assistance (FAO, 1982). Objectivity to ensure conserva- 
tion of all species and habitats was a major tenet of the Plan. 
However, practical considerations were also taken into account and 
the candidate sites were evaluated by quantifying the relationship 
between three factors: importance in preserving genetic diversity, 
socio-economic justification, and management viability. 

3 Proposals in the Conservation Plan have been supplemented by the 
identification of key conservation sites in the Marine Conservation 
Plan (Salm and Halim, 1984), the Irian Jaya Conservation Develop- 
ment Strategy (Petocz and Raspado, 1984) and the Indonesian 
wetland inventory (Silvius et al., 1987). 

These proposals together recommend an additional 200 areas which 
have yet to be approved. They total 212,530 sq. km (11.1 per cent of 
land area). 

The existing and proposed protected area system of the country 
offers excellent coverage of all habitat types. If the Government 
implements in addition most of the recommendations included in the 
National Conservation Plan it will have one of the finest and most 
comprehensive protected area networks in Southeast Asia (IUCN/ 
UNEP, 1986). There is no need for further surveys to identify more 
new protected areas; the priority must now be the implementation of 
existing proposals and management plans (IUCN/UNEP, 1986). 
These have recently been further refined by the identification of key 
reserves for priority action (RePPProT, 1990). 

One of the major constraints to implementation, however, is a lack 
of trained and motivated personnel. Staff recruited from the forestry 
service are usually not trained in the theory or practice of protected 
area management, and forest guards and park wardens lack motiva- 
tion and are poorly paid. There is therefore an urgent need for 
manpower development before conservation work can begin. In- 
creased funding is also needed. The total budget and revenues 
provided by the Ministry of Forestry for conservation in Indonesia’s 
fourth Five Year Plan (1984—9) were about US $12 million. Less than 
US $2 million were allocated for protected area management. This is 
not sufficient to ensure that the country’s reserves are efficiently 
managed. Increased financial resources must be mobilised if Indo- 
nesia’s network of parks is to provide any meaningful protection to a 
biological heritage that is of major global significance. 


155 


INDONESIA 


I< Sangihe Islands 


| S E A . 
futan ~ 
lutan Buo ° 

Aoli-toli | °: Sanaa 

ung 

oputan 

Gunung 
oy 
% 
= 


Togian Islands 
Tomini om gall Mil OIE US Cea eee 


\er= 


——. Pegunungan, ee 
a aes Ney orowali/Pelan EPA 


Banggai 
n Islands 
2) (N.D.) 
% ‘a alma 2 SS anh (anny 8 
; - Lt = lr (N.D.) 2s, 
we “4 / ey ae Rong “a rahumpe ai~ Tolo Ye, 


Bay 
Mt Cecnae Sakae? pF Map 19.5 Sulawesi 
a Ale tea te a aad (Indonesia) 
utili a 
\ g EZ a9) a : It : j . Rain Forests 
Cee of lowland 
Manui <3 inland swamp ees 
ed mange an 
A = ae g SS i a : Swag TO Monsoon Forests =] 
are Danau Rawa Pbtewai a4 1 {7 | lowland 
Tempe . b 
5 Bay Conservation areas + 
4 existing _ a 
proposed a 
i Bulisa aung 
Ujung at Non Forest 
Pandang 
H coc | Da “Higher than 914m(3000)) 
ds poking (287% ) sy aee of or over 50sq.km are mapped 
; Strait (N.D.) no data 
52) aya 7 ee 
| Sa page (2000.00 = 
F . A 0 50 100 150 kilometres 
K i - ~~ 4+ + 
0 50 100 miles 
| 
] 
| n20°e 4 122°E [124°E 


156 


INDONESIA 


CS 126°E 128°E 130E 
| | 
N | 
“ ¢ Wayabula 12°" Pi Cli iG 
Rau | 
) Pxe Morotai 
N.D)= : 
e (N.D.) = sr 
G 
Mays Gamkewera b 
Halmahera 
jelee Pasi) 
rea. Cavaies 
Oo a 
Gu eo es ak 
f B Role Equator 0° 
Mauri 2 Saketa yo a 
latalata oo. 6 
oon HALMAHERA Oo 
oo 
Mandioli SEA 
Sy Ap JAYA 
v Bisa eas Sy 
(ND) -o™ J 
Obilaty S~ =. Pulau 
Taliabu “oni © Tubalai 
my a ; ND. 
Y Gomumu o ~—<ObI a4 
(N.D.) : S 2°S 
Sula Islands \\ Sanana 7 
Wares Sr AERA MEAP. °hf See A 
Manusela 
Wai Nua / 
Wai Mual 
Sm 
Gunung ey 
Kelapat ~S : a 
Muda es ——__) feluti 
as Saparua By 
PONS 
—Ambelau 
4S 
Map 19.6 Moluccas meen 
Rain Forests 
lowland Non Forest areas | 
montane * (fa | 2 
mangrove eer] + Higher than 1000m 
Monsoon Forests + Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped | | 
lowland SS] (N.D.) no data | 
ee 1:4,000,000 
Conservation areas+ 0 Ki iS Bea Al aN Oia! iS & #4 
existing | 50 : 100 Ki ometres | 
proposed —_ Ea 0 50 100 miles 
L | 


157 


INDONESIA 


HUMAN ENCROACHMENT IN SUMATRA’S CONSERVATION AREAS 


The Kerinci—Seblat National Park (Figure 19.3) is situated along 
the Barisan mountain range in the southern half of Sumatra. With 
a total area of 14,847 sq. km it is the largest conservation area in 
Sumatra. The importance of Kerinci—Seblat lies in the fact that 
the forests protect the watersheds of two of Sumatra’s most 
important rivers, the Musi and Batang Hari. Its strength so far has 
been its sheer size, but, given the current rate of deforestation, as a 
result of human encroachment both from within and outside the 
park, it is one of the most seriously threatened parks in Indonesia. 
The main conservation problem is the conversion of forest to 
agriculture by shifting and shifted cultivators resident in the 
enclave, whose area is 1460 sq. km. This enclave is inhabited by a 
population of about 273,000 people that is growing at an annual 
rate of 3.6 per cent. 

Given the richness of the volcanic soil, the principal activity of 
the human population in the enclave is agriculture. Paddy is 
cultivated extensively on the plateau and Kerinci Province is self- 
sufficient in rice. Recent immigrants into Kerinci have extended 
their activities beyond the border of the enclave well into the park, 


clear felling forests to cultivate paddy. When soil fertility de- 
creases, other cash crops such as cinnamon, cloves and coffee are 
grown. Large areas of forests have so far been replaced by 
cinnamon plantations. Misuse of land is the most serious conser- 
vation problem in Kerinci and already the hills that border the 
enclave have been completely deforested. 

The buffer-zone in Kerinci covers about 500 sq. km and 
consists of denuded hills and abandoned clearings. The most 
important conservation measure that needs to be adopted here is a 
complete ban on any further encroachment and the relocation of 
all illegal settlers to areas outside the park. Hand in hand with this 
must be the restoration of all the derelict lands through reforesta- 
tion programmes using Indonesian species such as Paraserianthes 
(Albizia) falcataria, Pinus merkusti and surian (Toona sureni). The 
development of the buffer zone and the regulation of the land-use 
activities of the settlers is vital to such measures. The current 
trends are likely to result in the gradual but certain destruction of 
Sumatra’s most important conservation area. 

Source: Charles Santiapillai 


Kerinci Seblat 
Notional Park 
Kerind 
Cinclave 
Mukomuko \@ 


Kerinci 
area 
enlarged 


Bengkulu 


0 200 Km 
2 0 


50 km 


On Obi Island in the Lesser Sundas, logging on 45° slopes has led to severe 
damage to the forest cover, resulting in erosion and loss of fertility. D. Laurent 


Figure 19.3 The Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra 


(Source: Charles Santiapillai 


158 


Table 19.3 Conservation areas of Indonesia 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which we 
have location data, are listed below. The remaining areas are 
combined in a total under Other Areas. Protected forests are 
included, but Forest Reserves have been excluded. For data on 


ASEAN sites and Biosphere reserves see chapter 9. 


Existing 
area 
(sq. km) 
INDONESIA — Sumatra 
National Parks 
Gunung Leuser 8,097 
Kerinci Seblat* 14,847 
Nature Reserves 
Bukit Balai* 
Bukit Rimbang Baling-baling* 
Bukit Sebelah Batang Pangean* 
Bukit Tapan* 

(Part of Kerinci Seblat) 665 
Dolok Sembelin* 

Dolok Sibual Bual* 50 
Dolok Sipirok* 70 
Gian Duri* 

Gunung Sago Malintang* 

Gunung Salawah Agam* 

Indrapura* 

(Part of Kerinci Seblat) 2,367 

Kuala Langsa* 

Lembah Anai* 

Malampah Alahan Panjang* 

Maninjau (North and South)* 

Seberida* 

Siak Kecil* 

Siberut/Taitai Balti* 965 
Sibolga* 

Singkil Barat* 

Tanjung Datuk* 

Game Reserves 

Air Sawan* 

Bentayan* 193 
Berbak* 1,900 
Bukit Batu* 

Bukit Gedang Seblat* 

(Part of Kerinci Seblat) 488 
Bukit Kayu Embun* 1,060 
Dangku* 291 
Dolok Surungan* 238 
Gumai Pasemah* 459 
Karang Gading & Langkat Timur 158 
Laut* 

Kerumutan* 1,200 
Pulau Nias I/II/III/IV* 

Rawas Ulu Lakitan* 2,134 
Sumatera Selatan* 3,568 
Way Kambas* 1,300 
Hunting Reserves 

Benakat 300 
Lingga Isaq* 800 
Padang Lawas* 

Semidang Bukit Kabu* 153 


Proposed 
area 
(sq. km) 


600 (ext) 


136 
1,360 
328 


339 


400 
50 
120 


70 

960 

369 

221 

340 
1,200 
560 (ext) 
201 

650 

288 


1,400 


180 


480 


687 


Recreation Parks 
Serbolangit 


Protected Forests 

Bukit Balairejang* 

Bukit Dingin/Gunung Dempo* 

Bukit Hitam/Sanggul/Dingin* 

Bukit Nantiogan MHulu/Nant 
Komerung Hulu* 

Gunung Merapi* 

Gunung Patah/Bepagut/Muara Duakisim 

Gunung Singgalang* 

Hutan Sinlah* 

Kambang/Lubuk Niur* 


* 


Sub totals 
Other Areas 


INDONESIA - Java 


National Parks 

Baluran 

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru* 

Dataran Tinggi Yang (Yang Plateau)* 
Gunung Gede Pangrango* 

Merapi Merbabu* 

Meru Betiri* 

Ujung Kulon* 


Nature Reserves 

Gunung Halimun* 
Gunung Kawi/Kelud* 
Gunung Lawu* 

Gunung Masigit* 
Gunung Muria* 

Gunung Raung* 

Gunung Sumbing* 
Gunung Tilu* 

Gunung Unggaran* 
Kawah Kamojang* 

Nusa Barung* 

Nusa Kambangan Perluasan* 
Pegunungan Pembarisan* 
Segara Anakan* 

Tanjung Sedari 

Teluk Lenggasana* 
Waduk Gede/Jati Gede 


Game Reserves 

Banyuwangi Selatan (Blambangan)* 
Cikepuh* 

Gunung Sawal* 

Cikamurang 

Gunung Liman Wilis* 

Gunung Perahu* 

Karimunjawa 


Hunting Reserves 
Gunung Pangasaman 
Masigit Kareumbi* 


Recreation Parks 
Gunung Ciremai* 
Sub totals 

Other Areas 


INDONESIA 


544 
167 
381 
694 
362 
97 
917 
97 
810 
1,000 
45,018 12,293 
c. 18,419 c. 26,730 
250 
576 
142 
140 
100 
495 
761 
400 
500 
60 
90 
120 
600 
100 
80 
55 
75 
61 
221 
130 
153 
82 
160 
105 
620 
81 
54 
55 
450 
250 
1,100 
340 
124 
120 
3,717 4,933 
c.1,729 c. 1,902 


159 


INDONESIA 


yay 


Dy 


Gebe >> 


& K & 
Yy “MFiap° ; 


Gag C 


Batanta 
Barat 


Toe 
Kofiau 


Salawati 
Utara 
Salawati 


132°E 


Sungai 


Penunungan 
Tamra' 


9 Pao 
| = 
een ein,” Soe a 
aaa oN A 
as yonder & ae 
ne —S= s ale 
xn, oe 
oe S 
= 
‘ SI. 
=) y 
v 
B A N A | 
q Kai 
.. Besar, ; 
s Kai 
j Kai 4 Besar 
nea, 
4 A 
S E A é ees) 
Pulau Baun 
OS@/ Penambulai 
os. 
: e lorkai 
Aru 
oS A Tenggara 
* . A R Fe ai R 
2 Tanimbar 
0 Saul 
lE A 


160 


INDONESIA 


136°E 138°E 140°E 142°E | 
| | 
P A C | Fa eae C 
ulau Biak Utara | 
Biak | 
) | 
ho Cn a aan | 
@ =.) = © Padaido 
Perkam 
be (d'Uviille) 
~ 2°S 
Mamberamo- 
Mamberano~ S N 
Fojaea ms ft zs | 
: “. ay Jayapura 
a ; Lake gy 
: ‘Sentani ' R —— 
egunungan SS 
a @ Cyclops $ == 
Ne 
= 
f = 
<l | 
@ : =a 
Pegunungan 4°5 
vavewieye + 
PieAvsPWreA 
NEW 
Gi US Nea 
6°S 
Map 19.7 Irian Jaya 
| Rain Forests (Indonesia) 
lowland eae ee 4 
montane * aa) 
inland swamp a aa Ta 
mangrove ecm 
Conservation areast | | 
existing 
Pulau Dolok proposed 
: ia 
Non Forest | | 
_, a * Higher than 1000m S| 
Tg. Vals Merauke “¢ T Only areas of or over 50 sq.km are mapped = 
ge | 1:4,000,000 . q 
0 50 100 150 kilometres! | 
L| 0 50 100 miles | 
SS mes = 


16 


INDONESIA 
INDONESIA - Lesser Sunda Islands 


National Parks 
Bali Barat* 
Komodo Island 


Nature Reserves 

Gunung Ambulombo* 

Gunung Diatuto (East Timor) 

Gunung Muna (Alor Is.) 

Gunung Olet Sangenges (Sumbawa Is.)* 
Ruteng (Flores Is. )* 


Game Reserves 

Danau Ira Lalora-Pulau Yaco (East Timor)* 
Gunung Talamailu (East Timor) 
Gunung Wanggameti (Sumba Is.)* 
Hutan Dompu Complex (Sumbawa Is. ) 
Lore (East Timor)* 

Pulau Moyo (Sumbawa Is. )* 

Pulau Panjang 

Pulau Sangiang (Sumbawa Is.) 

Rinjani (Lombok Is.)* 

Sungai Clere (East Timor) 

Tambora Utara (Sumbawa Is.)* 
Tanjung Kerita Mese 

Tanjung Rukuwatu 

Timolar (East Timor) 


Hunting Reserves 
Dataran Bena* 
Tamboka Selatan (Sumbawa Is.) 


Protected Forests 

Egon-Iliwuli (East Flores)* 

Gunung Mutis (West Timor)* 

Gunung Timau (West Timor) 
Hadekewa-Labelakang (East Flores) 
Manupeu (Sumba Is.)* 

Selah Legium Complex (Sumbawa Is.)* 


Recreation Parks 
Danau Sano 


Sub totals 
Other Areas 
INDONESIA - Kalimantan 


National Parks 
Kutai* 
Tanjung Puting* 


Nature Reserves 

Apar Besar* 

Apu Kayan* 

Bukit Baka* 

Bukit Raya* 

Gunung Bentuang dan Karimun* 
Gunung Beratus* 

Gunung Berau* 

Gunung Lumut* 

Gunung Palung* 

Hutan Kapur Sangkurilang* 
Karimata* 

Long Bangun* 

Meratus Hulu Barabai* 
Muara Kaman Sedulang* 


162 


777 


407 
50 
150 
150 
350 
300 
250 
200 
60 
100 
102 
188 
100 
160 
410 
300 
800 
150 
60 
50 
114 
300 
149 
100 
150 
125 
120 
500 
55 
3,027 3,027 
c. 2,925 c. 845 
2,000 
3,550 
900 
1,000 
705 
1,100 
6,000 
1,300 
1,100 
300 
300 
2,000 
1,500 
3,500 
2,000 
625 


Muara Kayan* 800 
Muara Kendawangan* 1,500 
Muara Sebuku* 1,100 
Muara Uya* 250 
Pamukan* 100 
Pantai Samarinda* 950 
Pararawen I/II* 62 

Sungai Kayan Sungai Mentarang* 16,000 

Tanjung Dewa Barat* 163 
Tanjung Penghujan* 400 
Ulu Kayan* 8,000 
Ulu Sembakung* 5,000 


Game Reserves 
Danau Sintarum* 800 


Gunung Penrisen/Gunung Niut* 1,800 
Kelompok Hutan Kahayan* 1,500 
Pleihari Martapura* 364 
Pleihari Tanah Laut 350 
Sungai Mahakam Danau Semayam 

Kutai (Perluasan)* 2,000 
Protected Forests 
Bukit Perai* 1,000 
Bukit Rongga* 1,100 
Gunung Asmansang* 280 
Gunung Tunggal* 508 
Sub totals 29,744 42,000 
Other Areas c. 21,008  c. 28,353 
INDONESIA -— Sulawesi 
National Parks 
Dumoga-Bone* 3,000 
Lore Lindu* 2,310 
Nature Reserves 
Bulusaraung* 57 
Gunung Ambang* 86 
Gunung Soputan* 80 
Kelompok Hutan Buol Toli-toli* 5,000 
Lamiko-miko* 50 
Lasolo-Sampara* 450 
Morowali* 2,250 
Pegunungan Peruhumpenai* 900 
Tangkoko-Dua Saudara* 89 
Game Reserves 
Buton Utara* 820 
Danau Tempe 94 
Gunung Manembo-Nembo* 65 
Lambu Sango* 200 
Mambuliling* 100 
Mamuja/Tapalang* 125 
Marisa Complex* 940 
Pegunungan Morowali/Pelantak* 5,000 
Pegunungan Palu dan Sekitarnya* 6,000 
Polewai (Tenggara)* 80 
Rangkong* 590 
Rawa Opa* 1,500 
Tanjung Batikolo* 55 
Tanjung Peropa* 380 
Hunting Reserves 
Gunung Watumohai* 500 
Rompi* 150 


Recreation Parks 


Danau Matado/Mahalano* 300 

Danau Towuu* 650 

Protected Forests 

Gunung Kelabat* 57 

Gunung Lompobatang* 200 

Gunung Sojol* 70 
Pegunungan Latimojong* 580 
Tamposo-Sinansajang 150 

Sub totals 12,458 20,429 
Other Areas c. 11,110 c. 19,097 
INDONESIA — Moluccas 

National Parks 

Manusela Wai Nua/Wai Mual* 1,890 

Nature Reserves 

Ake Tajawi* 1,200 
Aru Tenggara* 800 
Gunung Arnau* 450 
Gunung Sahuai* 300 
Gunung Sibela* 400 
Kai Besar* 370 
Pulau Nuswotar* 75 

Pulau Obi* 450 
Saketa* 1,040 
Taliabu* 700 
Waya Bula* 600 
Yamdena* 600. 
Game Reserves 

Gunung Gamkonora* 320 
Gunung Kelapat Muda* 1,450 
Lolobata* 1,890 
Pulau Baun* 130 

Pulau Kobroor* 1,700 
Wayabula* 450 
Sub totals 2,095 12,720 
Other Areas 110 8,885 


(Sources: TUCN, 1990 and WCMC 1m litt.) 


* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 
(ext) = extension 


References 

Burgess, P. F. (1988) Natural Forest Management for Sustainable 
Timber Production in the Asia/Pacific region. Report to ITTO. 
97 pp. Unpublished. 

Collar, N. J. and Andrew, P. (1988) Birds to Watch. The ICBP world 
checklist of threatened birds. Technical Publication No. 8. Interna- 
tional Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK. 303 pp. 

Collins, N. M. and Morris, M. G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail 
Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, 
Cambridge, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. vii + 401 pp. + 8 pls. 

Departamen Kehutanan (1985) Draft Long-term Forestry Plan. 
Jakarta, Indonesia. 

FAO (1982) National Conservation Plan for Indonesia. 8 vols. FAO, 
Bogor, Indonesia. (1—Introduction; 2-Sumatra; 3—Java and Bali; 
4-Lesser Sundas; 5—Kalimantan; 6~-Sulawesi; 7—Maluku and 
Irian; 8—General topics. ) 


INDONESIA 
INDONESIA - Irian Jaya 


National Parks 


Gunung Lorentz* 1,675 
Mamberamo-Pegunungan Foja* 14,425 
Nature Reserves 

Gunung Wagura-Kote* 150 
Kumbe-Merauke* 1,268 
Lorentz* 21,500 
Pegunungan Arfak* 450 
Pegunungan Cyclops* 225 
Pegunungan Fak Fak* 510 
Pegunungan Kumawa* 1,180 
Pegunungan Tamrau Selatan* 2,479 
Pegunungan Tamrau Utara* 2,657 
Pegunungan Wandamen Wondiwoi* 795 
Pegunungan Weyland* 2,230 
Pulau Batanta Barat* 100 

Pulau Biak Utara* 110 

Pulau Misool* 840 

Pulau Salawati Utara* 570 

Pulau Superiori* 420 

Pulau Waigeo Barat* 1,530 

Pulau Yapen Tengah* 590 

Sungai Kais* 1,220 
Teluk Bintuni* 4,500 
Game Reserves 

Pegunungan Jayawijaya* 8,000 

Pulau Dolok* 6,000 

Danau Bian* 500 
Sungai Rouffaer* 819 
Teluk Cenderawasih* 825 
Wasur* 3,040 

Recreation Parks 

Beriot* 124 
Klamono* 100 
Sub totals 42,925 35,907 
Other Areas 3,102 1,338 
GRAND TOTALS c. 198,060 c. 218,459 
FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 


Uulization of Forest Resources in the Development Regions. Asia- 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. 
FAO, Bangkok, Thailand. 104 pp. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp + 15 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23. FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Vol 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome, Italy. 475 pp. 

Gillis, M. (1988) Indonesia: Public Policies, Resource Manage- 
ment, and the Tropical Forest. In: Public Policies and the Misuse of 
Forest Resources. Repetto, R. and Gillis, M. (eds). World 
Resources Institute/Cambridge University Press, UK. 432 pp. 


163 


INDONESIA 


Hanson, A. J. and Koesoebiono (1977) Settling Coastal Swamp- 
lands in Sumatra: A Casestudy for Integrated Resource Management. 
Research report No. 4. Center for Natural Resource Management 
and Environmental Studies. Bogor Agricultural University, Indo- 
nesia. 

IUCN (1983) Global Status of Mangrove Ecosystems. Commission 
on Ecology Papers No. 3. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 88 pp. 
IUCN (1986) Plants in Danger. What do we Know? 1UCN, Gland, 

Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 461 pp. 

IUCN (1988) 1988 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 154 pp. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and Pro- 
tected Areas. IUCN, Gland, and Cambridge, UK. 

IUCN/UNEP (1986) Review of the Protected Areas System in the 
Indo-Malayan Realm. MacKinnon, J. and Mackinnon, K., con- 
sultants. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 284 
pp. + maps section. 

Koesoebiono, Collier, W. L. and Burbridge, P. R. (1982) Indo- 
nesia: resource use and management in the coastal zone. In: Soysa 
et al. (eds) Man, Land and Sea (1982), Bangkok. pp. 115-34. 

Laumonier, Y., Purnadjaja and Setiabudhi (1986) Sumatra (Map 
in 3 sheets). Institut de la Carte Internationale du Tapis Végétal/ 
SEAMEO-BIOTROP. 

MacKinnon, J. (1988) Field Guide to the Birds of Fava and Bali. 
Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta. 390 pp. 

Malingreau, J. P., Stephens, G. and Fellows, L. (1985) Remote 
Sensing of Forest Fires: Kalimantan and North Borneo in 1982— 
83. Ambio 14: 314-21. 

Myers, N. (1989) Deforestation Rates in Tropical Forests and their 
Chmatc Implications. Friends of the Earth, London, UK. 116 pp. 

Petocz, R. G. and Raspado, G. (1984) Conservation and Develop- 
ment in Irian Faya: a Strategy for Rational Resources Utilisation. 
WWE/IUCN Report. PHPA, Bogor, Indonesia. 

Petocz, R. G. (1985) Jnan Faya, the other side of New Guinea: 
Biological Resources and Rationale for a Comprehensive Protected 
Area Design. Paper presented at the Third South Pacific National 
Parks and Reserves Conference and Ministerial Meeting. Apia, 
Western Samoa, 24 June—3 July, 1985. 11 pp + maps. 

Repetto, R. (1988) The Forest for the Trees? Government Policies and 
the Misuse of Forest Resources. World Resources Institute, Wash- 
ington, DC, USA. 

RePPProT (1990) National Overview of the Regional Physical 
Planning Programme for Transmigration. Overseas Development 
Natural Resources Institute (ODNRI), Chatham, UK. 

Salm, R. V. and Halim, M. (1984) Marine and Coastal Protected 
Areas in Indonesia. \UCN/WWF Report. WWF Indonesia Pro- 
gramme, Bogor, Indonesia. 


164 


Santiapillai, C. (1986) The Status and Conservation of the Clouded 
Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa diardi) in Sumatra. Report to WWF 
and IUCN. 13 pp. 

Silvius, M. J., Steeman, A. P. J. M., Berczy, E. T., Djuharsa, E. and 
Taufik, A. W. (1987) The Indonesian Wetland Inventory. 2 vols. 
PHPA, AWB and EDWIN, Bogor, Indonesia. 

Soemodihardjo, S. (1984) Impact of human activities on mangrove 
ecosystems in Indonesia: An overview. In: Proceedings of the MAB/ 
COMAR Regional Seminar, November 13-16, 1984, Tokyo, 
Japan, pp. 15-19. 

Soemodihardjo, S. (1987) Indonesia. In: Umali R., Zamora, P. 
M., Gotoera, R. R., Jara, R. R. and Camacho, A. S. Mangroves of 
Asia and the Pacific. Ministry of National Resources, Manila. 
pp. 89-130. 

Soegiarto, A. and Polunin, N. (1982) The Marine Environment in 
Indonesia. Report for the Government of the Republic of Indonesia 
sponsored by IUCN and WWF. University of Cambridge: De- 
partment of Zoology, UK. 

White, C. M. N. and Bruce, M. D. (1986) The Birds of Wallacea 
(Sulawesi, The Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). 
British Ornithologists’ Union, London, UK. 524 pp. 

Whitten, A. J. (1987) Indonesia’s transmigration program and its 
role in the loss of tropical rain forests. Conservation Biology 1: 
239-46. 

Whitten, A. J., Damanik, S. J., Anwar, J. and Hisyam, N. 
(1984) The Ecology of Sumatra. Gadjah Mada University Press, 
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 

Whitten, A. J., Muslimin Mustafa and Henderson, G. S. 
(1987a) The Ecology of Sulawesi. Gadjah Mada University Press, 
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 777 pp. 

Whitten, A. J., Bishop, K. D., Nash, S. V. and Clayton, L. 
(1987b) One or more extinctions from Sulawesi, Indonesia? 
Conservation Biology 1: 42-8. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1984a) A vegetation map of Malesia at scale 1:5 
million. Fournal of Biogeography 11: 461-71. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1990) An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests. 
Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK. 


Authorship 

Roger Cox in London, Mark Collins at WCMC, with contributions 
from Tony Whitten in Cambridge, Adam Messer in Bogor, D. 
Kretosastro of the Transmigration Department in Jakarta, John 
Makin in Chatham, UK, J. R. D. Wallin Jakarta, Genevieve Michon 
of BIOTROP in Bogor, Russell Betts and Charles Santiapillai of 
WWFE in Jakarta, Sinung Rahardjo and Effendy Sumardja of the 
Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Department, Ministry of 
Forestry in Jakarta. 


Maps 19.1-7 Forest cover in Indonésia 


The Regional Physical Planning Programme for Transmigration (RePPProT) 
began work in 1984 in association with the National Centre for Coordination of 
Surveys and Mapping (BAKOSURTANAL). The programme has now com- 
pleted a rapid reconnaissance of Indonesia using existing reports, air photographs 
and satellite or radar imagery with selective field checking. Reviews for each of the 
eight regions have been published with complete map coverage at 1:250,000 scale 
in three map themes: land systems and land suitability, land use and land status. A 
total of 693 thematic maps have been prepared. 

Remote sensing imagery for Indonesia used in preparing the maps included air 
photography, Landsats 2, 3, 4 and 5, SPOT, and radar, including SAR and 
SLAR. Dates, scales and areas covered varied greatly and full details are available 
from BAKOSURTANAL and RePPProT’s regional reviews. 

The RePPProT team is now preparing a National Overview of Land Resources of 
Indonesia for Physical Land Use Planning, which will summarise the results from 
the eight regions. This Overview will include 32 compiled maps at scales of 1:2 
million or 1:4 million showing geology, agro-climatic zones, hydrological zones, 
landforms, soils, land cover, land status, environmental hazards, population 
distribution and areas of potential development. 

Data used in the preparation of the maps of Indonesia’s forest cover and 
protected areas in this atlas were generously provided by the RePPProT team in 
the form of hand-coloured draft maps at 1:2.5 million scale. The legend included 
eight forest and eight non-forest categories. The forest categories were har- 
monised with the scheme used in this atlas in the following way (category in 
brackets is RePPProT title): lowland rain forest (lowland moist forest), inland 
swamp forest (swamp forest), mangrove (mangrove and other udal forests), 
montane rain forest (submontane and montane forest). RePPProT appear to have 
taken 1000 m as the upper limit of lowland rain forest, over most of the region. 
Seasonal (monsoon) forests have been delineated from data published in Whit- 
more (1984a). 

In this atlas, forest logged but left to regenerate either with or without 
silvicultural treatment is not distinguished from pristine forest. Thus, in Indo- 
nesia the atlas does not distinguish separately the areas of recently logged forest 
which were identified by RePPProT. Areas which RePPProT showed as con- 
verted from forestry to other land uses are of course clearly identified. 

Some notes on the origin and interpretation of Maps 19.1 to 19.7 are given 
below. In each case the date of origin of the bulk of the information is given in 
brackets (these being the publication dates of RePPProT’s Regional Reviews), 
but since a wide variety of sources make up the whole series, it is important to refer 
to the original RePPProT regional reviews or BAKOSURTANAL itself if 
detailed information is needed. 


Map 19.1: Sumatra (1988) 

The RePPProT maps included no data for Singkil Barat or for the islands of 
Simeulué, and Enggano, nor for the Riau and Lingga groups. Whitmore (1984a) 
shows some lowland rain forest on northern Simeulué and central Singkilbaru, but 
none on Enggano, Riau and Lingga, which are believed to be largely deforested. 


INDONESIA 
Map 19.2: Fava and Lesser Sundas (1989) 


The climate becomes increasingly seasonal from Java along the Lesser Sunda 
Islands. Remaining forests on Java are marked as rain forests since they are on 
mountain slopes and peaks, but much of the island was probably originally 
clothed in monsoon forest. 


Map 19.3: Lesser Sundas (1989) 

No data are available for the island of Roti. Whitmore (1984a) indicates some 
monsoon forest in the south-west of the island. No data are available for the Babar 
Islands between Tanimbar and Leti, nor for the southernmost island in the 
Tanimbar group. The latter is believed to be deforested, but Babar and Leti have 
some monsoon forest (Whitmore, 1984a). 


Map 19.4: Kalimantan (Central, 1985; South, West and East, 
1987) 

The main point to note here is that substantial areas of forest in the southeast were 
killed or degraded by drought and fire in 1982-3. The area affected is indicated in 
Figure 19.2, but much is now believed to be regenerating. There are no data for 
the Anambas and Bunguran (Natuna) Islands in the South China Sea, but 
Whitmore (1984a) indicated small areas of lowland rain forest in the centres of the 
main islands. 


Map 19.5: Sulawesi (1988) 
The now deforested Talaud and Sangihe Islands have been omitted from this map 
to enable a larger scale to be used. No data are available for the southernmost 
Banggai Islands. Banggai itself is deforested, but Bangkulu and Labobo are 
believed to have small patches of lowland rain forest (Whitmore, 1984a). 

Aopa swamp, in the southeast arm of Sulawesi, is the best known area of 
peatswamp forest on the island, forming part of a national park. It has been 
overlain onto the RePPProT data. 


Map 19.6: Moluccas (1989) 

See the note on Banggai Islands above. In Seram some areas marked by 
RePPProT as swamp forest are believed to be cultivated land and have been 
marked as such (after Whitmore 1984a). The island of Bacan is labelled as 
monsoon forest after Whitmore (1984a). Recent reports indicate that the island in 
fact bears rain forest (T. C. Whitmore, personal communication). 


Map 19.7: Irian Jaya (1986) 
Monsoon forest indicated in the southeastern corner of Irian Jaya by Whitmore 
(1984a) is adjudged by RePPProT to be open savanna woodland and is therefore 
labelled as non-forest on this map. 

The editors are especially grateful to the Director General of Settlement 
Preparation, Ir. Djatijanto Kretosastro for use of data from the RePPProT project; 
to BAKOSURTANAL for their support; and to Dr David Wall, the RePPProT 
team leader, and his cartographers, for their cooperation in providing draft maps. 


165 


Land area 230,800 sq. km 

Population (1989) 3.9 million 

Population growth rate (1987-2000) 2.6 per cent 
Maximum expected population (2150) 15 million 
Gross national product (1987) US$170 per capita 
Rain forest (see map) 98,790 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 25,810 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)f 78,100 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)f 1000 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 3,878,000 cu. m 
Roundwood exports* 34,000 cu. m (ceased in 1989) 
Fuelwood and charcoal production* 3,569,000 cu. m 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 213,000 cu. m 


Sawlogs and veneer logs exports* 34,000 cu. m 
~ 1988 data from FAO (1990) 
t FAO/UNEP (1981), FAO (1988) 


20 Laos 


Data on forest cover and rates of forest loss in Laos are in short supply. There are few primary sources, and those that are 
available on a national level are somewhat generalised. The best map available, a 1:1 million scale map from 1987, indicates that 
there is 67,780 sq. km of closed forest, with a further 56,820 sq. km of degraded formations (roughly 29 and 25 per cent of land 
area, respectively). 

Poor forest management practices and shifting cultivation together comprise the greatest threat to the forests, but at the 
moment it is impossible to determine the absolute importance of each. Management of the forest resource is severely 
constrained by lack of trained people and the poorly developed communication and transport system. These problems are 
recognised by Government and internationally, but will take some time to rectify. On the positive side, forest management 
problems and the need to institute conservation measures appear to be recognised at the highest levels. The policies put forward 
by the recent Nationwide Forestry Conference and the Tropical Forestry Action Plan exercise are also positive developments, 


but the success with which ensuing forest land-use policies can be implemented remains to be determined. 


INTRODUCTION 


Laos is a mountainous, land-locked country. The major topographic 
features are the southward-flowing Mekong River and its flat, low- 
lying plain, which lies mainly below 200 metres; steep, rugged hills 
throughout the north of the country and in the Annamite Mountains, 
the latter forming the border with Vietnam; and the Bolovens 
Plateau, an outlying massif in the south rising to over 1500 m. The 
highest point in the country is the 2820 m Phou Bia, located 130 km 
north-east of the capital city, Vientiane. 

With an average population of 15 people per sq. km, Laos is 
sparsely settled by Southeast Asian standards. Approximately 75 per 
cent of its population lives in rural regions (FAO/UNEP, 1981; 
FAO, 1985), primarily in the rice-growing areas of the Mekong 
Plain. 


The Forests 

Laos experiences a seasonal monsoonal climate, with two to five cool 
and dry months between November and April. Nevertheless, there 
are large areas of more or less evergreen forests whose original extent 
was about 160,000 sq. km or approximately 70 per cent of the land 
area (Salter and Phanthavong, 1989). Lowland and montane rain 
forests occupied much of the mountainous northern part of the 
country, including the Annamite Mountains and the Bolovens 
Plateau, as well as the Mekong Plain. Monsoon forests occur on 
particular soils, and once occupied about 57,500 sq. km. They still 
occur in areas to the north and west of the Mekong, and contain 
valuable stands of teak. As is common, the evergreen and semi- 
evergreen rain forest formations are replaced by deciduous monsoon 
formations after human disturbance. 


166 


In the evergreen rain forests emergent trees reach 35—60 m tall, 
over a 10-30 m tall and dense lower storey. Characteristic trees are 
Amisoptera cochinchinensis, Dalbergia spp., Dipterocarpus alatus, 
Hopea spp., (Fidloczky 1986; Bochkovetal 1988) Parashorea stellata 
and Pterocarpus macrocarpus, depending on location. 


Forest Resources and Management 

Map 20.1 shows the most recent data on forest distribution in Laos. 
Intact rain forest is estimated to cover 41,970 sq. km (18 per cent of 
land area), monsoon forest 25,810 sq. km (11 per cent) and degraded 
rain forest a further 56,820 sq. km (25 per cent) (Table 20.1). The 
total area of intact closed forest, 67,780 sq. km, represents a 10 per 
cent reduction of the FAO statistics for 1980 (FAO/UNEP, 1981). 

The best moist forests are now confined primarily to the central 
and southern parts of the country, the northern areas previously 
occupied by moist forest having been largely deforested. With the 
exception of the four to six per cent of land area under permanent 
agriculture (FAO/UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1985), most of the remainder 
of the country is under secondary grasslands, savannas, shrublands 
or bamboo forests. 

The rate and extent of commercial logging in Laos has in the past 
been low, due primarily to constraints imposed by poor infrastruc- 
ture, and lack of transport, equipment, maintenance and fuel. It has 
been concentrated in the most accessible areas of the Mekong Plain 
and adjacent areas. Roundwood timber production of 4.3 million cu. 
m in 1987 fell slightly to 3.6 million cu. m in 1988 (FAO, 1990). 
Felling has been selective (based on species and diameter guidelines), 
but there are no country-wide standards. In practice, felling has been 


poorly controlled, wastage high and many standing trees damaged by 
poor techniques. Silvicultural treatment of logged areas has been 
non-existent or at best minimal, and the level and rate of natural 
regeneration have not been documented. Over the past decade a 
number of state enterprises have been created, but virtually all lack 
trained personnel and equipment and are operating without adequate 
forest management plans (Young and Hyde, 1988; SIDA, 1988). The 
lack of sustained-yield management Is seen as a major threat to the 
forest resource (IUCN, 1988a; SIDA, 1988). 

Restrictions on the export of raw logs have been imposed at various 
times in the past, but this has been mainly to increase the availability 
of logs for domestic processing rather than designed as a forest 
conservation measure. The latest export ban has now effectively been 
superseded by a revised system of extraction and export taxes. 


Deforestation 

Shifting cultivation (see chapter 4) and attendant uncontrolled fires 
(the latter also to facilitate hunting and to improve livestock grazing), 
have long been the major cause of deforestation in Laos. Recently 
though, uncontrolled or poorly controlled logging have increasingly 
contributed to forest loss. Since the 1970s it has been a priority of 
government to try to stop shifting cultivation. The rate of forest loss 
is very poorly known, but figures developed by FAO/UNEP (1981) 
from earlier sources indicate a net annual deforestation rate of 1250 
sq. km between 1976 and 1980, of which 50 sq. km a year was conifer 
forest. A reduced net annual deforestation rate of 1000 sq. km was 
assumed for the period 1981—5, based primarily on the assumption 
that shifting cultivation would be reduced as a result of government 
control programmes (see also the case studies, page 170). A recent 
ministerial pronouncement indicated that 2000 sq. km of forest are 
currently being destroyed per year, but the source of data is unknown 
(KPL, 24/5/89). 


Laos 


Table 20.1 Estimates of forest extent in Laos 


Areas “of Area %of Totals %of 
intact land degraded land land 
(sq.km) area (sq.km) area area 
Rain forests 
Lowland 31,130 13.5 56,820 24.6 87,950 38.1 
Montane 10,840 4.7 — 10,840 4.7 
Sub totals 41,970 18.2 56,820 24.6 98,790 42.8 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 22,220 9.6 — GR) Os) 
Montane 3,590 1.6 — 3,590 1.6 
Sub totals 25,810 11.2 i 25,810 11.2 
Totals 67,780 29.4 56,820 24.6 124,600 54.0 


Source: based on analysis of Map 20.1; see Map Legend for details 


Other factors such as mining, dams and roads have so far had 
relatively minor effects on Laotian forests. However, the improve- 
ment of the national road network, due for completion in the 1990s, 
will provide access to areas hitherto untouched, which is likely to 
increase exploitation and lead to forest destruction by migrant 
agricultural settlers. 

Laotian forests sustained bombing damage during the Indo- 
Chinese War, but the extent has not been documented (FAO/UNEP, 
1981). An estimated two million tons of bombs were dropped over 
Laos during the 1960s and 1970s, primarily along the length of the 
Ho Chi Minh trail in the Annamite Mountains. 


Semi-evergreen forest in the limestone mountains of central Laos, with rice paddy in the lowlands. J. A. Sayer 


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Laos 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION IN LAos 


Although a variety of shifting cultivation systems are in use in 
Laos, a distinction can be made among those used by the three 
main ethnic groups: 


Lao Loum The Lao Loum are lowland people whose traditional 
form of agriculture is rain-fed rice cultivation on terraces or flat 
valley bottoms. However, in response to recent population in- 
creases and a shortage of suitable lowland areas for cultivation, 
agriculture has expanded into the adjacent uplands. Plots are 
cleared completely and one crop of rain-fed rice is grown, fol- 
lowed by a fallow period of only three or four years, after which 
the plot is again cleared and the cycle repeated. Soil exhaustion (as 
a result of no secondary crops or fertiliser being ploughed back 
into the earth), complete clearing of fallow tree species, and the 
short rotational period, result in extremely low crop yields, 
declining productivity from cycle to cycle and problems with 
weeds. This is an unsustainable system, which has led to deterior- 
ation of the forests around the agricultural lowlands. 


Shifting agriculture and permanent irrigated fields exist side by side in 
Laos. P. Anspach 


Clearing, planting, cultivating and harvesting are the cycle of tasks for the 
swidden farmer in northern Laos. P. Anspach 


Lao Theung The Lao Theung include a number of ethnic groups 
living in the hills. Fields are cropped for one or two years followed 
by a fallow period of five to fifteen years. During land clearing, 
tree stumps and some trees are left to promote regeneration after 
cropping, and care is taken with burning and weeding. Rice is the 
main crop although others such as maize, chillies and cassava are 
grown. This system of cyclical reoccupation of agricultural land is 
basically ecologically stable, although in some areas it has started 
to break down as a result of increasing demand for land. 


Lao Soung On high slopes above about 1000 m in northern Laos, 
the Lao Soung people cultivate opium poppy as a cash crop, and 
rice, maize, tobacco and vegetables for subsistence. Primary 
forest sites are preferred for poppy cultivation. No trees are left 
standing, and the plots are used continuously for five to ten years, 
after which they are abandoned. As a result of soil impoverish- 
ment and weed invasion these plots regenerate to infertile grass 
savannas rather than forest. This system, which is accompanied 
by uncontrolled fires during the burning season, is the major 
cause of deforestation in upland areas. 

Source: IUCN (1988a) 


THE IMPACT OF DEFORESTATION ON RURAL PEOPLE 


Loss of forest cover has a particularly severe impact on rural 
residents, of whom there are some 3,000,000 in Laos. For these 
people the forest is a source of building materials, fuelwood, food, 
medicinal plants and other products both for family use and for 
sale. 

A recent study of eight villages and two forest enterprises in 
east-central Laos found that 141 different types of forest products 
were hunted or gathered, including 37 food items, 68 medicinal 
products and 18 types of animals. One village was critically 
affected by state enterprise logging activities that reportedly 


resulted in complete destruction of the area logged. Impacts 
included killing or scaring away of animals, increased hunting and 
explosives fishing by enterprise employees, blocking of forest 
pathways by felled timber, and drying up of streams and wet- 
lands. The study concluded that villagers who experience logging 
of adjacent forests may respond by moving into more remote 
areas, where they will revert to shifting cultivation and forest 
gathering. 

Source: Ireson (1989) 


170 


Biodiversity 

The flora and fauna of Laos are incompletely known, there being no 
national herbarium or reference collections. Natural wildlife habitat 
in Laos includes dense moist forests, pine forests, dwarf forest and 
shrubland on limestone, subalpine formations and wetlands. 

Floral lists and nomenclature currently in use are based on the 
work of Vidal (1960). Although there are no exact figures for the size 
of the flora or the number of endemics (IUCN, 1986), plant species 
richness is considered to be high, with a moderate level of endemism. 
Approximately 600 tree and shrub species (Bochkov er al. , 1988) and 
over 300 orchid species (IUCN, 1986) have been identified. The 
fauna of Laos includes 623 bird species, of which 28 are endemic to 
the Indo-Chinese region (King et al., 1975; Interrm Mekong 
Committee, 1978; King and Dickinson, n.d.). Of particular note are 
the sooty babbler Stachyris herbert, found only in central Laos, and 
the emperor pheasant Lophura imperialis, grey-faced tut-babbler 
Macronous kelleyi and white-cheeked laughing thrush Garrulax vas- 
sali, which occur only in Laos and adjacent parts of Vietnam. Some 
186 mammal species are known to occur in Laos, 20 of these endemic 
to the Indo-Chinese region (Interim Mekong Committee, 1978; 
Lekagul and McNeely, 1988). There is a high degree of endemism 
among the forest-dwelling primates; the pygmy loris Nycticebus 
pygmaeus, Francois’ langur Presbytis francois1, douc langur Pygathnix 
nemaeus and black gibbon Hylobates concolor are all confined to Laos 
and other parts of the Indo-Chinese peninsula east of the Mekong. 

Comprehensive listings of the reptiles, amphibians, fishes and 
invertebrates of Laos are not available. 


Conservation Areas 
Laos has never had an effective protected area system. A total of 17 
forest reserves covering 1280 sq. km have been declared in the past, 


Laos 


but protective measures were never implemented (FAO/UNEP, 
1981). Some provinces have now begun developing their own forest 
reserves but details are not available. 

A recent analysis of the needs and priorities for a protected area 
system indicated that sufficient forest cover remains for all forest 
formations to be protected at or about 10 percent of their original area, 
and that for most (including all evergreen types) 20 per centcan sull be 
protected (Salter and Phanthavong, 1989). Based on considerations of 
size, completeness of original cover, representativeness, regional 
priorities and degree of threat, 11 forested areas and two wetland areas 
have been identified as important for field surveys and establishment 
of protected measures (see the case study on Xe Piane below). The field 
survey programme is currently in progress, but the current proposals 
are listed in Table 20.2 and mapped on Map 20.1. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

The Mekong Committee was set up by the governments of Thailand, 
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, in the early 1960s to develop (and 
conserve) the shared water resources of the Mekong River. The 
Committee has recently completed a project — Watershed Manage- 
ment: Fruit and Tree Propagation and Planting — focused on develop- 
ing new methods for reforestation, for fruit tree propagation and for 
control of soil erosion after shifting cultivation. 

The AsDB/UNDP-financed Southern Area Master Plan, completed 
in 1988, reviewed forestry and agriculture issues in the four southern 
provinces of Laos — including shifting cultivation, fire and logging — and 
gave a number of recommendations for future forest management. 

Several projects in the Lao/Swedish Forestry Programme provide 
continuity by addressing forest land use issues. The Forest Inventory 
Project is assisting with formulation of plans and policies on land use, 
forest resource management and regional economic development. 
Specific activities to the end of 1990 include a reconnaissance survey 


XE PIANE AND BUNG NONG NGOM 


The Xe Piane and Bung Nong Ngom areas in extreme southern 
Laos have been identified as priority sites for conservation. Both 
of these areas have been surveyed in the past by Lao Government 
personnel, and were again visited during March 1989 to obtain 
up-to-date information on vegetation, wildlife and land use. 
The Xe Piane area consists of 1438 sq. km of both hilly and low, 
rolling terrain on the Cambodian frontier. Most of the area is 
covered by dense evergreen and semi-evergreen monsoon forest, 
but there are also tracts of open deciduous monsoon forest and 
small wetlands on the flatter areas. Villagers reported wildlife to 
be varied and abundant, including a number of threatened spe- 
cies: black gibbon Hylobates concolor, wild dog Cuon alpinus, 
clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, leopard Panthera pardus, tiger 
Panthera tigris, Asian elephant Elephas maximus, brow-antlered 
deer Cervus eldi, gaur Bos gaurus, banteng Bos javanicus, kouprey 
Bos sauveli, crested argus Rheinardia ocellata and green peafowl 
Pavo muticus. There was one unconfirmed but recent (1985) 
report of a rhinoceros, presumably a Javan rhinoceros Rhinoceros 
sundaicus, and two reports of herds of wild water buffalo Bubalus 
bubalis. Irrawaddy dolphins Orcaella brevirostris reportedly for- 
merly occurred in the Xe Khampho, which forms the proposed 
eastern boundary, and Siamese crocodiles Crocodylus siamensis 
were said still to occur in this river and in other rivers in the 
interior. The wetlands, although limited in extent, support a 
variety of waterbirds, including sarus cranes Grus antigone. 
Three small villages, occupied by about 400 people in total, 
occur within the currently proposed boundaries, and several other 


villages are situated on the periphery. The villagers collect a 
variety of forest products and cultivate a small area for wet rice, 
hunting, fishing and limited livestock grazing. One village 
mounts periodic elephant capture operations and has caught 
about 15 elephants, which are used as draught animals, in the past 
decade. It is likely that future management will need to recognise 
specified use rights of the forests for these local inhabitants. 
The proposed Bung Nong Ngom protected area consists of 
about 800 ha of seasonally flooded grasslands and permanent 
wetlands. It is located less than 5 km north of Xe Piane, separated 
by a settled area given over primarily to wet rice cultivation. 
Although heavily used for livestock grazing and fishing, the 
wetland area supports an abundance and variety of waterbirds. 
Crocodiles are also reported to occur, mainly during the rainy 
season when flooding is widespread. Similar but smaller wetlands 
are located between Bung Nong Ngom and the proposed Xe Piane 
boundary, and support a similar variety of waterbird species. 
Taken together, Xe Piane and Bung Nong Ngom constitute an 
area of major national significance for conservation, and probably 
of international importance for the conservation of a number of 
vulnerable or endangered animals. Management will for the 
foreseeable future be constrained by a lack of trained personnel 
and by the relative remoteness of the area. For these and other 
reasons cooperation with local residents is seen as critical to the 
success of any conservation initiatives. A preliminary manage- 
ment plan addressing these issues is now in preparation. 
Sources: IUCN (1988b); Salter and Phanthavong (1989) 


171 


Laos 


to provide country-wide data on land use and forest areas, distri- 
bution, and classification, plus mapping of selected areas (total 
70,000 sq. km) at 1:50,000 scale; development of a national inventory 
methodology; and an evaluation of the rate of depletion of forest 
cover due to shifting cultivation and other factors. The Silviculture 
Project is providing assistance in reforestation and silviculture, 
specifically with regard to development of a research programme. 
Assistance to the Borikhamxai Logging and Wood Processing Com- 
pany and to State Forest Enterprise Number 3 includes development 
of land use plans, and development of suitable harvesting and 
regeneration systems. The Borikhamxai Regional Development Pro- 
ject is providing assistance toward increasing productivity of wet rice 
cultivation as an alternative to shifting agriculture. The Forest 
Resources Conservation Project is surveying proposed protected 
areas and implementing pilot management programmes, and is 
assisting with staff training, public education and conservation 
policy. The Shifting Cultivation Project is working towards viable 
agricultural and socio-economic systems which will contribute to the 
stabilisation of shifting cultivation practices. 

The Soviet Union, while not directly involved in projects dealing 
with deforestation, has assisted with aerial photography of the entire 
country (1980-1). This has been used for forest inventory, for 
preparation of the 1:1,000,000 scale forest cover map used as a basis 
for Map 20.1, and with preparation of topographic maps. A current 
project is engaged in a country-wide reconnaissance soil survey and 
in more detailed studies and mapping of soils, erosion, and land use 
in selected areas. 

Integrated rural development projects, generally featuring 
Measures to improve use of forest resources and limit shifting 
cultivation, are being supported in both northern and southern Laos 
by UNDP, the World Bank and the governments of Australia and the 
United States. For example, the UNDP-financed/FAO-executed 
Forest Development and Watershed Management Project (1982-9) 
had as its main aim the introduction of more efficient, productive and 
sustainable land uses to shifting cultivators; technological develop- 
ment focused primarily on terracing, agroforestry and reforestation. 

A Tropical Forestry Action Plan, with support or participation 
from the Laotian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, UNDP, 
FAO, AsDB, the World Bank, SIDA and IUCN, was begun in 
September 1989 and is due for completion in mid-1990. 

Government has also developed a number of policy initiatives 
without external assistance. During the 1970s and early 1980s efforts 
focused on settling shifting cultivators in permanent agricultural 
areas. A total of 6700 families were resettled prior to 1977; 10,760 
families were resettled during the period 1977-80 (FAO/UNEP, 
1981). This programme has now been scaled down but efforts are still 
under way to encourage fixed or rotational farming, in lieu of slash 
and burn cultivation. Methods favoured include clearing or re- 
habilitation of wet rice fields, intensification of agriculture on favour- 
able land, and planting of fruit trees. The restriction and eventual 
elimination of slash and burn cultivation has recently been reiterated 
as one of the strategic programmes for the future socio-economic 
development of Laos (KPL, 23/5/89). 

Arecently completed study entitled “Reduction of Shifting Cultiva- 
tion and Protection of the Environment Programme’ identifies targets 
of 50,000 sq. km to be managed as production forest, 95,000 sq. km to 
be managed as protection forest, and 25,000 sq. km to be managed as 
conservation forest. Implicit in these figures is an intention to 
reafforest cleared and degraded forests lands, and some efforts have 
already been made. Hundreds of thousands of tree seedlings are 
planted on National Arbor Day, which is symbolically important. 
Limited replanting of areas formerly under shifting cultivation has 
also been undertaken by logging enterprises. Establishment of planta- 
tons of industrial species is still at the experimental stage. 


172 


Table 20.2 Conservation areas of Laos 


Proposed areas 50 sq. km and over are listed below. The 
remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest 
reserves are not included. All areas include moist forest within 


their boundaries. Proposed 
area 
Forest Areas (sq. km) 
Bolovens Plateau 794 
Dong Ampham 1,625 
Dong Ban Bane 386 
Dong Hua Sao 707 
Dong Kalo 349 
Dong Khan Thung 379 
Dong Na Tat 84 
Dong Sam Sak 294 
Dong Sithuane 757 
Houei Nam Loy 675 
Long Leng 297 
Muang Hiam 1,357 
Muang Hom 2,495 
Muang Khi 1,187 
Muang Son 1,339 
Na Kai Plateau 1,618 
Nam Chuane 2,077 
Nam Feuang 2,242 
Nam Kading 1,294 
Nam Khang 766 
Nam Kong 1,220 
Nam Ma 868 
Nam Met 755 
Nam Ngeun 462 
Nam Ou 2,434 
Nam Poui 1,478 
Nam Sang 462 
Nam Sok Luang 695 
Nam Theun 1,627 
Nam Yo 598 
Nhan Forest 228 
Nong Boua 413 
Pa Sak Sayabouri 1,248 
Phou Bia 1,605 
Phou Dene Dinh 2,229 
Phou Done Khong 110 
Phou Hout 324 
Phou Ilang 150 
Phou Keou Lom 642 
Phou Khao Khouay 1,307 
Phou Pha Nang 696 
Phou Xang He 753 
Phou Xiang Thong 954 
Tat Kouang Xi 200 
Tha Teng 298 
Xe Bang Fai 1,029 
Xe Bang Nouane 1,263 
Xe Kong Pine Forest 825 
Xe Piane 1,438 
Xiang Khuang Pine Forest 178 
Sub total 47,211 
Other Areas 108 
Total 47,319 


(Source: Salter and Phanthavong, 1989) 


References 

Bochkov, I. M., Korolev, I. A. and Filipchuk, A. N. (1988) In- 
ventory of Tropical Forests (case-study of Laos). In: International 
Training Seminar on Forestry Applications of Remote Sensing, 
Moscow, 1988. United Nations Environment Programme, 
Nairobi, Kenya, pp. 277-95. 

FAO (1985) Agriculture in the Asia-Pacific Region — a Pictorial 
Profile. FAO, Bangkokm, Thailand. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 

Fidloczky, J. (1986) Manual of Aenal Photo-interpretatnion in Laos. 
Lao-Swedish Forestry Cooperation Programme, Vientiane, Lao 
PDR. 

Interim Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower 
Mekong Basin (1978) Wald Life and National Parks in the Lower 
Mekong Basin. Unpublished Report. 

Ireson, C. J. (1989) The Role of Women in Forestry in the Lao PDR. 
Silvinova, Vientiane, Lao PDR. 

IUCN (1986) Plants in Danger. What do we Know? IUCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UR. 

IUCN (1988a) Shifting Cultivation in Laos. Technical report by 
IUCN for the Government of Lao PDR and the Swedish Inter- 
national Development Authority. 

IUCN (1988b) Review of the Protected Areas System in the Indo- 
Malayan Realm. Consultants J.&K. MacKinnon. IUCN Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 284 pp + maps. 

King, B. and Dickinson, E. C. (n.d.) A distribution table of the 
birds of S.E. Asia. Unpublished. 

King, B. F., Dickinson, E. C. and Woodcock, M. W. (1975) A 
Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia. Collins, London, UK. 

KPL (various dates) Khao San Pathet Lao News Bulletin. Vien- 
uane, Lao PDR. 


Laos 


Lao PDR Forestry Department (1987) Forest Management Map, 
Lao PDR. Inventory Division, Forestry Department, Vientiane. 

Lekagul, B. and McNeely, J. A. (1988) Mammals of Thailand. 
Second Edition. Association for the Conservation of Wildlife, 
Bangkok, Thailand. 

Salter, R. E. and Phanthavong, Bouaphanh (1989) Needs and 
Priorities for a Protected Area System in Lao PDR. Forest Resources 
Conservation Project, Lao/Swedish Forestry Cooperation Pro- 
gramme, Vientiane, Lao PDR. 

SIDA (1988) Swedish training support to the forestry and forest 
industries sectors in Lao PDR. Unpublished report by the Review 
Mission in February—March 1988. Swedish International De- 
velopment Authority, Stockholm. 

Vidal, J. (1960) La Végétation du Laos. 4 volumes. Souladoure, 
Toulouse, France. 

Young, V. and Hyde, M. J. (1988) Southern Area Development 
Master Plan. Sectoral Report. Forestry. Prep. by Lavalin Inter- 
national Inc. and MPW Rural Development Pty for State Planning 
Committee, Lao PDR. 


Authorship 

Richard Salter and Boonthong Xaisida in Vientiane, with contribu- 
tion from Paul Anspach in Vientiane and Geoff Kent, G. Hindsen, 
Joseph Fidloczky and J. Axelsson of the Lao Swedish Forestry 
Programme in Vienuane. 


Map 20.1 Forest cover in Laos 


Forest cover is taken from Lao PDR Forestry Department (1987), a 1:1,000,000 
scale blueline hand-coloured map. The Forestry Department map 1s an update 
and extension based on 1980-1 black and white aerial photography, and an earlier 
1:1,000,000 scale land use map prepared by the Mekong Secretariat from 1972-3 
Landsat imagery. Forest types were harmonised as follows: rain forests — dense 
and mainly evergreen forests; monsoon forests — open and mainly deciduous 
forests, conifer forests and forests on limestone. 

Proposed protected areas are from a 1:1,000,000 scale outline map (initially 
prepared as an overlay of the forest type map) used for planning purposes by the 
Lao/Swedish Forest Resources Conservation Project. 


173 


Land area = 45),710 sq. km 

dap Ud Population (1989) 3.9 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 2.5 per cent 
Expected maximum population (2150) 10 million 


Gross national product (1987) US$700 per capita 

Rain forest (see map) 343,530 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 3220 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1985) 361,430 sg. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1986-90)f 120 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 8,231,000 cu. m 

Roundwood exports* —|,383,000 wv. m 
Fuelwood and charcoal production® 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 


Sawlogs and veneer logs exports* 1,442,000 wu. m . 
* 1988 data from FAO (1990) U 
t FAO (1987 


New Guinea 


5,533,000 cu. m 
2,283,000 cu. m 


The rich and complex geology of Papua New Guinea is reflected in the diversity of its vegetation and fauna. It contains 
important ecosystems, including extensive wetlands and virtually pristine coral reefs; but what distinguishes Papua New 
Guinea from most other tropical regions is the relatively low rate at which its forests have been converted or destroyed — in 1985 
forests covered 77 per cent of the country. A contributory factor to the slow deforestation rate is the low population density 
which, at eight people per sq. km, is among the lowest in the world. However, the situation is rapidly changing. Ninety per cent 
population live in rural areas, where the old system of shifting agriculture is now breaking down under growing population 
pressure. Establishment of plantations for cash crops, such as cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber and tea; logging of large tracts of 
lowland rain forest on the north coast of the mainland, New Britain and New Ireland; and damage by large-scale mining; are all 
helping to increase the rate of forest loss. 

Papua New Guinea’s forests are not yet managed in order to sustain regeneration as well as to provide forest products. Their 
extent, ecological characteristics, regenerative capacity and potential yields are all very poorly known. Only 150,000 sq. km, 40 
per cent of the natural forest estate, are considered suitable for logging, but gradient and soils limit operations within logging 
concessions to an average of 30 per cent of the area. Exports of unprocessed logs are rising, to the concern of the Government, 
who wish to encourage local industry and to protect high-quality timber from rapid depletion — thus the export of raw logs of ten 
species has been banned. 

Deforestation is proceeding at a rate of about 220 sq. km per year, while a further 600 sq. km of forest is disturbed in some 
way by logging (FAO, 1987; 1988). About 10,000 sq. km of former forest has now been converted to grassland as a result of 
over-intensive shifting agriculture. 

Only two per cent of the land area is under conservation management, and the complex land tenure system militates against 
major extensions. The most practical option is a system of multiple-use management areas, based on the existing PNG concept 
of Wildlife Management Areas (see below), but on a much larger scale. The concept of World Heritage Sites, where 
conservation and sustained yield management of forest products could take place side by side, offers opportunities. However, 
substantial international assistance will be needed in order to bring this about. Conservation currently has a low political and 
economic priority in the country and the relevant government departments are limited by low budgets. 


INTRODUCTION 


Papua New Guinea consists of the eastern half of the large island of 
New Guinea, together with the Bismarck, Trobriand, D’Entre- 
casteaux and Louisiade archipelagos and the island of Bougainville, 
northernmost of the Solomon Islands archipelago. 

A series of high mountain ranges rising to over 3000 m (highest 
point Mount Wilhelm), run east—west throughout the main island, 
separated by valleys dropping to c. 500 m above sea-level. In the east, 
these mountains rise close to the sea, but in the west there are 
extensive areas of low-lying country to both the north and south of 
the central ranges. To the north the lowlands comprise the Sepik and 
Ramu river valleys. In the west there is a coastal range, the Torricelli 
mountains, separating the lowlands from the sea. In the east there are 
two coastal cordilleras, the Adelbert and Finisterre Ranges. The low 
country to the south of the central range is more extensive, and 
mainly comprises the drainage systems of the Fly river and its 
tributary the Strickland, abutting up to the border with Irian Jaya. 


174 


Most of PNG experiences relatively high rainfall of 2500-3500 mm 
per annum with little or no dry season. A few lowland areas are drier, 
but rainfall of less than 1000 mm is unknown except around the 
national capital, Port Moresby. By contrast, the extensive uplands of 
the main central range experience over 4000 mm, and in some 
locations even 10,000 mm per annum (McAlpine et al., 1983). 

Approximately 97 per cent of the land in Papua New Guinea is held 
by ethnic groups who occupy the land under customary ownership. 
The remaining 3 per cent of land (14,000 sq. km) had been alienated 
from the customary system at the time of self-government in 1973; of 
this 1600 sq. km was freehold, 3400 sq. km was leased to private 
interests, and the rest was held by the Government. The situation has 
remained basically unchanged since Independence. For most legal 
and administrative purposes there are two distinct systems of land 
tenure: an introduced western-style legal system applying to alien- 
ated lands, and a plethora of customary systems based on the 


Papuans in the southern highlands of PNG. WWEFE/G. Favre/Spelefilm 


traditions of the ethnic groups occupying the remaining land. Only 
the Government may acquire lands from customary landowners. If 
necessary, it may do so by compulsory means for specified public 
purposes, but this authority is rarely exercised. Instead, any acquisi- 
tion generally involves protracted negotiations at the local level. Even 
then, perceptions of land-ownership in PNG mean that previous 
owners still expect to be involved in decisions on land-use. 

By law, all minerals and the rights to use all natural water resources 
are vested in the state. Forests, on the other hand, are regarded as 
private property. The Government may authorise entry onto any 
forest land for mineral prospecting or water resource investigation, 
and it may also issue permits for timber exploitation, but it must first 
negotiate acquisition of the rights from local communities (Eaton, 
1985). 

The people of Papua New Guinea are Melanesians, but there are 
many different ethnic types and over 700 linguistic groups. A few 
predominantly hunting and gathering groups stll exist but most of 
the population practise subsistence agriculture, tending and planting 
indigenous crops such as bananas, breadfruit, sago and sugarcane, 
exotic crops such as sweet potatoes, taro and yams as well as 
gathering plant products and hunting small animals. 

About 89 per cent of the population live in rural areas. Population 
densities are generally very low (2—4 persons per sq. km) in coastal 
and lowland swamp areas, and in grassland and open woodland areas 
with marked seasonal rainfall, somewhat higher (8—16 persons per 
sq. km) in lowland and montane rain forest areas, and very high 
(occasionally up to 200 persons per sq. km) in the intermontane 
valleys and basins of the central cordillera. The population live in 
small communities, and there are a multitude of tribes, clans and 
smaller groups, often of widely differing ethnic origin and language. 
Almost all practise shifting cultivation and all are heavily dependent 
on wildlife for food. Certain animals, notably the birds of paradise, 
cassowaries, New Guinea harpy eagle, some phalangers, the tree- 
kangaroos and the echidnas, are much sought after for adornment or 
pets. Despite this, many local communities have a natural feeling for 
conservation and practise self-imposed restraints in their hunting so 
as not to exterminate the wildlife on which they depend. 


Papua NEW GUINEA 


Approximately 20 per cent of PNG is currently used for agricul- 
ture and 10 per cent, or 46,000 sq. km, is under intensive cultivation 
(Freyne and McAlpine, 1985). Soils with good agricultural potential, 
however, are estimated to total 4960 sq. km, or about one per cent of 
the total land area. They consist of alluvial and volcanic ash-covered 
plains and gently sloping land in parts of Madang, Northern Central 
and Milne Bay provinces, and along the north coast of New Britain. 
Land of moderate agricultural potential and suitable for grazing 
includes many coastal areas, valleys in the highlands, Markham and 
Ramu valleys, Sepik lowlands and much of Western Province, and 
comprises about 28 per cent of total land area. The remaining 71 per 
cent of land, much of which is mountainous or swampy, is unsuitable 
for large-scale agriculture although in many areas subsistence shift- 
ing agriculture occurs (UNEP, 1986). 


The Forests 

The forests of PNG are similar to those of neighbouring Irian Jaya 
(see chapter 19). The lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen rain 
forests suffer continual disturbance from cyclones, earthquakes, 
landslides, volcanoes, changing river courses, occasional fires and, in 
some places, from a long history of agricultural activity. These 
disturbances are reflected in the abundance of certain tree species, for 
example gregarious Eucalyptus deglupta or Octomeles sumatrana, 
which occur on fresh riverside alluvium. Dipterocarps are patchy, 
but there are a few areas where Hopea and Vatica frequently occur, 
and Anisoptera thurifera is an invasive gregarious species of certain 
ridge crests and disturbed sites. The following are features of forest 
cover in Papua New Guinea: 

1 There are extensive lower and upper montane rain forests which 
have abundant Fagaceae including Nothofagus, which 1s often gregar- 
ious. The high peaks of the central cordillera have subalpine forest up 
to the, often fire-determined, tree-line, and alpine grassland, moss 
tundra and shrub heaths beyond. 

2 There are huge freshwater swamp forests in the valleys of the big 
rivers. Some, especially the Fly River, have big swamps of sago palm 
Metroxylon sagu and of Nypa. Other important forested wetlands 


PNG is over three-quarters covered by forest. Shifting cultrvation 1s becoming 
a problem and logging activities are set to extend in the coming decade. WWF/ 
G. Favre/Spelefilm 


175 


Papua NEW GUINEA 


Man ce ee Lorengau 
‘es ~ _ PNorolowac 
N DSO LAS a 
ADMIRALTY > 


tae a ISLANDS sy, 
Ble “Si A Riou 


. Schouten Is. 


Prom, aan 


Crown 
@ Island 


Long 
island i 


(INDONESIA) 


i 
Kiwai | 


ParuA NEW GUINEA 


2 _-1— 
Map 21.1 E 
Papua New Guinea 


Rain Forests 
Tabar Is jowiane 


° montane * 
B inland swamp 


mangrove coer | 


New 
Hanover 


in Lihir Group Monsoon Forests 
Z NEW || \ lowland 


Conservation areas + 
existing 


Non Forest imal 


* Higher than 914m (3000') 
+ Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 


ee ES tA 1:4,000,000 
= 0 50 100 kilometres 
Witu [stands NEW. BRITAIN 0 50 miles 
S Z 
ZB 
Ze 
S E A 
152°E 154°E 
° € Woodlark | 
Fergusson | Ae oo 
cas eee, SOLOMON 
Z LANDS 
1 a 
Trobriand or 0 setts 
Kiriwina Is:~. é \ Sie , 
9 10°S__\ eZ Normanby |. 
S a ee ERE ee aT [TT TT 
> we “ / 
Cape Nelson ° ' 
3 Goodenough |. F eal é Dy. 
DENTRECASTEAUK [Nise 2 AY 
ISLANDS Seay QMisimat> %e 
° “Ch : 
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SS . 
S j- # re KROSSELI. 


A a Basilaki |. 


150°E = 152°E 154°E 


177 


Papua NEw GUINEA 


include the Sepik and Ramu rivers in the north and the Purari, 
Kikori and Turama rivers in the south (Scott, 1989). 

3 There are extensive areas of limestone, including the spectacular 
needle karst. The distinctive forests of limestone hills are found on 
the karst, except where the limestone is blanketed with volcanic- 
derived soils. 

4 Scattered outcrops of ultrabasic rocks, for example in a belt along 
the Sepik, carry distinctive forest in which Agathis labillardierei may 
be gregarious. 

5 In the areas which have a seasonal climate, which are most 
extensive in south Papua, there are monsoon forests and savanna 
woodlands with a strong Australian floristic element; the latter are 
subject to annual flooding. 

Paijmans (1975) classified and mapped the vegetation of Papua 
New Guinea. He wrote an account later which used slightly different 
vegetation types (Paijmans, 1976) and both accounts differed from a 
series of CSIRO land use surveys which preceded them and from a 
1971 set of maps which Beehler (1985) has analysed. In this atlas and 
on Map 21.1 we follow Paijmans (1975), but have reconciled his 
categories with our own nomenclature. 


Forest Resources and Management 

In 1985 FAO estimated that 361,430 sq. km of Papua New Guinea 
(77 per cent) was covered in natural closed forest, 356,230 sq. km of 
which was broadleaved and 5200 sq. km coniferous (FAO, 1987). A 
further 300 sq. km of land was laid to plantations. Table 21.1 is an 
analysis of the forest cover shown on Map 21.1. It shows 366,750 sq. 
km (81 per cent of land area) under forest, most of it rain forest. As 
the Map Legend explains, the data presented here have their origin in 
the 1970s, and more recent statistics, such as those of FAO (1987), 
would be expected to show lower forest cover. However, the dif- 
ference is rather slight and Map 21.1 is a close approximation to the 
state of the nation’s forests today. 

Sustainable natural forest management is implicit in the fourth 
goal of the national constitution. In 1986, however, an unpublished 
FAO review was in no doubt that the sustained yield objective was 
not being met in Papua New Guinea, in that the rate of timber cutting 
‘greatly exceeds the rate at which it is being replaced so that PNG’s 
forest capital is being depleted. This clearly contravenes the fourth 
aim of the constitution. . .’. 

In 1974, based on aerial photographs from 1944—5 and the early 
1960s, FAO estimated that 150,000 sq. km were suitable for logging. 
A major problem in assessing potential sustained yield, however, is 
that little is known about rates of natural and man-made deforesta- 
ton before and after logging, or about the proportion of concession 


Table 21.1 Estimates of forest extent 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 229,870 50.9 
Montane 63,840 14.1 
Inland swamp 64,420 14.3 
Mangrove 5,400 72 
Sub totals 363,530 80.5 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 3,220 0.7 
Totals 366,750 81.2 


The figures are based on an analysis of Map 21.1 (see Map Legend for details) 


178 


Table 21.2 Operable areas in logging concessions, to end of 1984, 
by province 


Province Total Total operable % operable 

concessions area (sq.km) of total area 
area (sq. km) 

Central 2,250 1,618 AL) 

E & W Sepik 5,798 2,530 43.6 

W New Britain 4,988 3,563 71.4 

Morobe 1,893 598 31.6 

Western 28,449 2,040 Wp? 

Northern 2,983 1,573 52.7 

W Highlands 1,270 870 68.5 

Manus 920 380 41.3 

Gulf 10,500 1,625 1525 

Madang 2,350 1,200 sy leil 

N_ Solomons 600 470 78.3 

Totals 62,001 16,467 26.6 


(Source: Unpublished data from Srivastava, 1985) 


areas physically accessible. As is common in mountainous rain forest, 
less than 30 per cent of concession areas may be accessible, and 
therefore loggable (Table 21.2). On the basis of a generous 40 per 
cent of the utilisable estate being accessible, only 60,000 sq. km are 
truly productive (16 per cent of the forest estate). 

Even less is known about the regenerative capacity of the forests, 
in terms of tree girth increments and species composition. Official 
estates of the quantities of merchantable wood per hectare are 50— 
60 cu. m, but actual production is generally 20-30 cu. m. The 60,000 
sq. km of productive forest has a total volume of 180 million cu. m, at 
30 cu. m per ha. With a very conservative annual dbh increment of 
0.75 cm (annual volume increment 0.6 cu. m per ha), and an 
estmated regeneration cycle of 50 years, the annual allowable cut for 
sustained production of sawlogs and veneer logs is 3—6 million cu. m. 

The timber industry in PNG has developed rapidly over the past 
30 years (see chapter 7). Total output of sawlogs and veneer logs has 
increased from 46,000 cu. m in 1952 to 910,000 cu. m in 1979 and 
almost 2.5 million cu. m in 1988; three-quarters of this is destined for 
the export market. Volumes of log exports rose significantly after 
1979, when a new, more liberal, Forestry Act was promulgated. In 
1988 PNG earned about US$111 million from forest products, of 
which US $94 million was for logs. Despite this enormous increase in 
output, however, the manpower in the Forestry Department has 
been halved since 1975. 

PNG remains a relatively minor world supplier of export logs, but 
its share of the Asian market has increased dramatically due to the 
combination of rising exports from PNG and declining log exports 
from other major sources. Japan, Korea and Taiwan between them 
import more than 90 per cent of PNG log exports. 

The Government, concerned at these rising exports of raw logs, 
had imposed a ban on ten species of unprocessed timber by June 
1989. The intention is that by 1991 no more new log export permits 
will be issued and exporters will be charged higher fees. The bans are 
aimed at protecting high-quality timber from rapid depletion and at 
encouraging local processing and the export of sawn lumber. 

In PNG at present there is no formal application of sustained yield 
management. Forests logged over for the more valuable species are 
simply left to recover naturally. Some environmental safeguards are 
included in the logging agreements, for example logging is not 
allowed within 20 m of streams, or 50 m of major rivers, nor on 
gradients above 25—30°, but the application of these rules is patchy. 


The 1989 TFAP mission team detected lowering of tree species 
diversity, and poor regrowth of valuable species in logged forest. 
Their conclusion was that on a simplistic analysis the existing 
management system was resulting in a significant reduction of 
natural growing stock. The problem is compounded by a lack of 
long-term commitment to the land by the timber concessionaires. 

The Forestry Act 1973 defines the overall responsibilities for the 
conservation and management of the nation’s forest resources. It 
empowers the Minister for Forests, through the Department of 
Forests, to acquire the rights to harvest umber from willing custom- 
ary landowners through a Timber Rights Purchase. The Govern- 
ment arranges for logging by private industrial companies. 

The Forestry Private Dealings Act 1973 offers an alternative 
mechanism whereby private landowners deal directly with de- 
velopers, subject only to the approval of the Minister, who declares a 
‘Local Forest Area’ in order to safeguard the owner’s and the nation’s 
interests. It is likely that these two mechanisms will be replaced by 
Forest Management Agreements, which will require management 
plans and should improve consultation with landowners. 

In PNG at present there is concern that these regulations are being 
abused. The Government has set up a Commission of Inquiry into 
Aspects of the Forestry Industry to investigate allegations of malfea- 
sance. Through a combination of misdeclarations on species, grades 
and volumes, up to US $14 million per year is being lost to the nation, 
10 per cent of this being lost government revenues. 


Deforestation 

The two major causes of deforestation are shifting cultivation and 
logging. Fuelwood collection (5.5 million cu. m in 1988) is also 
responsible for some deforestation, particularly in areas with high 
human density, such as the highland provinces, the Gazelle Penin- 
sula of New Britain, and around Port Moresby and Lae. Some forest 
lands are also cleared for cash crops such as oil palm, rubber, cocoa 
and coffee. Estimates of the overall level of deforestation remain 
highly speculative. A rate of 220 sq. km per year was published for 
1981-5 (FAO, 1988) and 120 sq. km per year for 1986-90 (FAO, 
1987), mostly as a result of shifting cultivation. Degradation of 
forests as a result of commercial logging probably accounts for a 
further 600 sq. km per year (WEI, 1988). 


Agriculture Traditional forms of agriculture have been practised in 
PNG for 9000 years, and extensive parts of the 200,000 sq. km 
lowland forests are secondary (Saulei, 1987). Shifting agriculture 
continues today and, where human population densities are low, it is 
probably sustainable. However, certain areas, particularly in the 
highlands, some coastal areas and the Gazelle Peninsula, have suf- 
fered permanent deforestation. In these regions the short fallow 
period has resulted in manmade grasslands about 10,000 sq. km in 
extent. K. J. White (in Saulei, 1987) has estimated that grasslands are 
extending by 100—200 sq. km per year. 


Logging Saulei (1987) gives the area under logging concession in 
1984 as 41,000 sq. km, with a further 6000 sq. km applied for. 
Unpublished data from P. B. L. Srivastava (1985), however, lists 
62,000 sq. km by the end of the same year, 1984 (Table 21.2). 
Current figures have not been obtained. At the end of 1984 there were 
16 major timber companies, logging up to 500—600 sq. km per year. 

The first large-scale clear-felling operation in the lowland rain 
forests of PNG began in 1973 in the Gogol valley, Madang Province. 
Some 680 sq. km of rain forest in the area are destined for clearance, 
with most going for wood chips. By the end of 1983, 370 sq. km had 
been cleared. Only 48 sq. km had been developed for reforestation 
and there were serious fears about the economic viability and en- 
vironmental impact of the project (Seddon, 1984). 


Papua NEW GUINEA 


Mangroves 

Mangrove forests occupy large parts of the coast, notably in the Gulf 
of Papua with 1620-2000 sq. km, and in the Sepik estuary. There is 
interest in their commercial timber potential, which has not been 
developed significantly as yet, although a pilot project has been 
established. The extensive Nypa stands in the Gulf of Papua are 
viewed as a potential source of ethanol for fuel; a pilot project has 
been established to produce syrups and vinegar. Salt production has 
been investigated in the vicinity of Port Moresby, but commercial 
development has not proved feasible. 

Most mangrove forests in PNG are sparsely populated and remain 
virtually intact. However, schemes for large-scale chipping in the 
region are being considered and could in tme constitute a serious 
threat. The forests traditionally provide many forest products, par- 
ticularly for medicine, firewood and building materials (Cragg, 
1987). 


Biodiversity 

New Guinea, the largest and highest tropical island, has an extra- 
ordinary diversity of ecosystems, from mountain glaciers to tropical 
rain forests. This richness is reflected in some of the most remarkable 
wildlife on earth. The island is so large that it has some of the 
attributes of a small continent, including its own centres of endem- 
ism, montane, lowland and off-shore islands, each with its own 
complement of unique species. The faunistic and floristic affinities of 
New Guinea extend in all directions: the Philippines, Malaysia, the 
western Pacific and Australia (Gressitt, 1982). 

There are believed to be 11,000 or so species of vascular plants in 
New Guinea, plus about 2000 ferns (Parris, 1985; IUCN, 1986). 
Over half are probably endemic but precise counts do not exist. The 
lowland forests are the richest, with over 1200 species of trees. 
Diversity declines with increasing altitude, but the higher mountain 
peaks, such as the Finisterres and Mounts Wilhelm (4508 m), Giluwe 
(4088 m), Amungwiwa (3277 m), Victoria (4073 m) and Albert- 
Edward (3993 m), have many unique species. 

PNG has almost 200 species of mammals, some threatened, in- 
cluding Doria’s and Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus dor- 
anus notatus and D. goodfellowi) and the Woodlark Island cuscus 
(Phalanger lullulae). A number of other species of marsupial, includ- 
ing several cuscuses and the Papuan dorcopsis (dorcopsis macleay1) 
are rare. The Wildlife Division has a recording scheme based on a 10 
km grid for the whole country. Record sheets are being compiled for 
mammals, birds and butterflies, but few are yet complete. 

New Guinea and nearby islands together have one of the richest 
and most varied bird faunas in the world, with about 740 species 
recorded, 10 per cent of them endemic (Coates, 1985). Of the 570 
species of non-marine breeding birds, 445 dwell in rain forest. None 
of these is considered to be in danger of extinction, but 24 species are 
now very rare, and possibly coming under threat. All species of birds 
of paradise are protected by law in Papua New Guinea. 

The rich PNG reptile fauna includes 90 species of snake, 170 
lizards, 13 turtles and two crocodiles (Allison, 1982; Whitaker et al., 
1982). Relatively little is known about their distribution, and there is 
little evidence of threat, with the exception of marine turtles and 
crocodiles. Crocodiles are farmed widely, with about 55,000 in 
captvity in 1988. 

Nearly 200 species of frogs have been described from PNG 
(Zweifel and Tyler, 1982). The majority of these are endemic but 
little is known of their distribution or status. About 40 per cent are 
tree frogs, dependent largely upon the native forests. There is little 
evidence of threat. Other amphibian groups do not occur. 

The New Guinea insect fauna is striking, with many large and 
beautiful forms, and high levels of endemism (Gressitt, 1958). Over 
80 per cent of the 455 species of butterflies are endemic and perhaps 


179 


Papua NEw GUINEA 


best known are the birdwing butterflies (Ornithoptera and Troides). A 
number of these superbly beautiful species are under threat, includ- 
ing the world’s largest and most endangered butterfly, Queen Alex- 
andra’s_ birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae), from Northern 
Province. An Insect Farming and Trading Agency based at Bulolo 
organises local farmers to breed selected species to supply to collec- 
tors, in an effort to take pressure off wild populations and at the same 
time provide a source of income for rural people (Collins and Morris, 
1985). 


Conservation Areas 

Protected areas currently cover only 2 per cent (9427 sq. km) of 
Papua New Guinea (Table 21.3). They comprise four National 
Parks, two Provincial Parks, two Memorial/Historic parks and one 
Sanctuary established under the National Parks Act. A further 16 
Wildlife Management Areas, three Sanctuaries and one ‘Protected 
Area’ are designated under the Fauna (Protection and Control) Act. 
In addition, Mt Wilhelm National Park, Horseshoe Reef Marine 
Park, Mt Gahavisuka Provincial Park, and Kokoda Trail National 
Walking Track have been approved but await final declaration 
(Eaton, 1985). Among recently established protected areas is the Jimi 
Valley National Park in the Western Highlands. It is a sparsely 
populated area which is especially rich in birds. 

While traditional beliefs and customs have helped to protect the 
environment in the past, the integrity of the forests is under increas- 
ing threat from pressures associated with population growth, in- 
creased mobility and growth of the cash economy. The establishment 
of a protected areas system has proved to be extremely difficult 
because of the complex traditional land tenure system. New legisla- 
tion and novel approaches to environmental management are proving 
necessary. The Wildlife Management Area approach, whereby areas 
are reserved for conservation and controlled utilisation purposes at 
the request of the land-owners, was designed to overcome this, but 
those WMAs that have been established so far have suffered from a 
lack of investment and trained staff. 

Although concerned primarily with endangered species, the 
Fauna (Protection and Control) Act 1966 provides for the establish- 
ment of sanctuaries, ‘protected areas’ and wildlife management areas 
on land held under customary ownership. The National Parks Act 


(1982) provides for the preservation of the environment and of the 
national cultural heritage and contains provisions for reserving gov- 
ernment land and for leasing land. The Conservation Areas Act 1978 
has similar objectives to the National Parks Act but is more com- 
prehensive and, to some extent, remedies deficiencies in the other 
legislation. Papua New Guinea is not yet party to the World Heritage 
Convention, Unesco Man and Biosphere Programme or the Conven- 
ton on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Water- 
fowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), all of which encourage habitat 
protection while allowing human use. 

PNG is in the enviable position of still having most of its forested 
land intact. Pressures are building up from agriculture and logging, 
but the fauna and flora remain rich and in little danger of extinction. 
However, the protected area system is inadequate for a land of such 
outstanding biological diversity. Numerous attempts have been 
made to identify key conservation areas, based on analyses using 
birds, butterflies and ecosystem types (see case study below), but 
there are no practical means for gazetting such areas. None of them 
has had the two elements needed to establish a conservation pro- 
gramme: i.e. a dialogue between the inhabitants and the Government 
and financial support for management. Since so much of the land is in 
private hands, novel approaches to conservation will be needed, 
particularly in the forestry sector where pressure from logging 
companies for individuals to sell their timber rights is growing daily. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Of paramount importance in Papua New Guinea is the need to 
develop a national conservation strategy. More protected areas are 
required on the mainland, and on outlying islands, notably New 
Britain, New Ireland, Manus, Goodenough, Fergusson and Bougain- 
ville. Smaller islands with significant levels of endemism, such as the 
Ninigo and Luf (Hermit) Islands, may require priority action, 
because they are thought to be under greater threat (Dahl, 1986). 


South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) An 
action strategy for protected areas in the south Pacific region has 
already been launched (SPREP, 1985a). Principal goals of the strat- 
egy cover conservation education, conservation policies, establish- 
ment of protected areas, effective protected areas management, and 
regional and international cooperation. 


A number of reviews have drawn attention to critical sites for the 
conservation of the biological and ecological richness of PNG. 
The protected areas system review of Oceania prepared for IUCN 
(Dahl, 1986) assessed the conservation importance of individual 
islands and identified priorities for further action. However, gaps 
were not identified at national level. Further recommendations 
were made in the action strategy for protected areas in the south 
Pacific region adopted at the ministerial meeting of the Third 
South Pacific National Parks and Reserves Conference (SPREP, 
1985a). Other major sources of information are the proceedings of 
the Third South Pacific National Parks and Reserves Conference 
(SPREP, 1985b), and the recent directories of coral reefs (UNEP/ 
IUCN, 1988) and wetlands (Scott, 1989). 

Diamond (1976) proposed a system that built on a scheme by 
Specht er al. (1974) in which 22 areas that would incorporate an 
almost complete range of biogeographical and ecological patterns 
were defined. Unfortunately, the majority of existing protected 
areas lie outside the areas that he identified, and most of his 
priority areas are not protected. 


PROTECTED AREA PLANNING IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA 


Less ambitious, and focused principally on conserving birds of 
paradise and their rain forest habitat throughout New Guinea, is a 
4882 sq. km system of eight reserves proposed by Beehler (1985). 
Of the four proposed reserves that lie in mainland Papua New 
Guinea and cover a total area of 932 sq. km, only Giluwe and 
Finisterre lie within officially proposed protected areas. In addi- 
tion to providing safe breeding habitat for populations of all 40 
species of Papuan birds of paradise, the proposed system would 
benefit other birds, including the many endemic species. This 
system represents an initial compromise plan, dictated by politics 
and economics, that could be expanded later. 

Similarly, Parsons (1983) has proposed the establishment of a 
network of 20 reserves to meet the conservation requirements of 
birdwing butterflies, which are Papua New Guinea’s national 
insects. Many of these proposed sites coincide or overlap with 
those recommended under the schemes already discussed. 

The Government has recently endorsed Regional Sanctuaries in 
four regions (islands, mainland, highlands and southern), but 
implementation has been delayed due to lack of finance. 


180 


Table 21.3 Conservation areas of Papua New Guinea 


Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which we have location 
data, are listed below. (Sizes of proposed conservation areas are 
not known and have therefore not been listed.) The remaining 
areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest reserves 
are not included. All areas include moist forest within their 
boundaries. 


Existing 
area 
Wildlife Management Areas (sq. km) 
Bagiai 138 
Garu 87 
Maza 1,842 
Mojirau 51 
Ndrolowa 59 
Oia-Mada-Wa’a 228 
Pokili 98 
Ranba 419 
Siwi-Utame 125 
Tonda 5,900 
Sanctuaries 
Crown Island 60 
Long Island 157 
Sub total 9,164 
Other Areas 705 
Total 9,869 


(Taken from documentation provided by the Department of Environment and 
Conservation, PNG and IUCN, 1990) 


Tropical Forestry Action Plan(TFAP) Papua New Guinea made an 
official request for assistance under the Tropical Forestry Action 
Plan in 1988, and an international team with local counterparts from 
the PNG Government carried out a month-long forestry sector 
review in April 1989 (see also chapter 10). Their main finding was 
that forest legislation, policy and management suffered from prob- 
lems serious enough to warrant a completely new approach to forest 
administration. This should include new legislation, the establish- 
ment of a decentralised management system, and provision for 
environmental monitoring. 

The mission proposed a series of forest conservation activities in 
tune with the practicalities of the land tenure system: 

1 Development ofa national conservation strategy based on a semin- 
ar prepared and organised by a competent local institute. 

2 Rehabilitation of existing national parks, development and imple- 
mentation of management plans. 

3 Support for non-governmental organisations in the field of forestry 
and conservation. 

4 National accession to the World Heritage Convention and the 
establishment of one or more major World Heritage sites linked with 
sustained yield forestry projects. This is similar to the Biosphere 
Reserve approach, where pristine core areas are surrounded by shells 
of forest under various forms of sustained yield management. 

This last proposal would represent a great step forward, linking 
the concept of sustained yield forestry with biological conservation in 
an integrated and mutually dependent way. With large areas of 
logging concessions inaccessible, the scheme has the advantage of 
giving value to what are largely considered to be unloggable waste- 
lands. The challenge is to achieve what would be a complex exercise 
in diplomacy and planning in one of the most complicated societies in 
the world. 


Parua NEw GUINEA 


References 

Allison, A. (1982) Distribution and ecology of New Guinea lizards. 
In: Gressitt, J. L. (ed.) (loc. cit.), pp. 803—-14.. 

Beehler, B. M. (1985) Conservation of New Guinea forest birds. 
In: Conservation of Tropical Forest Birds. Diamond, A. W. (ed.) 
ICBP Technical Publication No. 4, pp. 223-46. International 
Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, UK. 

Coates, B. J. (1985) The Birds of Papua New Guinea, Including the 
Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Volume 1. Non-passerines. 
Dove Publications, Alderley, Queensland, Australia. 464 pp. 

Collins, N. M. and Morris, M. G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail 
Butterflies of the World. The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, 
Cambridge, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. 401 pp. 

Cragg, S. M. (1987) Papua New Guinea. In: Mangroves of Asia and 
the Pacific: Status and Management. Umali, R. M. et al. (eds), 
Natural Resources Management Center and National Mangrove 
Committee, Ministry of Natural Resources, Manila, pp. 299-309. 

Dahl, A L. (1986) Review of the Protected Areas System in Oceania. 
IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 239 pp. 

Diamond, J. M. (1976) A proposed natural reserve system for 
Papua New Guinea. Unpublished report. 16 pp. 

Eaton, P. (1985) Land tenure and conservation: protected areas in 
the South Pacific. SPREP Topic Review No. 17. South Pacific 
Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 103 pp. 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 
Utilization of Forest Resources in the Developing Regions. Asia- 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. 
FAO, Bangkok, Thailand. 104 pp. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp. + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome. 

Freyne, D. F. and McAlpine, J. R. (1985) Land clearing and 
development in Papua New Guinea. In: Tropical Land Clearing for 
Sustainable Agriculture. IBSRAM, Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Gressitt, J. L. (1958) New Guinea and insect distribution. Proceed- 
ings of the Fourth International Congress of Entomology 1: 767-74. 

Gressitt, J. L.(ed.)(1982) Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea. 
Monographiae Biologicae No. 42. Junk, The Hague. 983 pp. 

IUCN (1986) Plants in Danger: What do we Know? IUCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 461 pp. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, 
UK. 

McAlpine, J. R., Keig, G. and Falls, R. (1983) Climate of Papua 
New Guinea. ANU Press, Canberra, Australia. 200 pp. 

Paijmans, K. (1975) Vegetation map of Papua New Guinea 
(1:1,000,000) and explanatory notes to the vegetation map of 
Papua New Guinea. CSTRO Land Research Series 35: 1-25, and 4 
map sheets. 

Paijmans, K. (ed.) (1976) New Guinea Vegetation. Elsevier, 
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 213 pp. 

Parris, B. S. (1985) Ecological aspects of distribution and specia- 
tion in Old World tropical ferns. Proceedings of the Royal Society of 
Edinburgh 86: 341-6. 

Parsons, M. J. (1983) A Conservation Study of the Birdwing But- 
terfies Ornithoptera and Troides (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in 
Papua New Guinea. Final Report to Department of Primary 
Industry, Papua New Guinea. 111 pp. 

Saulei, S. M. (1987) The forest resource development crisis in 
Papua New Guinea. In: Forest Resources Crisis in the Third World. 
Sahabat Alam, Penang, Malaysia, pp. 81—92. 

Scott, D. A. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 1181 pp. 


181 


Papua NEW GUINEA 


Seddon, G. (1984) Logging in the Gogol Valley, Papua New 
Guinea. Ambio 13: 345-50. 

Specht, R. L., Rae, E. M. and Boughton, V. H. (1974) Conserva- 
tion of Major Plant Communities in Australia and Papua New 
Guinea. Australian Journal of Botany Supplementary Series 7: 
591-605. 

SPREP (1985a) Action Strategy for Protected Areas in the South 
Pacific Region. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Cal- 
edonia. 21 pp. 

SPREP (1985b) Report of the Third South Pacific National Parks and 
Reserves Conference. Volume 3. Country reviews. South Pacific 
Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia, pp. 175-94. 

Srivastava, P. B. L. (1985) Environmental and socio-economic 
aspects of tropical deforestation in Asia and the Pacific — Papua 
New Guinea. Unpublished report. 149 pp. 

UNEP (1986) Environmental Management in Papua New Guinea. 
3 volumes. UNEP, Nairobi. 

UNEP/IUCN (1988) Coral Reefs of the World. Volume 3: Central 
and Western Pacific. UNEP Regional Seas Directories and Bibli- 
ographies. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK/ 
UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya. 329 pp. 

WEI (1988) Protecting the Environment. A Call for Support. Wau 
Ecology Institute, Wau, Papua New Guinea. 19 pp. 

Whitaker, R., Whitaker, Z. and Mills, M.(1982) Reptiles of Papua 
New Guinea. Wildlife in Papua New Guinea No. 82/2. Division of 
Wildlife, Department of Lands and Environment, Konedobu. 
53 pp. 

Zweifel, R. G. and Tyler, M. J. (1982) Amphibia of New Guinea. 
In: Gressitt, J. L. (ed.) (loc. cit.), pp. 759-802. 


Authorship 
Mark Collins at WCMC, with contributions from Mick Raga in Port 
Moresby, Caroline Sargent of IIED, Iamo Ila, Karol Kisokau and 


182 


Kembi Wotoka of the Department of Environment and Conserva- 
uon in Boroko and Alan Ross, Prem Srivastava and Charlie Tawhiao 
of the Department of Forests, Boroko. 


Map 21.1 Forest cover in Papua New Guinea 


As described above (see The Forests section) there have been several accounts and 
maps of vegetation types and forest cover of Papua New Guinea. A set of 18 maps 
at 1:500,000 scale dating from 1971 is still available: PNG Vegetation and Timber 
Resources Edition 2. Compiled by the Australian Department of Defence from air 
photography and radar imagery, these maps show the distribution of major forest 
types. Given the relatively slow rate of change in PNG, they are still of value. 
However, K. Paijmans’ (1975) set of four 1:1 million scale maps remains the most 
useful and recent set of data, and formed the basis for the map presented in this 
atlas. Vegetation of Papua New Guinea and the accompanying Explanatory Notes 
show 13 forest categories, mangrove and 10 other categories. In the forest 
categories, lowland rain forests mapped here have been compiled from Paijmans’ 
categories large to medium crowned and small crowned forests on plains and 
farms (FPI, FPs), littoral forest (FB), medium, small and large crowned lowland 
hill forests (FHm, FHs, FHI) and dry evergreen forest (Fd). Freshwater swamp 
forest comprises Paijmans’ open forest on plains (FPo), swamp forest (Fsw) and 
moist swamp woodland (Wsw). Montane forest comprises lower montane (FL), 
coniferous lower montane (FLc), very small-crowned lower montane (FLs) and 
montane (FM) forests, and begins at 1400 m altitude. Seasonal (monsoon) forest is 
Paijmans’ woodland category W. Non-forest comprises Paijmans’ categories of 
scrub (Sc), savanna (Sa), grassland (G, Gsw) mixed herbaceous vegetation (Hsw) 
and gardens (Ga). Areas of secondary forest, indicated by an overlay of dots onto 
the forest type by Paijmans, have not been distinguished on the map shown here. 
Pioneer vegetation (Pi) has been included with its neighbouring climax forest 
type. 

The locations of protected areas have been extracted from a number of sources, 
but particularly maps made available by the Department of Environment and 
Conservation in Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately maps showing precise bound- 
aries are unavailable, and protected areas are here represented by circles of an 
appropriate size. 


di 


FEDERAL MALAYSIA 
Land area 329,807 sq. km : 


Population (1989) 17.4 million 
4 Population growth rate (1987-2000) 2.2 per cent 
¢ i ) l I } S l { ar Expected maximum population (2100) 32 million 


Gross national product (1987) —US$1810 per capita 


I { ’ Rain forest (see maps) 200,450 sq. km 
d d S ld Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest area (1980) 209,960 sq. km =|. Se 
Annual deforestation rate (1986-90)t 2210 sq. km Ss 
Roundwood production* 44,43] 000 cv. m So 
Roundwood exports* 20,853,000 cu. m 
Fuelwood and charcoal production® 


Sawlog and veneer log production 
Sawlog and veneer log exports” 


8,067,000 cu. m Ja as 
35,110,000 cu. m F 
20,674,000 cu. m ee 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA een 
Land area = 13],598 sq. km a - a 
Population (1989) 14.3 million ee 

Rain forest (see map) 69,780 sq. km —-l 
Closed broadleaved forest (1980)¢ 46,220 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1986-90) 956 sq. km 
Log production (1987) 10,300,000 cu. m 


Sawlog production (1987) 4,800,000 cu. m 
~ 1988 dato fom FAO (1990 
t FAO/UNEP (1981); FAO (1988 


Peninsular Malaysia has a long history of careful forest management, and conservation of its extremely rich biological reserves is 
well developed. Rapid development of the land has occurred over recent decades, but this has now begun to stabilise. Under the 
Sth Malaysia Plan an area of only 1286 sq. km has been scheduled for deforestation, much less than in previous plans. However, 
it is envisaged that all stateland forests (approximately 8700 sq. km) not included either in the Permanent Forest Estate 
(currently 47,500 sq. km) or in the protected area network (c. 5700 sq. km) will eventually be deforested and converted to other 
land uses. 

At the moment there is a good network of representative areas for the conservation of ecosystems, biological diversity and 
ecological services, but the time is ripe to examine their adequacy, and to set aside further conservation areas before later 
development diminishes the opportunity to do so. When considering the management of production forest within the 
Permanent Forest Estate, it is essential to balance conservation needs with timber production. It is vital to protect and maintain 
pristine areas of natural forest in order to recolonise the degraded forests’ stock of flora and fauna. This is especially important 
now, because most of the production forests are located in hilly terrain, where environmental damage caused by logging is 
considerable. 

The rationale for conservation of natural forests needs to be clearly communicated to all levels of Malaysian society. The 
essential ecological benefits that can accrue from having adequate cover of a matrix of both undisturbed and production forests 
needs to be emphasised in order that conservation matters can be viewed clearly. Ultimately it will be the Malaysian public that 
rallies political and economic forces in support of conservation of the Malaysian environment. 


INTRODUCTION 


Malaysia is a federation of 13 states, 11 in the Malay peninsula (West 
or Peninsular Malaysia), and Sarawak and Sabah! in Borneo (East 
Malaysia). Peninsular Malaysia accounts for 40 per cent of the land 
area and over three-quarters of the population. The principal high- 
lands, set inland from the coastal plains, consist of several roughly 
parallel ranges that run down the centre of the country from the Thai 
border to the south of Negeri Sembilan. Peaks range up to c. 2000 m 
in height and divide the western states from Kelantan, Terengganu 
and Pahang to the east. There is a more dispersed mass of mountains 


The population of Malaysia is racially mixed, with about 54 per 
cent Bumiputras (Malays and other indigenous races), 35 per cent 
Chinese and 10 per cent Indians. In the Peninsula the religion of the 
majority (Malays) is Muslim, and Islam is the official religion. In 
1984 the Government announced a policy of encouraging population 
growth from the present 17 million to 70 million people. Tax 
incentives to encourage this were passed by Parliament in 1985. 


The Forests 


to the east of the main ranges with an east-west watershed separating 
the northward flowing rivers of Kelantan and north Terengganu 
from the south flowing catchment of the Pahang river, on which lies 
Gunung Tahan (2189 m), the highest mountain. There are other 
lower mountains further south around the Pahang—Johor border. 


! See Chapter 24 for Sarawak and Sabah 


Lowland evergreen tropical rain forest is the principal forest forma- 
tion on dry land at low altitudes in Peninsular Malaysia, as Map 22.1 
shows. In the extreme north-west this is replaced by the semi- 
evergreen formation. The rain forest is rich in Dipterocarpaceae, 
notably Anisoptera, Dipterocarpus, Dryobalanops, Hopea and Shorea. 
It is subdivided into lowland (below 300 m) and hill (300-1300 m) 
forest, on floristic composition. Along the east coast there remain a 


183 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


We 


GULF OF THAILAND 


| SOUTH 
| é\ THAILAND 
Cn gs CHINA 
Ks Ulu Mudaj Kota Bah: 
Alor Seta - ota aru 6°N 
SEA 
® Pulau Redang 
Pinang 
George To' ; 
4°N 
oP 
a 
> 


Map 22.1 

Peninsular Malaysia 
|_| Rain Forests 

lowland [oe a] 

montane” (eee) 

mangrove earn wetted 

inland swamp iar es] 

Conservation areas + 

existing a 

proposed CS aa 

Non Forest 

“Higher than 914m (3000') 

T Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 

1:3,000,000 

0 100 Kilometres 

0 50 miles 


Opus 


Pulau 


184 


few patches of heath forest on recent, unconsolidated sands, but most 
have been degraded to open savanna. Tiny fragments of rain forest 
occur inland. Other forest formations are as follows: 


1 There are extensive karst limestone hills from Kuala Lumpur 
northwards and these carry the limestone forest formation. Only 
one small area of ultrabasic rocks occurs. 

2 Peat swamp and freshwater swamp forests were extensive on both 
the east and west coasts (see Map 22.1), but most of the latter and 
some of the former have been cleared for agriculture. 

3 Montane rain forests occur extensively on all the main mountains; 
both lower and upper montane formations are found. The former 
have been logged to some extent and three hill stations have made 
inroads into both formations. Plans for a road linking these are 
currently being actively considered but will pose severe environ- 
mental difficulties if they are implemented (Anon., 1989). 

4 Monsoon forests do not occur in Malaysia. 


Forest Resources and Management 

About 100 years ago, rain forests probably covered over 90 per cent 
(c. 120,000 sq. km) of the land area, much of it in the lowlands. In 
1966 it was estimated that 68 per cent (c. 90,000 sq. km) of the land 
area was under natural forest cover (Lee, 1973). The National Forest 
Inventory of 1970—2 showed that this figure had dropped toc. 83,000 
sq. km or 63 per cent (Mohd Darus, 1978). At the end of 1985 forest 
cover was reported reduced to 61,870 sq. km or 47 per cent (Ministry 
of Primary Industries, 1988) (see Table 22.1). FAO (1987) agreed 
with this figure and also taking the statistic for 1980, 66,220 sq. km, 
they extrapolated forward to reach a figure for 1990 of 57,090 sq. km. 

Table 22.2 is a breakdown by major forest types of the areas of 
forest shown on Map 22.1 (refer to the Map Legend for details of the 
origin of the map). A comparison of Tables 22.1 and 22.2 shows a 
discrepancy in that the extent of the mapped forests exceeds the 1985 
statistics by 7850 sq. km. It seems likely that the original map used to 
prepare Map 22.1 was little changed from the Forest Map of Peninsu- 
lar Malaysia based on 1981-2 data and published in 1986 (see Map 
Legend). 

Peninsular Malaysia has had a Forest Department since the early 
years of the century and thus has a long record of forest reservation 
and management. The Forest Departments of the Peninsula and the 
Eastern Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah are independent; the 
latter manage their own forest estates and are therefore considered 
separately (see chapter 24). 

Silviculture has been one of the concerns of the Forest Department 
since its inception and has evolved as market conditions have 
changed. Major logging at high intensity began in the 1950s, under 
the famous monocyclic Malayan Uniform System (MUS). This has 


Table 22.1: Status of forested land in Peninsular Malaysia 
(thousands of sq. km) 


Reporting date 1977 1984 1985 
Permanent Forest Estate: 51.7 46.8 47.5 
Undisturbed 12.5 9.6 9.8 
Logged-over 20.2 18.2 18.7 
Protective & Amenity 19.0 19.0 19.0 
Agri-conversion forest: 20.2 16.4 14.4 
Undisturbed Sef/ 1.8 1.6 
Logged-over 14.5 14.6 12.8 
Total forested land: 71.9 63.2 61.9 
Percentage of land area: 54.6 48.0 47.0 


(Sources: 1977 data from Arshad (1979), 1984 data from Thang (1984), 1985 data from 
Ministry of Primary Industries (1988) ) 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


Table 22.2: Estimates of forest extent 


Area (sq. % of land 

km) area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 57,610 43.8 
Montane 6,880 5.2 
Freshwater swamp 4,060 Zi 
Mangrove 1,200 0.9 
Totals 69,750 53.0 


(Based on analysis of Map 22.1. See Map Legend for details of sources) 


now been replaced by the Selection Management System (SMS), 


_which includes polycyclic logging as one of its options. Chapter 6 on 


natural rain forest management describes these systems, including 
their strengths and weaknesses. 

Stand improvement by poison-girdling has been abandoned as 
part of the silviculture system. This development plus adoption of a 
polycyclic system are more compatible with conservation of bio- 
logical diversity and the retention of ecosystem functions. The 
polycyclic option is also more suitable than the MUS for the highly 
mixed hill forest areas. With flexible cutting limits, it nevertheless 
requires that logging must ensure that a residual stocking of 32 trees 
per hectare of 30 cm dbh and above are left behind (Mohd Darus, 
1988). The MUS is still practised in the lowland dipterocarp forests 
to obtain a more even-aged forest with a higher proportion of 
commercial species. 

By the late 1970s, it became accepted that the rates of logging and 
deforestation were not sustainable. Moreover a higher priority was 
placed on agricultural development, specifically cash cropping, 
evident from the Land Capability Classification scheme (Lee and 
Panton, 1971), whereby forested land with agricultural potential was 
categorised as having a higher capability than that without, which 
carries the implication that such land will ultimately be excised. To 
ensure that there would be sufficient forest land left and to provide 
guidelines for the management of the remaining forest resources, the 
National Forestry Policy was formulated in 1977 and accepted in 
1978. The main feature of the policy is the establishment of a 
Permanent Forest Estate within the government-owned state lands, 
which in principle will not be converted to other forms of land use. 

The Permanent Forest Estate is comprised of areas designated for 
productive, protective and amenity purposes. Productive forests will 
be managed for sustained timber production. Protective forests serve 
to prevent erosion, silting and flooding and to maintain water 
supplies, and therefore are mainly situated in water-catchment areas 
and mountain ranges. The amenity forests are meant for conserva- 
tion, recreation, education and research purposes (Muhammad, 
1980). 

Forested lands outside the Permanent Forest Estate (apart from 
those already pronounced as conservation areas) are known as agri- 
conversion forests. These forests are designated to be logged, re- 
logged and eventually converted for agricultural use. 

As shown in Table 22.1, there have been a number of revisions to 
the allocation for the Permanent Forest Estate, but 47,500 sq. km of 
forest are included in the latest statistics. Of this total 28,500 sq. km 
will be managed as production forest and another 19,000 sq. km is 
designated as protection forest. Although most of the protection 
forests will be located in the mountainous areas, they nevertheless 
represent very important areas for conservation and habitat protec- 
uon. The production forests will be managed on a sustained yield 
basis whereby a designated annual coupe of c. 700—750 sq. km will be 
allowed. 


185 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


With the gradual reduction of forest area there has been a gradual 
decline in the rate of logging of forest over the last 20 years (Thang, 
1984). During the Second Malaysia Plan period (1971-5) logging 
occurred at 3660 sq. km per year. During the Third Malaysia Plan 
(1976-80) and Fourth Malaysia Plan (1981—5), the amounts of forest 
logged were 3184 sq. km and 2230 sq. km per year respectively. In 
the Fifth Malaysia Plan period (1986-90), the amount of forest 
logged was scaled down sull further to 1521 sq. km per year (Mohd 
Darus, 1988). Although there appears to be a cumulative total of 
53,000 sq. km of forest logged over a 20-year period from 1971-90, 
the actual amount of forest land logged was much lower, as some 
areas were relogged, especially those targeted for conversion to 
agricultural land. The relogging of forests is possible because the first 
logging usually leaves behind trees which may be worth extracting if 
market demand improves. Relogging sets back forest recovery by 
introducing another round of damage and soil erosion. Originally, 
relogging was only permitted in forests scheduled to be cleared for 
agriculture, but the increasing market for timber has led to relog- 
ging in the Permanent Forest Estate, without assessment of the effect 
on the next and future rotations. This practice is clearly against the 
principle of sustained yield (see chapter 6). 

It has been estimated that by the early 1990s umber extraction 
from agri-conversion forests will be exhausted and that the umber 
industry will have to rely on the productive forest reserves within the 
Permanent Forest Estate for log supply (Mohd Darus, 1978). The 
Forest Department recognises that sustainable forest management 
will need to be implemented in these areas. In this respect, all future 
logging in already identified production forest within the Permanent 
Forest Estate will be regulated (712 sq. km per year for the Fifth 


186 


Taman Negara National Park is one of the largest in Southeast Asia and 1s vital to the conservation of the nation’s biodiversity. WWF/M. Kavanagh 


* U 


Malaysia Plan, 1986—90). It has also increased its efforts in reforesta- 
tion and rehabilitation of logged forest through silvicultural treat- 
ment. However, the rate at which this has been undertaken has not 
kept up with the rate of logging. At the end of 1988, an accumulated 
total of 9366 sq. km of inland forest had been silviculturally treated, 
while enrichment planting in poorly stocked logged areas amounted 
to 172 sq. km (Thang, 1989). For the period 1988—90 there are plans 
to treat another 2502 sq. km of logged over forest, 36 sq. km of which 
is to be enriched with indigenous species (Mohd Darus, 1988). To 
complement as well as to relieve pressure of supply from natural 
forest, the Forest Department had already taken steps to establish 
plantations of fast growing trees with an expected rotation of 15—20 
years, and by 1988 306 sq. km had been established. The compensa- 
tory plantation project was launched in 1982 and there are plans to 
establish by the year 2000 a total of 1882 sq. km (Thang, 1989). 


Deforestation 
FAO (1987) provided three estimates of closed forest cover for 
Peninsular Malaysia, for 1980, 1985 and an extrapolation to 1990. 
These figures suggest an expected average annual deforestation rate 
of 956 sq. km for the 1985-90 period. This is a considerable 
reduction from rates of over 2500 sq. km per year in the late 1970s. 

The major cause of forest depletion in Peninsular Malaysia has 
been conversion of land from forest to agriculture. In comparison, 
the loss of forest land to other uses, such as shifting cultivation, 
mining and building of reservoirs, is relatively small. 

Clearing of forests for agriculture on a large scale for cash crops 
began on the west coast, where private plantations were set up for 
rubber, coconut and subsequently oil palm. The more recent agro- 


conversion of forested land has been due to land development 
schemes carried out by various federal and state government agen- 
cies, to provide agricultural land and employment for settlers. The 
biggest agency is FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority), 
which began operations in 1956 (see chapter 5). By 1985 FELDA had 
developed 6600 sq. km of agricultural land throughout the penin- 
sula. By the end of the Fifth Malaysia Plan in 1990, this total will have 
increased to 8355 sq. km. The most extensive land development 
schemes have been carried out in Pahang and Johor, the two biggest 
states of Peninsular Malaysia. In the 1971-80 period FELDA 
developed 2069 sq. km of land, 46 per cent of which was in Pahang, 
22 per cent in Johor and 17 per cent in Negeri Sembilan. This does 
not include other large-scale agricultural schemes carried out by the 
state development agencies of Pahang and Johor. 

After logging, any remaining vegetation is cleared and burnt 
before conversion of the land into oil palm or rubber plantations. The 
developed land is then managed by settlers brought in to live in new 
townships. These schemes are generally regarded as successful in 
terms of resettlement of landless populations, generating employ- 
ment, and also in boosting palm oil and rubber production for the 
country. Malaysia is the top producer and exporter of these two 
agricultural commodities in the world. 

The second cause of forest depletion is construction of dams for 
hydroelectric power and irrigation schemes, but total areas lost have 
so far been relatively small. Of the major hydroelectric dams in 
Peninsular Malaysia, six are located within the Main Range in Perak. 
The Temenggor Dam, for example, with 350 MW capacity, flooded 
about 140 sq. km of forest. The largest hydroelectric dam is the 
Kenyir Dam in Terengganu with 400 MW capacity. In Kedah, the 
Muda and Pedu Dams are used for irrigation. The most controversial 
hydroelectric project in the Peninsula was the proposed Tembeling 
Dam. In the early 1970s and again in the early 1980s, the Govern- 
ment proposed to construct the dam within and adjacent to the 
Taman Negara (national park). This would have flooded 97 sq. km of 
pristine lowland forest within the national park and another 110 sq. 
km outside the park area. After much public protest, the proposals 
were shelved. 

The third important cause of deforestation is mining. The major 
mining activities occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, 
the most extensive being exploitation of alluvial tin in Perak and 
Selangor. The result was retention ponds and mine spoils in the form 
of mud sludge and sand piles. Miners were not obliged to refill or 
rehabilitate the land and the scars remain until today. Natural 
revegetation of minespoils is very slow and is often set back by 
remining. The most extensive re-use of these lands is for re-working 
of old mines which are deemed commercially viable, and building 
houses and roads in areas close to towns. 

The extent of shifting cultivation by indigenous people in Peninsu- 
lar Malaysia is small. An extensive programme to resettle the indi- 
genous people, or orang asli, was initiated after the Second World 
War for security reasons. Since then, as a result of resettlement and 
education of the younger generation, many of the indigenous groups 
have been incorporated into the mainstream of Malaysia’s economic 
activities. Some of the resettlements are large and close to the main 
towns. An example of this is Gombak, close to Kuala Lumpur. Other 
settlements are smaller and located closer to the forest, thus allowing 
the indigenous people the opportunity to practise their traditional 
way of life. 

The Government is sull continuing to regroup orang asl: into 
settlements. Under the Fifth Malaysia Plan there is a comprehensive 
programme to regroup 23,000 orang asli from the Main Range into 
five settlement schemes which are agriculture-based. 

The groups of indigenous people who are not settled in 
government-created schemes are widely scattered through the re- 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


maining forested areas. Some are nomadic, and are predominantly 
hunter-gatherers, while others are shifting cultivators. The extent of 
forest clearing by the shifting cultivators is small because of the low 
population density of the groups practising it, but there is some 
evidence that logging companies moving into remote areas are 
affecting the livelihood of people living traditionally. 

Although logging in natural forest does not constitute deforesta- 
tion, nevertheless it can cause significant ecological damage and 
degradation of the forest environment. Exploitation has been docu- 
mented by the National Forest Inventory 1981-2, which showed 
that, except for protected areas, most of the lowland and hill 
dipterocarp forests have now been logged. The remaining primary 
forests are mostly confined to the upland areas along the Main Range 
(where a new road is planned) and in the east coast states of Kelantan 
and Terengganu. It is important to bear this fact in mind when 
studying Map 22.1 

Generally, the main watersheds are on high, steep land, and these 
have been left relatively unexploited and unaffected by deforestation. 
The Land Capability Classification (Lee and Panton, 1971) cate- 
gorised these watersheds as Class V, i.e. areas best left in their natural 
state for soil and water conservation purposes. The National Forestry 
Policy (Muhammad, 1980) has recommended that these areas be 
designated as protection forests. There are, however, isolated cases 
where smaller catchments have been threatened with severe environ- 
mental problems due to the opening up of forest land on steep slopes. 
For example forest clearing in the upper Gombak catchment near 
Kuala Lumpur resulted in heavy silting of the Gombak River and 
reduced water supply; so much so that a thriving agricultural area 
downstream was turned into a wasteland (Soong et al., 1980). 
Similarly the conversion of steep forested land to vegetable farms in 
the Cameron Highlands has resulted in increased run-off, severe soil 
erosion and the silting up of a hydroelectric dam. 


Mangroves 

Mangroves are to be found mainly along the sheltered west coast 
fronting the Straits of Malacca, where they form an almost contin- 
uous belt, about 20 km at its greatest width. The most extensive 
groups of mangroves occur along the estuaries of the larger rivers, 
and are managed by the State Forest Departments for timber produc- 
tion ona sustained yield basis. The most extensive area is the Matang 
Forest Reserve in the Perak area, which has been managed since last 
century. In recent years there has been severe pressure to use the 
mangrove lands for agriculture, urbanisation, ponds and fisheries. 
Forest Department records show that over a 20-year period from 
1965 to 1985, the total area of mangroves declined from 1184 sq. km 
to 983 sq. km (Anon., 1986), a rate of alienation of about 5—6 sq. km 
per year. In Selangor alone, 86 sq. km were cut down in 1988-9 
(Salleh and Chan, 1988). 


Biodiversity 

Peninsular Malaysia has a rich flora and fauna with an over- 
whelmingly Asian (Laurasian) affinity, and a small Australian 
(Gondwanic) component. 

There are about 8000 species of plants, about 200 species of 
mammals, including 81 bats, 110 species of snakes, and thousands of 
insect species. About 60 per cent of the bird species and 78 per cent of 
the land mammals (excluding bats) live in the primary and tall 
secondary forests. 

Various estimates of endemism have been made for flowering 
plants in Peninsular Malaysia; 30 per cent for tree species (Ng and 
Low, 1982), 90 per cent for the Begoniaceae, 80 per cent for the 
Gesneriaceae (Kiew, 1983), and 50 per cent for the orchids. 

Deforestation and forest degradation have significantly affected 
wildlife populations, especially in the lowlands which have the 


187 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


richest wildlife and where deforestation and logging are most exten- 
sive. Stevens (1968) concluded from two years’ study that 52 per cent 
of the mammals live at altitudes below 330 m, 81 per cent live below 
660 m and only 10 per cent occur at higher elevations. Only 9 per cent 
can exist at all altitudes. He also found that 53 per cent of the 
mammals are confined to the primary forest, 25 per cent live in 
primary or tall secondary forest, 12 per cent live in primary or tall 
secondary forest or can subsist in cultivated areas, while only 10 per 
cent live in cultivated or urban areas. Clearly, therefore, forest 
degradation severely reduces species diversity. 

Impacts of habitat loss and forest degradation are best documented 
for the larger mammals, which require large areas of land for foraging 
and breeding. The Javan rhinoceros, for example, had become 
extinct by 1932. The Malayan tiger, thought to number 3500 in the 
early 1950s, has dwindled to about 250 and is now confined to the 
areas of Perak, Kelantan and Terengganu (MNS, 1983). The ele- 
phant population is now estimated at 700. 

However, there are many wildlife species which can adapt to forest 
degradation. These include a number of totally protected species 
such as the brush-tail porcupine and the giant squirrels, which 
mainly dwell in secondary forest (Cadigan and Lim, 1973). See also 
the case study on hornbills opposite. 


Conservation Areas 

Species conservation in Peninsular Malaysia dates back to early this 
century, when various game reserves were created. It was not until 
1935, however, when the King George V National Park (now Taman 
Negara) was created, that large areas of natural ecosystems began to 
be set aside for conservation. The first comprehensive protected 
areas plan was contained in the Third Malaysian Plan (TMP) for 
1976-80 (Government of Malaysia, 1976). In the TMP, Taman 
Negara, and 22 other wildlife reserves, game reserves and bird 
sanctuaries were recognised, and a further two national parks and 21 
other reserves were proposed. The TMP was designed to include the 
representative ecosystems and the major biological communities 
suggested by the Malayan Nature Society in its Blueprint for Conser- 
vation (MNS, 1974). 

The present record of conservation areas falls a little short of that 
proposed under the TMP. The total for new conservation areas 
proposed under TMP was 8985 sq. km; the total has now reached 
8293 sq. km, including the 4344 sq. km Taman Negara (Table 22.3 
and Map 22.1). A further 7086 sq. km have been proposed. (These 
areas do not include forest reserves or virgin jungle reserves. ) 

An important restraint on new initiatives is that conservation areas 
gazetted under different legislation come under the jurisdiction of 
different state and federal government departments. The National 
Parks Act of 1980 was unpopular with state governments, who were 
unwilling to transfer land to the Federal Government. Even after 
amendments to the Act in 1985, state governments were more 
inclined to establish state parks than national parks under the 
National Parks Act. So far there has been no national park con- 
stituted in Peninsular Malaysia under the National Parks Act. 

Besides the conservation areas listed in Table 22.3, the Forest 
Department has set aside single compartments of forest reserves as 
virgin jungle reserves (VJRs), which are permanent nature reserves 
for the preservation of pristine representative forest types and their 
component species (Figure 22.1). However, these VJRs are small, 
some have been damaged by logging, and because they are part of 
forest reserves their viability depends on them being surrounded by 
managed forest. Some state forest departments have also set up 
various recreational forest areas. 

The existing conservation area system in Peninsular Malaysia 
relies heavily on one large national park, Taman Negara. Taman 
Negara is not only the largest park in Malaysia but is also one of the 


188 


Table 22.3: Conservation areas of Peninsular Malaysia 

Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. 
The remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. 
Forest reserves are not included. For data on ASEAN sites see 
chapter 9. All areas include moist forest within their boundaries. 


Existing Proposed 

area area 
National Parks (sq. em) (sq em) 
Taman Negara 4,344 
Parks 
Endau-Rompin c. 500 c. 430 
Pulau Redang (part marine) 250 
Wildlife Reserves 
Belum 2,072 
Endau-Kota Tinggi (East) 74 
Grik 518 
Krau 531 
Mersing 74 
Pulau Tioman 82 
Selaama 222 
Sungai Nenggiri 370 
Tasek Bera 265 
Ulu Muda 1,153 
Ulu Terengganu 1,165 
Wildlife Sanctuaries 
Cameron Highlands 650 
Sub totals 6,181 6,519 
Other Areas 2,135 567 
Totals 8,293 7,086 


(Sources IUCN, 1990 and WCMC in litt.) 


largest in Southeast Asia, encompassing the largest area of pristine 
lowland dipterocarp forest left in the country, montane rain forests, 
and rain forests on limestone. The highest mountain in Peninsular 
Malaysia, Mt Tahan, is located within the Park. Although Taman 
Negara encompasses a wide range of vegetation types and supports a 
viable breeding population of large animals (MNS, 1971), the pres- 
ent network of protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia is by no means 
adequate, as it does not include some of the critical habitats that are 
under threat. These include wetland forests such as the peat swamp 
forest in Pahang and Johor, mangrove forests, and open lake eco- 
systems. Most importantly, the lowland dipterocarp rain forests are 
seriously under-represented. 

While it is arguable that many of the above ecosystems are 
represented within forest reserves, the management of such areas is 
not designed for conservation of the natural forest communities (with 
the exception of the small virgin jungle reserves). Forestry activities 
result in drastic changes of the biological communities and their 
original habitats. This is especially so for forests managed under the 
MUS. Besides, it is very easy for forest reserves to be excised by state 
governments. Therefore forest reserves do not adequately conserve 
either biodiversity or habitats. 

Major proposals for extension of conservation areas and concern 
for existing parks and reserves may be sub-divided by ecosystem. 


Lowland rain forest This was once the most extensive forest forma- 
uon in Peninsular Malaysia, yet there is relatively little left of it 
today. The few sites that remain more or less in their original 
condition include Pasoh Forest Reserve and Endau-Rompin. 


Although Pasoh Forest Reserve covers an area of only 24 sq. km, it 
is one of the most intensely studied lowland dipterocarp forests in 
Southeast Asia. This is largely due to the International Biological 
Programme (IBP) of the 1960s and early 1970s, which funded a wide 
range of studies covering flora, fauna, soils and hydrology. It is now 
hemmed in by oil palm plantations, and because of its small size, 
disturbance at its edges is significant. It is therefore important that 
there is no more conversion of forest land. Pasoh is now managed by 
the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), with long term 
study plots, including a 50 ha plot where all trees 1 cm dbh and above 
have been tagged, identified and mapped. 

The Endau-Rompin area constitutes the only sizeable undisturbed 
lowland evergreen rain forest in Peninsular Malaysia besides Taman 
Negara. It was proposed as a national park in the Third Malaysia 
Plan, but has still not attained that status to date (see overleaf). 


Mangroves and other wetland forests Only about 20 per cent of 
wetland areas are gazetted as forest reserves and virgin jungle 
reserves; the rest do not have any legal protection. Mangroves and 
peat swamps forests are generally considered to be land of low value 
and are likely to be reclaimed for agriculture, etc. They are seriously 
under-represented in the conservation area system, yet some have 
international significance as rest stops or wintering grounds for at 
least 100 species of migratory birds from continental Asia. Tasek 
Bera and Tasek Cini together form the two largest freshwater swamp 
and natural lake complexes in Peninsular Malaysia. Both areas have 
been encroached by agricultural development. Although proposed 
for conservation in the Third Malaysia Plan, neither yet has any legal 
conservation status (Malaysian Wetland Working Group, 1987). 


Limestone hills occur throughout the country from Kuala Lumpur 
northwards, and are generally covered in forest. Kelantan has the 
largest. Limestone is quarried for construction and road building, 
and this has caused rapid depletion of limestone hills in Perak and 
Selangor. Limestone areas with karst landscape are not only scenic 
but are also floristically rich. Chin (1977) listed 1216 species of 
vascular plants belonging to 582 genera and 124 families. Of these, 
129 species are endemic and are confined to the limestone hills. There 
are also cave systems that contain a unique fauna (Bullock, 1965). 
The development of Malayan prehistoric archaeology has depended a 
great deal on investigations of limestone caves (Peacock, 1965). 
Several proposals have been made for the conservation of limestone 
hills (Aw, 1978; Ding, 1976). The Third Malaysia Plan included Mt 
Tempurong and Batu Caves, but no action has yet been taken. 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


: awe 


@’------ ; 
i 


SS any 


Selangor @ 
ee ‘sy ~ e 
6 1 ~ 


. 
@ Negi a 
@ Sembilan’ >, 

u \ 

@ © ; ti & 

Hoes 8 

acco} 


30 ml 60 mi 


0 50 km 100 km 


10) 102 103 104 | 
4 1 4 1 


Figure 22.1 The states of Peninsular Malaysia, and the network of 
Virgin Jungle Reserves. There are 81 VJRs in Peninsular 
Malaysia, covering 910 sq. km. 


(Source: Department of Forestry, Peninsular Malaysia) 


HORNBILLS AND LOGGING IN MALAYSIA 


Hornbills are amongst the noisiest and most conspicuous of rain 
forest birds. As many as eight species may occur together in the 
forests of Peninsular Malaysia. Being fruit-feeders, they forage 
very widely and there have been fears that, if they are unable to 
persist in areas that are being cleared and logged, they may 
become restricted to protected areas. Fortunately, it appears that 
hornbills survive in the regenerating forest remarkably well. 
Logging operations have a severe impact on the fruit trees used 
by hornbills. Typically, logging reduces the number of all trees in 
a forest by 50 per cent, but up to three-quarters of some of the 
preferred fruit trees may be lost — notably figs. Recent studies in 
the Tekam Forest Reserve in central Peninsular Malaysia have 


demonstrated that, despite this destruction, hornbills can obtain 
all their needs from logged-over forest as little as 10 years after 
logging operations. Not only that, but they appear able to main- 
tain their former numbers. 

Why hornbills can survive so well remains unclear. There is no 
evidence of a shift in diet, and it appears that even the greatly 
reduced stocks of fruit trees are sufficient to maintain popula- 
tions. In the pristine forest some other factor is clearly controlling 
the population, possibly the availability of large rot holes in which 
to breed. So long as silvicultural practices do not require eradica- 
tion of fruit trees (which have no timber value), the future of 
hornbills seems assured in the production forests. 

Source: Johns (1988) 


189 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


THE PROPOSED ENDAU-ROMPIN NATIONAL PARK FOR PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


The story of Endau-Rompin serves to highlight the commitment 
and perseverance of Malaysians to establish a new national park 
for Peninsular Malaysia. Although there are 7460 sq. km of 
natural forested land in the country under conservation, there has 
only ever been one national park, Taman Negara, covering an area 
of 4343 sq. km. It was constituted in 1935 through the simultan- 
eous gazetting of three separate state parks. Recognising the need 
for more such parks, the Federal Government under the Third 
Malaysia Plan identified the Endau-Rompin forest, which strad- 
dles the states of Johor and Pahang, an area chosen because it is 
one of the few remaining stretches of undisturbed forest in the 
southern part of the peninsula. It has also been known for many 
years to be an area rich in wildlife, so much so that a part of it on 
the Johor side had already been gazetted as a wildlife sanctuary as 
early as 1933, on the directive of the Sultan of Johor. 

The original proposal was to include about 2023 sq. km. This 
was a forward looking plan, which aimed to set aside an inviolate 
core of 919 sq. km to conserve biological diversity and to protect 
the watershed of the many rivers that originate from the area. The 
remaining buffer area of 1105 sq. km would then be managed as a 
permanent forest reserve, where sustained yield forestry would be 
practised. Before much could be done, it was revealed in early 
1977 that the Pahang State Government had approved plans to log 
120 sq. km within the core area and that logging had already 
started. Shocked by this, Malaysians throughout the country 
registered their protest through meetings and in the media. The 
country had never experienced such a vociferous and sustained 
protest which was a clear indication of the level of environmental 
awareness already established. Although acknowledging that the 
area should not be logged, the Federal Government was reluctant 
to intervene as land matters are the concern of individual states. 
After continued protest, however, the State Government of 
Pahang finally yielded and declared that no more logging licences 
would be issued in the core area. When logging did cease in 1978, 
an estimated 52 sq. km in the core area had been logged. With the 
adoption of the National Parks Act in 1980, there was hope that 
Endau-Rompin would be the first park to be gazetted. However, 
despite negotiations, the state governments would not agree to 
handing over land to the Federal Government, as was required by 
the Act. No progress was made therefore to have the park 
established as a protected area. This stalemate goaded the 
Malayan Nature Society, a non-profit, non-governmental organ- 
isation, to organise the first ever Malaysian Scientific Expedition 
into the area, to revitalise and regenerate interest in the need for a 
park. MNS raised funds, coordinated the scientific personnel and 
brought in many volunteers, including students, lay public, the 
press and politicians, to work in the base camp. As public interest 
grew with the mass media providing extensive coverage of the 
expedition and its findings, Endau-Rompin became a household 
topic. The sustained publicity, which extended for over a year, 
pressed the Johor and Pahang Governments to respond. In 1988, 
yielding to demand, the two state governments announced their 
agreement to give Endau-Rompin park status. They decided that 
the park, which will cover an area of 930 sq. km and essentially be 
the core area of the original proposal, would be constituted by two 
separate state enactments that would guarantee its status as 
equivalent to a national park. A similar mechanism half a century 
earlier had led to the creation of Taman Negara, the first national 
park. 


Large stretches of rain forest remain undisturbed at Endau-Rompin in the 
southern part of Peninsular Malaysia, providing critical habitat for 
rhinoceros and other wildlife. WWF/S. K. Yong 


The Malayan Nature Society in response has provided com- 
prehensive reports to the Johor State Government, including 
management guidelines for the proposed park. In addition, the 
Society provided assistance to the Johor state government by 
drafting and formulating their new National Parks (Johor) Act, 
which was to be adopted in 1989 and constitute the Johor part of 
Endau-Rompin area as a new national park. The Pahang Govern- 
ment is expected to do the same soon. 

Thus Endau-Rompin is one national park that the Malaysian 
public has caused to come into being and one they can rightly be 
proud of. 


190 


Initiatives for Conservation 

The Tropical Forestry Action Plan, a programme to encourage 
investment in tropical forestry by development agencies, was initi- 
ated in Malaysia in 1987. The Federal Government chose to carry out 
the forestry review using national expertise, without technical assis- 
tance from other nations or agencies. A first draft of the Malaysia 
TFAP was prepared in 1988 and submitted to Government for 
approval in 1989. The plan will be integrated into the national five- 
year planning cycle. Development agencies and bilateral donor 
organisations were invited to consider the plan in late 1989, with a 
view to investments in Malaysian forestry. 

A key feature of the TFAP is the participation of national and 
international non-governmental organisations in the consultative 
process. In the case of Malaysia, a workshop was held in Kuala 
Lumpur in July 1988, with WWF-Malaysia and other interested 
organisations in attendance. At the time of writing, the TFAP report 
has not been released outside government circles. It remains to be 
seen to what extent conservation issues have been attended to. 


References 

Anon. (1986) Annual Report of the Forestry Department, Peninsular 
Malaysia. Forest Department Publication. 

Anon. (1989) Mountain unease. The Planter 65: 36-8. 

Arshad, A. (1979) National Agricultural Policy and its Implica- 
tions on Forest Development in the Country. Malaysian Forester 
42: 348-64. 

Aw. P.C. (1978) Conservation of limestone hills — a geologist’s 
view. Malayan Nature Journal 30: 449-59. 

Bullock, J. A. (1965) The ecology of Malaysian caves. Malayan 
Nature Journal 19: 57-64. 

Cadigan, F. C. and Lim, B. L. (1973) Protected habitats for 
protected animals. Proceedings of a Symposium on Biological Re- 
sources and Natural Development: pp. 153-7. 

Chin, S. C. (1977) The limestone hill flora of Malaya I. Gardens’ 
Bulletin, Singapore 30: 165-219. 

Ding. C. H. (1976) Proposal for an integrated plan of a National 
Park in Perak. Malayan Nature Journal 29: 282-92. 

FAO (1987) Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. FAO, 
Bangkok, Thailand. 104 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO 
Forestry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, 
Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
Forest Resource of Tropical Asia. Vol 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 
Government of Malaysia (1976) Third Malaysia Plan, 1976-1980. 

Government Press, Kuala Lumpur. 

Government of Malaysia (1986) Fifth Malaysia Plan, 1986-1990. 
Government Press, Kuala Lumpur. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. [UCN Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Johns, A. (1988) New observations on hornbills and logging in 
Malaysia. Oriental Birdclub Bulletin 8: 11-15. 

Kiew, R. (1983) Conservation of Malaysian plant species. Malayan 
Naturalist 37: 2-5. 

Lee, P. C. (1973). Multi-use management of West Malaysia’s forest 
resources. Proceedings of a Symposium on Biological Resources and 
Natural Development: 93-101. 

Lee, P. C. and Panton, W. P. (1971) First Malaysia Plan Land 
Capability Classification Report for West Malaysia. Economic Plan- 
ning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Kuala Lumpur. 

Malaysian Wetland Working Group (1987) Malaysian Wetland Dur- 
ectory, Vol. I. Introduction. Department of Wildlife and National 
Parks, Peninsular Malaysia. 


Ministry of Primary Industries (1988) Forestry in Malaysia. 


PENINSULAR MALAYSIA 


MNS (1971) The need for the conservation of Taman Negara. 
Malayan Nature Journal 24: 196-205. 

MNS (1974) A blueprint for conservation in Peninsular Malaysia. 
Malayan Nature Journal 27: 1-16. 

MNS (1983) Species conservation priorities in the tropical rain 
forests of Peninsular Malaysia. Malayan Naturalist 36: 2-8. 

Mohd Darus, H. M. (1978) Forest resources of Peninsular Mal- 
aysia. Malaysian Forester 41: 82-93. 

Mohd Darus, H. M. (1988) Forest conservation, management and 
development in Malaysia. Forest Department Headquarters, 
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Muhammad, J. (1980) The National Forest Policy (Editorial). 
Malaysian Forester 43: 1-6. 

Ng, F. S. P. and C. M. Low (1982) Check list of endemic trees of 
the Malay Peninsula. Forest Research Inst. Research Pamphlet 88. 

Peacock, B. A. V. (1965) The prehistoric archaeology of Malayan 
caves. Malayan Nature Fournal 19: 40-56. 

Salleh, M. N. and Chan, H. T. (1988) Mangrove forests in Penin- 
sular Malaysia, an unappreciated resource. Seminar on the Ma- 
rine Environment: Challenges and Opportunities. Institute of 
Strategic and International Studies, Kuala Lumpur. 

Soong, N. K., Haridass, G., Yeoh, C. S. and Tan, P. H. 
(1980) Soil Erosion and Conservation in Malaysia. FRIM. 

Stevens, W. E. (1968) The Conservation of Wildlife in West Mal- 
aysia. Office of the Chief Game Warden, Federal Game Depart- 
ment, Ministry of Lands and Mines. 

Thang, H.C. (1984) Timber Supply and Domestic Demand in Penin- 
sular Malaysia. Forest Department, Kuala Lumpur. 

Thang, H. C. (1989) Current Status of Forestry Sector in Peninsular 
Malaysia. Forest Department Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur. 
Wyatt-Smith, J. (1964) A preliminary vegetation map of Malaya 
with descriptions of the vegetation types. Journal of Tropical 

Geography 18: 200-13. 


Authorship 

Officers of the Malayan Nature Society including M. Kishokumar, 
Kam Suan Peng, Henry Barlow and Tho Yow Pong with contribu- 
tions from Thang Hooi Chiew of the Forestry Department, Mikhail 
bin Kavanaghm, Ishak bin Ariffin, Kanta Kumari and Abdullah 
Abdul Rahim of WWF, Duncan Parish of the Asian Wetlands 
Bureau, Chin See Chung of the University of Malaya, Francis Ng of 
the Forest Research Institute and Mok Sian Tuan of the Asian 
Institute of Forest Management. 


Map 22.1 Forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia 


Forest cover shown on Map 22.1 complies with Peninsular Malaysia: The Forest 
Area, at a scale of 1:1 million, a hand-coloured map obtained from the Forest 
Department in Kuala Lumpur in May 1989. Although undated, this unpublished 
map is the latest mapped information available. It is an amended version of the 
published Peta Khazanah Hutan Semenanjung Malaysia (Forest Map of Peninsu- 
lar Malaysia), based on 1981—2 data and published in 1986 at 1:750,000 scale. 

Peninsular Malaysia: The Forest Area shows hill, montane, swamp and man- 
grove forests. We have only used the mangrove category directly. The original hill 
and montane forests have been combined and separated again at a lower contour, 
914 m (3,000 feet), to comply with the Vegetation Map of Malaya, 1962 (Wyatt 
Smith, 1964), and the rest of mainland Southeast Asia shown in this atlas. The 
distribution of swamp forest in the south-east of the country has also been 
adjusted slightly to comply with that work. Protected areas were extracted from 
Permanent Forest Estate Peninsular Malaysia, an unpublished, hand-coloured map 
at scale 1:750,000, updated to April 1988 and obtained from the Forest Depart- 
ment in Kuala Lumpur, and from data on file at the WCMC. 

As explained in the text, the forest area portrayed in this map exceeds the 
official statistics for 1985 by 7850 sq. km. 


19] 


Land area 298,170 sq. km 


23 Philippines 


Population (1989) 64.9 million 
Population growth rate (1987-2000) 1.9 per cent 
Expected maximum population (2150) — 137 million 


Gross national product (1987) US$590 per capita 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest area (1988)! 64,606 sq. km 
Rain forest (see map) 50,740 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 15,280 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1985)f 74,230 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1986-90)¢ 1380 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 38,214,000 cu. m 

Roundwood exports* 603,000 cu. m 

Fuelwood and charcoal production* 32,028,000 cu. m 
Sawlogs and veneer logs production* 3,185,000 wu. m 
Sawlogs and veneer logs exports* 176,000 wv. m 


GT2 estimote Forest Management Bureau (1988) 
* 1988 data from FAO (1990) 
t FAO (1987) 


The Philippine archipelago has a rich flora and fauna, with high levels of endemism in both plants and animals, but its 
conservation programmes are generally weak. The existing protected area system includes only 1.3 per cent of the land and 
effective measures to prevent illegal logging and human encroachment are severely hampered by inadequate staffing and funds. 
At least two-thirds of Philippine national parks now contain human settlement and much of their original vegetation has been 
destroyed. 

Most of the forest estate outside the protected area system is leased to private timber companies for logging, but the selective 
logging system, in operation since 1955, is not closely followed and the residual stand is often severely damaged by the use of 
poor log extraction techniques. Consequently, many critical catchments are severely eroded and siltation has affected water 
quality and hindered the operation of hydro-electric dams. 

A recent survey and inventory conducted with German technical assistance has found that only 64,606 sq. km remain under 
forest, a mere 40 per cent of the 159,000 sq. km of so-called ‘forest land’. Near-natural dipterocarp forest remains on 9880 sq. 
km, of which 7000 sq. km are accessible to logging and will have been logged by 1995. After roads have been built and timber 
extracted, often in a very damaging way, the final destruction of the forest is conducted by shifting cultivators who enter 
illegally. 

If the present annual rate of forest destruction could be halved to 950 sq. km, then by 1995 a maximum of 34,000 sq. km of 
rain forest will remain in the Philippines, almost all of it logged-over forest. The survey referred to above found good 
regeneration in 20,000 sq. km of forest, and considered this to be suitable for silvicultural treatment to produce 2 cu. m per ha 
per year of timber growth. Even if this rather high output could be achieved, however, the current state of the forests in the 
Philippines is arguably the worst in tropical Asia. In less than 20 years the production of tropical timber has declined by 90 per 
cent. As a result of uncontrolled agricultural encroachment and an absence of forest management, the entire timber industry, 
from logging to furniture-making, is reduced to a shadow of its former status, and is increasingly dependent upon imports from 
other Asian nations. 

The Government of the Philippines is now seeking external assistance to rehabilitate its forest resources and protect 
remaining fragments. A Master Plan for Forestry Development is in preparation, including a strategy for consolidation of the 
protected area system. Logging has already been banned in all provinces with less than 40 per cent forest cover; only nine of the 
nation’s 73 provinces meet this criterion. 


INTRODUCTION 


The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago of approximately 
7100 islands, only 462 of which exceed 2.5 sq. km in area. Eleven 
have areas greater than 2500 sq. km and the two largest, Luzon 
(104,688 sq. km) and Mindanao (94,630 sq. km), constitute 68 per 
cent of the total land surface. 

Nearly all the islands have rugged uplands in the interior, usually 
rising to between 1250 and 2500 m. The highest mountain is Mount 
Apo in Mindanao (2954 m), while Mount Pulog in Luzon reaches 
2930 m. Short, violent, immature streams typify the drainage and 
consequently the upland areas are very susceptible to erosion. The 
lowlands are restricted, coastal plains rarely as much as 15 km wide, 
even on the larger islands. 


192 


The south-west monsoon brings rain from June to October while 
the north-east monsoon brings rain between November and Febru- 
ary and provides the eastern Pacific coasts with a prolonged wet 
season. The western coasts of Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros and 
Palawan receive little rainfall from the north-east monsoon, because 
of intervening mountain ranges, and these western parts have dis- 
tinct wet and dry seasons. Typhoons bring 25-35 per cent of the 
annual rainfall and sweep north and west across the central and 
northern parts of the archipelago from July to November. 

The Philippines is one of the most densely populated countries in 
Southeast Asia, with 173 people per sq. km. The majority of the 
population is of Malay descent with significant Chinese and Cauca- 


sian minorities. More than 80 per cent are Roman Catholics. 
However, a rich heritage of indigenous cultural diversity exists, with 
more than fifty tribal groups, almost all of whom live in areas 
designated as forest lands by the Government. Their land rights are 
enshrined in a pantheon of religious beliefs and traditional laws that 
pre-date the creation of the Philippine state. Furthermore, the socio- 
economic systems of many minority groups are closely linked to the 
forest through hunting and the collection of forest produce. As 
deforestation has progressed, minority tribal groups have in- 
creasingly come into conflict with central authorities who threaten to 
undermine their forest-based livelihood. 


The Forests 
The Philippines were originally clothed wholly in forest. The west- 
ern side bore both lowland and montane monsoon forests; the eastern 
side, exposed to the onshore north-east monsoon, bore lowland and 
montane rain forests. The monsoon forests included areas of Pinus 
kestya and P.. merkusit. There were scattered areas of mangrove, none 
very extensive, and small areas of inland swamp forest on Mindanao. 
Lowland evergreen rain forest occurs today on well-drained soils and 
on the lower slopes of mountains where the dry season is not 
pronounced. They are rich in Dipterocarpaceae and were sub- 
divided early this century on the basis of the dominant species into 
four forest floristic sub-types which have been followed widely ever 
since. 


1 Lauan (Shorea) forest occurs in lowland areas and foothills up to 
400 m. It is dominated by red and white lauan (mainly Shorea almon, 
S. contorta, S. negrosensis, S. palosapis and S. polysperma). 

2 Lauan-Apitong (Dipterocarpus) forests occur between lauan and 
lower montane forest wherever there is a pronounced dry season. 
The forest is not as tall, is more open and has denser scrub and layers 
of ground flora than the lauan forest. Many tree species are 
deciduous. 

3 Lauan-Yakal (Hopea) forests occur on volcanic soils as narrow 
coastal bands immediately behind beach forest, but only on southern 
and eastern Luzon, Leyte and Mindanao in areas with a short dry 
season. Many of the tree species are either deciduous or semi- 
deciduous. Important species include Hopea basilanica, H. 
cagayanensis, Shorea astylosa and S. gisok. The area covered by this 
forest sub-type was never large and it has now largely been cleared for 
cultivation. 

4 Finally, Lauan-Hagakhak (Dipterocarpus warburghi) forest was 
restricted to areas without a dry season and with a high water table. It 
was rich in timber species but it has now been cleared for rice 
production. 


The rain forests of eastern Mindanao were amongst the grandest in 
the world. Nearly all the big trees were members of the Dipterocar- 
paceae, and reached 60 m tall, with clear boles of 40-50 m. These 
forests have been almost totally cleared. They were never fully 
described, and studies of their plants and animals were never 
completed. 


Montane forests are widely distributed, particularly on windward 
slopes where there is plenty of moisture, and include Agathis on the 
lower parts. 


Pine Forests. Two species of pine are indigenous to the Philippines. 
There are extensive stands of the Benguet pine Pinus keszya in the 
mountains of northern and central Luzon between 450 and 2450 m. 
The Mindoro pine P.. merkusit occurs at 600 m elevation and less, and 
occupies a much smaller area estimated at only 60 sq. km. This is 
divided into two separate areas, one on the Zambales and Carabello 
mountains in Luzon, and one in northern Mindoro. 


PHILIPPINES 


Table 23.1 Estimates of natural forest resources of the 
Philippines (sq. km) 


1981 report 1985 report 


(FAO/UNEP, (FAO, 1987) 
1981) 

1980 1985 1980 1983 1985 1990 
Natural forest 
Broadleaved 

closed 93,200 88,650 94,510 81,220 72,360 65,550 

Bamboo — — 80 80 80 80 
Coniferous 1,900 1,850 1,940 1,900 1,870 1,790 
Totals 95,100 90,500 96,530 83,200 74,310 67,420 


(After FAO/UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1987; FAO, 1988) 


Molave forests are a form of monsoon forest which occurs in well- 
drained, limestone soils immediately behind beach forest or man- 
groves where conditions are too dry for rain forests. Molave Vitex 
parviflora, a member of the teak family, is dominant. The wood is 
highly prized for its great strength and hardness, but a combination 
of these commercially very desirable properties with the accessibility 
of the formation has now resulted in the complete disappearance of 
molave forests from most areas. A relatively well-preserved molave 
forest still occurs on the narrow coastal plain west of the Zambales 
mountains in Luzon. 


Forest Resources and Management 

Table 23.1 is a summary of data from FAO reports on the extent of 
the Philippines’ natural forests. They show a decline from around 
95,000 sq. km in 1980 to a projected 67,420 sq. km in 1990. It is of 
interest that the FAO/UNEP (1981) projection for 1985 of 90,500 sq. 
km proved to be optimistic. The FAO (1987) report recorded only 
74,310 sq. km in 1985. The 1990 projection has proved to be 
relatively accurate. The GTZ-—Philippine forest inventory project 
completed in 1988 recorded 64,606 sq. km of forest land, categorised 
as in Table 23.2. 

The map of forest cover prepared by the GTZ—Philippine project 
was used in the preparation of Map 23.1 (see Map Legend). Table 
23.3 is a breakdown of forest extent based on a computer analysis, 
and indicates a total forest area of 66,020 sq. km. The small discre- 
pancy between this figure and the GTZ data is a consequence of 
scale. In this atlas, a compiled 1:2 million map was used as the source, 
whereas the GTZ team worked from the original 1:50,000 data. Map 
23.1 shows very graphically how little forest remains, and how 
seriously degrated the remnants are. 

Responsibility for the protection and management of Philippine 
forests is vested almost entirely in the Department of Environment 


Table 23.2 Natural forest cover in the Philippines in 1985 


Forest formation Area (sq. km) 
Dipterocarp old growth forest 9,883 
Dipterocarp residual forest 34,128 
Pine forest 2,388 
Mossy forest 11,374 
Submarginal forest 5,442 
Mangroves 1,391 
Total 64,606 


(Adapted from Forest Management Bureau, 1988) 


193 


PHILIPPINES 


Table 23.3 Estimates of forest extent, based on analysis of Map 
23.1 


Area %of Area % of Totals % of 
intact land degraded land land 
area area area 
Rain forests 
Lowland 13,870 4.6| 29,185 9.8 50,715 17.0 
Montane 7,660 2.6 
Mangrove 25051 — 25 <0.1 
Sub totals PASS) ofA P2SEINGS) 9.8 50,740 17.0 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 3,930 1.3| 6,530 225s 280s 
Montane 4,820 1.6] 
Sub totals 85750) 229 6,530 V2 N53280) 521 
Totals 30,305 10.1 35,715 12.0 66,020 22.1 


(See Map Legend for details of sources) 


and Natural Resources (DENR). In theory, one of the principal tasks 
of the DENR is to limit illegal kaingin (shifting cultivator) activities, 
but in practice staff and funding are very limited. In 1988 it was 
estimated that each forest guard employed by the Department had 
responsibility for approximately 45 sq. km of forest land and, 
although barangay (district) captains have been deputised by the 
DENR to assist as forest protection officers, they do not have the 
authority and training to be effective. The Philippine Government 
has recently introduced the Integrated Social Forestry Program 
(ISFP) to address the issue of shifting cultivation in forest lands, and 
families in selected regions have been given tenure to any land they 
have occupied for more than 25 years, as an incentive to adopt 
sustainable farming systems. The federal authorities supplied over 
12 million seedlings to launch the programme in 1983, and there are 
now more than 4300 sq. km of deforested lands under ISFP projects 
in the Philippines with an estimated 175,000 families as beneficiaries 
(Myers, 1988). The full potential of the ISFP initiative has not been 
realised, however, because of financial and managerial constraints 
(Repetto, 1988). 

The DENR also has responsibility for monitoring the activities of 
logging companies. It requires forest management plans to be sub- 
mitted by all concessionaires. These would prescribe selective log- 
ging techniques, establish measures to protect concessions from 
encroachment by shifting cultivators, and allow for regeneration of 
those areas from which timber has been extracted. Although some 
companies honour these obligations most do not, apparently because 
of a reluctance to reduce profit margins. But the most important 
factor is that government funding and personnel have been extremely 
limited for many years and harvesters are easily able to avoid the 
regulations. 

In early 1989 the Philippine House of Representatives approved a 
bill banning tree cutting in all provinces with less than 40 per cent 
tree cover. Only nine of the nation’s 73 provinces contain forest 
resources in excess of this figure, but enforcing the ban in the 
remaining 64 provinces will undoubtedly prove difficult. Vested 
interests run into millions of dollars and logging companies are 
generally well-connected at political levels (International Conservation 
News, 1989). 


194 


Deforestation 
Two complete maps of forest cover based on aerial photographs and 
Landsat satellite images exist for 1969 and 1979-83 (Forest Manage- 
ment Bureau, 1988; see also Map Legend). The picture they show is 
of horrific destruction. The Philippines were, in their natural state, 
essentially entirely forested, but by 1969 forest cover was already 
reduced to 105,000 sq. km, little more than one-third of the total 
national land surface area. The rest had already been converted to 
shrubland or agriculture. Of that area 80,000 sq. km were rain 
forests, of which 47,000 sq. km were still in a near-natural state. 
By 1988 total forest cover had been reduced to 64,606 sq. km, only 
22 per cent of the national land area. Of the 44,011 sq. km of 
dipterocarp forests only 9,883 sq. km were still intact. Forest loss 
during the 20 years between 1969 and 1988 was on average 2100 sq. 
km per year or 2 ha every five minutes, i.e. a rate of 2.5 per cent per 
year or three times the average for all tropical rain forests. The fastest 
loss was during the 1970s. By the late 1980s it had declined to 1300 
sq. km per year. Another recent survey, using SPOT satellite 
imagery, as yet unpublished, will show an even worse situation. 
Deforestation can be attributed to the following causes: 


Logging. Logging operations, entrusted entirely to private entre- 
preneurs through a system of licences and permits, have contributed 
substantially to the overall degradation of forests. Intensive logging 
took place in the Philippines from the end of the Second World War 
until the early 1970s, because successive governments viewed forest 
exploitation as a good way of raising revenues. By 1969 the annual 
export exceeded 11 million cu. m, nearly triple that of 1955. Annual 
outputs averaging 10 million cu. m were maintained until 1974, at 
which time forest depletion, world recession, competition from other 
log-producing countries, and heightened conservation awareness 
prompted an initiative to curb timber exports through a variety of 
forest protection ordinances. Logging was banned in parts of Luzon, 
Catanduanes, Masbate, Leyte and Negros as well as on all small 
islands with an area of less than 500 sq. km. Implementation of the 
law has been limited by short-term economic considerations, and 
umber smuggling continues. In 1986, for example, it was estimated 
that the volume of logs smuggled to Japan exceeded 1 million cu. m 
(MacKenzie, 1988). A log export ban was imposed in 1989, but is 
likely to be too late to be effective. 


Shifting agriculture. Although logging has contributed substantially 
to forest degradation, logged forests do eventually recover and the 
principal cause of actual deforestation is shifting agriculture. Tradi- 
uonal, low-intensity shifting agriculture was once widely practised 
by indigenous tribal groups, but the population has increased dra- 
matically in recent years and large numbers of unemployed people 
have migrated from the lowlands into the interior. Consequently, 
traditional methods of cultivation have been replaced by a more 
intensive and unsustainable form, which is extremely harmful to the 
environment. Forest is cleared and farmed until the soil is completely 
exhausted. The natural vegetation has little opportunity to become 
re-established, and soil erosion is common. It is estimated that 
between 800 and 1400 sq. km of forest, including previously logged 
forest, are destroyed annually by inappropriate shifting agricultural 
practices in the Philippines (Myers, 1980). Furthermore, there is the 
risk of forest destruction from uncontrolled fires originating in areas 
of shifting agriculture, and this may worsen if climatic disturbances, 
particularly abnormal dry spells, become more pronounced. 


Soil erosion and watershed degradation. One of the most devastating 
effects of deforestation in the Philippines is soil erosion. Preliminary 
estimates suggest that more than 90,000 sq. km are already so badly 
degraded that they can no longer support agriculture (David, 1986). 


PHILIPPINES 


The first major hydro-electric power generating scheme to be 
initiated in the Philippines was the Agno River Basin Develop- 
ment Project which began in 1952. The Agno River basin lies in 
the Cordillera mountain range of northern Luzon and is a major 
centre of mining activity. Eighty-nine per cent of the Philippines’ 
gold is produced in the province of Benguet and the mines have 
become major consumers of Agno electricity. The first phase of 
the project was completed in 1956 with the construction of the 
Ambuklao dam. This dam was originally planned to have an 
effective life-span of 75 years but is no longer fully operational. 
Extensive logging for pit-prop timbers within the watershed by 
mining companies has caused severe siltation and erosion. Large- 


THE AGNO RIVER BASIN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT 


scale dumping of mine waste into the rivers that feed the reser- 
voirs has further compounded the problem. A recent analysis of 
the upper catchments of the Agno River has shown that at least 30 
per cent are now subject to very severe erosion and the siltation 
rate into the Ambuklao dam is estimated at 2.7 million cu. m per 
annum. The valuable stabilising role of forest cover in critical 
watershed areas such as the Agno River basin is recognised by 
Presidential Declaration No. 705 (Forestry Reform Code), but 
effective resources management policies are difficult to imple- 
ment and ecological values have often been ignored in favour of 
short-term economic considerations. 

Source: Roger Cox 


Soil erosion in the uplands is particularly severe and widespread, and 
it is likely to become worse as population pressure increases. By late 
1986 the uplands population totalled more than 18 million people, or 
nearly one-third of all Filipinos (Myers, 1988). The Government has 
been unable to remedy this, in part because of land tenure problems, 
but also because of inadequate training of agricultural agents, and 
inadequate incentives to improve farming practices. 

Many catchments have been indiscriminately logged and then 
converted to systems of permanent agriculture not suitable for 
sloping areas. It is estimated that some 16,000 sq. km of deforested 
Philippine uplands are located in critical watershed areas that are 
important for reliable water supplies to feed hydropower plants, 
irrigation projects and domestic needs in urban areas (David, 1986; 
Leong and Serna, 1987). The two largest cities, Manila and Cebu, 
now periodically experience water shortages due to the denuded 
condition of their catchments (Ganapin, 1987). Damage to the 
catchment areas of some of the country’s biggest dams have also 
adversely affected several hydro-electric power generating schemes. 


Deforestation and tribal Filipinos. The tribal peoples of the Philip- 
pines depend a great deal on the resources of the forest. For example 
the Itawe people of north-east Luzon, with a long cultural tradition, 
utilise at least 250 species of indigenous plants for nutritional, 
medicinal and religious purposes. 

Deforestation has destroyed sources of minor forest products for 
many Filipino tribal people and siltation of creeks and rivers has 
eliminated inland fish stocks. There is often a conflict of interest 
between these people on the one hand, who expect to be able to live 
and share in the wealth of the forest, and the logging companies on 
the other. In a large number of cases tribal people’s livelihoods have 
been put in jeopardy by logging operations. Many logging conces- 
sions encroach upon or completely engulf their ancestral lands (Ant- 
Slavery Society, 1983). In 1983 there were at least 33 logging and 
wood-processing companies based in Luzon whose activities affected 
national minorities in this way. Occasionally, excessive damage to the 
natural resource base and political pressure have compelled national 
minority peoples to abandon the territory on which their culture and 
economy depend, and relocate elsewhere. Under these conditions the 
social cohesiveness of the society is rapidly dissipated, traditional 
knowledge is eroded, and group members become squatters on land 
with which they have no historical association. 


Mangroves 

Mangrove forests declined in area from 4—5000 sq. km in 1920 
(Brown and Fischer, 1920) to 1000 sq. km by the mid-1980s, with 
attrition continuing at 50 sq. km per year (Howes, 1987). This 


massive loss resulted from all the factors which variously affect 
mangroves in the region (see other country chapters). 

As everywhere else the mangrove forests are an important source 
of many different products for rural societies (Arroya and Encenden- 
cia, 1985; Howes, 1987; Natmancom (Philippines), 1987; Zamora, 
1984). 

Important mangrove forests currently under threat include the 
following: the Bugney wetlands; Balayan Bay; Tayabas Bay; Ragay 
Gulf and Inabanga coast, amongst others (Scott, 1989). 

Recently fishermen on Cebu have planted a new mangrove forest 
and begun to harvest the marine life which it has attracted. 


Biological Diversity 

The original rain forest flora of the Philippines has never been fully 
studied. The very substantial loss of forest, including complete 
deforestation of whole islands and other large areas of the country, 
makes it extremely likely that species have become extinct, though 
this is difficult to prove. 

The forests of the Philippines support rich and diverse flora and 
fauna. Of the 12,000 or so species of plants and fungi, about 3500 are 
endemic, with 33 endemic genera (Madulid, 1982). The fauna of the 
archipelago is also characterised by a high degree of endemism — of 
approximately 96 species of non-flying land mammals occurring in 
the archipelago, at least 70 are found nowhere else. There is also a 
high degree of endemism in Philippine species of birds, amphibians 
and reptiles. 

More than 950 terrestrial vertebrate species are known to occur in 
the Philippines and many of these are now threatened by forest 
degradation and loss. Endemic land mammals which are threatened 
include: tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis, tarsier Tarstus syrichta, Philip- 
pine spotted deer Cervus alfredi, Calamian deer C. calamianensis, 
Mindanao gymnure Podogymnura truet, Visayan wild pig Sus barbatus 
cebifrons and the forest rat Batomys granti (IUCN, 1988). On Cebu, 
where almost all of the natural forest cover has been removed, only 
one out of ten endemic bird species has managed to adapt to the new 
habitat (Rabor, 1977). Deforestation is also the main cause of 
breeding failure in the Philippine eagle Pithecophaga jeffery1, which is 
seriously endangered and may now number no more than 200 birds 
in the wild (Kennedy, 1987). 


Conservation Areas 

At least 59 national parks have been created in the Philippines since 
1900, and two have been declared ASEAN Natural Heritage Sites. 
The legal basis for protected areas is outdated, fragmented and 
complex. Since 1900 there have been at least 262 enactments relating 
to the establishment or modification of protected areas. In a number 


195 


PHILIPPINES 


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THE ENDANGERED TAMARAW 


The tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis is a small buffalo endemic to 
Mindoro, where its preferred habitat is a mosaic of thick forest 
(for cover) and open grazing areas. An estimated 10,000 tamaraw 
occurred in 1900 but by 1949 numbers had dwindled to about 
1000 and by 1953 to fewer than 250. In 1969 a field survey could 
only locate three small populations, totalling about 100 animals. 
The current population is not known but numbers have probably 
increased slightly in recent years. Small tamaraw populations 


occur in Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park (754 sq. km) but the 
Philippine Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau has found it 
impossible to prevent illegal farming and ranching, and habitat 
destruction has occurred throughout the park. In July 1979 a3 sq. 
km fenced enclosure was established at Canturoy, Rizal in Occi- 
dental Mindoro to breed the tamaraw in captivity. This enclosure 
currently holds 13 animals and capture of additional stock is 
envisaged. Source: Roger Cox 


Mounts Iglit—-Baco National Park (754 sq. km), situated in Mind- 
oro, is one of the only two ASEAN Natural Heritage Sites in the 
Philippines and is important for its population of tamaraw. The 
park spans the central north-west/south-east divide of Mindoro 
and includes several distinct physiographic regions. The vegeta- 
tion of much of this reserve is fire-maintained grassland with 
Imperata cylindrica and Sacchareum spontaneum. Some very small 
dipterocarp rain forest remnants persist in the north and patches 
of mossy montane forests occur above 1500 m. Mounts Iglit-Baco 
is inhabited by the Mangyan people who burn large parts of the 
park annually for cattle grazing. Ranching and uncontrolled 
hunting activities have contributed substantially to the decline of 
the tamaraw. 

The other ASEAN Natural Heritage site, Mount Apo National 


ASEAN NATURAL HERITAGE SITES IN THE PHILIPPINES 


Park (728 sq. km), on the slopes of Mount Apo, the highest peak 
in the Philippines (2954 m), is located on the south-east coast of 
Mindanao, close to the Davao Gulf. The park supports many 
species of plants, birds and mammals endemic to the archipelago. 
It is one of the last remaining localities inhabited by the en- 
dangered Philippine eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi. Some montane 
rain forests still remain but most of the areas originally covered by 
lowland rain forests have been logged, and then cleared by slash- 
and-burn cultivators. There is no effective management regime 
for the park and few protective regulations are adequately en- 
forced. Consequently, human encroachment is an enormous 
problem and it is estimated that at least 20,000 people live within 
the park’s boundaries. 

Source: Roger Cox 


of cases enactments have overlapped or been inconsistent, providing 
insufficient parameters for a protected area to be accurately de- 
limited. Most protected areas have suffered from this confused 
legislative and administrative background. A lack of clear definition 
and of clear criteria for selecting areas has led to a proliferation of 
reserves — to the point where the total number of national parks 
created is itself subject to debate, with different authorities stating a 
total of 62 (NRMC, 1983), 59 (Haribon Foundation/DENR, 1988), 
or 72 (Petocz, 1988). However many parks there are, however, they 
provide little effective protection for the country’s environment. 
Moreover, levels of management have been poor; indeed in 1986 the 
Haribon Foundation, an influential national non-governmental or- 
ganisation, claimed that none would satisfy international standards 
established by IUCN, and a recent report for the Master Plan for 
Forestry Development described the situation as critical (DENR, 
1989). (See Table 23.4 for listing of conservation areas. ) 

The conservation management of virtually all the existing re- 
serves, which cover less than 1.3 per cent of the country, is weak. In 
1978 it was reported that approximately 76,000 people were perma- 
nently settled in park-lands and that 540 sq. km of protected areas 
were under some form of cultivation (Haribon Foundation, un- 
published). A further 40 sq. km were being actively logged. More 
recent information is not available, but it is likely that these figures 
now drastically underestimate the current problem. Most park 
boundaries are not demarcated, law enforcement is lacking, and 
current staffing and funds are such that the Bureau of Protected 
Areas and Wildlife is unable to deploy an effective corps of forest 
guards and park rangers. 

The inadequacy of the Philippine national park system has been 
recognised by the Haribon Foundation, which, together with the 


198 


Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and more 
recently with help from the World Bank, has put forward proposals 
for extensions of the system. By enlarging existing sites and demar- 
cating critical sites for conservation and protection, an Integrated 
Protected Areas System (IPAS) will be developed. Preliminary 
proposals published by the Haribon Foundation/DENR (1988) were 
not entirely acceptable to Government and the World Bank has now 
stepped in with an environmental grant for 1990—5 to complete the 
plan and put it into effect. The two-stage programme will include 
preparation of draft legislation, provide training seminars and de- 
velop an operational framework for the planning and management of 
ten top priority protected areas. The second phase will implement 
management plans in these reserves and their buffer zones, and 
provide staff reorientation and training in protected areas manage- 
ment (Petocz, 1989). 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Decades of unchecked exploitation have recently encouraged the 
Government to seek external assistance for the reconstruction of the 
nation’s forest resources, and a Master Plan for Forestry Develop- 
ment is currently being prepared by the DENR with the assistance of 
the Asian Development Bank, FINNIDA and other bilateral aid 
organisations, IUCN and other NGOs. The over-riding priority is to 
identify and develop projects which will form components of a 25- 
year strategy for the restoration of Philippine forests. Some of the 
issues being considered in the Forestry Master Plan include: 

e Preparation of short, medium, and long-term projections for 
umber and fuelwood demand, based on estimated domestic con- 
sumption and estimated export demand for wood-based products. 
e Participation of local communities in reforestation and other 


Table 23.4 Conservation areas of the Philippines 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which we 
have location data, are listed below. The remaining areas are 
combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest reserves are not 
included. For data on Biosphere reserves and ASEAN sites, see 


chapter 9. Existing Proposed 

area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 

National Parks 

Aurora Memorial* 57 

Bataan 239 

Bicol 52 

Central Cebu 119 

Leyte Mountains* 420 

Matalingahan* 200 

Mayon Volcano 55 

Mount Apo* 728 

Mount Banahaw-San Cristobal 111 

Mount Canlaon* 246 

Mount Data 55 

Mount Isarog 101 

Mount Malindang* 533 

Mount Pulog 116 

Mounts Iglit—Bacot 754 

Naujan Lake 217 

Rajaha Sikatuna* 90 

St Paul Subterranean River* 58 

Tirad Pass* 63 

Wildlife Sanctuaries 

Liguasan Marsh 300 

Game Reserves 

Lake Buluan 63 

Sub totals 3,957 620 

Other Areas 1,699 61 

Totals 5,656 681 


+ Mounts Iglit—Baco National Park, which is mainly deforested, has a small 
remnant of moist forest in the northern section. The vegetation mostly consists of 
fire-maintained grassland. 

(Sources: UCN, 1990, WCMC im lit.) 

Because data are sketchy in parts, the above list is restricted to national parks, 
wildlife sanctuaries and game reserves. The final total is therefore an estimate. 

* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


References 

Anti-Slavery Society (1983) The Philippines. Authoritarian Govern- 
ment, Multinationals and Ancestral Lands. Anti-Slavery Society, 
London. 

Arroya, C. A. and Encendencia, M. E. M. (1985) Status of man- 
grove ecosystems in the Philippines In: Coasts and Tidal Wetlands 
of the Australian Monsoon Region. Bardsley et al (eds). Australian 
National University Press, Canberra. pp. 327-44. 

Brown, W. H. and Fischer, A. F. (1920) Philippine mangrove 
swamps. In: Brown, W. H. (ed.), Minor Products of Philippine 
Forests. Manila, Bureau of Printing. pp. 9-125. 

David, W. P. (1986) Soil erosion and soil conservation planning — 
issues and implications. College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial 
Technology, University of the Philippines, Banos, Philippines. 

DENR (1989) Master Plan for Forestry Development. Protected 


PHILIPPINES 


forest management schemes, including an assessment of the 
characteristics of the local communities now involved in traditional 
agriculture and their attitudes towards established livelihood pat- 
terns, forest management and logging. 

e@ The role of the private sector in Philippine forestry, including the 
prospects for promoting commercial tree plantations on privately 
owned lands. 

e The development of proposals for the establishment of new 
mangrove plantations. 

e@ Formulation of a long-term strategy for the cultivation of minor 
forest products (e.g. medicinal plants) of known potential. 

@ Identification of critically degraded watershed areas for rehabilita- 
uon and protection. 

e Re-evaluation and consolidation of the system of national parks, 
based on the considerations described above. 

This last subject was the basis of a recent report on protected areas 
management and wildlife conservation (DENR, 1989). The report 
concluded that the immediate future would be the last opportunity 
for setting up an Integrated Protected Areas Scheme. Forests are 
dwindling so rapidly, and unspoilt habitat is now so rare, that within 
a decade or so there will be little left to protect. The report calls for 
legislative reform, institutional changes, international support for 
identification and protection of biologically rich sites, site-specific 
management and development plans, establishment of monitoring 
systems and a robust conservation education programme. In conclu- 
sion, the report acknowledges the formidable obstacles to the cre- 
ation of a Philippine IPAS, but is optimistic that renewed 
commitment to conservation from the Philippine Government, 
backed by international investment can still be effective. 

Implementation of the Master Plan for Forestry Development 
should contribute decisively to improved management, not only of 
protected areas, but also of the whole forest estate. National forest 
resources will be sustainably managed and used for the benefit of 
whole communities, creating employment and income and introduc- 
ing new and improved social and health facilities for rural areas. 
However, successful implementation of the Plan will require a 
commitment on the part of Government to give it high national 
priority. Success will also depend on the support and involvement of 
small farmers and village communities, local and national NGOs, 
and on the ability to raise funds and improve the coordination of 
international aid. 

A recent study to integrate land use planning and conservation on 
Palawan is described in chapter 8. 


Areas Management and Wildlife Conservation. Unpublished re- 
port. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 
Manila, Philippines. 82 pp. + annexes. 

FAO (1987) Special Study of Forest Management Afforestation and 
Uuilizanon of Forest Resources in the Developing Region, Asia— 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. FAO 
Field Document 17. 104 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome, 
Italy. 

Forest Management Bureau (1988) Natural Forest Resources of the 
Philippines. Philippine-German Forest Resources Inventory Pro- 
ject. Forest Management Bureau, Department of Environment 
and Natural Resources, Manila, Philippines. 62 pp. 


199 


PHILIPPINES 


Ganapin, D. J. (1987) Forest resources and timber trade in the 
Philippines. In: Proceedings of the Conference in Forest Resources 
Crisis in the Third World, pp. 54—70. 6—8 September, 1986, Kuala 
Lumpur, Malaysia. Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. 

Haribon Foundation/DENR (1988) Development of an Integrated 
Protected Areas System (IPAS) for the Philippines. World Wildlife 
Fund — USA, Department of Environment and Natural Re- 
sources, Haribon Foundation, Manila, Philippines. 

Howes, J. (1987) Rapid Assessment of Coastal Wetlands in the 
Philippines. IPT—Asian Wetland Bureau, Kuala Lumpur. 

International Conservation News (1989) Philippines to ban logging. 
Conservation Biology 3: 339. 

IUCN (1988) The Conservation Status of Biological Resources in the 
Philippines. (UCN Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge. 

Kennedy, R. S. (1987) Threatened and little-known birds of the 
Philippines. Draft manuscript prepared for the International 
Council for Bird Preservation. 10 pp. 

Leong, B. T. and Serna, C. B. (1987) Status of Watersheds in the 
Philippines. National Irrigation Administration, Quezon City. 
MacKenzie, D. (1988) Uphill battle to save Filipino trees. New 

Scientist 118: 42-3. 

Madulid, D. A. (1982) Plants in peril. The Filipino Fournal of 
Science and Culture 3: 8-16. 

Myers, N. (1980) Conversion of Moist Tropical Forests. National 
Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, USA. 

Myers, N. (1988) Environmental degradation and some economic 
consequences in the Philippines. Environmental Conservation 15: 
205-14. 

Natmancom (Philippines) (1987) Philippines. In: Mangroves of 
Asia and the Pacific, pp. 175-20. Umali et al. (eds) Ministry of 
National Resources. 

NRMC (1983) An Analysis of Laws and Enactments Pertaining to 
Nanonal Parks. Volume One. Natural Resources Management 
Centre, Quezon City, Philippines. 

Petocz, R. (1988) Philippines. Strategy for Environmental Conserva- 
tion. A draft plan report to WWF-US and Asian Wetland Bureau. 
66 pp. 

Petocz, R. (1989) The Philippines: establishment and management 
of an integrated protected areas system. Unpublished report to the 
World Bank. 130 pp. 

Rabor, D. S. (1977) Philippine Birds and Mammals. University of 
the Philippines Press, Quezon City. 

Repetto, R. (1988) The Forest for the Trees? Government Policies and 
the Misuse of Forest Resources. World Resources Institute, Wash- 
ington, DC, USA. 


200 


Scott, D. A. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 1181 pp. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1984) A vegetation map of Malesia at scale 1:5 
million. Fournal of Biogeography 11: 461-71. 

Zamora, P. M. (1984) Philippine mangrove: assessment of status, 
environmental problems, conservation and management strat- 
egies. In: Soepadmo E., Rao, A. N. and McIntosh D. J. (eds) 
(1984) Proceedings of the Asian Symposium on Mangrove Environ- 
mental Research and Management. pp. 696-707. Kuala Lumpur: 
University of Malaya and Unesco. 


Authorship 

Roger Cox in London with contributions from Cesar Nuevo of the 
Institute of Forest Conservation in Laguna, Hans Rasch of the 
Swedish Space Corporation, Solna, Jiirgen Schade and Vicente 
Sarmiento of the Dipterocarp Management Project in Manila, Jesus 
B. Alvarez in Quezon City, Oscar Gendrano of the Asian Develop- 
ment Bank, Manila, and Celso Roque of the Department of Environ- 
ment and Natural Resources, Quezon City. 


Map 23.1 Forest cover in the Philippines 


Forest cover data were taken from the 1988 Forest Cover Map of the Philippine 
Islands published in a single, hand-coloured dyeline sheet at 1:2 million. The 
map, generalised from the original set at 1:50,000 scale, is accompanied by an 
extensive explanatory report published by the Forest Management Bureau 
(1988), and is the product of a collaboration between the Philippine Department 
of Environment and Natural Resources and GTZ, the technical aid agency of the 
Federal Republic of Germany. For technical reasons, preparation of the gener- 
alised GTZ forest cover map resulted in a slight over-reduction of the mapped 
forest areas. This has been allowed for in preparation of the statistics in Table 
23.3, but could not be amended in Map 23.1. 

Lowland rain forest has been taken as a combination of old growth, submargi- 
nal and residual forest in the GTZ report. Montane forests have been delineated 
using a 914 m (3000 ft) contour from Operational Navigation Charts ONC J-12, 
K-11 and L-12. Monsoon forests have been delineated from data in Whitmore 
(1984). Mangrove forests are not shown separately in the GTZ map, and have 
been extracted from the Swedish Space Corporation map (see below). They are, 
however, now very restricted. 

A second forest mapping exercise was recently undertaken in the Philippines. 
The Philippines Land Use Map (1988) at 1:2 million, summarised from 43 Land 
Cover Maps at 1:250,000, was prepared from 1987-8 SPOT imagery for the 
World Bank by the Swedish Space Corporation in cooperation with the Depart- 
ment of Environment and Natural Resources. This map shows dipterocarp forest 
divided into two categories, ie less than SO per cent and greater than SO per cent 
canopy cover. Pine forest and mangrove vegetation are also shown. For the 
purpose of this atlas, the categories of dipterocarp forest cover were considered 
difficult to interpret and the map was not used. However, as mentioned above, the 
extent of mangrove forests was extracted from this source. 


24 Sabah 
and Sarawak 
(Eastern Malaysia) 


SABAH 

Land area 73,710 sq. km 
Population (1989) 4 million iP 
Rain forest (see map) — 36,000 sq. km ae Y 
Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)f 36,370 sq. km 6] 


Annual deforestation rate (1985-90)¢ c 800 sq. km \ ( K 
Sawlog and veneer log production (1984) 10.5 million cu. m ) ‘eal 
Sawlog and veneer log exports (1987) 10.1 million cu. m f f 7 
SARAWAK > 
Land area = 124,499 sq. km 5 - 
Population (1989) — 1.6 milllion h. ey Oe4 


Rain forest (see map) 94,670 sg. km hts 
Closed broadleaved forest (1980)¢ 84,000 sq. km eee 
Annual deforestation rate (1985-90) 450 sq. km 

Sawlog and veneer log production (1987) 13.6 million cu. m 


Sawlog and veneer log exports (1987) 12.8 million cu. m 
t FAO (1987 


In Sabah and Sarawak rain forests cover 46 per cent and 70 per cent of the land respectively (1985 data; FAO, 1987). Predicted 
cover for 1990 based on these data were 39 per cent and 64 per cent respectively. In both states the control of forests is a state 
matter, although coming under an overall federal policy. About 45 per cent and 37 per cent of Sabah and Sarawak’s land area are 
included in the Permanent Forest Estate (PFE). Outside the PFE, much of Sarawak’s land consists of stateland forest, while 
much of Sabah’s land has already been converted to other land use, mainly agriculture. 

A major factor responsible for deforestation in Sarawak is shifting agriculture, often following provision of access to the land 
by the logging companies. By 1978, about 23 per cent of the state’s land area had been used for shifting agriculture at some time, 
and the amount was growing by 0.5 to 1 per cent per year. However, all but 2.5 per cent of the PFE remains unaffected. 

Much concern has been expressed that Sarawak’s logging levels are unsustainable and damaging to the interests of rural 
people. In 1989/90 an ITTO mission visited Sarawak to investigate. The results were released as this atlas was going to press, 
and do recommend a reduction in logging levels. 

In Sabah, shifting agriculture only affects about 15 per cent of the land area. A further 12 per cent is due to be converted to 
settled agriculture. There is little doubt that the main cause of forest degradation and deforestation here is logging. 
Furthermore, in 1983 an estimated 20 per cent of Sabah’s forested land was burnt; 85 per cent of this was logged forest. 

Mangrove forest receives little protection, and logging has been widespread, primarily for woodchip exports to Japan and 
Taiwan. 

Both states have systems of totally protected areas. National parks cover 0.65 per cent and 1.9 per cent of Sarawak and Sabah 
respectively, and other protected areas cover a further 1.4 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Several new areas have been 
proposed for protection and, if gazetted, will result in protection of 8.1 per cent and 8.9 per cent of Sarawak and Sabah 
respectively. These will cover most of East Malaysia’s ecological and biological diversity, but increasing pressure on land and 
particularly timber resources means that few, if any, areas are totally secure. Proper management for both forest conservation 


and production will require a substantial increase in trained manpower. 


INTRODUCTION 


Sarawak and Sabah are the two states that comprise Eastern Mal- 
aysia. They lie on the north and north-western parts of the island of 
Borneo and between them occupy one-third of its area. 

The climate is typically wet equatorial. Rainfall is heavy, especially 
during the north-east monsoon season between November and Feb- 
ruary, and to a lesser extent between May and June. Rain falls in 
most, if not all, months, with a minimum annual total of 1730 mm in 
the driest parts of central Sabah, while 5000 mm plus falls in the 
montane areas such as Mount Mulu, Sarawak. The annual average is 
about 2500 mm. Humidity as expected, is always high. 

Borneo is the biggest exposed part of the Sunda Shelf, and consists 
mostly of young, uplifted sedimentary rocks. Sabah and Sarawak 
consist of alluvial and often swampy coastal plains with hilly rolling 
country inland intersected by large rivers and mountain ranges in the 
interior. In Sabah, the central mountain ranges rise abruptly from 
the west coast to the granodiorite peak of Mount Kinabalu (4094 m), 
the highest summit in Southeast Asia. The Trus Madi (2649 m) and 


Crocker ranges extend south and south-west respectively. In central 
Sabah, Mount Lutong (1657 m) is a striking sandstone arc, while in 
eastern Sabah few areas rise above 500 m. Sabah also has some extinct 
volcanic peaks (Tawau Hills, 1303 m) and ultrabasic mountains 
(Silam, Tawai). The largest river, the Kinabatangan, drains east- 
wards, is navigable for long distances and waters an extensive plain. 

Sarawak has mountains along two-thirds of its inland frontier. 
Mount Mulu in the north reaches 2371 m and has spectacular karst 
formations nearby, which include the largest underground cave in 
the world. The Kelabit Highlands reach 2438 m on Mount Murud. 
From the mountains of the border flow the great rivers Trusan, 
Limbang, Baram, Rajang and Lupar, which create coastal Swamps 
covering 14 per cent of the State’s land area, mainly in the coastal 
plains. The Rajang is the largest river. 

The human population of both states is low: Sabah has 1.4 million 
and Sarawak 1.6 million. It is also ethnically diverse, particularly in 
Sarawak, which has some 28 tribal groups. The Malays, Chinese 


201 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


and other non-native groups are largely urban and coastal, while 
indigenous groups such as Iban (30 per cent of Sarawak’s popula- 
tion), Bidayuh, Kelabit, Lun Bawang, Kayan, Kenyah, Berawan 
and many other orang ulu groups are largely inland farmers (Hong, 
1987). Many of these still have a culture and livelihood which is 
linked, at least loosely, to the forest. The Penan are a people from the 
interior of Borneo who traditionally live a nomadic life of hunting and 
gathering. While the majority are now settled, several hundred still 
live entirely on the products of the natural forest (see chapter 3). 

Both states have locally elected governments which sit in the 
capital cities Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Kuching (Sarawak) and 
send separate representatives to the Federal Assembly in Kuala 
Lumpur. Land management issues are in the hands of the state 
authorities. 


The Forests 

Both Sarawak and Sabah were originally entirely clothed in tropical 
rain forest. Existing forest formations include the following: 

1 Lowland evergreen rain forest rich in dipterocarps (known in 
Sarawak as mixed dipterocarp forest) is the natural vegetation 
throughout the interior in the, sometimes rugged, lowlands. Domi- 
nated by Dipterocarpaceae, these multi-storeyed forests are of great 
commercial value for their timber species, particularly Dipterocarpus, 
Dryobalanops and Shorea. Individual trees may reach 60 m in height 
and exceed 80 cm in diameter. On a one hectare plot near Mount 
Mulu, 225 species over 10 cm in diameter were found (Proctor er al., 
1983). It has been estimated that there are at least 3000 species of 
trees in this formation, 890 of which reach exploitable sizes (Thang, 
1987). 

2 Peat swamp forest was originally extensive in Sarawak and also 
occurred in south-west Sabah. Consisting of domed peat bogs, 
Shorea albida is an important species, and Gonystylus bancanus 
(ramin) is the single most valuable species. Other genera of trees 
often found in Sarawak and Sabah include Calophyllum, Dry- 
obalanops and Melanorrhea. In Sarawak, peat swamp forests were the 
first formations to be logged on a commercial scale and for many 
years were Sarawak’s main source of timber. By 1972, they had all 
been licensed for timber extraction, and by the year 2000 are all due 
to have been logged (Chan et al., 1985). 

3 Heath forest (or kerangas) mainly occurs in small patches inland on 
sandstones. The forests are characteristically low in stature, even- 
canopied with pole-like trees and rich in ant-plants (Myrmecodia) and 
pitcher plants (Nepenthes). The tree flora typically contains species of 
Dipterocarpus, Shorea albida, Melanorrhea and Tristaniopsis, with 
Agathis and Gymnostoma dominant in some forests. 

4 Forest occurs on limestone in karst regions in Sarawak at low 
elevations and up to high elevations on Mount Api and other 
outcrops around Mount Mulu (Anderson, 1965; Collins et al., 1984). 
In Sabah there are important karst hills, all with caves, on the east 
coast. In both Sabah and Sarawak, some of the caves are inhabited by 
the swiftlets which produce edible birds’ nests (Sabah Forest Depart- 
ment, 1984; Chan et al., 1985). 

5 A floristically distinctive forest formation occurs on the ultrabasic 
rocks which form a mountainous arc extending from Mount 
Kinabulu to the east coast. This forest has little commercial timber 
and is sometimes of low stature. 

6 Lower and upper montane rain forests are mainly restricted to the 
eastern frontier of Sarawak with Indonesia and Sabah. In Sabah 
montane forests are widespread on Trus Madi, the Crocker Range 
and Mount Kinabalu, which is rich in endemic flora. The families 
Fagaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Guttiferae, Myrtaceae, and Sapotaceae 
provide the principal dominant species at lower altitudes, while in 
the upper montane forests the conifers Dacrydium and Phyllocladus 
are common. 


202 


Spectacular fields of limestone pinnacles bar the ascent to Gunung Api (Fire 
Mountain), whose forests have burnt from lightning strikes in living memory. 
The area is part of the Gunung Mulu National Park. N. M. Collins 


Forest Resources and Management 

According to FAO (1987) the forest estate in Sarawak stood at 84,000 
sq. km of broadleaved forest in 1980 (67.5 per cent of land area), 
81,910 sq. km in 1985 (65.2 per cent) and a predicted 79,630 sq. km 
in 1990 (64 per cent). Table 24.1 is an analvsis of maps published in 
1979 by the Sarawak Forest Department (see legend to Map 24.1). 
The total forest area shown on the map is 94,670 sq. km, or 76 per 
cent of land area, i.e. 14 per cent larger than FAO’s estimate of the 
extent of the forest estate in 1990 (FAO, 1987). This should be borne 
in mind when studying the map. 

In Sabah in 1953 natural forests covered 63,275 sq. km (Fox, 
1978), or 86 per cent of the land area. Thirty years later the rain forest 
was reduced to 46,646 sq. km (63 per cent) (Sabah Forest Depart- 
ment, 1984). According to an FAO assessment in 1985 the rain forest 
cover was 33,130 sq. km (45 per cent) and the prediction was that this 
would fall to 29,110 sq. km (39 per cent) by 1990 (FAO, 1987). Table 
24.1 gives an analysis of maps made available by the Sabah Forest 
Department (see legend to Map 24.1). This shows about 36,000 sq. 
km of rain forest in the Forest Reserves and protected areas, or 49 per 
cent of land area, i.e. 10 per cent bigger than FAO’s estimate of the 
extent of the forest estate in 1990 (FAO, 1987). 

Throughout Malaysia, land, including forest, is defined by the con- 
stitution as a state matter. Each state is responsible for the manage- 
ment of its forests, but it does so under a forest policy that iscommon. 
The 1977 Malaysia National Forest Policy emphasises that each state 
should keep 47 per cent of its land as forest reserves for sustained yield 
production of umber and other products. (See also chapter 22.) At 
present, however, only about 37 per cent of Sarawak and 45 per cent of 
Sabah is under the gazetted Permanent Forest Estate. 

Stateland forests are also available for conversion to non-forest use, 
suchas agriculture and urban expansion. In Sarawak, stateland forests 
are still extensive, probably in the region of 35,000 sq. km, and there is 
room to gazette further areas under the Permanent Forest Estate. 
During the 1990s the Forest Department intends to increase the PFE 
to about 63,000 sq. km or 51 per cent of the total land area. In Sabah 
stateland forests outside the Permanent Forest Estate are believed to 
be virtually non-existent since the FAO projected total forest area for 
1990 is already smaller than the PFE itself. The Sabah Forest 
Departmenthas available a map State of Sabah: Tree Crop Areas (1988) 
that shows the stateland forests, but it does not indicate how much (if 
any) of this remains under natural forest. 


For management purposes, the PFE is divided broadly between 
protection forests for control of watersheds, and production forests 
for timber production. In Sabah 28 protection forest reserves are 
gazetted, covering 9 per cent of the PFE. In Sarawak ‘protected 
forests’ cover about 30 per cent of the PFE (Forest Department, 
1987), but they are set aside by local administrations and do not have 
the same legal status as the protection reserves in Sabah or in 
Peninsular Malaysia. A small number of communal forests have also 
been established for the use of local communities. 

In Sarawak, where a uniform system was once used for logging, it 
is now policy to log lowland rain forests selectively ona cycle of 25—30 
years; in peat swamp forest, a uniform system has operated on a 45- 
year cycle since the 1950s. Selective poisoning of unwanted trees was 
practised over 330 sq. km in Sarawak (liberation thinning), but has 
now been abandoned as impractical and undesirable. 

Sabah still uses a modified uniform system, originally ona 70 to 80 
year rotation, but this was changed in the mid-1970s when felling 
rates were increased to produce greater revenue for the state. As a 
result, the area of undisturbed forest in Sabah was halved between 
1973 and 1983. By 1980, essentially all of Sabah’s productive forests 
had either been logged or licensed for logging (FAO/UNEP, 1981). 
Timber production there peaked at 12 million cu. m in 1983 and is 
now declining. Commercial yields have been very high, up to 90 cu. 
m per ha, only exceeded in the Philippines. In Sabah the recent freeze 
by the government on all future concession applications is an indica- 
tion of the high level of concern that the timber resources have been 
too quickly exploited. 

In Sarawak, early logging concentrated on peat swamp forests, 
which were all licensed by 1970. By 1978, most timber was coming 
from lowland rain forests, and about 60 per cent of these forests have 
now been licensed for logging. Each year in Sarawak, about 2500 sq. 
km of dipterocarp and 350 sq. km of peat swamp forest are logged. 
About 30,000 sq. km have been logged so far, and each year 300 sq. km 
is being cut for the second time, usually after a very short cycle of ten 
years or so. Timber production stands at 13.6 million cu. m per year. 

In both States, timber accounts for about half of the revenue and 
employs about a tenth of the workforce. Since royalty revenue from 
timber is retained entirely by the State, while 95 per cent of oil sales 


Table 24.1 Estimates of forest extent in Eastern Malaysia 


Area % of 
(sq. km) land area 
of state 

SABAH 
Rain forests 
Lowland 29,500 40.4 
Montane 3,100 4.5 
Mangrove 3,400 5.0 
Sub totals 36,000 49.9 
SARAWAK 
Rain forests 
Lowland 61,170 49.1 
Montane 17,060 13.7 
Inland swamp 14,800 11.9 
Mangrove 1,640 1.3 
Sub totals 94,670 76.0 
Totals 130,670 66.0 


(Based on analysis of Map 24.1. See Map Legend for details) 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


goes to the Federal Government, the importance of timber to the 
state is even greater than it appears in export statistics. 

Tree plantations, mainly of exotic light hardwood species, have 
been widely introduced in Sabah. In Sarawak, the policy has been to 
manage natural forests rather than replace them with plantations, 
although there are plans to plant up degraded land within the PFE in 
future. In neither state have plantations reduced pressure on primary 
forests because the timbers produced are different and are sold in 
different markets. However, plantations should be encouraged in 
degraded forest outside the PFE, and as an alternative crop on 
agricultural land. 


Deforestation 

Sarawak. By the mid-1970s shifting cultivation was becoming an 
acute problem, not only from the point of view of forest loss, but also 
in terms of human nutrition (Anon., 1978; Hatch, 1982). Surveys by 
the Department of Medical and Health Services from 1974 revealed 
malnutrition among children of shifting cultivators, particularly in 
the western lowlands, where population pressure has caused a reduc- 
tion in land availability and ever-shorter fallow periods. Shifting 
cultivation is the biggest agricultural land user, covering over 30,000 
sq. km (one-quarter of the land area) in 1978 (Hatch, 1982). The area 
of non-forested land in Sarawak stands at 28 per cent (Sarawak Forest 
Department, 1987), and it would appear that much of this increase is 
the result of shifting cultivation, although plantation agriculture has 
also contributed. The area of land slashed and burned annually for 
hill padi was between 750 and 1500 sq. km in the late 1970s and may 
be even higher now (Hatch, 1982). 

A report of a workshop in 1978 concluded that the net revenue loss 
to the State through destruction of timber by shifting cultivation in 
Sarawak was about M $300 million per year (Anon., 1978). For every 
log exported at that time, the equivalent amount of timber was going 
up in smoke. The Forest Department recently carried out a further 
survey to map the main areas of encroachment into the Permanent 
Forest Estate, and found that 1160 sq. km (2.5 per cent) has been lost 
in this way. Often this encroachment occurs after logging roads have 
provided access to previously unreached forests. 


Shifting cultivation has resulted in total deforestation of much of western 
Sarawak. Coupled with very heavy logging, it continues to threaten the forest 
estate. N. M. Collins 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


Bintulu 4 


J To. Sirik 


Beruit Island 


Tg. Datu 


204 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA 


Banggi 
Balambangan |. att + Island 
N . 


Malawali |. 
Tg. Simpang £ ~, & 
Mengayau 


6°N 


Sandakan 


©: ua gts a ve 


re : ee Timbuy Mata | 


Sey 


Swaul 


awau 
Sepatik Island 


4°N 


San ULA prlecAG GaWiate iEaleSvs | 


§ E A 
Map 24.1 Sabah and 
Sarawak | 
(Eastern Malaysia) 
Rain Forests 
lowland = | 
montane* Sa 
| inland swamp at Eee 
mangrove (aus oe) 
Conservation areast a 
existing ae | 
proposed | 
| Non Forest ee | 


* Higher than 914m (3000') 


+ Only areas of or over 50 sq.km are mapped 


 1:3,000,000 
0 50 100kilometres 
0 50 miles | 
116°E eas: 


iS) 
i=) 
n 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah includes a mud volcano, which 1s rich in exposed mineral salts that attract large mammals. WWF/S. Yarath 


Sarawak has a low population density, but the land is not free from 
human pressure. In fact, 80 per cent of the land is incapable of 
supporting any commercial agricultural crop, while yet more is of a 
very marginal nature. Of the 80 per cent of unsuitable land, 12 percent 
is swamp and the remainder is mountainous with shallow infertile 
soils. Most of the marginal land is already under shifting agriculture; 
the extension is largely into unsuitable lands at present under forest 
which are scarcely able to support even shifting agriculture. 

Timber extraction from inland forest does not cause deforestation 
unless followed by shifting agriculture. However, there is wide- 
spread concern that in Sarawak the current level of forest exploita- 
tion, mainly to supply the Japanese market (see chapter 7), is 
unsustainable in the long term and will cause degradation of forest 
resources. Given that the soils are generally not suitable for non- 
forest uses, this is a serious matter, economically, ecologically and, 
not least, sociologically. In Sarawak, logging has caused serious 
difficulties for the rural population, who live either settled in long- 
houses or, in the case of some of the Penan, as nomadic hunter 
gatherers subsisting on wild sago palm (Eugeissona utilis). The 
concerns of these people are discussed in chapter 3. 

In 1989 and 1990 an international forestry team was commissioned 
by ITTO to study the present management of Sarawak’s forests. 
This review, welcomed by the Forest Department, which is anxious 
to emsure sustainable use of the Permanent Forest Estate, was 
officially accepted by the ITTO Council in November 1990. Recom- 
mendations include substantial strengthening of the Forest Depart- 
ment and a reduction in timber production from current levels 
of over 13 million cu. m per year to a maximum of 9 million cu. m 
per year. Concerned NGOs are calling for a more substantial reduc- 
tion, to 5 million cu. m per year. 

Drought periods occasionally occur, and there is a danger that 
recently logged forest could burn in such periods. So far, however, 
there has been no serious forest fire to compare with those in Sabah 
and Kalimantan — the only fires recorded are those which result from 
a strike by lightning or which periodically destroy limestone hill 
forest after dry weather. A fire on Gunung Api in the Mulu area in 
1929-30 was reputed to have burnt for several weeks. 


206 


Sabah. Development in general has, in fact, been slow in Sabah due 
to poor roads, labour shortage and poor prices for cocoa (1984 
onwards) and palm oil (1984-6), but is planned eventually to cover 
much of eastern Sabah. Plantation agriculture is less extensive than 
in Peninsular Malaysia, but more extensive than in Sarawak. 

By comparison with Sarawak, shifting cultivation is a lesser form 
of disturbance to forests in Sabah, affecting about 11,000 sq. km or 
15 per cent of the land area, almost entirely in western and central 
districts. However, substantial areas in lowland eastern Sabah are in 
the process of conversion to settled agriculture. This is land that is 
sull partly under forest but is not in the Permanent Forest Estate or 
national parks. 

The Permanent Forest Estate in 1984 stood at 33,500 sq. km, or 45 
per cent of land area. The Forest Department has a policy to increase 
this to 50 per cent (Sabah Forest Department, 1984), yet the 1984 
figure represents a drop from the 1982 level of 35,700 sq. km, mainly 
due to conversion of land to agriculture. 

The El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon of 1982/3 resulted 
in perhaps the most extreme drought of this century in Sabah with 
severe consequences for the rain forests. At its height (February— 
April 1983), rainfall was only 15 per cent of normal. Prior to the fires, 
the forests were already under severe drought stress. Many evergreen 
trees had shed their leaves and the accumulation of dry litter on the 
forest floor was generally high. Logged forests fared worse because of 
the massive accumulations of organic debris that intensive logging 
leaves behind. Primary forests that burned were mostly those on 
steep slopes over thin, ultrabasic soils. Fires began in January and 
were at their greatest extent in March to May. Over 10,000 sq. km of 
forest were burnt, of which 85 per cent had been logged. This 
represents about one-third of Sabah’s total forested land, and the 
economic and ecological losses were enormous. Extensive areas of 
plantation forests and agricultural crops also burned (Beaman et al., 
1985). Unul this event, evergreen rain forests had been believed to be 
non-flammable. The fires were mainly triggered by agriculturists, 
who habitually set dry-season fires when clearing land, and there is 
evidence that shifting agriculturists tried to take advantage of the 
drought to extend their farms (Malingreau et al., 1985). 


Mangroves 

There are about 1740 sq. km of mangrove forest in Sarawak, of which 
only 25 per cent is gazetted as Permanent Forest Reserve and almost 
none of which is totally protected. 

Exploitation of mangroves to provide woodchip for Japan and 
cordwood for Taiwan began in Sarawak in 1969, and now utilises 
about 20 sq. km of mangrove forest annually. Trees over 23 cm 
diameter are felled, which is about 90 per cent of the forest. Rules 
prescribe that buffer strips along banks of rivers and coasts should be 
retained. Contravention of this rule and heavy felling leave few seed 
trees and regeneration is sometimes poor. The only sizeable unlogged 
area which remains is the Sarawak Mangroves Forest Reserve, and 
even this has been partially excised. In 1988 it was recommended that 
a national Mangrove Management Committee be established which 
should include the creation of a mangrove biosphere reserve. 

In Sabah woodchipping concessions have been allowed over 40 per 
cent (1230 sq. km) of the mangrove forests. As in Sarawak, there is 
great concern that regeneration will be limited by an absence of 
propagules and by changes to the environment from drying and 
through the associated invasion of colonies of Thallasina lobsters and 
the weeds Achrostichum and Acanthus. Recent work includes Chai 
and Lai (1984) and Phillips (1984). 


Biodiversity 

Borneo, the heart of Sundaland, has an extremely rich flora and 
fauna. It is the headquarters of the Dipterocarpaceae and 265 of 
Southeast Asia’s 390 species are found here, 155 of them endemic. 
During past glacial eras, when sea levels were as much as 180 m lower 
than today, the Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Java and Borneo were 
partially and intermittently joined to one another, and to the conti- 
nent, allowing the movement of plants and animals. Consecutive sets 
of migrations, followed by periods of isolation, have contributed to 
the great diversity of plants and animals in the Sunda region, 
especially on Borneo. 

Mountains are local centres of endemism, with Kinabalu the best- 
studied example. Of Borneo’s 135 Ficus species, 75 have been 
collected on Kinabalu, 13 of them endemic. Kinabalu also has one of 
the highest species densities of the Magnoliaceae and 72 species of 
Fagaceae in its floristically rich lower montane rain forests. 

The diverse flora supports an equally diverse fauna. The mammals 
have been best studied, with 196 species recorded — 40 of them 


Unknown insects like this new species of stagbeetle, Odontolabis from 
Sarawak, are abundant in the tropical forest canopy. N. Mark Collins 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


The western tarsier (Tarsius banucanus) is one of Borneo’s most unusual 
primates. It 1s rarely seen, but apparently able to survive well in disturbed 


forests. Royal Geographical Society/R. Hanbury-Tenison 


endemic to Borneo. At least 167 mammals have been recorded in 
Sabah and 180 in Sarawak. The mountain ranges host 18 species (11 
endemic) of vertebrates only occurring above about 1000 m. Coasts 
and rivers are home to a distinct community of primates (proboscis 
monkey (Bennett, 1988), silvered langur Presbytis cristata, and long- 
tailed macaque), birds and plants. Other species such as orang-utans 
have a very patchy distribution. Caves, such as those at Gomantong 
and Niah, house huge colonies of edible-nest swiftlets, upwards of 14 
species of bats, and associated animals such as the bat hawk Ma- 
cheiramphus alcinus. The rarest mammal is the Sumatran rhinoceros, 
which has been lost from most of its range, including Mulu, through 
hunting. A localised population of about 20 survives in the Dent 
Peninsula of eastern Sabah, some scattered individuals occur in other 
upland areas elsewhere in Sabah, and a population was recently 
located in northern Sarawak. In 1986 a captive breeding project was 
initiated in Sabah. Other large mammals occurring in small numbers 
include the banteng, elephant (eastern Sabah) and clouded leopard. 
Several of the smaller carnivores are also found rarely or are very 
localised (marbled cat Felis marmorata and ferret-badger Melogale 
everettt). 

The avifauna is rich, with four alpine species, 14 endemic montane 
species, a further nine non-endemic montane species and over 470 
species at lower elevations, including coastal birds and migrants. 
Rare birds tend to be the larger hunted species: Malay peacock 
pheasant (Polyplectron malacense), Bulwer’s pheasant (Lophura bul- 
wert), helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil). Megapodes in Sabah are 
threatened by egg collectors. Other rare species include the large 
green-pigeon (Treron capellet) (confined to lowland forests), Everett’s 
ground thrush (Zoothera everetti) (mountains) and Storm’s stork 
(Ciconia stormt) (riverine and wetlands) (Collar and Andrew, 1988). 

The unique earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis), which 
belongs to a monotypic genus and family, has been recorded only 
from lowlands in restricted areas of north and south Sarawak, where 
it is protected by law. 

There is a very diverse insect fauna which is sull poorly studied, 
but more than 290 species of butterfly and moth have been recorded 
on Kinabalu and more than 280 on Mulu. Three out of a total fauna of 
43 species of swallowtail butterfly are rare or threatened: Graphium 


207 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 
Table 24.2 Conservation areas of East Malaysia 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. 
The remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. 
Forest reserves are not included. For data on ASEAN sites see 
chapter 9. All areas include moist forest within their boundaries. 


Existing Proposed 
area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 
SARAWAK 
National Parks 
Batang Ai 271 
Gunung Mulu 529 
Hose Mountains 2,847 
Lambir Hills 70 
Loagan Bunut 107 
Pulong Tau 1,645 
Similajau 7) 
Salak Mangroves 103 
Usun Apau 1,130 
Wildlife Sanctuaries 
Batu Laga 1,000 
Lanjak-Entimau 1,688 
Lanjak-Entimau — ext A 
Lanjak-Entimau — ext B 184 
Lanjak-Entimau — ext C 
Maludam 434 
Samunsam 61 
Samunsam — ext 148 
Sub totals 2,419 7,869 
Other Areas 174 89 
Totals 2,593 7,958 
SABAH 
National Parks 
Crocker Range 1,399 
Parks 
Kinabalu 754 
Bukit Tawau 280 
Wildlife Reserves 
Tabin 1,205 
Kulamba 207 
Sabah Foundation Conservation Areas 
Danum Valley 428 
Gunung Lotung/Maliau Basin 390 
Sub total 4,663 
Other Areas* 1,023 200 
Totals 5,686 200 


Source of Sarawak figures: 1989 data from the Sarawak Forest Department. 
Source of Sabah figures: WCMC in lu. 


* Including 1000 sq. km of Protected Forest 


208 


procles, Troides andromache and Papilio acheron, all from lower 
montane forests in northern Borneo. 

More than 100 species of indigenous fish have been recorded in 
Sarawak (59 species in the Rajang River) many of which are import- 
ant foods, such as Toranbrides. Only incomplete surveys of Sabah 
and Sarawak’s fish have been made, but there are already fears that 
some species are becoming rare due to over-fishing and siltation of 
rivers as a result of logging. Marine species are also declining, 
possibly due in part to the loss of mangroves. 


Conservation Areas 

The protected areas of Sarawak and Sabah are listed in Table 24.2 
opposite. Existing national parks cover 0.67 per cent and 1.9 per cent 
of Sarawak and Sabah respectively. Other categories of existing 
reserves cover 1.4 per cent of Sarawak and 4.9 per cent of Sabah. 
Sarawak has a further 5 per cent in proposed national parks and 1.4 
per cent in proposed wildlife sanctuaries. In addition, Sabah has 883 
sq. km of virgin jungle reserves and about 1000 sq. km of protection 
reserve forests that play an important role. Including all categories, 
8.3 per cent of Sarawak and 8.9 per cent of Sabah will be under 
protection for ecological and biological purposes if all the new 
reserves are gazetted. 

The protected area systems in both Sarawak and Sabah contain a 
good representation of Eastern Malaysia’s ecological and biological 
diversity. However, there is concern that few of these areas are under 
complete protection, and they could be subjected to disturbance as 
pressure for land and timber resources grows. The main shortcom- 
ings and priorities are as follows: : 

e@ In Sabah, some of the virgin jungle reserves, the Tabin Wildlife 
Reserve (formerly a commercial forest reserve) and the Tawau Hills 
have been partially or totally logged. 

e Important parts of Kinabalu State Park have been excised to make 
way for a golf course, a dairy farm and a copper mine. 

e@ The Rafflesia Virgin Jungle Reserve is threatened by shifting 
cultivators, who are already active in the lower slopes of the Crocker 
Range National Park. 

e@ The Tabin Wildlife Reserve has suffered sporadic depredations of 
rhinoceros poachers. 

@ In Sabah, before 1984 the Head of State could mark any area of 
state park for degazettement, and in 1981 the Klias National Park 
reverted to forest reserve. In 1984, however, the State Government 
passed a bill requiring all dereservations to go to the floor of the State 
Assembly. This has not prevented reductions in the area of Kinabalu 
Park, Borneo’s greatest centre of diversity. 

e In Sarawak, great progress has been made in extending and 
managing the protected area system in recent years. The State 
Conservation Strategy, still a confidential document, identified 
various new areas for protection and good progress has been made, 
but until the proposed areas are gazetted, there are important gaps in 
the system. 

e@ Wildlife sanctuaries in Sarawak still have dual status as part of the 
PFE, which gives less protection to biodiversity. Proposed amend- 
ments to the law will give them much greater protection. 


Conservation Proposals — Sarawak 

Sarawak has developed an extensive list of proposed wildlife sanctu- 
aries and national parks, all due to be gazetted. Some features of these 
proposals may be mentioned. 

e The Samunsam and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuaries are due 
to be extended to strengthen their capacity for conservation of 
proboscis monkey and orang utan respectively. 

e The Batu Laga Wildlife Sanctuary (1000 sq. km) will complement 
the adjacent proposed Hose Mountains National Park (2847 sq. km) 
in central Sarawak. 


e Several new wetland protected areas have been proposed as a 
result of a World Wide Fund for Nature (Malaysia) project on the 
conservation and management of wetland areas in Sarawak. These 
include the proposed Salak Mangroves National Park, the 434 sq. km 
peat swamp forests of the proposed Maludam Wildlife Sanctuary 
(which has populations of red-black-and-white banded langur Pres- 
bytis melalophos of global importance), and the proposed Limbang 
Mangroves National Park (Bennett, 1989). 
e Two large national parks have been proposed for the eastern side 
of Sarawak: Pulong Tau National Park (1645 sq. km) and Usun Apau 
National Park (1130 sq. km). The former will protect Sarawak’s 
major montane area, including Mount Murud, the State’s highest 
peak. The latter is a plateau area near the Baram River. 

Other proposals highlighted in the State Conservation Strategy for 
Sarawak include: 
e Anextension to Mount Mulu National Park in the region of the 
Medalam Protected Forest to the north. The benefits of the extension 
would be to include more lowland forest; facilitate tourism; enclose 
more traditional lands of the Penan; and include Gunung Buda, a 
limestone massif (Anderson et al., 1982). The Mulu National Park 
deserves nomination as a World Heritage Site, following the recent 
ratification of the World Heritage Convention by Malaysia. 
e A hornbill ‘flyway’ system linking totally protected areas should 
be developed within the Permanent Forest Estate. 
@ The Pedawan limestone areas in First Division should be consid- 
ered for inclusion in the protected area system, being floristically 
distinct from other limestone areas to the north of the State. 
e Gunung Pueh and Gunung Berumput in southern Sarawak have 
been recommended as Wildlife Sanctuaries for conservation of rep- 
tiles and amphibians by the Select Committee on Flora and Fauna. 
Part of the former would be included in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctu- 
ary if it is extended as proposed. 


Conservation Proposals — Sabah 

Mount Trus Madi, the second highest mountain in Borneo, stands in 
a Forest Reserve that was designated as watershed protection until 
1984, when it was changed to a commercial forest reserve. Many of 
the lower slopes have since been logged, in some areas resulting in 
serious erosion. However, there is still scope for a new State Park in 
the upper and some lower reaches. 

Danum Valley (428 sq. km) is the site of a research station and is 
the largest piece of intact lowland forest remaining in Sabah. It 
contains all of eastern Sabah’s large mammals, including the 
Sumatran rhinoceros and overall densities of animals are high. It is 
currently maintained as a conservation area by the Sabah Founda- 
tion, which has land on long lease. 

Maliau Basin, another Sabah Foundation conservation area, is 
montane and may well be the most pristine ecosystem in Borneo. 
Potential threats come from coal deposits and oil prospecting. 

The Sabah Foundation includes conservation amongst its manage- 
ment objectives. However, these areas will come under increasing 
pressure as timber resources run out, and legal protection would be 
beneficial. Like Sarawak, Sabah suffers from a lack of adequate 
protection for mangroves in its protected area system. 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


The recently published Directory of Asian Wetlands draws attention 
to large areas of forested wetland in Sarawak and Sabah whose 
integrity is of concern for both ecological and biological reasons 
(Scott, 1989). Whilst too large to be totally protected, their develop- 
ment and use requires an integrated management approach that will 
ensure the future maintenance of downstream and offshore eco- 
systems. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

In November 1984, a Select Committee on Flora and Fauna was 
formed to advise the Sarawak State Assembly on the danger of 
depletion of its wildlife, and to make appropriate recommendations. 
The State already protects a number of bird, reptile, mammal and 
tree species by law and the Committee set up several expert sub- 
committees and public debates to gather data. A final report submit- 
ted to the State Assembly in 1988 included the following selected 
points: 

@ Over-hunting, logging and shifting agriculture are threatening a 
growing number of species and the protected species list requires 
review. 

@ Wildlife Sanctuaries and other conservation areas require exten- 
sion, in particular to include peat swamp and mangrove forests. 

e Hunters should require special licences, with conditions on num- 
bers to be shot and seasons for shooting. 

e Some captive breeding programmes are needed, notably for cer- 
tain deer and pheasants. 

@ Crocodiles, snakes, lizards and amphibians require surveys and 
the setting up of new reserves for protection of key habitats. 

e Thirteen tree species, five pitcher plants, three palms and eight 
orchids are of particular environmental significance or are threatened 
by over-exploitation, and should be protected. 

In Malaysia development and conservation plans evolve at a state 
level and are harmonized into national programmes later. The 
National Conservation Strategy for Malaysia is no exception. So far, 
seven states have been covered, including Sarawak. Plans are in hand 
for preparation of such an exercise in Sabah. Only when all states are 
completed will the strategies be combined at the national level. This 
process, which has already been in train for almost ten years, is 
WWEFE-Malaysia’s largest and longest-running project. 

The Sarawak Conservation Strategy, completed in 1985, is a 
comprehensive report on all natural resources. The report contains 
numerous recommendations for action, many of which are being 
acted upon in advance of national initiatives. For example, surveys of 
coastal forests have been completed and have culminated in pro- 
posals to protect several new areas of mangrove and peat swamp. 
Studies on wildlife conservation in relation to shifting agriculture and 
logging are already under way, as are a management study of marine 
turtles and a conservation education programme. Proposed revisions 
of the Wild Life and National Parks Ordinances have included many 
recommendations of the Strategy. One additional major recom- 
mendation was a thorough revision of the Natural Resources Ordi- 
nance which would greatly facilitate cross-sectoral planning and 
management of resources. A draft new ordinance has been written, 
but political changes have stalled its gazettement. 


209 


SABAH AND SARAWAK (EASTERN MALAYSIA) 


References 

Anderson, J. A. R. (1965) Limestone habitat in Sarawak. Proceed- 
ings of the Symposium on Ecological Research into Humid Tropics 
Vegetation, pp. 49-57. Unesco, Kuching, Sarawak. 

Anderson, J. A. R., Jermy, A. C. and the Earl of Cranbrook (eds) 
(1982) Gunung Mulu National Park: A Management and Develop- 
ment Plan. Royal Geographical Society, London, UK. 345 pp. 

Anon. (1978) Shifting cultivation in Sarawak. Unpublished report 
based upon the Workshop on Shifting Cultivation held in Kuch- 
ing, 7-8 December 1978. 28 pp. 

Beaman, R. S., Beaman, J. H., Marsh, C. W. and Woods, P. V. 
(1985) Drought and forest fires in Sabah in 1983. Sabah Society 
Fournal 8: 10-30. 

Bennett, E. L. (1988) Proboscis monkeys and their swamp forests 
in Sarawak. Oryx 22: 69-74. 

Bennett, E. L. (1989) Conservation and management of wetland 
areas in Sarawak. Final project report WWF Project No. 3518 
(MYS 92/86). 21 pp. Unpublished. 

Chai, P. P. K. and Lai, K. K. (1984) Management and utilization 
of mangrove forests in Sarawak. In: Soepadmo et al. (eds) (op. cit. ), 
pp. 211-18. 

Chan, L., Kavanagh, M., Cranbrook, Earl of, Langub, J. and Wells, 
D. R. (1985) Proposals for a Conservation Strategy for Sarawak. 
WWE Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur/State Planning Unit of Sarawak, 
Kuching. 

Collar, N. J. and Andrew, P. (1988) Birds to Watch. The ICBP 
World Checklist of Threatened Birds. \CBP, Technical Publication 
8. 303 pp. 

Collins, N. M., Holloway, J. D. and Proctor, J. (1984) Notes on 
the ascent and natural history of Gunung Api, a limestone moun- 
tain in Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Fournal 33: 220-34. 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 
Unlization of Forest Resources in the Developing Regions. Asia- 
Pacific Region. Assessment of Forest Resources in Six Countries. 
FAO, Bangkok Field Document 17. 104 pp. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment: Forest 
Resources of Tropical Asia. Vol 3 of 3 vols. FAO, Rome. 475 pp. 

Fox, J. E. D. (1978) The natural vegetation of Sabah, Malaysia. The 
physical environment and classification. Tropical Ecology 19: 218- 
39. 

Hatch, T. (1982) Shifting Cultivation in Sarawak — a Review. Soils 
Division Research Research Branch, Department of Agriculture, 
Sarawak. 165 pp. 

Hong, E. (1987) Natives of Sarawak. 
Malaysia. 259 pp. 

Malingreau, J. P., Stephens, G. and Fellows, L. (1985) Remote 
sensing of forest fires: Kalimantan and North Borneo in 1982-3. 
Ambio 14: 314-21. 

Phillips, C. (1984) Current status of mangrove exploitation, 
management and conservation in Sabah. In: Soepadmo ez al. (eds), 
loc. cit. pp. 809-20. 

Poore, D. (1989) No Timber Without Trees: Sustainability in the 
Tropical Forest. Earthscan Publications, London, UK. 252 pp. 
Proctor, J., Anderson, J. M., Chai, P. and Vallack, H. W. 
(1983) Ecological studies in four contrasting rain forests in 
Gunung Mulu National Park. Sarawak, I. Fournal of Ecology 71: 

237-60. 

Repetto, R. (1988) The Forest for the Trees? Government Policies and 
the Misuse of Forest Resources. World Resources Institute, Wash- 
ington, DC, USA. 105 pp. 

Sabah Forest Department (1984) 
31 pp. 

Sarawak Forest Department (1987) 
Sarawak. 113 pp. 


210 


Institut Masyarakat, 


Annual Report. State of Sabah. 


Annual Report. State of 


Scott, D. A. (ed.) (1989) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 1181 pp. 

Soepadmo, E., Rao, A. N. and McIntosh, D. J. (eds) (1984) Pro- 
ceedings of the Asian Symposium of Mangrove Environment Research 
and Management. University of Malaya and Unesco, Kuala 
Lumpur. 

Thang, H.C. (1987) National report: Malaysia. In: Proceedings of 
the Ad Hoc FAO/ECE/FINNIDA Meeting of Experts on Forest 
Resource Assessment. Bulletins of the Finnish Forest Research 
Institute 284: 207-20. 


Authorship 

Mark Collins at WCMC with contributions from, Lee Hua Seng and 
Cheong Ek Choon of the Sarawak Forest Department, Daniel Hiong 
of the Sabah Forest Department, Clive Marsh from the Sabah 
Foundation, the Earl of Cranbrook in Saxmundham, UK, Barney 
Chan of the Sarawak Timber Association, Tim Hatch of Kuching, 
Robert Nasi of the CTFT in Paris and Liz Bennett of WWF — 
Malaysia, Kuching. 


Map 24.1 Forest cover in Sabah and Sarawak 


Sabah. The main source of forest cover data for Sabah is a full-colour 
1:1,270,000 scale map Sabah Malaysia, Natural and Plantation Forests, published 
in 1984. This map is a useful representation of the protected area system and the 
gazetted forests in the Permanent Forest Estate, but it gives no indication of the 
extent (if any) of additional natural stateland forests. On request, the Sabah Forest 
Department provided a hand-coloured c. 1:2 million map State of Sabah: Tree 
Crop Areas dated 1988. This second map distinguished stateland forests and 
showed some areas where they have been converted to agricultural tree crops, but 
the remaining extent of natural forests indicated was not reconcilable with the 
available statistics and it has been assumed that virtually all stateland forests have 
now been cleared. Map 24.1 is therefore based only on the Sabah Malaysia, 
Natural and Plantanon Forests map. Mangroves and rain forests were taken 
directly from this map, and montane forests were delimited from a 3000 ft (914 m) 
contour taken off JNC (Jet Navigation Chart) 54. 


Sarawak. The most recent published forest cover map for Sarawak is the 
Forest Distribution and Land Use Map published in 1979 at 1:1 million. On 
request, however, the Forest Department prepared an unpublished hand- 
coloured 1:3 million map showing forest cover. This latter map was prepared from 
a set of 1:500,000 base maps drawn from satellite imagery at 1:250,000. The 
imagery dates from 1985 and was checked with aerial photographs and ground- 
truthing surveys. Unfortunately, however, the scale of this latter map and the 
level of detail proved unsuitable for this atlas, and we have used the 1979 map. 
Mangrove, swamp and other rain forests are conveniently demarcated on the map 
and the distribution of the montane forests conforms closely to the 3000 ft (914 m) 
contour used in Sabah. 

The distribution of the Permanent Forest Estate and the protected area system 
are shown in two dyeline 1:1 million hand-coloured maps from the Sarawak 
Forest Department, Permanent Forests in Sarawak and Existing and Proposed 
National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries in Sarawak. The protected area system 
shown in this volume was extracted from these maps, with additional up-dates for 
recent changes. 


25 Singapore 


Land area 5/0 sq. km 

Population (1989) 2.7 million { 

Population growth rate (1987-2000) 0.8 per cent 

Expected maximum population (2050) 3 million 

Gross national product (1987) —US$7940 per capita 

Rain forest (see Fig 25.1) c1 sq. km 

Roundwood exports* 315,000 wu. m 

Sawlog and veneer log exports* 40,000 cu. m / 
1988 data from FAO (1990 


The tiny state of Singapore is a green garden city. Very little of the rain forests which once clothed the island, either in a natural 
or semi-natural condition, now remains. What does persist is legally protected but under continual threat by pressure on land 
and by human activity. Despite its isolation for a century, Bukit Timah, 71 hain extent and the remaining rain forest fragment, 
is still a species-rich lowland evergreen dipterocarp rain forest, and appears to have its ecosystem functions still working. The 
isolated forest on Bukit Timah is of importance today because it may show us what many parts of the humid tropics will be like 


in the 21st century. 


INTRODUCTION 


The Republic of Singapore lies just north of the equator at the 
southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, from which it is separated by a 
shallow strait, 0.6 km wide at the narrowest point. The main island 
has an area of 570 sq. km (including 30 sq. km added by recent 
reclamation) and there are about sixty smaller islands with a total area 
of 48 sq. km. The highest point is only 163 m above sea-level. The 
climate is equatorial and one of the least seasonal in the humid 
tropics, with a mean monthly rainfall of at least 100 mm, and a mean 
annual rainfall of 2375 mm. 

Neither the origin of human occupation in Singapore nor the 
impact of early settlers on the rain forest is known. Pre-European 
settlements seem to have been largely coastal and culminated in the 
rise of the town of Temasik at the mouth of the Singapore River on 
the south coast in the 14th century. However, when the British 
Colony was founded in 1819, the total population of the island 
(excluding boat dwellers) was said to be only about 150, and the 
forest cover seems to have been essentially intact. 

Singapore is a garden city and the visitor cannot fail to be im- 
pressed by the leafy shade provided by the millions of trees planted 
since the late 1960s along roads and in all open places, but one soon 
realises that the same few species are planted everywhere (rain tree 
Enterolobium saman and narra Pterocarpus indicus are the most com- 
mon). Tree planting has made Singapore a very pleasant place for 
humans but gives no hint of the high natural diversity and beauty of 
the original woody floras of the region —a great opportunity to restore 
some of these has not yet been grasped. 


The Forests 

Closed canopy forest once covered all of Singapore. From topogra- 
phy, soil patterns, and 19th century maps, it can be estimated that 
mangrove forests occupied about 13 per cent of the main island, 
freshwater swamp forest 5 per cent, and lowland dipterocarp ever- 
green forest the remaining 82 per cent. The floristic composition of 
the rain forest must have varied considerably with soil type and 


topography, as it does in Peninsular Malaysia, but extensive botani- 
cal collection did not start until the 1880s, when more than 90 per 
cent of the forest had been cleared, so we have little information on 
this variation. 

Today, more than half the island is urban in character. Natural 
rain forest, disturbed to varying extents, is confined to the 71 ha 
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (which is not all primary forest) and 
scattered patches of various sizes, totalling about 50 ha, in the 
adjacent Central Catchment Area (Figure 25.1), which includes 
about 15 ha of disturbed freshwater swamp forest. The 4 ha Garden’s 
Jungle at the Singapore Botanic Garden is, in part, primary forest but 
now so degraded that it retains little of its original structure and 
species composition. There are, in addition, approximately 1800 ha 
of 50—100 year old plantation and secondary forests in the catchment 
area, on land cleared and cultivated in the 19th century. These have 
not been mapped in this atlas, but they may well have a growing value 
for conservation of biological diversity. 


Deforestation 

Most of the deforestation in Singapore took place between 1819 and 
1900 as a result of clearance for cash crops, principally gambier and 
pepper (see box on page 123 and Figure 25.2). This was a form of 
shifting cultivation as plantations were usually abandoned after 15— 
20 years. There is little information available on the exploitation of 
rain forests for timber and other products, but this must have been 
substantial, given the proximity of a growing urban centre. One 
example that was recorded is the almost complete elimination from 
Singapore, in only four years during the 1840s, of the gutta percha 
tree Palaquium gutta. This was a result of the destructive extraction of 
its latex, which contains a thermoplastic polymer that was used for 
coating submarine telegraph cables. It is interesting to note that 
despite their severe impact on the rain forest, neither agriculture nor 
forestry formed a major part of Singapore’s 19th century economy. 


211 


SINGAPORE 


WATER CATCHMENT 


reservoir 


Nee Soon 
BT Bukit Timah 
MacRitchie Reservoir 
SB Sungei Buloh 0 1 
PR Pasar Ris 

KR — Kranji Reservoir 
Mandai Mangroves 


Figure 25.1 Map of Singapore (inset) and the Central Water Catchment 
Area, showing places mentioned in the text. Source: R. T. Corlett. 


Dark shading shows approximate location of the major primary rain forest remnants. Dotted 
lines show reserve boundaries. 


Mangroves 

The original extent of mangroves was c. 75 sq. km (Corlett, 1987). 
Heavy exploitation from the 19th century onwards has been followed 
recently by elimination to provide more dry land for human settle- 
ment or to form freshwater reservoirs. At Sungai Buloh 85 ha of 
mangrove and abandoned prawnponds have recently been declared a 
sanctuary for migratory birds and 20 ha at Pasir Ris has been 
incorporated in a public park. 


212 


Biodiversity 
Singapore, at the southern tp of the Malay peninsula, once had the 
same fauna and flora as persists today in parts of Peninsular Malaysia. 
About 40 per cent of Singapore’s pre-1819 terrestrial vertebrate 
fauna is extinct and probably about 20 per cent of the flora, as well 
as an unknown proportion of the invertebrates. Bird losses include 
all the trogons, hornbills and broadbills, all but one barbet, more 
than half the babblers and woodpeckers, and a variety of other 
species. Extinct mammals are mostly large and/or primary forest 
specialists, and include the tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, pig- 
tailed macaque Macaca nemestrina, sambar deer, barking deer and 
wild pig. It must be emphasised, however, that the immediate cause 
of extincuon for the majority of the larger bird and mammal species 
was probably not deforestation per se, but hunting and trapping. 
Many fish species of forest streams have apparently also been 
lost. The majority of the remaining forest-dependent flora and fauna 
must be considered endangered. Naturalised exotics now feature 
prominently in the flora and fauna of the deforested areas (Corlett, 
1988a). 
Conservation Areas and Initiatives for Conservation 
All the primary forest remnants are legally protected in nature 
reserves, run by the Parks and Recreation Department of the Minis- 
try of National Development, on behalf of the Nature Reserves 
Board (recently re-named the National Parks Board). The 71 ha 
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve includes approximately 50, con- 
uguous, hectares of mainly primary rain forest, while the 1800 ha 
Central Catchment Area, which is also a Nature Reserve, incorpor- 
ates a similar total area in patches of various sizes, scattered in a 
matrix of secondary forest (Figure 25.1). The laws protecting these 
areas are probably adequate but are ineffectively implemented at 
present. The major weaknesses, apart from the tiny size of the rain 
forest remnants, are the unprotected margins and heavy human 


Figure 25.2 Approximate extent of primary rain forest in Singapore, 
1819-1987 Source: R. T. Corlett 


Per cent 


” Area of Primary Forest: 1819 - 1987 


1848: 64% 


1960: 0.2% 


Tealealaeet 
1860 


| or 
1900 
Yeor 


1820 


impact. The reserves are not fenced in most places, and are sur- 
rounded by roads, factories and residential areas, with no intervening 
buffer zone. Recreational pressure is greater at Bukit Timah and 
around MacRitchie Reservoir, while other parts of the catchment 
area are heavily disturbed by military exercises. 

An additional weakness is the failure of the present protective 
legislation to distinguish between the primary forest remnants and 
the much more extensive but less diverse, secondary forests. These 
basic weaknesses reflect, in part, the lack of expertise in conservation 
biology and nature reserve management in the government authority 
responsible for the reserve system. The reserves are run principally 
as public parks rather than conservation areas. 

Even in overcrowded Singapore there are still opportunities to 
improve the level of habitat conservation. The Malayan Nature 
Society is presently formulating an overall strategy for Singapore’s 
protected areas. About 25 critical sites will be selected for potential 
reserve or sanctuary status. Two of the most important sites are 
wetlands in the north of the island, at Kranji Reservoir. A third site 1s 
in the Mandai mangroves, also on the north coast, and the last 
remaining mangrove habitat of any major significance. At present no 
mangroves are protected in Singapore and conservation of Mandai is 
considered to be a high priority. Conservation management in 
Singapore must also concentrate on minimising the extinction rate in 
the existing reserves and maximising benefits from man-made hab- 
itats. Three measures are most urgent: protection of the margins of 
existing reserves, restriction of military training in the reserves, and 
diversion of recreational pressure away from the most sensitive areas, 
ideally into the more extensive secondary forests. A more ambitious 
idea would be to accelerate succession in the secondary forests of the 
catchment area by assisting seed dispersal and planting primary 
forest species. It may also be possible to re-introduce locally extinct 
forest vertebrates, particularly birds, from Malaysia, now that hunt- 
ing and trapping have been greatly reduced. 

Increased public interest in environmental matters and a new 
government emphasis on the quality of life, rather than simply 
productivity, are reasons for optimism about the future of rain forests 


SINGAPORE 


in Singapore. However, given the magnitude of the problems faced, a 
lot more than public goodwill will be required if much of Singapore’s 
biological diversity is going to survive another century. 

With so little rain forest left in Singapore, all remaining sites are 
critical. The most important areas, however, are the largest rem- 
nants: at Bukit Timah (see overleaf), around MacRitchie Reservoir, 
and around the Nee Soon (Yishun) firing ranges (Figure 25.1). All 
three areas have received some protection for at least 100 years and 
their floras are to some extent complementary. Bukit Timah includes 
species typical of coastal hills, MacRitchie is typical lowland forest, 
and Nee Soon includes a mosaic of freshwater swamp forest types. 
The international significance of Bukit Timah is argued in the review 
overleaf. Some of the same arguments apply to the other areas. In 
addition, Nee Soon supports the last surviving population of a leaf 
monkey, Presbytis femoralis femoralis, which may be an endemic 
subspecies. 

There are three major threats to the future of the remaining rain 
forest. 

e Firstly, there is a possibility that all or part of the existing reserves 
will be de-gazetted and developed. Many government departments 
still seem to view the reserves as a land bank and conservation has not 
been clearly established as a top priority. The primary forest rem- 
nants in the central catchment reserve are particularly vulnerable 
because they are mostly near the edges of the reserve. Two mangrove 
reserves established in 1951 were gradually reduced in area and then 
degazetted, in 1968 and 1971 respectively. The catchment area has 
also already lost a considerable area of mostly secondary forest to a 
golf course, public parks, roads and other developments. 

e Secondly, the increasing recreational use of Bukit Timah and the 
MacRitchie Reservoir area, in particular, threatens the interior of the 
largest rain forest patches. 

e Finally, the ultimate limit on the effectiveness of rain forest 
conservation in Singapore is the very small size of the remaining 
forest areas. Edge effects, isolation, and the small population sizes of 
all but the commonest species mean that continuing exunctions are 
inevitable. 


GAMBIER AND DEFORESTATION 


Gambier Uncaria gambir (Rubiaceae) is a woody rain forest 
climber grown for the astringent substances in the leaves. It has 
been used for chewing with betel nut, for medicinal purposes, for 
tanning leather, and for dyeing silk and cotton. Gambier was 
grown extensively by Chinese settlers on the island of Bentan 
(Bintang), south of Singapore, in the 18th century. In the early 
19th century some of these gambier planters moved to Singapore 
and, when the British arrived in 1819, there were already about 20 
gambier plantations established round the main settlement at the 
mouth of the Singapore River. In the next three decades, the 
cultivation of gambier, usually in association with pepper, ex- 
panded rapidly, spreading into the pristine forests of the interior 
of the island. The gambier from the earliest plantations was 
exported to China but later the British market became more 
important. By 1848, there was an estimated 100 sq. km of gambier 
on the island, about two-thirds of the total area under cultivation. 

The disastrous impact of this crop resulted from the system of 
cultivation. Gambier grows on soil newly cleared of forest and 
each plantation required a roughly equal area of forest to provide 
the firewood needed to boil the gambier leaves (Jackson, 1965). 
The refuse from the gambier boiling was used as manure to enrich 
the smaller area of pepper vines. Within 15—20 years, the soil was 


exhausted and the fuelwood supply no longer sufficient. The 
Chinese cultivators, who rarely had any legal title to the land, then 
moved on to repeat the process in a new area. The practice spread 
north of Singapore island onto the southern part of the Malay 
peninsula. 

Gambier continued to be a major crop in Singapore until the 
1880s, when it was concentrated in the north and west of the 
island. Although many other crops were grown in the 19th 
century, with the exception of coconuts on the sandy soils of the 
east coast, these seem to have been largely on land previously 
cleared for gambier. Thus it is reasonable to attribute most of the 
19th century deforestation to the gambier planters, rather than 
the effects of Singapore’s success as a trading centre and the 
resulting growth in population. After 1890, the gambier area 
declined rapidly. Gambier cultivation continued longer in Johor, 
Malaysia, where the characteristic pattern of areas of secondary 
forest on the abandoned plantations, separated by strips of prim- 
ary forest depleted by firewood extraction, can still be recognised. 
In Singapore, direct traces of gambier cultivation were erased by 
the subsequent rubber boom, butits effects are still evident in the 
absence of primary forest over most of the island. 


SINGAPORE 


vig 


View east from Buku Timah. The forests in the foreground are pristine with secondary forest patches and plantations around the reservoir. N. M. Collins 


BUKIT TIMAH NATURE RESERVE 


The forest on Singapore’s highest hill, Bukit Timah (163 m), first 
received protection in the 1840s, as a ‘climatic reserve’ (Corlett, 
1988b). This reflected the widespread concern during the 19th 
century that destruction of forest, particularly on hilltops, would 
have detrimental effects on climate. In 1884, the Bukit Timah 
area became Singapore’s first forest reserve. Since then it has 
never been legally logged, although timber thefts have often been 
a problem. The forest later sustained some damage in the 
Japanese invasion in 1942 during the Second World War, and the 
subsequent occupation. In 195] Bukit Timah was finally declared 
a nature reserve, a role that it had in practice already fulfilled for 
more than a century. 

Today, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve consists of 71 ha of forest, 
about two-thirds of which has never been cleared (Figure 25.3). 
An additional 10 ha of forest east of the summit is effectively part 
of the reserve, although technically part of the water catchment 
area. A recently completed expressway separates Bukit Timah 
from the remainder of the catchment area. 

As a reserve Bukit Timah is far from ideal. The problems 
resulting from its small area and isolation are made worse by the 
irregular shape, exposed position, unprotected margins and pene- 
tration by a tarmac road and numerous walking trails. More than 
78,000 people visited the reserve in 1987 and the number in- 
creases every year, attracted as much by the opportunity to climb 
Singapore’s highest hill as by nature. However, despite all the 
problems, the reserve does fulfil an important conservation role. 

Although about half of the original vertebrate fauna has been 


lost, the flora and invertebrate fauna still show no sign of the 
general collapse of biotic diversity predicted by many theorists. 
More than 850 species of vascular plants have been recorded from 
Bukit Timah in the last hundred years (Corlett, 1989) and there 
has been no significant invasion by exotic or non-forest plants and 
invertebrates, except along the margins of the road and other 
artificial openings. Superficially, the core areas of the reserve 
appear little different from undisturbed rain forest in Malaysia. 

Although there are probably no endemic plant species at Bukit 
Timah, an estimated 15 per cent of the flora is at its southern limit 
and thus likely to be genetically different from other populations. 

Forest clearance in the Malay peninsula is rapidly increasing 
the conservation importance of the reserve. There is now little 
rain forest left in adjacent parts of Johor, the southernmost 
Peninsular Malaysian state. The international significance has 
been further enhanced by the concentration of scientific studies 
carried out there over the past century. Few, if any, other areas of 
rain forest in Southeast Asia have been studied in such detail. 
Bukit Timah is the type locality for a number of plant species and 
many insects and other invertebrates; A. R. Wallace made major 
collections there during the last century. Apart from taxonomic 
studies, recent and current research projects at Bukit Timah 
include studies of plant reproductive phenology (Corlett, 1989), 
tree distribution patterns (Swan, 1989), tree diversity (Wong, 
1987), macaques, insects (Murphy, 1973), ferns, bryophytes, 
mycorrhizal fungi, birds and freshwater crabs. A popular 
guidebook of the reserve is available. 


The most urgently needed improvements at Bukit Timah are 
fencing of the margins (including the forested area north-east of 
the summit), and the control of visitors. Ideally, visitors would be 
divided at the entrance into those visiting the summit, who would 
be confined to the main road, and those entering the reserve 
proper, who would pass through an educational visitors’ centre 
first. They would then be restricted to a small number of clearly 
marked trails, possibly on raised walkways to reduce trampling, 
and all other paths would be closed off. A larger and better-trained 
staff would be needed to enforce this policy. 

In the long term, active management of some plant and animal 
populations will probably be necessary, but our current under- 
standing of the dynamics of the reserve is insufficient to make any 


definite proposals at this stage. 


me 
anise &. \\ 
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me p- ° Ge | 
quarry & ait ° | 
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e 
ei ° 
e Bem e 

e tt . 

: SG 4 \ 
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2 5 - ° \ 

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water 
catchment 
forest 


\ Pe 
| \ Bere 
\ e 
\ NATURE RESERVE ise ° 
& see 
\ . . ee ° 
\ « oR ° 
y & CG ° 
\ Oa « 
\ Cae 2 
\ X we . : 4 
\ *. 
\ “ q 
DS Q\ . SC eee ES x 
\ settlements ie 
————— 
300m 


Figure 25.3 Map of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and surroundings 


Large dotted lines show reserve boundaries; small dotted lines show major paths 


Source: R. T. Corlett 


SINGAPORE 


References 


Corlett, R. T. (1987) 


Corlett, R. T. (1988a) 
Corlett, R. T. (1988b) 


Corlett, R. T. (1989) 


Jackson, J. C. (1965) 


Murphy, D. J. (1973) 


Swan, F. R. (Jr) (1989) 


Singapore. In: Mangroves of Asia and the 
Pacific: Status and Management pp. 211-18. Umali et al. (eds) (op. 
cil.). 
The naturalized flora of Singapore. Journal 
of Biogeography 15: 657-63. 

Bukit Timah: the history and significance of 
a small rain forest reserve. Environmental Conservation 15: 37—44. 
Flora and reproductive phenology of the rain 
forest at Bukit Timah, Singapore. Journal of Tropical Ecology: in 
press. 
Chinese agricultural pioneering in Singapore 
and Johore, 1800-1917. Fournal of the Malaysian Branch, Royal 
Asiatic Society 38: 77-105. 

Animals in the forest ecosystem. In: Animal 
Life and Nature in Singapore, pp. 53-73. Chuang, S. H. (ed.). 
Tree distribution patterns in the Bukit 
Timah Nature Reserve. Gardens’ Bulletin, Singapore: in press. 
Umali, R. Zamora, P. M., Gotera, R. R., Jara, R. S. and Camacho, 
A. S. (eds) (1987) Mangroves of Asta and the Pacific. Ministry of 
Natural Resources, Manila, Philippines. 

Wong, Y. K. (1987) Ecology of the trees at Bukit Timah Nature 
Reserve. Gardens’ Bulletin, Singapore 40: 45-76. 


Authorship 
Richard Corlett, formerly at the University of Singapore but now in 


Hong Kong, with a contribution from Cherla Sastry at the Interna- 
tional Research Development Centre in Singapore. 


N 


Lat 


Land area 64,740 sq. km 
Population (1989) 1469 million 


26» Srkanka 


Population growth rate (1987-2000) |_| per cent 
Expected maximum population (2125) 30 million 
Gross national product (1987) US$400 per capita 


Rain forest (see map) 1440 sq. km 
Monsoon forest (see map) 10,820 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980) 16,590 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)f 582 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 8,882,000 cv. m 

Roundwood exports* 33,000 w. m 
Fuelwood and charcoal production* 
Sawlog and veneer log production” 


Sawlog and veneer log exports (FAO, 1976) 
1988 data from FAO (1990 
t FAO (1988 


8,202,000 cu. m 
128,000 cu. m 
1000 cu. m 


The past three decades have seen rapid depletion of Sri Lanka’s forests, both in extent and quality. Forest land has been 
released to meet demands of an expanding population and timber has been harvested indiscriminately. The only guideline for 
harvesting of forests was the sustained yield regulation based on minimum felling girth, but even this was not stringently 
applied. Natural closed canopy forests were severely reduced in extent from 29,000 sq. km (44 per cent of land area) in 1956 to 
16,590 sq. km (27 per cent) in 1980. The maps shown here indicate that by 1983 12,260 sq. km (19 per cent) remained, of which 


only 1440 sq. km was rain forest. 


Recently the value of the tropical rain forest and the need to conserve it has been increasingly recognised by the Government. 
For example timber felling in the important Sinharaja forest was reduced in 1972 and stopped completely in 1978. In 1987 it was 
officially recognised that the few remaining lowland and montane rain forests should be completely protected. 

A consensus has now been reached on how biologically valuable forest resources are to be utilised in the future. IUCN is 
helping with the environmental component of the Forestry Sector Development Plan and the concept of buffer zones, and 
integrated conservation management plans are being developed for the Sinharaja and Knuckles forests. 


INTRODUCTION 


Sri Lanka is 430 km from north to south and 224 km wide. The 
climate is strongly influenced by the monsoons, moderated by 
topography. The south-west corner has a rain forest climate, with up 
to 5000 mm mean annual rainfall; elsewhere the climate is seasonal, 
with mean rainfall declining towards the north-east. 

Sri Lanka has a long recorded history. In 483 Bc a series of 
dynasties of kings came from eastern or southern India. Portugal 
invaded in 1505 and was ousted by the Dutch in 1765. In 1815 the 
British overcame both the Dutch and the Sinhala kings, and declared 
the island a Crown Colony. 

The Portuguese and the Dutch traded in spices and natural 
products including calamander Diospyros quaesita timber. The Brit- 
ish were instrumental in building up the plantation economy based 
on coffee, tea, rubber and coconut. 

Ceylon gained independence in 1948 and remained within the 
Commonwealth. In 1972, as a result of a constitutional amendment, 
Ceylon became a Republic and changed its name to Sri Lanka. The 
main ethnic groups are Sinhalese and Tamils; besides their languages 
English is widely spoken. 


The Forests 

Tropical rain forests are restricted to the wettest region, the south- 
west corner. Where rainfall is 3750-5000 mm per year lowland 
evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forests occur to 1000 m elevation. 
Dipterocarpaceae are locally important, with Dipterocarpus hispidus, 
D. zeylanicus and Shorea spp. common on alluvium. This isa species- 
rich forest with numerous Malesian genera, e.g. Mangifera, Mesua, 
Palaquium and Vitex. 


216 


Montane rain forest occurs above 900-1000 m. Major species 
include Gordonia spp., Palaquium rubiginosum, Shorea gardneri and 
Stemonoporus spp. in the lower montane, and Calophyllum sp., Litsea 
spp. and Michelia nilagirica in the upper montane formation. 

Outside the south-west the climate is seasonal, in places strongly so 
(Figure 26.1). The original vegetation was monsoon forest, but thorn 
forest and scrub now occurs in the driest areas of the north, north- 
west and south-west. The long history of human intervention has led 
to all forest formations being extensively altered and degraded. 


Forest Resources and Management 
Various efforts have been made to assess the extent of the forests of 
Sri Lanka. Andrews (1961) estimated the total area of rain and 
monsoon forest (presumably including thorn forests) in 1956 as 
about 28,500 sq. km (44 per cent of land area). The UNDP/FAO 
inventory of 1982—6 reassessed the area (of closed forests) as only 
16,590 sq. km (26 per cent of land area) (FAO, 1988). Another 
survey of rain and monsoon forests computed from Landsat imagery 
by the Centre for Remote Sensing in 1981 found a similar figure of 25 
per cent, and recent unpublished data in the Government’s Forestry 
Master Plan (FMP) give almost 27 per cent (Table 26.1). 
Unfortunately the FMP does not distinguish between rain and 
monsoon forests on steep slopes and in nature conservation areas, so 
it is difficult to ascertain total figures for these formations. The 
monsoon and thorn forests included in this assessment were, in fact, 
widely degraded by slash and burn cultivators, even reducing the 
land to open woodlands. Much of the remaining intact dry forests are 
in the wildlife reserves in the drier parts of the country. 


SRI LANKA 


“Higher than 914m (3000') 
+ Only areas of or over 50sq.km are mapped 


1:2,000,000 

0 50 kilometers 
=} 

0 30 miles 


79°E 80°E 81°E 82°E 
10°N | 
INDIA » 
x 
S 
xe 
> 
P 
9°N 
G wi i i 
wis fod alee. Naval @ 
HeBdwotk P 
Mannar : \ a] we 
wilpatty (Qinuradhapura \ 
; 
Ls 8°N 
li ~| 
aValley 
North-east \Amparai) 
Victoria-Randenigala- 
Rantambe 
PidurutalagalaN 
(21 oe : 7°N 
r 1 ar Wh "|Gal pya Valley = 
Map 26.1 Sri Lanka Gs i 
E | #(Sellaka-Oya) 
Rain Forests q 
lowland 
montane * a] ry ba 
Monsoon Forests Walawe eam‘ 
lowland 
montane* 4 Z. ; 
Conservation areas + a ra 
© G 
existing ms | Bundala 
proposed _ a Wa 
Non Forest 6°N 


INDIAN 


0 \C 


EAN 


217 


SRI LANKA 


Table 26.1 Extent of natural high forest lands in Sri Lanka, 
1982-5 


Area 

(sq. km) 

Closed forest in the lowlands 
Wet zone (rain forest) 1,200 
Dry zone (monsoon and thorn forest) 9,550 
Closed forest on steep slopes 1,750 
Closed forest reserved for nature conservation 4,750 
Total closed high forest 17,250 


(Adapted from the Sri Lanka Forestry Master Plan, unpublished) 


Map 26.1 shows the natural closed forests in Sri Lanka in 1983, 
based on data published in 1988 (see Map Legend). Table 26.2 gives a 
breakdown of the forest types, indicating that 10,820 sq. km of 
monsoon forest (16.7 per cent of land area), and a mere 1440 sq. km of 
rain forest (2.2 per cent of land area) remained at that ume. 

During the Second World War and shortly after, large umber 
demands were made on the rain forests for the first ume. To meet the 
demand, selective felling began, mainly of medium hardwoods, but 
in due course extending to light hardwoods such as peeler logs for the 
plywood industry (which still today maintains two factories which 
are operating below capacity) (Perera, 1972). Evidence shows that 
application of felling rules has been lax (Gunatilleke and Gunatilleke, 
1983). Shortage of trained staff, creation of many state agencies for 
umber harvesting, absence of a central record-keeping system to 
support field data and poor supervision are some of the reasons for 
poor application of felling rules. Some timber value has been main- 
tained but the biological diversity of the forests has been reduced. 

Felling was at first by axe and saw and extraction by elephant. 
Since 1972 it has become mechanised, using chainsaws, skidders and 
lorries that have greatly increased the damage. Skid trails now 
occupy 10-12 per cent of the extraction area. Recent mapping of the 
growing stock of 1190 sq. km of management areas identified only 
480 sq. km suitable for future timber harvesting. It also indicated 
that nearly half of the earliest selectively felled areas would not be 
ready for recutting after the 20—30 years originally contemplated, but 
would require a much longer regeneration period. 

Degraded or poorly structured areas have been subject to enrich- 
ment planting with mahogany Swietenia macrophylla, an exotic from 
Central America. Recently, greater attention has been given to the 
management of natural forests to conserve biodiversity. Emphasis 
has also been placed on the raising of industrial forest plantations and 
enhancement of tree cover outside the forest areas, in homesteads 
and village greens, to meet timber needs. 

In the rain forest zone, policy changes in forest management date 
back to 1972. Harvesting of timber began in Sinharaja which was 
widely criticised and drew attention to the global significance of 
Sinharaja in terms of its biodiversity, as well as its role in water and soil 
maintenance. In response, the Government has placed more attention 
on the management of this and other rain forests for conservation 
purposes, and less on commercial timber extraction. The timber 
management area in the wet zone is now only 480 sq. km. National 
umber and fuel requirements are expected to be met from the dry zone 
forests, non-forest sources such as spice gardens (see next page), 
agricultural residue, forest plantations and imported timber. 


218 


Deforestation 

Major causes of deforestation and forest degradation are fuelwood 
gathering (mainly for domestic use but also for the brickmaking 
industry), permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation (known locally 
as chena) tree plantations, fire, mining for gem stones, urbanisation 
and umber felling. The absence of well-defined forest reserve bound- 
aries has exacerbated the problem. 

The average loss of closed forests from 1981—S was estimated by 
FAO to be 520 sq. km per year (FAO, 1988). There are no deforesta- 
uon data differentiating between rain forests and monsoon forests, 
but most deforestation takes place in the more extensive monsoon 
and thorn forest zone. Nevertheless, as a proportion of the total, 
losses in the wet zone are undoubtedly very serious. Over two and a 
half years between 1981 and 1983 the Remote Sensing Centre 
calculated moist forest loss was 0.96 and 4.1 per cent of remaining 
forests in the lowlands and mountains respectively. 

The Sri Lanka Forestry Master Plan (unpublished) gives de- 
forestation statistics in natural forests over the longer term, citing 425 
sq. km per year from 1956-83. This was considered to have fallen to 
310 sq. km per year during the period 1981—3. These figures relate 
almost enurely to the dry forest zone. 


Mangroves 

Remnants of mangrove forests occur scattered around the coast, but 
in patches too small to figure on Map 26.1. They are an important 
resource for local inhabitants for many products but, as is common, 
land planners have failed to recognise this, or their importance as 
marine breeding grounds. Over-exploitation and attrition have oc- 
curred; for example satellite imagery showed two per cent were lost 
between 1975 and 1976. Recently a National Management Plan has 
been made for mangroves and other wetlands. IUCN has been asked 
to support survey and conservation activities (Jayewardene, 1987). 


Biodiversity 

Sri Lanka’s great diversity of climate, geology, topography and soils 
is reflected in its flora, fauna and ecosystems. Over half of the species 
of amphibians and reptiles are endemic, as are over one-quarter of the 
fish, 14 per cent of the mammals and eight per cent of the birds. Of 
the estimated total of over 3000 species of flowering plants in Sri 
Lanka, some 830 are endemic; 94 per cent of which are concentrated 
in the rain forests. The remaining six per cent of endemics are 
spread over the large dry and intermediate zone land mass. The much 
higher endemism of the rain forests is shown in Table 26.3. Some 
rain forest species have very restricted ranges, and population 
density is characteristically low (Crusz, 1973; Erdelen, 1988). 


Table 26.2 Estimates of forest extent 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 740 set 
Montane 700 1.1 
Sub totals 1,440 Did, 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 10,640 16.4 
Montane 180 0.3 
Sub totals 10,820 16.7 
Totals 12,260 18.9 


(Based on analysis of Map 26.1. See Map Legend for details of sources) 


= ° >! eee p — 


= — fe “ Tieniate 


Working elephants in the tropical moist forests of Sr. Lanka. J. A. McNeely 


Surveys in rain forests have recorded over 170 threatened species 
of endemic plants. These include 29 species traditionally sought after 
by villagers for their daily medical and other needs. The botanic 
garden at Peradeniya near Kandi has a special medicinal plant 
garden. Italso holds 71 species of lowland rain forest endemics which 
have been cultivated as individuals (Gunatilleke et al., 1987). 

The fauna of the lowland rain forests are less documented than the 
flora. However, a preliminary compilation of lists of butterflies, 
fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals indicates a high 
degree of endemism in Sinharaja forest (Table 26.4). 


SRI LANKA 


Table 26.3 Tree diversity in samples of different forest 
formations in Sri Lanka 


Families Genera Species  %o endemic 
species 
Rain forests 
Lowland 31-4] 65-88 101-136 59-67 
Montane 26-38 37-65 54-96 44-50 


Monsoon and savanna 
forests 21-34 41-67 47-75 13-18 


Source: Ashton and Gunatilleke, 1987; Gunaulleke and Gunatilleke, 1984 


Table 26.4 Degree of endemism among butterflies, fishes, 
amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals observed in Sinharaja 
forest 


Species in Species in 
Sn Lanka Sinharaja! 
Total Endemic Total Endemic 
Butterflies 242 4] 65 (27) 21 (51) 
Fishes 64 17 10 (16) 7 (41) 
Amphibia 
Tetropod 73 34 14 (19) 7 (21) 
Others 38 19 19 (50) 8 (42) 
Reptiles 
Snakes 90 39 29 (19) 14 (36) 
Birds 384 20 141 (37) 1995) 
Mammals 85 12 40 (47) 7 (58) 


Source: unpublished data from the Sri Lanka non-governmental organisation, 
March for Conservation) 


! In brackets are the numbers of species present in Sinharaja forest expressed as a 
percentage of the total island species. 


THE SPICE GARDENS OF KANDI 

The forested regions of Asia and the Pacific first attracted the 
interest of European traders and adventurers as a source of spices, 
the most valuable of which was cinnamon. Obtained by grinding 
the dried bark of the indigenous Sri Lankan Cinnamomum 
zeylanicum, cinnamon has been highly prized in Europe since 
Roman times. Throughout much of history its origin was 


India, it was then taken by a succession of Arab and African 
traders to the major cities of Europe. In London, in the early 19th 
century it fetched the fabulous price of £8 per pound. 

The colonial powers attempted to monopolise and control the 
spice industry. During a period of Dutch control of Sri Lanka, 
contravention of laws governing cinnamon cultivation was 
punishable by death. It is recorded that the Dutch government in 
Amsterdam instructed its administration in the Dutch East Indies 
to suppress the cultivation of nutmeg and increase that of mace. 
Like many people today, they were not aware that both are 
produced from the fruits of the same tree, Myristica fragrans. 

Many of the common spices are now grown throughout the 
tropics, and the relatively fertile soils of the Kandi region in Sri 
Lanka are particularly noted for the variety of spices that they 
produce. The so-called Kandi home gardens are considered by 
conservationists to be an example of ideal land use in the humid 


shrouded in mystery. Transported by dhow to the west coast of 


tropics. A large number of people attain a good standard of living 
by intensively cultivating a variety of high-value crops around 
their homes. Some of these gardens have become a major attrac- 
tion for tourists on their way to visit the temples and palaces of the 
ancient capital, Kandi. Visitors can walk in the shade of the 
nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), clove (Eugenia caryophyllata), and 
tamarind (Tamarindos), all Indian trees. The South American 
vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia) grows as a climber on the larger 
trees, as does the black pepper (Piper nigrum). In the understorey, 
ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric (Curcuma domestica) and 
cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) — all members of the ginger 
family (Zingiberaceae) — thrive in the partial shade. All are 
important ingredients of Asian and Middle Eastern cooking. A 
valuable export market for cardamom has developed as it is now a 
vital ingredient in Scandinavian breakfast pastries. 

The Kandi gardens replicate many of the functions of a tropical 
forest. They have a high biomass and moderate the microclimate, 
and the diversity of their plant species means that scarce soil 
nutrients are used efficiently. Moreover, a greater variety of birds 
and insects occurs here than would do in a moncculture planta- | 
tion. It would be a loss for conservation if commercial pressures 
led to intensive production of these products on industrial estates 
and the abandonment of the traditional home gardens. 


SRI LANKA 

Table 26.5 Conservation areas of Sri Lanka 

Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. The 
remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest 
reserves are not included. For data on World Heritage sites and 
Biosphere reserves see chapter 9. 


Existing Proposed 

area area 
National Parks (sq. km) (sq. km) 
Flood Plains* 174 
Gal Oya* 259 
Maduru Oya* 588 
Ruhuna (Yala)* 979 
Somawathiya* 378 
Uda Walawe 308 
Wasgomuwa* 371 
Wilpattu* 1319 
Yala East* 181 
Stnct Natural Reserves 
Yala* 289 
Nature Reserves 
Minneriya-—Giritale* 75 
Tirikonamadu* 250 
Natural Heritage Wilderness Area 
Sinharaja* 76 
Jungle Corridor 
Nilgala 104 
Sanctuaries 
Bundala* 62 
Chundikulam 111 
Gal Oya Valley North-east (Ampara1)* 124 
Gal Oya Valley South-west (Sellaka-Oya)* 153 
Madhu Road* 267 
Padavivya Tank 65 
Peak Wilderness* 224 
Senanayake Samudra 93 
Seruvila—Allai 155 
Trincomalee Naval Headworks* 181 
Victoria—Randenigala—Rantambe* 421 
Sub total 7207 
Other Areas 531 215 
Totals 7738 215 


(Sources: TUCN 1990, WCMC 1m litt.) 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


Conservation Areas 
All natural forest is owned by the state, under many agencies and 
protected under several enactments, of which the oldest was the 
Land Order of 1873 prohibiting the clearing of forests above 1524 m. 
To protect biological resources contained in other natural areas, 
National Parks, Strict Natural Reserves and Nature Reserves, Jungle 
Corridors and Sanctuaries have been declared under the Fauna and 
Flora Protection Ordinance and administered by the Department of 
Wildlife Conservation. The extent so protected is about 7800 sq. km 
or 12 per cent of the total land area. About 4750 sq. km of high forest 
is included within this (Table 26.5). Other remaining forests are 
categorised as Forest Reserves, Proposed Forest Reserves and Other 
State Forests — which add up to 9462 sq. km, or 14.4 per cent of the 


220 


land area for the country. The Forest Department is responsible for 
the management of all existing and proposed Forest Reserves. Other 
State Forests are administered by the Forest Department and the 
head of the particular district administration unit, namely the 
Government Agent. Generally, those over 40 ha in the wet zone are 
administered by the Forest Department and the remainder by the 
Government Agent of the particular district. Since 1950, Forest 
Reserves, Proposed Reserves, Other State Forests and wildlife areas 
have been subject to great pressure from the local population and 
some of the forests have been released either in full or in part for 
settlement purposes. The management of the remaining Forest 
Reserves and Proposed Forest Reserves is being continued by the 
Forest Department. 

In 1975, 36areas totalling 1270sq. km were nominated as Biosphere 
Reserves under the Unesco/MAB programme (Sri Bharathie, 1979) of 
which 22, covering 536 sq. km, were in the rain forest. These, 
however, remained as proposals, but in 1988 76 sq. km of Sinharaja 
were protected under the National Wilderness Areas Act and given 
additional protection by being declared a World Heritage site. 

The following areas are of particular significance for their rain 
forests and are deserving of careful management: 

1 Peak Wilderness Sanctuary (224 sq. km, 700-1128 m). Habitat 
of Stemonoporus (Dipterocarpaceae), an endemic genus growing 
gregariously as a canopy tree at higher elevations (Greller er al., 
1987). In the inter-monsoonal period from mid-December to mid- 
May, nearly 900,000 religious pilgrims drawn from various parts of 
the island travel up to Sri Pada Peak (Adam’s Peak, 2238 m), causing 
much disturbance of the forests. In addition, removal of fuelwood by 
labourers in nearby tea estates and unauthorised gem-mining 
aggravate the situation. Proposals are being considered to improve 
facilities for the pilgrims by supplying fuelwood and energy sources 
from outside the area. The Peak Wilderness remains biologically 
unexplored, and further scientific studies are necessary. 

2 Kanneliya, Dediyagala and Nakiyadeniya (110 sq. km). These 
forests fall within the richest floristic area with 65 per cent of the 
endemic species of Sri Lanka (Ashton and Gunatilleke, 1987). They 
have been subject to umber harvest for two decades. Selective felling 
rules have not been enforced. It is planned to manage the whole forest 
as a reserve with minimal extraction of some forest products. 

3 Hinidum Kanda (Haycock) Reserve (4sq. km). A low hill, 668 m, 
within the rain forest. Two species Duospyros oppositifolia 
and Schumnachena angustfolia are endemic (Gunatilleke & 
Gunatilleke, 1984). 

4 Sinharaja Forest, (c.1110 sq. km), lies in the south-west lowlands 
at 300-1150 m. Established as forest reserve, some 89 sq. km were 
declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1978. In 1988, 76 sq. km of this was 
designated as a National Heritage Wilderness Area, and was in- 
scribed on the World Heritage List in 1989. Sinharaja is of great 
biological importance, particularly for its high level of endemic 
plants (Ashton and Gunatilleke, 1987; Gunatilleke & Gunatilleke, 
1984; Peeris, 1975). In 1986 the Forest Department helped by IUCN 
and WWF prepared a conservation plan (Forest Department, 1986), 
which led to a Sinharaja Conservation Project, developed since July 
1988 with the assistance of IUCN. The objectives are boundary 
mapping, ensuring uniform legal status, socio-economic surveys, 
containment of human settlements, buffer zone management, aware- 
ness and training programmes, and building of infrastructure. A 
research and education centre is to be set up on the north-western 
section funded by WWF. 

5 Knuckles Range Forests (217 sq. km). Located south of Kandi 
and north of the central massif, these forests have evergreen lowland, 
lower montane and upper montane forest formations. The flora and 
fauna have not been studied in detail. Cardamom cultivation in the 
middle and higher elevations presents a threat. A conservation 


project assisted by IUCN commenced in 1988; its objectives include 
boundary mapping, identifying critical conservation and manage- 
ment areas, and resolving socio-economic constraints to conserva- 
tion. Scientific studies, and research and extension activities in the 
surrounding areas are to be carried out. 

6 Horton Plains (MAB area 91 sq. km, National Park area 32 sq. 
km), designated as a Nature Reserve in 1969 and upgraded to a 
Nauonal Park in 1988. The Plains occupy the southern edge of the 
plateau of the central highlands at an altitude of 2100-2300 m. There 
are two peaks, Kirigalpotta (2394 m) and Totupola Kanda (2359 m), 
with the Adam’s Peak Wilderness contiguous to the west. Tribu- 
taries of three main rivers originate here, and the plateau is covered 
by a vast expanse of undulating montane grasslands on wet black soils 
called ‘patanas’ associated with low stature upper montane forests. 
The vegetation of the area is unique — although floristically less 
diverse than the lowland rain forests there is about 50 per cent 
endemism amongst woody species. The Plains show a pattern of 
knolls and of swampy depressions. Between 1961 and 1969, part of 
the grassland was seriously disturbed when a potato seed station was 
set up by the State, and old ploughed areas and derelict buildings are 
sull visible. Man-made fires are almost a yearly occurrence. Further 
scientific studies and control of outside interference are needed, and 
World Bank assistance has been sought to develop a Conservation 
Plan covering this area and the adjoining Adam’s Peak sanctuary. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

The Sri Lanka Forestry Master Plan generated much controversy 
and it was criticised for failing to address environmental concerns. 
However, much progress has been made in building conservation 


References 

Andrews, J. R. T. (1961) 
Government Press. 

Ashton, P. S. and Gunatilleke, C. V. S. (1987) New light on the 
plant geography of Ceylon. Fournal of Biogeography 14: 249-85. 

Crusz, H. (1973) Nature conservation in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Biolog- 
ical Conservation 5: 199-208. 

Erdelen, W. (1988) Forest ecosystems and nature conservation in 
Sri Lanka. Biological Conservation 43: 115-35. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp. + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics No. 90. FAO, Rome, Italy. 

Forest Department (1986) Conservation Plan for Sinharaja Forest. 
Government of Sri Lanka publication. 87 pp. 

Greller, A. M., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N., Gunatilleke, C. V. S., 
Jayasuriya, A. H. M., Balasubramaniam, S. and Dissanayake, 
M. D. (1987) Stemonoporus (Dipterocarpaceae )-dominated mon- 
tane forests in the Adam’s Peak Wilderness, Sri Lanka. Journal of 
Tropical Ecology 3: 243-53. 

Gunatlleke, C. V. S. and Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. (1983) Conser- 
vation of natural forests in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Forester 16. 
Gunatilleke, C. V. S. and Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. (1984) Dis- 
tribution of endemics in the tree flora of a lowland hill forest in Sri 
Lanka. Biological Conservation 28: 275-85. 

Gunaulleke, C. V. S., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. and Sumithrarachi, 
B. (1987) Woody endemic species of the wet lowland of Sri 
Lanka and their conservation in botanic gardens. Botanic Gardens 
and the World Conservation Strategy. Academic Press Inc., 
London. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and Pro- 
tected Areas. \UCN Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 
Jayewardene, R. P. (1987) Sri Lanka. In: Mangroves of Asia and the 

Pacific. Umali, R. et al. (eds). Ministry of Natural Resources, 


A Forest Inventory of Ceylon. Ceylon 


SRI LANKA 


components into the projects which are implementing the Plan. The 
World Bank is now loaning money to help create an environmental 
management unit within the Forest Department. As a result, all the 
remaining moist forest areas are being surveyed and forest manage- 
ment plans will take account of the biological value of the areas. No 
logging will occur in areas of special conservation concern. 

An FAO/UNDP funded mission to assist in the protected area 
component of the Master Plan recommended that Jungle Corridors 
between national parks and reserves, already instigated in Sri Lanka 
(see Table 26.5), should be extended. The existing Nilgala corridor 
extends south-east from Maduru Oya National Park (NP) to Gal Oya 
(NP). Further corridors have been recommended from Gal Oya 
south-east to the small Lahulgala NP, from there south to Yala East 
NP, and from the adjoining Ruhuna NP westwards through the 
proposed Lunungamvihira NP to Uda Walawe NP. These are 
important for the movement of animals, elephants particularly. 

The Department of Wildlife Conservation is extending its pro- 
grammes to improve management of protected areas and will receive 
international support for this. 

One of the most encouraging new developments in Sri Lanka is the 
emergence of influential non-governmental conservation organisa- 
tions. The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society has existed since 
the turn of the century and is a respected and active campaigning 
body on conservation issues. Other organisations have been estab- 
lished more recently, and this move reflects a growing awareness of 
conservation issues amongst the Sri Lankan public. 

The universities, particularly Peradeniya, have active conserva- 
ton research programmes and work on forest botany has helped give 
a sound scientific basis to conservation programmes. 


Manila, Philippines. 

Peeris, C. V. S. (1975) Ecology of the endemic tree species in Sri 
Lanka in relation to their conservation. Unpublished Ph.D. 
Thesis. University of Aberdeen, UK. 

Perera, W. R. H. (1972) A study of the protective benefits of the 
Wet Zone Forestry Reserves of Sri Lanka. The Ceylon Forester 10: 
87-102. 

Sri Bharathie, K. P. (1979) Man and Biosphere Reserves in Sri 
Lanka. The Sri Lanka Forester 14. 


Authorship 

M. S. Ranatunga of IUCN Colombo with contributions from many 
of his colleagues in the Forest Department, Charles Santiapillai of 
WWF, Bogor and Jeff Sayer at IUCN, Gland. 


Map 26.1 Forest cover in Sri Lanka 


Data on the extent of natural closed forest in Sri Lanka were taken from Sn 
Lanka: Chena Cultivation in the Dry Zone and Dense Natural Forest 1983, pub- 
lished at 1:500,000 by the Survey Department of Sri Lanka (1988). Dense natural 
forest was mapped, and the boundary between the wet and dry zones shown on 
that map was used to delimit rain and monsoon forests respectively. There is some 
difficulty in distinguishing between the monsoon forest and the thorn scrub 
formations that eventually result from monsoon forest degradation. The latter are 
known to be rather widespread in the north, north-west and south-west, but no 
maps have been located. Even the Maps of Series of Vegetation of Peninsular India 
and Sri Lanka (Undated 1:2.5 million scale map by H. Gaussen, P. Legris V. M. 
Meher-Homji and collaborators), combines the vegetation of these regions into a 
single ‘deciduous forest’ formation, and the editors have been obliged to do 
likewise. Montane forests were delimited by a 3000 ft (914 m) contour taken from 
Road Map Sn Lanka (2nd edition) (1984), published at 1:500,000 by the Survey 
Department, Sri Lanka. 

Protected areas were taken from Directory of Protected Areas: Sri Lanka, World 
Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge (in press), which itself drew heavily 
upon the Road Map Sn Lanka cited above. 


221 


Land area 511,770 sq. km 
Population (1989) 55.6 million 


77 Thailand 


Population growth rate (1987-2000) 1.5 per cent 
Expected maximum population (2150) 99 million 
Gross national product (1987) US $850 per capita 


Rain forest (see map) 75,400 sq. km 
Monsoon forest (see map) 31,500 sq. km 

Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980)f 83,350 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1985-8)¢ 2354 sq. km 
Roundwood production* 38,214,000 cw. m 

Roundwood exports* 152,000 cu. m 
Fuelwood and charcoal production* 


Sawlogs and veneer logs production” 
1988 dato from FAO (1990) 
t FAO (1988) 


33,633,000 cu. m 
2,048,000 cu. m 


Thailand, one of the wealthiest and most stable countries in Southeast Asia, was the first country in the world to ban all logging. 
The ban was a direct result of environmental disasters caused by logging and rubber plantation development. In November 
1988, 359 people were killed and hundreds more made homeless by floods in the south of the country. Their houses were buried 
under an avalanche of logs and mud. The watersheds from where the floods had originated had been logged over and clear-felled 
for rubber plantations, and the steep slopes and friable soils were insufficiently stabilised. The Royal Decree to ban logging was 
issued in mid-January 1989 by the Prime Minister, Chatichai Choonhavan, and this was accepted by the House of 
Representatives in May. A second decree revoked all existing logging concessions. 

That this should occur in Thailand 1s all the more surprising considering that, in the latter half of the 19th century, Thailand 
had been the first Southeast Asian country to begin managing its forests for a sustained yield. The decision to ban logging 
amounted to an official recognition that Thailand’s umber must now be supplied by plantations and that natural forests will 
continue to exist only as isolated pockets in national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and some catchment protection areas. The Thai 


Government intends to allocate a total of 15 per cent of the country’s land area for these. 
The ban on logging has hit the timber industry hard and Thailand is now setting up trading links with its Indochinese 


neighbours to import logs and sawn wood. 


INTRODUCTION 


Thailand is a country of tremendous cultural and natural diversity. 
Its vegetation ranges from the upland pine forests on the Laouan and 
Burmese borders, to the lowland rain forests in the far south. The 
landscape has been moulded both by the original Malay population of 
the south, and successive waves of colonists who have moved into the 
country from the north over the past two thousand years. 

The country divides naturally into six regions. 

The Northern Highlands extend from the borders with Burma and 
Laos south to about 18° latitude. They are comprised mainly of 
ridges running north-east to south-east, reaching an elevation of 
between 1500 and 2000 m, and separated by wide valleys at between 
300-500 m elevation. Originally the mountains above 1000 m were 
clad in evergreen montane rain forest, with mixed deciduous mon- 
soon and dry dipterocarp savanna forests on their flanks. The valleys, 
however, have long been wholly cultivated. This region suffers from 
the steady southward push of hill tribes such as the Hmong and Yao, 
who cultivate upland rice and, at higher elevations, the opium 
poppy. Undisturbed forest is now restricted to a few scattered 
patches in remote areas. 

The Korat Plateau covers the north-eastern bulge of Thailand. It 
forms a shallow saucer at 100-200 m, rimmed by the Petchabun 
Range in the west, and the Dangrek Range in the south. These reach 
500-1400 m and meet in the highlands of the Khao Yai National 
Park. The plateau is now largely devoid of forest, but extensive areas 
sull persist on the ranges. Dry monsoon forests on the lower slopes 


222 


grade into evergreen rain forest on the hills and finally into pine 
woodlands on the ridge tops. 

The Central Plain of the Chao Phraya River is now almost entirely 
under intensive rice cultivation and its original swamp and monsoon 
forest has entirely disappeared. 

The South-East Uplands are an extension of the Cardamom 
Mountains from across the Cambodian border. Rainfall approaches 
5000 mm in some areas. Small remnants of the once prevalent 
tropical rain forest still survive in protected areas. 

The Tenasserim Hills extend south from about 18°N in the 
Northern Highlands, along the Burmese border to the Kra Isthmus, 
at about 10°N, rising steeply to about 1000 m. Since the Thai side of 
the Tenasserim lies in the rain shadow of higher hills on the Burmese 
side, it is relatively dry, but semi-evergreen rain forest persists at 
higher elevations along the border. The upper flanks are often 
precipitous, with bare rock. The slopes, once clothed in deciduous 
monsoon forest containing some teak and much Shorea spp., are now 
deforested, and covered with bamboo and grassland. 

The Southern Peninsula extends to the Malaysian border from a 
line joining Chumphon to Ranong at 10°N. It is an area of heavy 
rainfall and was originally covered in rain forest. However, most 
forest in the lowlands has been lost to agriculture. Extensive tracts 
persist only on the hills, but during the last decade even these have 
come under assault, principally from rubber plantations, which have 
often been established with international aid. 


The Forests 
Lowland rain forest, shown on Map 27.1, comprises both evergreen 
and semi-evergreen formations. Evergreen rain forest occurs in the 
extreme south of peninsular Thailand, near the Malaysian frontier. 
This is the northern fringe of the great Malesian rain forests, which 
reach their northern limit at a line from Kangar to Pattani. This 
also occurs in the Chantaburi pocket, an isolated patch in the south- 
east, on the wet western slopes of the Cardamom Mountains. 
Thailand’s rain forests are rich in Dipterocarpaceae and other 
species associated with the forests of Malesia, but they also contain 
species with Chinese and Himalayan affinities. Many species from 
these major centres of plant diversity have their northern and 
southern limits respectively at the Isthmus of Kra. Semi-evergreen 
rain forest is Thailand’s main forest formation. Its boundary with 
evergreen rain forest is fairly well known in the peninsula (see 
Whitmore, 1984), although not in the Chantaburi pocket where a 
complex mosaic results from the locally variable rainfall, soil and 
aspect. 


Monsoon forest in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. WWE 
H. Jungius 


THAILAND 


Heath forest once occurred on some sandy soils in the south-east 
peninsula, but has now been degraded to open grass and shrublands 

Limestone with characteristic vegetation, occurs as karst towers in 
the south peninsula to about 9°N, and as islands off the south-west 
coast. There are also extensive limestone mountains in the north- 
west, and also to the west, north to c. 15°N latitude. Good examples 
of karst limestone vegetation are found in Ao Phangnga and Khao 
Sam Roi Yot National Parks and the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Freshwater swamp forest must once have existed along the major 
rivers, but it has now been entirely cleared to make way for irrigated 
rice cultivation. Swamp forests were the home of Schomburgk’s deer 
(Cervus schomburgki), which became extinct in the 1930s. The only 
comparable formations to survive are the Melaleuca and Alstonia 
forests around Thale Noi in Phattalung Province, Bang Nara in 
Narathiwat Province in the southern part of the peninsula and the Pa 
Phiu Non-Hunting Area. This last is still extremely species-rich, and 
comprises 80 sq. km of peat swamp forest. 

Beach forest with its typical Indo-Pacific flora, fringes sandy coasts 
of the mainland and offshore islands, but is now much altered by 
settlement and tourist development. 

Montane forests in Thailand are difficult to define and map 
because distribution is dependent upon locally complex climatic and 
topographic variations. In Map 27.1 they have been delimited by a 
914 m (3000 ft) contour. Montane forests contain strong temperate 
elements and are typically dominated by species of Castanopsis, 
Lithocarpus and Quercus. The higher forests at Khao Yai, at only 
14°30'N, contain the Himalayan species Betula alnoides. Such tempe- 
rate species become more frequent to the north, where Aceraceae, 
Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae and Rosaceae are abundant. Open stands 
of Pinus kestya and P. merkusu occur as a fire climax formation on 
sandy soils on the hills of the north. A particularly good example 
occurs in the Phu Kradeung National Park and 1s visited by many 
thousands of people each year. 

Deciduous monsoon formations were once much more extensive 
than rain forests, but have been widely deforested. The northern 
monsoon forests include commercially important teak, found mainly 
on well-drained soils derived from igneous rocks, and thriving under 
a regime of occasional ground fires which clear the undergrowth. 

Extensive dry deciduous woodlands with some dipterocarp con- 
tent also occur in the north and east but this open canopied formation 
has not been included in Map 27.1. 


Forest Resources and Management 
Table 27.1 is a summary of FAO data for forest cover of Thailand. 
FAO Rome estimated total natural forest cover at 156,750 sq. km in 
1980 and predicted 137,800 sq. km by 1985 (FAO/UNEP, 1981; 
FAO, 1988). FAO Bangkok made a re-evaluation in 1987 and found 
slightly higher results for 1985 of 149,050 sq. km, but predicted 
135,000 sq. km for 1990 (FAO, 1987). All these figures include open- 
canopied deciduous dipterocarp forests in northern Thailand, and it 
is of interest to note that this formation makes up a gradually larger 
proportion of the total (e.g. FAO (1987) shows 45 per cent open 
canopy forest in 1980 but 56 per cent in 1990). 

Table 27.2, based on Map 27.1, is derived mainly from 1985 data 
see Map Legend for details). It shows almost 107,000 sq. km of 
tropical moist forest in rain and monsoon forest formations. Open 
canopy dry dipterocarp forests have been excluded, but in the 
original maps about 43,000 sq. km of this formation was shown. The 
total for all forests is thus about 150,000 sq. km, in close agreement 
with the FAO assessment for 1985 (FAO, 1987). However it should 
be noted that there is some disparity between the totals for the open 
and closed canopy formations, with Map 27.1 showing more of the 
closed canopy rain and monsoon forests than FAO (1987) data would 


suggest. 


223 


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THAILAND 
Table 27.1 Estimates of natural forest resources of Thailand 
sq. km 


FAO/UNEP FAO 1987 report 


1981 report 
1980 1985 1980 1983 1985 1990 
Broadleaved 
closed 
canopy 81,350 69,150 86,160 78,600 61,490 50,200 
Bamboo 9,000 8,650 8,900 8,600 8,500 8,000 
Coniferous 2,000 1,950 2,000 2,160 1,720 1,500 
Sub totals 92,350 79,750 97,060 89,360 71,710 59,700 
Broadleaved 
open 
canopy 64,400 58,050 79,540 78,630 77,340 75,300 
Total, all 
natural 
forests 156,750 137,800 176,600 167,990 149,050 135,000 
Sources: FAO/UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1987; FAO, 1988) 
Table 27.2 Estimates of forest extent 
Area % of 
(sq. km) — land area 
Rain forests 
Lowland 54,900 10.7 
Montane 14,800 229) 
Mangrove 5,700 1.1 
Sub totals 75,400 14.7 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 29,500 5.8 
Montane 2,000 0.4 
Sub totals 31,500 6.2 
Totals 106,900 20.9 


(Based on analysis of Map 27.1. See Map Legend for details of sources) 


Official statistics state that 28.8 per cent of the country is forest 
land (a total of 147,400 sq. km that accords quite closely with the data 
in Table 27.1). However, this includes both closed and open canopy 
formations and some areas legally gazetted as forest reserve, national 
park or wildlife sanctuary are in fact severely degraded, if not 
deforested. It is now officially recognised that total open and closed 
canopy forest cover may have fallen to 127,940 sq. km (25 per cent of 
national territory) and that much of this remaining forest may have 
been subject to considerable disturbance. 

Foreign trading companies began the commercial exploitation of 
the northern teak forests in the middle of the 19th century. Several 
laws were passed between 1874 and 1896 to control this trade. In 
1895 H. Slade, a British forestry expert, was hired from the Indian 
Forest Service by King Chulalongkorn to advise on the management 
of the teak forests. In 1896, the Royal Forest Department was 
established, with Slade as its first director general. Forest manage- 
ment techniques, developed under Brandis in the latter part of the 
19th century in India, were then introduced into Thailand, forming 
the basis of its forestry programmes. 


226 


Ownership and control of all forests was transferred from the 
traditional local rulers to the government in 1895. Many laws were 
subsequently passed to control the exploitation of teak. However, the 
first comprehensive legal basis for forest conservation and manage- 
ment began with the Forest Care Act of 1913. Present forest pro- 
grammes have evolved from the Protection and Reservation of 
Forests Act of 1938. This was revised in 1953 and 1954, and 
eventually repealed and replaced by the National Forest Reserve Act 
of 1964. 

The northern teak forests continued to be the mainstay of commer- 
cial forestry until after the Second World War, when international 
markets in the light hardwoods from the dipterocarp rain forests of 
the peninsula began to develop. Exploitation was facilitated by the 
introduction of heavy logging tractors and later, in the 1960s, by the 
advent of portable chain saws. At the same time, the country’s rapid 
economic growth began to create a strong domestic timber demand. 

There are still about 30,000 sq. km of teak forest in northern 
Thailand, but much of it has been logged several times. Residual 
forests have been damaged by shifting cultivation and illegal logging, 
and their value greatly reduced in consequence (ITED, 1988). 

By 1967, the effects of increased demand and declining resources 
were such that, for the first time, Thailand became a net timber 
importer, importing 38,410 cu. m. Between 1973 and 1984, imports 
grew from US $3.6 million (using an approximate conversion rate of 
US $1 = 25 baht) to US $57 million. During the same period, exports 
fell from US$52 million to US$4.1 million. In 1983 Thailand 
imported 614,000 cu. m of timber (Royal Forest Department, 1985). 

During this period when Thailand went from being a net timber 
exporter to a net importer, major changes occurred in its forest 
industries. Under the original selection system, teak trees in natural 
forests were felled manually and then dragged by elephants to a river 
and floated to railways or ports (Marshall, 1959). Increased mecha- 
nisation and acute pressure of land led to the adoption of more 
intensive forestry practices; permanent roads were built into the 
forest and a broader spectrum of trees felled. Plantations were 
established on clear-felled lands to offset heavy investments in 
logging equipment and infrastructure. Most of these are teak planta- 
tions owned by the parastatal Forest Industry Organisation. In 
addition the Thai Plywood Company, privatised in 1985, operates 51 
sq. km of teak, Acacia, Eucalyptus and Leucaena plantations (Thai- 
land Development Research Institute, 1987). 

Table 27.3 shows the extent of reforestation activity undertaken by 
the government. By 1985, 5400 sq. km had been reforested. The 
sixth national development plan (1987—91) proposes increasing the 
annual reforestation rate to 480 sq. km. 

Parallel to this, a healthy development of private sector activity in 
forestry has taken place over the past 20 years. Royal Forest Depart- 
ment statistics (Royal Forest Department, 1985) show that planta- 


Table 27.3 Reforestation by government agencies and 
concessionaires 1965—85 (sq. km) 


Upto 1981 1983 1985 Total (including 
1980 intervening years) 
Forest villages 1,600 150 90 106 2,130 
Watershed 
protection 630 =:140 75 101 1,120 
Degraded 
forests 600 140 48 Wi 970 
Concessions 480 110 150 110 1,181 


(Adapted from Arbhabhirama er al., 1985) 


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tion rates grew from two ha in 1966 to 50 sq. km in 1985 when a total 
of 240 sq. km of forest plantations existed. 

The 1989 logging ban was an inevitable consequence of the 
rampant, illegal exploitation and clearance of nearly all forests lying 
outside, and even inside, protected areas. Much of the logging was 
already at the limits of legality, and a great deal of illicit timber 
extraction was taking place in areas designated for watershed protec- 
tion or nature conservation. The logging ban has impeded commer- 
cial logging inside protected areas and helped implementation of the 
wildlife protection and park acts. Imposition of the ban has also 
cleared the way for the gazettement of important new parks and 
reserves in some critical forest sites, hitherto subject to concession 
agreements (Round, 1989). These include important lowland rain 
forest sites in both the peninsula and the south-east of the country. 

Government policy stll allocates 25 per cent of land area for pro- 
duction forest. If the target is to be reached, it is probable that virt- 
ually all of this production forest will have to consist of plantations. 
At the current planting rate, this will take over a century to attain. 


Deforestation 

Official Thai government statistics state that 28.8 per cent of the 
country is forest land (including open canopy dipterocarp forma- 
tons), a reduction from 53 per cent in 1961. An annual rate of 
encroachment on forest land of 5190 sq. km has been officially 
acknowledged for 1961—85. This annual deforestation rate is equiv- 
alent to the total area reforested during the last 25 years. A Royal 
Forest Department report published in 1989 gives an annual de- 
forestation rate figure for 1985—8 of 2354 sq. km per year or 0.46 per 
cent of land area. Other observers fear continuing high rates of 
deforestation of between 5000 and 7000 sq. km per year, but these 
reports remain unsubstantiated. 

All land which is not owned privately or by state corporations is 
legally classed as crown forest estate. However, a considerable 
proporuon of this land has not had any forest cover for many years. 
At the ume of the logging ban there were 163,256 sq. km of non-teak 
forest concessions, and at the same time it is officially acknowledged 
that only approximately 110,000 sq. km of potentially productive 
forest land remained (IIED, 1988). 


THAILAND 


The National Forest Policy (Royal Forest Department, 1985), as 
stated in the Fifth National Economic and Social Development Plan 
(1982-6), has a target of maintaining 40 per cent forest cover, 
comprising 15 per cent natural protection forest and 25 per cent 
production forest. But it makes no clear commitment to sustained 
yield management of natural forests, and present programmes favour 
the establishment of plantations on the production forest estate. It 
seems likely that, in the long term, the only natural forests will be 
those falling in the protection forest category. Over the past several 
years, 400 sq. km of forest plantations have been established each 
year, roughly half by the government and the rest by the private 
sector (Table 27.3). To meet the 25 per cent production forest target, 
it would be necessary to quadruple this to 1600 sq. km (1,000,000 rai) 
per year for the next 20 years (Arbhabhirama er al., 1987). 


Mangroves 

Mangrove forests occur on both coasts (Arbhabhirama et al., 1987; 
Aksornkoae, 1987; 1988; Kongsangchai, 1987; Piyakarncharna, 
1987). They have been heavily exploited for fuelwood and umber, 
and as elsewhere converted to other land uses. Although Map 27.1 
shows 5700 sq. km of mangrove, less than 2000 sq. km remains 
undegraded, and about 27 sq. km are lost annually. The Centre for 
Conservation Biology at Mahidol University esumates that only 6 per 
cent of mangroves are in protected areas, and that many of these are 
degraded scrub. Few areas of tall species-rich mangrove forests are 
protected; the best examples are found in Tarutao National Park. 


Biodiversity 

Thailand has a very diverse fauna and flora, with elements from 
different biogeographical regions, but since these are shared with 
neighbouring countries, endemism 1s relatively low. The birds and 
mammals of the Northern Highlands show affinities with those of 
western China, and many are not found elsewhere in Thailand. 
Conversely, the Southern Peninsula includes a number of lowland 
mammal and bird species that have extended northwards from the 
Sunda Shelf countries. 

The size of Thailand’s flora is not known precisely. Between 
10,000 and 15,000 species are thought to occur, including more than 
500 tree species and about 1000 orchids. The 858 recorded orchids 
are particularly threatened because many have restricted ranges and 
are subject to illegal collecting by horticulturists (FAO, 1981). 

Over 900 bird species are found in Thailand (Lekagul, 1972), 
including 578 resident forest species of which 106 are thought to be 
endangered, threatened or vulnerable. Six species are now extinct 
(Round, 1988). Two hundred and sixty-five species of mammals 
(Lekagul and McNeely, 1977) and 100 amphibians (Brockelman, 
1987) have been recorded. 

Some key features of the fauna may be described region by region: 


Northern Highlands Most of the large mammals originally found in 
this region have been eliminated by hunting, including elephant, 
banteng, gaur and tger. 


The Korat Plateau Thailand’s most extensive areas of dry dip- 
terocarp forest are found on the rim of this plateau. Larger mammals 
have disappeared from the plateau itself, but have survived in parts of 
the mountainous rim, making it one of Thailand’s richest faunal 
areas. 


Central Plain of the Chao Phraya River This formerly provided 
habitat for plain and swamp animals, such as Schomburgk’s deer and 
hog deer Cervus porcinus, as well as for aquatic species such as the 
smooth and Asiatic clawless otters Anonyx cinerea and the Siamese 
crocodile, and for a variety of waterbirds. Much of the Chao Phraya 


227 


THAILAND 


SHIFTING CULTIVATION 

| Shifting agriculture has been practised in Thailand for at least 
3—4,000 years, and perhaps even longer (Spencer, 1967). 
Throughout nearly all of this period, it was the most rational and 
sustainable agricultural use possible in the uplands. The system 
began to deteriorate when large numbers of people from the hill 
tribes from Yunnan and Burma began to move into Thailand in 
the late 19th century. They continue to do so. 

The term ‘shifting cultivation’ is now used to cover a multitude 
of activities. The original form of agriculture, which has evolved 
over the millennia, as an efficient and sustainable form of produc- 
uon on the nutrient-poor soils of the uplands, is now only carried 
out by a diminishing minority of Karen and Lua people in remote 
areas. These, and the other 500,000 ethnic hill tribe people, now 
compete both with displaced lowland Thais and private and state- 
owned corporations for land. The uplands are increasingly used to 
produce cash crops. The long rotation swiddens — where deep- 
rooted trees are preserved to enhance the nutrient status of the 
soils during the fallows — are becoming rare. 

Shifting cultivation has become a major political and social 
issue in Thailand. This stems from the ethnic barriers which still 
persist between the hill tribes and the lowland Thai population. It 
is exacerbated by the fact that a minority of hill tribes are engaged 
in the cultivation of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). The 
poppy thrives above 1000 m and has traditionally been grown by 
the Hmong people. Unlike other upland peoples, the Hmong 


traditionally farm the same area until the soils are totally ex- 
hausted and then move on, leaving huge areas of barren grasslands 
behind them. Because of the large amounts of money to be made 
from opium and government efforts to prevent cultivation of the 
drug, a crisis has arisen in the remote border areas of Thailand, 
Burma and Laos (known as the Golden Triangle). 

Moreover, many of the hill tribes are being gradually absorbed 
into the cash economy. This process is being encouraged by 
various government schemes which seek not only to introduce 
cash crops, establish small-scale industries, and support the 
rapidly growing tourism industry, but which also aim to establish 
the infrastructure necessary for gaining access to markets. Dis- 
placed lowland shifting cultivators are being settled into ‘Forest 
Villages’ under the Forest Industries Corporation. In these vil- 
lages peoples are given title to plots of agricultural land. They also 
intercrop teak seedlings with rice and maize, a process that 
controls weed growth during the initial three to four years the teak 
seedlings need to become established. This agroforestry system is 
known as taungya, the Burmese name for forest fallow. The name 
came to be applied to the techniques used by the Burmese Forest 
Service in the 19th century for the restoration of teak forests on 
abandoned taungyas. (The term and the techniques are now 
employed throughout the tropics for the establishment of forest 
plantations on degraded land. See chapter 8.) 


floodplain was still forested at the end of the 19th century and there 
are accounts of major elephant round-ups just north of Bangkok in 
the early years of the present century. Most of the wildlife has now 
disappeared, with only grassland, scrub or commensal species re- 
maining. 


The Tenasserim Hills Most of the larger mammals still survive, but 
they are coming under heavy development pressure, as dams and 
highways are constructed, particularly in Kanchanaburi Province. 


The Southern Peninsula Rain forest species are most abundant and 
diverse in the Southern Peninsula. They include Malesian species, 
here at their northern limit, intermingled with Himalayan and 
Chinese species which are at their southernmost extent. However, 
most forest in the lowlands has been lost to agriculture and extensive 
tracts only persist on the hills. Even the latter have been under assault 
in the last decade, mainly for rubber plantations, often established 
with international aid. Species such as Gurney’s pitta which are 
restricted to lowland forests are now close to extinction. 

The Khao Luang National Park in Makhon Si Thammarat prov- 
ince protects good representative samples of the flora of the southern 
forests, including typical Malesian species of Dipterocarpaceae to- 
gether with several species of northern origins. 


South-east uplands The south-eastern rain forests have also been 
much reduced in extent. These are now restricted to a few hill areas 
where remaining forests are protected in national parks and wildlife 
reserves. The Khao Soi Dao Sanctuary, in Chantaburi Province, 
which includes some of the best forest areas, contains at least three 
endemics and a number of Yunnanese rain forest species. 

The fauna of the south-east uplands is similar to that of the 
neighbouring highlands of south-west Cambodia. In addition some 
species occur which are otherwise restricted to the southern penin- 
sula of Thailand, such as flying lemur (Cynocephalus variegatus), 


228 


lesser long-tongued fruit bat (Macroglossus minimus), moustached 
hawk cuckoo (Cuculus vagans ), buffy fish-owl (Ketupa ketupu), silver 
oriole (Oriolus mellianus), mountain fulvetta (Alcippe peracensis) and 
greater mouse deer (Tragulus napu). 


Conservation Areas 
The areas managed for conservation in Thailand are listed in Table 
27.4. 

In the north, a variety of upland rain forest types are well repres- 
ented in several protected areas in the hills. Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s 
highest mountain is protected as a national park. Its forests contain 
several endemic plants and animals. Doi Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanc- 
tuary contains a good example of natural montane scrub habitat and 
several endemic plants. 

Several parks and sanctuaries, of which the Khao Luang National 
Park in Nakhon Si Thammarat province is a good example, protect 
samples of the flora of the southern forests, including typical Male- 
sian species of Dipterocarpaceae, together with several species of 
northern origins. 

To the south-east, the rain forests have also been much reduced in 
extent. They are now restricted to a few isolated mountains where 
remaining forests are protected in national parks and wildlife re- 
serves. The Khao Soi Dao Sanctuary in Chantaburi Province, which 
includes some of the best forest areas, contains at least three endemic 
plants and a number of Yunnanese rain forest species. 

In the west, Huai Kha Khaeng and the contiguous Thung Yai 
Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuaries in the Tenasserim hills together cover 
5775 sq. km. Much of this is monsoon forest but it includes import- 
ant areas of riparian rain forest. 

The legal basis for nature conservation is provided by the Wildlife 
Protection and Reservation Act of 1960 and the National Parks Act of 
1961. Khao Yai, established in 1962, was the first National Park. As 
of September 1989 a total of 59 parks had been gazetted, covering 


Table 27.4 Conservation areas of Thailand 


Existing and proposed areas, 50 sq. km and over and for which the 
editors have location data, are listed. The remaining areas are 
combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest reserves are not 
included. For data on ASEAN sites and Biosphere reserves see 
chapter 9. 
Existing Proposed 
area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 


National Parks 
Ao Phangnga* 400 
Bang Larn* 461 
Chaloem Rattanakosin 
(Thame Than Lot)* 59 
Doi Inthanon* 482 
Doi Khuntan* 255 
Doi Luang* 1,170 
Doi Phuka* 1,269 
Doi Suthep-Pui 261 
Erawan* 550 
Hat Chao Mai* 231 
Hat Nai Yang (+ Ko Phuket reefs) 90 
Hat Nopharat Thara— Mu Ko Phi Phi* 390 
Huai Nam Dung* 179 
Kaeng Krachan* 2,910 
Kaeng Tana* 80 
Khao Chamao-Khao Wong* 84 
Khao Khitchakut* 59 
Khao Laem* 814 
Khao Laem Ya— Mu Ko Samet 131 
Khao Luang* 570 
Khao Lug* 150 
Khao Nam Karng* 220 
Khao Phanom Bencha* 50 
Khao Pu — Khao Ya* 694 
Khai Sam Roi Yot 98 
Khao Sok* 646 
Khao Yai* 2,169 
Khlong Lan* 300 
Klong Prao* 1,267 
Klong Wang Chao* 779 
Lansang* 104 
Mae Ping* 1,003 
Mae Ta Khrai 1,229 
Mae Yom* 455 
Mu Kho Lantar* 125 
Mu Ko Ang Thong* 102 
Mu Ko Chang* 650 
Mu Ko Phetra* 494 
Mu Ko Similan 128 
Mu Ko Surin 135 
Nam Nao* 966 
Nam Toke Haui Yang* 198 
Nam Toke Yong* 202 
Namtok Mae Surin* 397 
Namtok Phlui (Khao Sabup)* 135 
Ob Luang* 630 
Pang Sida* 844 
Phu Hin Rong Kla* 307 
Phu Kao — Phu Phan Kham 322 
Phu Kradung* 348 
Phu Phan* 665 
Phu Rua* 121 


Phu Wieng* 
Ramkamhaeng 

Sai Yok* 

Si Laana* 

Si Nakarin* 

Si Satchanalai* 
Tai Rom Yen* 
Tarn Bohoranee* 
Tarutao* 

Tat Ton* 
Thaleban* 

Thap Lan* 
Thung Salaeng Luang* 
Ton Krabak Yai* 
Tuek Khao Budo* 
Wiang Kosai* 


Wildlife Sanctuaries 

Doi Chiang Dao* 

Doi Luang* 

Doi Pha Chang* 

Doi Pha Muang* 

Dong Phu Si Tharn 
Huai Kha Khaeng* 
Huai Sala* 

Khao Ang Ru Nai*! 
Khao Banthat* 

Khao Harng Rue Nai* 
Khao Khieo-Khao Chomphu 
Khao Phanom Dong Rak* 
Khao Pra Bang Kram 
Khao Sanam Phriang* 
Khao Soi Dao* 

Khlong Nakha* 

Khlong Phraya* 
Khlong Saeng* 

Lum Nam Bang Nara* 
Mae Tun* 

Mae Yuam Fang Khwa* 
Maenam Phachi* 
Omkoi* 

Phu Khieo* 

Phu Luang* 

Phu Miang-Phu Thong* 
Phu Wua* 

Salak Phra* 

Salawin* 

Tha La* 

Thung Yai Naresuan* 
Ton Nga Chang* 

Yot Dom* 


Sub totals 


Other Areast 


Totals 


1S) 


,200 
182 
203 


THAILAND 
324 


1,406 


213 
121 


293 


250 


444 


1,019 


163 


201 


694 


46,615 
4,763 


13,821 


78 


51,378 


(Sources: IUCN 1990; WCMC data im it.; Royal Forest Department 


* Area with moist forest within its boundary 
' extension by several sq. km is planned 


+ Not including Non-hunting Areas 


13,899 


, Thailand 


229 


THAILAND 


The Klong-e-tow in Khao-Yai National Park — Thailand’s first national 
park, established in 1962. J. R. Paine 


31,505 sq. km or approximately 6 per cent of the country. Gazette- 
ment procedures are in hand for a further 21 areas covering an 
additional 11,121 sq. km or 2.16 per cent of the country. Of this, 
about 2000 sq. km comprise coastal sea areas. The National Park Act 
states that the objectives of these areas are educational and recrea- 
uonal, and the parks now receive over 4 million visitors a year — 
Erawan Park in Kanchanaburi Province alone receives over half a 
million visitors annually. However, it is widely recognised that the 
primary function of the national parks is the conservation of the 
natural environment. 

Some 28 wildlife sanctuaries cover a further 21,594 sq. km or 4.2 
per cent of the national territory. Seven further areas covering 2845 
sq. km (0.55 per cent of national territory) are being gazetted. There 
is a good deal of overlap in the functions of the two categories of 
protected areas. Although wildlife sanctuaries have a more strictly 
‘conservation’ function, many of them are in reality subject to 
considerable recreational use. Theoretically, this use is confined to 
“Nature Education Centres’ within the sanctuaries, and the bulk of 
the area within wildlife sanctuaries is supposedly protected from any 
human interference. 

Forty-eight non-hunting areas covering 4023.5 sq. km (0.78 per 
cent of the country) have been gazetted. These are partial reserves, 
mostly in wetland areas. Totally protected areas therefore cover 
approximately 11 per cent of the land area. (A further 0.4 per cent is 
coastal/marine. ) Additional areas, now being gazetted, will bring this 
total to approximately 13 per cent, which is well on the way to the 
ultimate goal of 15 per cent. 


230 


The protected area system is far from perfect. While a dispropor- 
uonately large area of upland forest is protected, lowland evergreen 
forests are scarcely represented. The Conservation Data Centre at 
Mahidol University has estimated that only 4.7 per cent, at most, of 
the lowland rain forest of southern Thailand still remained at the end 
of 1985, and virtually none of this was protected. It is already too late 
to incorporate any significant examples of this habitat into the 
protected areas network, because those areas which do survive are 
small isolated patches. Moreover, much of the forest in Thailand’s 
parks and sanctuaries has been subject to swidden agriculture or was 
logged before the areas were gazetted, and substantial numbers of 
people live in some protected areas in the north. Over a quarter of all 
the threatened birds in Thailand, as well as many mammals, occur in 
wetlands, but the vast majority of wetlands have been drained or 
seriously disturbed and few are included in the protected areas 
system. Wetland birds do, however, receive protection in several 
‘non-hunting areas’. Coastal ecosystems are reasonably well covered 
in theory, but in reality, fishing with explosives and mangrove 
exploitation has inflicted considerable damage on many potentially 
important coastal national parks and sanctuaries. 


Initiatives for Conservation 
The Royal Forest Department is now embarking upon the prepara- 
tion of a national Forestry Master Plan. This will receive support 
from the Asian Development Bank and give special attention to 
ecosystem conservation issues. 

In addition the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Divi- 
sions of the Royal Forest Department are continuing to push vig- 
orously for the expansion of the protected area network in line with 
the recommendations of a review by FAO (1981) and Kasetsart 
University (1987). The 1989 logging ban has cleared the way for the 
establishment of several protected areas which had previously been 
subject to concession agreements. Gazettement procedures are now 
in hand for 21 new national parks, six wildlife sanctuaries, and many 
more potential parks and reserves are under consideration. Among 
the most important for rain forest conservation is the Khao Pra Bang 
Khram in the lowlands of the peninsula. This is the only known 
locality for the endemic and endangered Gurney’s pitta, and the site 
is to become a wildlife sanctuary. For the south-east there are plans to 
extend the Khao Ang Ru Nai Wildlife Sanctuary from its present 108 
sq. km to include several hundred additional square kilometres of 
lowland semi-evergreen rain forest. This area contains elephant, 
gaur, pileated gibbons Hylobates pileatus, Siamese fireback pheasants 
Lophura diardi and other species which are threatened in Thailand. 

The Forestry Department at Kasetsart University is active in 
research and planning for forest conservation and the main source of 
trained manpower for the Royal Forestry Department. Kasetsart 
also supports a strong social forestry programme which provides 
training for foresters and agriculturalists from the entire Asian 
region. 

A Centre for Conservation Biology has been established at Mahidol 
University, with support from the World Wide Fund for Nature and 
Wildlife Conservation International (the conservation arm of New 
York Zoo). The centre maintains a computerised monitoring pro- 
gramme for Thailand’s fauna and has been instrumental in drawing 
attention to many new sites which should be given protected status. 

The National Environment Board is responsible for the environ- 
mental components of the National Economic and Social Develop- 
ment plans. It collaborated with IUCN in producing a draft national 
conservation strategy in the early 1980s. 

A number of local non-governmental organisations are actively 
campaigning for forest conservation. A WWF affiliate organisation, 
Wildlife Fund Thailand, is active in public information and lobbying 
work and supports projects in some important protected areas. 


References 

Aksornkoae, S. (1987) Thailand. In: Mangroves of Asia and the 
Pacific, pp. 231-62. Umali et al., (eds) (op. cit.). 

Aksornkoae, S. (1988) Mangrove habitat degradation and removal 
in Phangnga and Ban Don Bays, Thailand. Tropical Coastal Area 
Management, 3: 16. 

Arbhabhirama, A., Phantumvant, D., Elkington, J. and In- 
gkasuwan, P. (1987) Thailand Natural Resources Profile. Thai- 
land Development Research Insutute, Bangkok. 

Brockelman, W. Y. (1987) Nature Conservation. In: Thailand’s 
Natural Resources Profile pp. 91-119. Arbhabhirama et al. (eds) 
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FAO (1981) National Parks and Wildlife Management, Thailand. A 
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Royal Thai Forest Department. FAO/UNEP, Bangkok. 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest Management, Afforestation and 
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FAO Field Document 17. Bangkok, Thailand. 104 pp. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
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FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Resources 1977-88. FAO 
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FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Vol 3 of 3 
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IIED (1988) Pre-project Report: Natural Forest Management for 
Sustainable Timber Producnon. WED/ITTO London, UK. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and Pro- 
tected Areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 
Kongsangchal, Jitt (1987) The conflicting interests of mangrove 
resources use in Thailand. In: UNDP/UNESCO Regional Project 
RAS/79/002, pp. 15—32. Report of Workshop for Mangrove Zone 

Managers, Phuket, Thailand, September 1986. 

Lekagul, B. (1972) Assessment of Nanonal Parks, Wildlife Sanctu- 
aries and other Preserves Development in Thailand. Faculty of 
Forestry, Kaselsart University; Royal Forest Department and 
Office of the National Environment Board, assisted by USAID, 
30 pp. + maps. 

Lekagul, B. and McNeely, J. A. (1977) The Mammals of Thailand. 
Association for the Conservation of Nature, Bangkok, Thailand. 

Marshall, H. N. (1959) Elephant Kingdom. Robert Hale Ltd, 
London, UK. 

Piyakarncharna, Twesukdi (1987) Muluple-use practices for es- 
tablishing eco-development policies in Thailand. In: UNDP/ 
UNESCO Regional Project RAS/79/002, pp. 47-9. Report of 
Workshop for Mangrove Zone Managers, Phuket, Thailand, Sep- 
tember 1986. 


‘THAILAND 


Round, P. D. (1988) Resident Forest Birds in Thailand: Their Status 
and Conservation. ICBP Monograph No. 2. ICBP, Cambridge, 
UK. 

Round, P. D. (1989) The Implications of the Logging Ban for the 
Conservation of Thai Wildlife. WWW F Reports, October/November, 
Gland, Switzerland. 

Royal Forest Department (1985) National Forestry Policy. Royal 
Forest Department Bangkok (written in Thai). 

Spencer, J. E.(1967) Shifting Cultivation in Southeast Asia. Univer- 
sity of California, Berkeley, California. 

Thailand Development Research Institute (1987) Thailand, Natu- 
ral Resources Profile. National Environment Board/Department of 
Technical and Economic Cooperation/United States Agency for 
International Development. 

Umali, R., Zamora, P. M., Gotera, R. R., Jara, R. S. and Camacho, 
A. S. (eds) (1987) Mangroves of Asia and the Pacific. Ministry of 
Natural Resources, Manila, Philippines. 


Authorship 

Jeff Sayer in IUCN, with contributions from Jeff McNeely in IUCN, 
Phairote Suvannakorn, Prof. B. Klankamsorn, Suvat Singhapant, 
Sompon Tan Han, and Somthep from the Royal Thai Forest Depart- 
ment and Philip Round at the Centre for Conservation Biology 
Mahidol University, Bangkok. 


Map 27.1 Forest cover in Thailand 


Forest cover data for Thailand have been extracted from the 1:1 million Forest 
Types Map (1985) published by the Remote Sensing and Mapping Sub-Division, 
Forest Management Division, Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. This map 
was based on the interpretation of aerial photographs taken during 1972-7, and 
updated from Landsat imagery taken in 1985. The Royal Forest Department 
continues to assess forest cover from more recent imagery. A forest/non-forest 
map of Thailand in four sheets at 1:500,000 believed to date from 1988 imagery, 
while considered to be too detailed for the present purpose, was revised and taken 
into consideration in the final draft. 

Data categories on the Forest Types Map have been harmonised with the 
mapped categories used in this atlas as follows (Thai forest types are in brackets): 
rain forest (tropical evergreen forest); monsoon forest (mixed deciduous forest 
and pine forest); mangroves (mangrove forest). The Thai categories of dry 
deciduous forest (an open woodland formation), scrub forest and rubber planta- 
tion have not been mapped. Montane forests were delimited using the 914 m (3000 
ft) contour from 1:2 million Jet Navigation Charts JNC 37 and JNC 54. 

Locations of protected areas were kindly provided by the Royal Forest Depart- 
ment. They are in the form of hand-coloured polygons distinguishing national 
parks and wildlife sanctuaries overlaid on to 1:500,000 Tactical Pilotage Charts 
(TPC) J-10C, K-98, K-9C, K-10A, L-10A and J-11D. Reserved forests are 
also shown, but have not been used in this exercise. Details of proposed national 
parks and wildlife sanctuaries were also provided by the Royal Forest Depart- 
ment, in the form of generalised locations overlaid on to the 1:2 million Thailand 
Road Map (1987) published by the Royal Thai Survey Department. These have 
been presented in the form of circles of an appropriate size. 


231 


Land area = 325,360 sq. km 
Population (1989) 66.8 million 


28 Vietnam 


Population growth rate (1987-2000) 2.4 per cent 
Expected maximum population (2125) 168 million 
Rain forest (see map) 37,| 70 sq. km 

Monsoon forest (see map) 19,510 sq. km 


Closed broadleaved/coniferous forest (1980) 61,650 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1986-90)¢ 3110 sq. km 
Roundwood production® 26,620,000 cv. m 

Fuelwood and charcoal production® 23,248,000 wu. m 


Sawlog and veneer log production® 1,626,000 w. m 
1988 dato from FAO (1990 
f FAO (1987 


Originally almost enurely forested, Vietnam has now lost over 80 per cent of its original forest cover, a large proportion of it 
during the second half of this century. Losses caused by warfare, coupled with deforestation to make way for economic 
reconstruction since 1975, have left the nation with approximately 10—12 per cent cover of closed tropical forests, and less than 
one per cent ina pristine state. Because the country is ina weak economic position and sull isolated from international economic 
and technical aid, it is unable to resolve its environmental problems. In addition, a high population density and birth rate are 
impeding efforts to regreen the countryside. 

However, against these difficulties there are some positive signs for forest conservation in Vietnam. The Government is 
clearly well aware of the problems and is determinedly taking action. It has already succeeded in eliminating shifting cultivation 
in some areas through the use of agroforestry systems. Several ministries cooperate efficiently in promoting reforestation of 
areas devastated in the wars. Some of their reforestation programmes are among the best in the tropics. Mangroves, which were 


almost destroyed in the war, have been replanted and are now productive and well-managed. 
Vietnam began to establish a system of protected areas in 1962, and recent proposals, once established, will include a total of 
87 reserves. Maintenance of forest corridors between reserves remains an urgent priority if the biodiversity of tropical forest 


species is to be maintained. 


A national Tropical Forestry Action Plan is currently being developed and the government is actively seeking external 
support for the management and conservation of forest resources. At the time of writing, many western countries are 
reconsidering the economic restrictions imposed on Vietnam because of its role in Cambodia. 


INTRODUCTION 


The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is situated along the south-eastern 
margin of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, extending from latitudes 
8°30'N to 23°30'N. Three-quarters of the country is hilly or moun- 
tainous, with the highest peaks rising to more than 3000 m in the 
north-west, but grading into rolling dissected plateaux in the south. 
The Annamite mountain chain forms the natural boundary between 
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Land suitable for agriculture covers 
approximately 100,000 sq. km and is mostly situated in the larger 
fertile plains of the Nam Bo and Bac Bo, which include the Mekong 
and Red River deltas respectively (Vu Tu Lap, 1979). The climate 
varies from humid tropical conditions in the southern lowlands to 
temperate conditions in the northern highlands. Mean annual sea 
level temperatures correspondingly decline from 27°C in the south to 
21°C in the extreme north. The approximate mean annual rainfall is 
2000 mm but this increases in the narrow, central mountainous 
region to 3000 mm, sufficiently heavy to support tropical rain forest. 
There are three monsoon seasons, namely the north-east winter 
monsoon, and the south-east and western summer monsoons. 
Destructive typhoons sometimes develop over the East Sea during 
hot weather (Scott, 1989). 

Vietnam is the most densely populated country in mainland 
Southeast Asia, with 66.8 million residents in 1989 and a mean 
annual growth rate of 2.4 per cent. Some 80 per cent of the popula- 
un is rural, the biggest concentrations of population being in the 


232 


Red River and Mekong deltas. The population is ethnically very 
diverse. The largest group is the Vietnamese (Kinh) with 54 million 
people. The largest minority groups, extensively spread over the 
Annamite mountain region, are the Tay, Khmer, Thai, Muong, 
Nung, Meo, and Dao although, in 1976, even the largest numbered 
fewer than one million people (Paxton, 1989). These hill tribes 
practise shifting cultivation, clearing the hillsides to plant hill rice 
and tapioca. 


The Forests 

The most comprehensive account of Vietnam’s great diversity of 
forest types is that given by Rothe (1947). Lowland evergreen rain 
forest rich in Dipterocarpaceae is the natural vegetation of the plains 
in the south, while deciduous tree species occur more frequently 
towards the north, as the proportion of Dipterocarpaceae dimin- 
ishes. Much of the uplands were previously covered by dense 
evergreen forests. 

Above 1000 m, the Dipterocarpaceae are replaced by members of 
the Lauraceae, the Fagaceae (Castanopsis, Lithocarpus, Quercus) and 
the Magnoliaceae. Several conifers occur in these montane forests, 
including Keteleeria roulata, Pinus spp. Podocarpus spp. and Taxus 
baccata. Human disturbance, particularly that resulting from the use 
of fire, has created extensive areas of open park-like woodlands at 
higher elevations in which several species of Pinus occur. 


Forest Resources and Management 

An assessment of Vietnam’s forest area was made between 1973 and 
1976 with the aid of Landsat satellite imagery (FAO/UNEP, 1981). 
Estimated total closed broadleaved forest cover in 1980 was 74,000 
sq. km (22.45 per cent of total land area), of which only 15,000 sq. 
km were in an undisturbed, natural state. Of this total cover 36,700 
sq. km were considered productive forest, and 31,700 sq. km were 
considered as unsuitable for logging but potentially at risk from 
agricultural encroachment. Legally protected forest covered only 
5600 sq. km. Figures published by FAO (1987) suggest that earlier 
estimates may have been exaggerated and that closed forest cover in 
1980 was possibly only 61,650 sq. km. The same report estimated 
that closed forest covered 48,620 sq. km in 1985. Projections for 1990 
suggest closed forest cover may fall to 34,060 sq. km, of which just 
3000 sq. km will be undisturbed (FAO, 1987). 

Unpublished information from the Ministry of Forestry in 1989 
provides another set of statistics. Based on interpretation of 1987 
Landsat imagery, it indicates that 87,254 sq. km of natural forest 
remain (26.4 per cent of national territory), 79,054 sq. km of which 
are closed broadleaved forest. 189,000 sq. km are classified as forest 
land (57.4 per cent of territory) and 24,200 sq. km of natural forest 
have been allocated as protection forest. 

This estimate seems unduly optimistic in light of maps made 
available during the preparation of this atlas and believed to have 
their origin in the same 1987 interpretation. Table 28.1, based on 
Map 28.1, indicates rain forest cover of 37,170 sq. km and monsoon 
forest cover of 19,510 sq. km, a total of 56,680 sq. km. Clearly, ina 
nation where so little pristine forest remains, an extensive spectrum 
of degraded forests must exist. The variability of statistics 1s almost 
certainly due to differing interpretations of what constitutes a closed 
canopy forest. 

The Ministry of Forestry has overall responsibility for forest 
policy, planning and research, including direct responsibility for 
17,000 sq. km of forest land, 14,000 sq. km of which 1s actual forest. 
The remaining area of forests is under the control of local People’s 
Committees. Both the national and provincial bodies use some 360 
forest enterprises as their ultimate executive agencies. The Ministry 


VIETNAM 


Table 28.1 Estimates of forest extent in Vietnam 


Area % of 
(sq.km) land area 

Rain forests 
Lowland 28,040 8.6 
Montane 7,520 A) 
Mangrove 1,610 0.5 
Sub totals 37,170 11.4 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 18,010 5) 
Montane 1,500 0.5 
Sub totals 19,510 6.0 
Totals 56,680 17.4 


Based on analysis of Map 28.1. (see Map Legend for details) 


comprises a large number of institutes covering planning, admin- 
istration, research, production and transport. The Forest Inventory 
and Planning Institute has a particular responsibility for surveying 
protected areas and preparing management plans for them. By 1989 
management plans had been prepared for Cuc Phuong and Cat Ba 
National Parks and another management plan was being prepared for 
Nam Bai Cat Tien. 


Deforestation 
The population of Vietnam was originally centred on the Red River 
delta in the north but moved south during historical umes, clearing 
and cultivating the coastal plains and valleys, and reaching the 
Mekong delta a few centuries ago. 

By 1943 most of the forest in the Red River delta and drier parts of 
the Mekong delta had been cleared, together with the coastline, 
much of the lowland riverine forests and some uplands (Figure 28.1). 


- 


Figure 28.1 Vietnam’s 
vanishing forest cover, 
1943-82 


—_>-~——— 


1975-1976 


(Source: Anon., 1985) 


233 


VIETNAM 


A firewood collector in Tam Dao forest, northern Vietnam. Fuelwood 
shortages cause overharvesting of forests in some parts. WWE/J. MacKinnon 


Forests in the swamps and highly acidic areas of the Mekong delta 
remained untouched because their soils were not suitable for agricul- 
ture. At this time about 45 per cent of the country was sull forested. 
During the French colonial period extensive areas of southern 
Vietnam were converted into industrial plantations — principally 
banana, coffee and rubber. 

The period from 1945 to 1975 witnessed almost uninterrupted 
warfare, first against the French colonial administration (which 
ended in 1954) and then between the northern and southern parts of 
the country, causing death and suffering to millions of people as well 
as severe damage to natural resources. During the second war an 
estimated 22,000 sq. km of farmland and forest were destroyed, 
mainly in the south of the country, by intensive bombing, tactical 
spraying of 72 million litres of herbicides (12 per cent of the forests of 
South Vietnam were sprayed at least once), and mechanical clearance 
of forest. Direct attacks on wildlife that was potentially useful for 
war, such as elephants, also took place (Agarwal, 1984; Kemf, 1986; 
Vo Quy, 1985). In addition, a further 1170 sq. km of forest were 
destroyed by cratering from the 13 million tons of bombs dropped on 
Vietnam, and a further 40,000 sq. km by bombardment (United 
Nations data). 

There were also indirect causes of forest loss, which were less 
obvious, but probably had greater negative effects. In order to 
produce enough food for the population, which nearly doubled 
between 1945 and 1985, as well as for the country’s armies, large 
areas of forest were felled for agriculture. The area cleared was larger 
than would normally have been needed because vast quantities of 
food were destroyed by aerial crop spraying, and agriculture was 
destroyed by bombing of dykes and irrigation channels. 


234 


Despite the intensity of destruction during the wars, even more 
Vietnamese forests have been lost since hostilities ended in 1975. 
Driven by a need to reconstruct the country, and by the needs of a 
rapidly growing population, post-war lumbering operations were 
needed in order to rebuild homes, schools, hospitals, roads and 
irrigation systems. In addition there was relentless collection of 
fuelwood, and slash-and-burn agriculture continued. These factors, 
as well as forest fires, have all intensified the deforestation rate. it was 
esumated by FAO in 1981 that, each year, 450 sq. km of broadleaved 
forests were subject to timber exploitation and that 600 sq. km of dense 
broadleaved forest were destroyed by shifting agriculture (FAO/ 
UNEP, 1981; FAO, 1988). By 1988 this estimate had increased to 
3110sq. km of forest lost annually, a figure far in excess of the current 
annual replanting of 1600 sq. km (FAO, 1987; Kemf, 1988). 

The consequences of forest loss have been felt severely in Vietnam. 
Most deforested areas are now barren and almost 50 per cent of the 
country is unproductive wasteland. Increased flooding and damage 
from coastal typhoons, and problems of windblown sand ruining 
coastal agricultural areas have been attributed to deforestation, as has 
erosion. Severe erosion scars can be seen in many areas and heavy 
sedimentation has caused the failure of irrigation and hydropower 
projects. Erosion is further blamed for the loss of coastal forests. 
Deforestation has also resulted in fuelwood shortages in many areas 
and, combined with excessive hunting, led to a substantial decline in 
wildlife and other forest resources. 


Mangroves 

Extensive mangrove forests and associated brackish water forests of 
Melaleuca occur in the Mekong delta in the south. Small areas are also 
sull found in the Red River delta and along the northern coast near 
the Chinese border. The Red River mangroves, once extensive, have 
been almost completely converted to agriculture, fisheries and for- 
estry, and are now too small to appear on Map 28.1. An important 
site for nature conservation however, is an 11 ha block of mangrove in 
the delta at the mouth of the main branch of the Red River (Scott, 
1989). 

The Vietnamese mangrove forests were severely damaged in the 
war, with about half completely destroyed by aerial spraying with 
Agent Orange herbicide (Kemf, 1986). After the war the Vietnamese 
launched a massive replanting programme, which after inital set- 
backs has now led to successful re-establishment of many thousand 
hectares. These re-established mangrove forests are now supplying 
fuelwood, fish and prawns, and birdlife has returned. Nevertheless, 
the regreening of Vietnam sull has far to go and more than 20 per cent 
of the tidal mangroves on the Camau Peninsula and 30 per cent of the 
Melaleuca forests have not recovered and remain wastelands (Kemf, 
1986). 


Biodiversity 

The forests of Vietnam contain a great wealth of plants. 

e@ Of 12,000 predicted species, over 7000 have been identified 
(Anon., 1985). 

e At least 10 per cent of the estimated 8000 vascular species, are 
endemic to Vietnam (IUCN, 1986). 

e Some 2300 species are known to be used by man for food, 
medicines, animal fodder, wood or other purposes (Anon., 1985). 
e There are four distinct areas with high levels of endemism and 
many species are found in only very limited distributions and low 
densities (Anon., 1985). 

e@ Most endemic species are found in the alpine zone of the Hoang 
Lien Son mountains. 

@ Other pockets of high endemism are the Ngoc Linh mountains, 
Lam Vien highlands and the rain forests of central Vietnam (Anon., 
1985). 


Twenty years after spraying with defoliants, the Mekong delta’s war-torn 
mangroves remain heavily damaged. WWF/J. MacKinnon 


Vietnam’s fauna is also rich, with over 160 mammal species, 723 
birds, 180 repules and 80 amphibians, in addition to hundreds of 
species of fish and an unknown number of invertebrates (Anon., 
1985). 

e@ Like the plants there is a high level of endemism amongst animals 
and many species are of great conservation interest. 

e Some of the most spectacular species include Asian elephant, 
Javan rhinoceros, banteng, kouprey, tiger, snub-nosed monkey 
(Rhinopithecus sp.), red-shanked and black-shanked douc langurs 
(Pygathnx nemaeus and P. mgripes), black gibbon, black-necked 
stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus), green peafowl and several rare 
pheasants, crocodiles and pythons. 

Although there are now lists of protected species, there is no 
control over hunting and there is free access to firearms. The plight of 
wildlife in Vietnam looks bleak, unless efforts to save these valuable 
resources can be redoubled (Anon., 1985). 


VIETNAM 
Conservation Areas 
The government started to establish nature reserves as early as 1962 
when it inaugurated the first national park at Cuc Phuong, about 130 
km south of Hanoi. Further extension of the reserve system was 
postponed by the war but since 1980 has proceeded very quickly. 
The government recently approved the extension of the reserve 
system to include a total of 87 reserves and these will protect 
representative examples of most major forest formations in the 
country. These include seven national parks, 49 nature reserves and 
31 cultural and environmental reserves although a lack of staff, 
resources and management experience prevents the protected areas 
system fulfilling its greatest conservation potential. Some cover 
substantial areas, such as the 450 sq. km Mom Ray nature reserve 
close to the Cambodian border, but many are much smaller, due to 
the highly fragmented condition of the remaining forest. However, 
forests retained to protect watersheds are also important for wildlife 
and as corridors between reserves and isolated forest patches. Table 
28.2 lists the name, size and status of reserves. 

It is highly desirable that a forest corridor should be created down 
the length of the Annamite mountain chain since this 1s an important 
habitat for elephant and other large mammals such as gaur, banteng 
and wild dog (Cuon alpinus). These corridors are probably also 
important for linking primate populations, especially the more ar- 
boreal forms such as gibbons and langurs. 

The extensive wetlands of the Mekong delta are also of critical 
importance. Forest cover in this area is vital to ensure the proper flow 
of water through the delta’s many small channels, for protecting its 
banks, fish and prawn nursery areas and providing refuges for 
waterbirds. The conservation of wetlands in the Mekong Delta, and 
in other parts of the country is discussed in detail by Scott (1989). 


Spectacular forests survive in national parks. WWF/J. MacKinnon 


= BAT Rw ma) 


New HOPE FOR THE KOUPREY 

The kouprey Bos sauveli was unknown to science until 1937, a 
remarkable fact given that it is the size of a large cow (it is also 
known as the forest ox). There have been few observations since it 
was discovered, partly because the species is confined to the war- 
torn countries of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, with occasional 
wanderings into the Dongrak mountains of Thailand. 

In 1986 a WWE project found evidence that the kouprey 
survived in its former haunts. In 1988 the Vietnamese govern- 
ment hosted a workshop on kouprey conservation which agreed 
several actions to save the species in the wild and explore its 
possible use for the benefit of the livestock industry. Proposed 


actions included surveys, establishment of protected areas, pre- 
paration of management plans, a captive-breeding programme, 
education and training. 

Already, part of the plan has been put into practice. An initial 
survey by Vietnamese scientists has taken place in the Yok Don 
National Park in western Daklak Province, near the Cambodian 
border. Unfortunately, no koupreys were seen, but there was 
abundant evidence of gaur, banteng and buffalo. However, all the 
habitat requirements of the kouprey appeared to be met, and 
there is hope that it still survives in the region. 


Sources: Laurie et al., 1989; Stuart, 1988 


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VIETNAM 

Table 28.2 Conservation areas of Vietnam 

Existing areas, 50 sq. km and over, are listed below. The 
remaining areas are combined in a total under Other Areas. Forest 
reserves are not included. For data on Ramsar sites, see chapter 9. 


Exisung Proposed 
area area 
(sq. km) (sq. km) 

National Parks 
Ba Be* 50 
Bach Ma Hai Van* 400 
Cat Ba 277 
Con Dao 60 
Cuc Phuong 250 
Nam Bai Cat Tien* 365 
Nature Reserves 
Bana-Nui Chua* 52 
Ben En 120 
Binh Chan Phuoc Buu 55 
Bu Gia Map* 160 
Bu Huong* 50 
Chu Yang Sinh* 200 
Dao Phu Quoc 50 
Kon Kai Kinh* 280 
Kong Cha Rang* 160 
Lo Go Sa Mat* 100 
Mom Ray* 450 
Muong Cha* 1,820 
Nam Dun 180 
Nam Lung* 200 
Ngoc Linh* 200 
Nui Ba* 60 
Nui Dai Binh* 50 
Nui Hoang Lien* 50 
Nui Pia Hoac* 100 
Nui Yen Tu 50 
Sop Cop 50 
Suoi Trai* 190 
Tay Bai Cat Tien* 100 
Thanh Thuy* 70 
Thuong Da Nhim* 70 
Vu Quang* 160 
Xuan Nha 600 
Yok Don* 575 
Historic/Cultural Reserves 
Dea Ca Hon Ron 100 
Dong Phong Nha* 50 
Duong Minh Chau 50 
Ho Lac* 100 
Nui Tam Dao* 190 
Unclassified 
Ho Nui Coc 60 
Khu dao Thac Ba 50 
Sub total 8,204 
Other Areas 2,741 196 
Totals 10,945 196 
(Sources: IUCN, 1990 and WCMC data in litt.) 
* Area with moist forest within its boundary. 


238 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Alarm at the degree of forest loss and its disastrous consequences for 
agriculture and national welfare has been felt at the highest govern- 
ment levels. Vietnam was one of the first developing countries to 
embark upon the preparation of a National Conservation Strategy 
(Anon., 1985). This outlines plans for limiting population growth, 
reforestation, the introduction of agroforestry and the establishment 
of nature reserves. Although the strategy has not yet been formally 
adopted by the Council of Ministers, it is hoped that the proposals 
will eventually be promulgated, probably with international assis- 
tance. Vietnam’s international isolation, however, has severely cur- 
tailed the flow of aid and development resources, and conservation 
programmes are currently starved of funding. 

There is hope that bilateral and multilateral development assis- 
tance may be renewed through the mechanism of the Tropical 
Forestry Action Plan (see chapter 10). With technical assistance to 
national foresters, a strategic plan that will embrace industrial for- 
estry, fuelwood production, ecosystem conservation and institution- 
building is being developed. This will guide coordinated develop- 
ment assistance to Vietnam’s forest sector in coming decades. 

The national reforestation programme aims to increase forest 
cover to 57.4 per cent of the country’s land area. In 1987, 1600 sq. km 
were replanted on a shoestring environmental budget, but the more 
ambitious goal is to increase the replanting to as much as 3000 sq. km 
each year. The Tet (lunar new year) Festival has now also become a 
traditional time for tree planting and in addition to Forest Depart- 
ment projects, tree planting is encouraged and organised in schools 
and at community level (Kemf, 1988). One problem with the tree 
planting programme has been the excessive use of species such as 
eucalyptus and pine. Planting mixtures of local species as an alterna- 
tive is being encouraged by the National Resources and Environmen- 
tal Protection Centre of Hanoi University. 

Vietnam has pioneered techniques of restoring tropical forest 
cover after many years of experiment, often fraught with failure. The 
main testing ground was the Ma Da wood, 100 km north-east of Ho 
Chi Minh City. Once a thickly wooded tropical forest, the area was a 
stronghold for North Vietnamese soldiers and consequently subject 
to repeated defoliant and napalm attacks. Three-quarters of the trees 
died and the landscape reduced to barren hillsides and vast stretches 
of unusable /mperata cylindnca grasslands. Initial reforestation trials 
failed as saplings were burnt in grass fires ignited by the intense heat 
of the dry season. To overcome this a fast growing cover of exotic 
species such as Indigofera tenemani, Acacia auriculiformis and Cassia 
stamea was established. Subsequently native forest trees, including 
Dipterocarpus alatus, D. dyeri, Hopea odorata and Anisoptera sp. were 
planted under this canopy and are now surviving well. Although this 
preliminary trial covers just 300 ha it indicates that a degree of 
rehabilitation can be achieved. 

Recent land reforms in Vietnam have given incentives to farmers 
to take better long-term care of the land they farm. Up to 20 per cent 
of the land can now be privately owned. Other land is allocated on 
long-term tenure with guarantees of transfer of land-use rights from 
father to son. A major new settlement programme is under way, 
directed primarily to the rehabilitation of previously cultivated and 
abandoned areas (see chapter 5). 

Despite an impressive number of trained scientists, Vietnam 
urgently needs skilled personnel for forestry and conservation man- 
agement. Hanoi University’s National Resources and Environmental 
Protection Centre is training a cadre of professionals for the future 
and also offers high level advice to government in conservation 
matters. 


VIETNAM 


THE VINH PHU PULP AND PAPER MILL 
In the early 1970s public opinion in Sweden strongly opposed 
American involvement in the Vietnam war. So when the Paris 
peace accords were signed in 1975, the Swedish International 
Development Agency (SIDA) was among the first to offer aid to 
the victorious North Vietnamese regime. A major project was 
launched to help Vietnam achieve self-sufficiency in paper pro- 
duction. The Vinh Phu Pulp and Paper Mill was built 100 km 
north-west of Hanoi at Bai Bang. It had a capacity of 60,000 tons, 
modest by Swedish standards, but enormous alongside the 3,000 
ton mills obtained from the Chinese and with which the Viet- 
namese were familiar. But no sooner was the mill completed, than 
it ran into serious difficulues. The 500,000 tons of bamboo and 
wood needed to feed the mill each year were not available. The 
Vietnamese estimation of these resources proved to have been 
widely optimistic and pulp had to be shipped from Sweden to 
make up the deficit. To make matters worse, Vietnam did not 
have enough qualified technicians and managers to operate such a 
large and costly venture. A small army of highly paid Swedish 
advisers had to be provided, complete with housing for their 
families, schools for their children and a hospital. Expensive 
imported spare parts and chemicals — which Vietnam could not 
afford — were also needed. Sweden responded by purchasing the 
paper and giving it as aid to strife-torn Ethiopia. Meanwhile, as 
waste discharged from the mill and polluted local rivers, the price 
tag for the project rose to an incredible half a billion dollars. Bai 
Bang seemed destined to join the ever-growing list of develop- 
ment assistance disasters. 

Sweden, however, maintained its support, and as its foresters 


and aid workers gradually acquired greater knowledge of the 
country and its problems, so it was able to adapt the aid it 
provided. The Vinh Phu Pulp and Paper Mill has finally begun to 
make a major contribuuon not only to the Vietnamese economy, 
but also to the standard of living of the people in the project area. 

The raw material for the mill now comes from plantations of 
Swyrax and Eucalyptus and bamboo stands. These are owned by 
the 250 forest villages and 17,000 forestry workers in the area. 
Several cooperatives also organise plantations. The liberalisation 
of government economic policy has meant that producers can 
negotiate a fair market price for their wood. Houses have been 
constructed for the workers and there are clinics, schools and 
other child-care facilities. 

Vinh Phu Mill is currently operating at SO per cent of its 
capacity. The 30,000 tons production provides 50 per cent of all 
the pulp and paper used in Vietnam. As more plantations come 
into production, this percentage will increase. 

Plantations for supplying the mill are being established on hill 
slopes with very poor soils. The silvicultural problems are far 
from solved, but since these soils have little or no agricultural 
potential, the deep ripping necessary to establish the plantations, 
is perhaps the best way of rehabilitating them. 

The mill could not survive without continued Swedish support, 
and the paper it has produced so far could have been purchased on 
the international market for a fraction of the cost of the project. 
But the social benefits from the mill have been considerable, and 
the project itself has come to symbolise Vietnam’s determination 
to rebuild its economy. Source: J. A. Sayer 


References 

Agarwal, A. (1984) Vietnam after the storm. New Scientist 1409: 
10-14. 

Anon. (1985) Viet Nam: National Conservation Straiegy. Prepared 


by the Committee for Rational Utilisation of Natural Resources 
and Environmental Protection (Programme 52—02) with assis- 
tance from IUCN. WWF-India, New Delhi. 71 pp. 

Eames, J. C., Robson, C. R., Wolstencroft, J. A., Ngnyen Cu and 
Truong Van La (1988) Viet Nam Forest Project Pheasant Sur- 
veys. Unpublished report to the International Council for Bird 
Preservation and others. 69 pp. 

FAO (1987) Special Study on Forest and Unhzation of Forest Re- 


sources in the Developing Region. Asia—Pacific Region. Assessment of 


Forest Resources in Six Countries. FAO Field Document 17. 
104 pp. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FO: MISC/88/7. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome. 

FAO/UNEP (1981) Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project. 
3 vols. FAO, Rome, Italy. Vol 3 of 3 vols. 475 pp. 

IUCN (1986) Plants in Danger: What do we Know? IUCN, Gland, 
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 461 pp. 

IUCN (1990) 1989 United Nations List of National Parks and 
Protected Areas. \UCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 

Kemf, E. (1986) The re-greening of Vietnam. WWF News 41: 4-5. 

Kemf, E. (1988) Dance of a thousand cranes. New Scientist 
8 October: pp. 34-6. 

Laurie, A., Duc, H. D. and Anh, P. T. (1989) Survey for kouprey 
(Bos sauvelt) in western Daklak Province, Vietnam. Unpublished 
report to the Kouprey Conservation Trust. 34 pp. 


Paxton, J. (1989) Statesman’s Yearbook 1989-1990. Macmillan 
Press Limited, London, UK. 1691 pp. 

Rothe, P. (1947) La forét d’Indochine. Bots et Foréts Tropicaux 1: 
25-30, 2: 18-23, 3: 17-23. 

Scott, D. A. (1989) (ed.) A Directory of Asian Wetlands. IUCN, 
Gland, and Cambridge, UK. 1181 pp. 

Stuart, S. (1988) New hope for the kouprey. Newsletter of the 
Species Survival Commission 10: 17. 

Vo Quy (1985) Rare species and protection measures proposed for 
Vietnam. In: Conserving Asia’s Natural Heritage. Thorsell, J. W. 
(ed.). IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK. 251 pp. 

Vu Tu Lap(1979) Vier Nam Geographical Data. Foreign Language 
Publishing House, Hanoi. 


Authorship 

John MacKinnon and Roger Cox in Cambridge and London, with 
contributions from Dinh Hiep in the Ministry of Forestry, Hanoi, 
Jan van der Heide in Groningen, Netherlands and Jeff Sayer at 
IUCN. 


Map 28.1 Forest cover in Vietnam 


Forest cover in Vietnam was taken from the 1:4 million forest map enutled Cac 
Loai Thuc Vat bi de Doa Dien Hinh va Mot Vung Tap Trung, believed to be the 
result of a forest inventory in 1987. Also held is a simplified coloured version at 1:6 
million, Ban do Hién Trang Rung Nam 1987 (Forest Types Map). These maps show 
tropical rain, monsoon and the remaining Mekong mangrove forests. Montane 
forest was delimited from a 3000 ft (914 m) contour extracted from the Jet 
Navigation Charts, JNC 37 and JNC 54 at scale 1:2 million. Protected areas were 
mapped from various unpublished sources, held at WCMC including MacKinnon 
in lit and Eames et al (1988). 


239 


| 
Z. 9 Fl 7 
Land area 18,270 sg. km ; 
Population (1987) 722,000 ; 
( A ) e S te in Gross national product (1987) US$1570 per capita 
Pacific 


Rain forest (see map) 6610) sq. km 
Monsoon forest (see map) 340 sq. km : 
Closed broadleaved forest area (1980)f 8110 sq. km S a o 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)¢ 17 sq. km \ \ 


Roundwood production 249,000 w. m \ 
Roundwood exports 4000 cw. m } 
Fuelwood and charcoal production 37,000 cu. m — / 
S d el S Sawlog and veneer log production 205,000 cu. m vb. af V 
Sawlog and veneer log exports 4000 wu. m ——— a 


VANUATU 

Lond area = 12,190 sg. km 

Population (1987) 150,000 

Gross national product (1988) S$820 per capita 
Closed broadleaved forest area (1980)f 2,340 sq. km 
Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)f 39 sq. km 


SOLOMON ISLANDS 

Land area 27,540 sa. km 

Population (1987) 293,000 

Gross national product (1987) US $420 per capita 
Rain forest (see map) 25,590 sq. km 


Closed broadleaved forest area (1980) 24,230 sq. km 


Roundwood production 63,000 wv. m Annual deforestation rate (1981-5)t 8 sq. km 

Roundwood exports 25,000 cu. m Roundwood production 589,000 cu. m 

Fuelwood and charcoal production 24,000 cu. Roundwood exports 140,000 w. m 

Sawlog and veneer log production 39,000 cu. m Fuelwood and charcoal production 20,000 w. m 

Sawlog and veneer log exports 25,000 w. m Sawlog and veneer log production 379,000 wu. m 
All forest products are 1988 dota from FAO (1990 Sawlog and veneer log exports 140,000 w. m 


t FAO (1988 


From the Solomon Islands across to Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and the Samoas, the Pacific Ocean is flecked with tiny islands, many 
of which were once clothed in tropical moist forest, including rain forest on the higher islands. The major factors controlling the 
type of vegetation are topography and altitude and this is discussed further by Schmid (1989). Unfortunately, it is these forests 
that have been most affected by human activity, and on many smaller islands little or no lowland rain forest remains today. Long 
isolation has produced remarkable examples of endemism, especially in the birds. Loss of habitat and the introduction of 
predators by mankind have resulted in a large number of species being threatened with extinction. In the tropical western 
Pacific moves have been made to conserve remaining forest patches in Western Samoa (land area 2935 sq. km), American 
Samoa (200 sq. km), Cook Islands (240 sq. km) and Tonga (700 sq. km). However, even on these remote islands there has been 
widespread logging of rain forest with a substantial effect on, for example, Western Samoa (Anon., 1989; Paine, 1989 a,b,c). 
This atlas only considers the three largest island groups in any detail, namely Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, which 
all have relatively extensive tropical rain forests. The tiny tropical rain forest areas of Micronesia and Polynesia are excluded 
since they are too small to map at the working scales used here. There are other islands in the Pacific with closed forest 
formations, notably New Caledonia and New Zealand, but these are subtropical and warm temperate, rather than tropical rain 
forests, and have therefore been omitted. As at the northern limits of the atlas the boundary is somewhat arbitrary, but has been 
guided by the purpose of this atlas, which is to demonstrate the distribution of tropical closed canopy forest formations. 


INTRODUCTION — FIJI 


Fiji comprises approximately 300 islands and islets scattered across 
an exclusive economic zone located between 10°—25°S and 173°E— 


e The islands are composed mostly of igneous rocks, and the larger 
ones have rugged mountainous interiors, rising to 1324 m on Viti 


176°W. The islands form several distinct groups: Rotuma; Vanua 
Levu and associated islands, including Taveuni and the Ringgold 
Isles; the Lau Group; the Lomaiviti Group; the Yasawas; Viti Levu 
and associated islands; and Kadavu and associated islands. Some 87 
per cent of the land area of the main archipelago is accounted for by 
Viti Levu (10,386 sq. km) and Vanua Levu (5534 sq. km); other large 
islands are Taveuni, Kadavu and Ngau. The total sea area is esti- 
mated at 1,135,000 sq. km. 


240 


Levu and 1032 m on Vanua Levu. 

e Fringing reefs, barrier reefs and lagoons with patch reefs con- 
stitute a significant physical and biological feature in Fiji (SPREP, 
1980). A summary of principal physical features and coral reef 
formations of some 200 major islands is given in UNEP/IUCN 
(1988). 

e@ The climate is hot and humid, especially in the summer. Annual 
rainfall is unevenly distributed, owing to rain shadow in high ground 


areas. Typical rainfall figures are 3000 mm on east coasts and 1650 mm 
on the west. Up to six months of drought can occur in sheltered areas. 
e@ Most of the population live on the coasts and along river valleys on 
Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. The major ethnic division is between 
Fijians (46 per cent) and Indians (49 per cent). 

A general overview of Fiji, its natural resources and their conserva- 
tion has recently been compiled (Paine, 1989d). The total area of 
tropical moist forest in Fiji is small on a global scale, but it harbours 
endemic plants and animals. There is some threat to the forests from 
conversion to other land uses, and pristine forests are also threatened 
by logging and conversion planting with mahogany. The rain forests 
are not at present adequately represented in conservation areas. 


The Forests 

Due to rain shadow effects rain forests in Fiji are found on the south 
and east sides of the main islands and seasonal forests, much de- 
graded to scrub, savanna woodlands or to grasslands, are found on 
the western sides. Small limestone islands are sull forested, but no 
forest remains on the small volcanic islands. 

The higher mountainous areas have a low stature mossy upper 
montane rain forest, supporting a number of unique species, al- 
though the total area 1s small. 

The seasonal forests of the northern and western parts of the large 
islands extend inland to 450 m elevation. Sugar cane is a major crop in 
this climatic zone. The boundary between rain and seasonal forests is 
a mosaic which includes patches of bamboo and grassland. 


WESTERN PAcIFIC ISLANDS 


Highly localised landslides and cyclones are regularly occurring 
natural disasters. These have moulded the forests in such a way that 
secondary associations are a widespread and integral part of the 
Fijian forest ecosystems. This may mean that selected fauna have 
adapted to disturbed environments (Watling, 1988a). However, 
amongst the forest bird fauna eight species are wholly confined to 
undisturbed mature forest. Another 14 species are found in second- 
ary forest habitat but may sull require undisturbed forest for breed- 
ing. Schmid (1978) provided an account of the vegetation (after 
Parham, 1972) for Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. The freshwater 
wetland vegetation of Viti Levu has been described by Ash and Ash 
(1984). 


Forest Resources, Management and Deforestation 

The development of Fiji occurred in two broad phases, pre- and post- 
European contact. Prior to European influence, lowland rain forests 
and coastal beach forests were modified by swidden agriculture and 
exotic flora and fauna were introduced. Features of Fiji at this time 
included the extensive grasslands, formed deliberately by fires to 
facilitate wild yam harvesting in the drier western areas; terraced 
river valleys; and densely populated and heavily cultivated river 
deltas. European introduction of labour-intensive crops such as 
copra, cotton and sugar, centred mainly on the coastal zone, made a 
further and considerable environmental impact. The rugged interior 
of the main islands confines extensive agriculture to the coastal 
plains. 


16°S 
Piean Ne CMe Uaulibesl hi eae) N 
VANUA LEVU 
N 
Yasawa fom ZS TAVENUE 
Group gi Bligh Ag = \mt Navotuvotu 
‘e. Nambouwalu (43m) 
Fy “ Water es 
ae 
Koro 
Lomaiviti Sea 
Group 
as Map 29.1 Fiji 
18° Rain Forests 
ia lowland a) |; 
montane * say Peers 
mangrove Eas] 


Monsoon Forests 
lowland 


Moala - 


Non Forest 


* Higher than 914m(3000') 


1:3,000,000 
Matuku £3) 
0 50 kilometres 
0 50 miles 


180°E 


241 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


Natural rain and monsoon forests were estimated to cover 8110 sq. 
km in the early 1980s (FAO, 1988), or 44 per cent of the total land 
area. Map 29.1, derived from a Fiji Department of Forestry map 
dated 1985, shows 6970 sq. km of moist forest remaining at that ume 
or 38.1 per cent of land area. The forests are confined to the larger 
islands of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Rambi and Taveuni, and consist 
mainly of lowland rain forests (see Table 29.1). Forest Department 
statistics supplied in early 1990 are very similar, they record 6814 sq. 
km of natural forest, representing 37.3 per cent of land area. 

A timber inventory carried out in Fiji in the mid 1960s resulted in 
the classification of forests for commercial and non-commercial 
purposes. The Fiji Ministry of Forestry currently classifies 2288 sq. 
km as Protection Forest in areas where the slope exceeds 30°; a 
further 2250 sq. km is classed as Non-Commercial, and the remain- 
ing, 2276 sq. km Production Forest utilised for its timber. In 1986, 
60 per cent of the Production Forest estate was under logging 
concession, and the figure is certainly higher now. On Vanua Levu, 
at least 50 per cent of forests have already been logged, and 90 per 
cent is destined for logging. About 313 sq. km of forest are protected 
in 19 Forest Reserves under the Forest Act. 

Loss of natural forests is a serious environmental issue. They are 
disappearing at an annual rate of approximately one per cent. Since 
1969 there has been a possible 30 per cent reduction in the area of non- 
commercial forest, a 5 per cent loss of production forests and an 8 per 
cent reduction in protection forests, although these are intended to 
remain under forest cover in perpetuity. There is no systematic 
monitoring of forest loss which varies greatly by district and is 
probably much worse on Vit Levu than elsewhere (Drysdale, 1988). 

Selective logging in Fiji removes an unusually high number of 
trees, as many as 30 per hectare, and as much as two-thirds of the 
vegetation may be disturbed or damaged in some way. Despite the 
seemingly catastrophic effect, the ability of Fijian forest to recover if 
left alone is remarkable. The effects are to a large extent avoidable 
and are mainly caused by the management practice of mandatory 
extraction of a large number of species down to 35 cm diameter, 
insufficient control of logging operators, the employment of inex- 
perienced contractors who frequently use inappropriate equipment, 
and the prevalence of uncontrolled repeat logging which negates any 
attempts at management (Watling, 1988a; 1988b). 


Table 29.1 Estimates of forest extent 


Area % of 
(sq. km) land area 

FIJI 
Rain forests 
Lowland 6,070 33.2 
Montane 20 0.1 
Mangrove 520 2.8 
Sub totals 6,610 36.1 
Monsoon forests 
Lowland 360 2.0 
Totals 6,970 38.1 
SOLOMON ISLANDS 
Rain forests 
Lowland 24,810 90.1 
Montane 780 2 
Totals 25,590 92.9 


Based on analyses of Maps 29.1 and 29.2 (see Map Legends for details 


242 


Fiji has 900 sq. km of plantation forests, comprising 340 sq. km of 
hardwoods planted in logged Production Forest, and 560 sq. km of 
Pinus caribaea on grasslands in the drier rain shadow area. 

The principal hardwood species planted is mahogany, Swretenia 
macrophylla, which is proving remarkably vigorous in some lo- 
calities. The practice of establishing hardwood plantations after 
logging could lead to a high proportion (25—33 per cent) of Fiji’s 
species-rich Production Forest being heavily altered, with the prob- 
able consequence of greatly reduced species diversity. From the 
point of view of biological diversity conservation, it would be prefer- 
able to log the Production Forests more lightly, as this would help to 
encourage natural regeneration, and make a point of targeting the 
hardwood plantations on forest lands that are already known to be 
degraded or in some other way non-commercial. 

There are reports of unwise practices in the hardwood plantations, 
including planting on very steep slopes and right up to the edge of 
streams and rivers (Watling 1988a). 


Mangroves 

Fiji’s mangrove forests are important economically for traditional 
fisheries, but they are under threat from wood cutting and reclama- 
ton for agriculture. Mangroves were removed from the Forest 
Reserve System in the 1970s, and while a mangrove management 
plan has recently been prepared, its implementation is uncertain. 
Map 29.1 (see page 241) indicates 520 sq. km of mangrove forests 
remaining in Fiji. 


Biodiversity 

A discussion summarising the state of Fiji’s biodiversity is given by 
Paine (1989d). The flora is not rich by humid tropical standards, as is 
to be expected on a remote oceanic archipelago. There are approx- 
imately 1500 native vascular plant species, of which 40—SO0 per cent 
are believed to be endemic. Twenty-three of 28 native palms are 
endemic. There are eleven endemic genera, plus the endemic mono- 
specific family Degeneriaceae. 

The great majority of endemic plant species are totally dependent 
on the forest and many have very restricted ranges. This is amply 
illustrated by some of the endemic palms of Viu Levu. Of these, 
three have complete ranges of just a few sq. km, namely Cyphosperma 
tanga, Gulubia microcarpa, and Neoveitchia storcku. 

In common with other Pacific islands, the mammalian fauna is 
very poor. There are no large native mammals. Six bats occur, 
including the endemic Fiji fruit bat Preralopex acrodonta, restricted 
to Taveuni, and the long-tailed fruit bat Notopteris macdonaldi. Pratt 
et al. (1987) report the presence of up to 124 bird species, of which up 
to 87 breed in Fiji. At least 25 species are endemic. 

Reptiles, amphibians and insects all include endemic genera and 
species. Many taxa are forest dwellers and may well be threatened by 
loss of cover. 

Robinson (1975) found high levels of endemism amongst the 400 
larger moths and butterflies of Fiji, but this was severely reduced in 
disturbed habitats. In primary montane forest 50 per cent of moths 
are endemic but in secondary forest and grassland the faunas are 
smaller and endemicity declines respectively to 35 per cent and zero. 
Four species are already believed to be extinct, and another is under 
threat. 


Conservation Areas 

Governmental economic and social policies are promulgated in five- 
year development plans. These have progressively addressed the 
problems of sustainable resource utilisation and environmental pro- 
tection. The 1976—80 seventh plan states: *.. . during the plan 
period Government’s fundamental goal will be to exploit Fiji’s 
natural resources wisely, in a manner which is consistent with the 


maintenance of a healthy environment and with the generation of 
benefits for all the people today and in the future.’ A number of 
objectives, covering issues such as mining, rural development, ur- 
banisation, transport, resource surveys and unequal resource dis- 
tribution, were established (SPREP, 1980). The objectives of the 
eighth development plan (1981—85) included the establishment of a 
system of regional and national parks and the promulgation of a 
Nauonal Parks and Reserves Act, as proposed by Dunlap and Singh 
(1980), although this was not implemented. The ninth development 
plan (1986-90) summarises the principal environmental threats to 
Fiji, noting the need for an effective institutional framework within 
the Government for the overall coordination and management of 
environmental matters. 

Fiji now has 16 areas managed for conservation purposes. Six of 
these are Nature Reserves administered by the Ministry of Forests, 
while the others are designated as Forest Parks, Amenity Reserves, 
Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks administered by various 
organisations, including the National Trust for Fiji, the Department 
of Lands, the Native Land Trust Board and the Fiji Pine Commis- 
sion. In total they cover only 66 sq. km, or 0.36 per cent of Fiji’s land 
area. There are no areas over 50 sq. km in size and only two Nature 
Reserves, Ravilevu and Tomaniivi, exceed 10 sq. km. Montane rain 
forest, beach forest and limestone scrub are protected to some 
degree, but there are serious limitations or omissions in the coverage 
of lowland rain and monsoon forest, swamp and mangrove forests, 
savanna and grassland, sea turtle nesting areas and reefs. 

In 1985 an Action Strategy for Protected Areas in the South Pacific 
Region recognised that Fiji’s protected area system was inadequate in 
several ways (SPREP, 1985): 
© No ecological or heritage considerations were involved in the 
selection of protected areas. 

e Protection forests have no long-term conservation value, given 
their present inadequate legal status and management. 

e Forest and nature reserves are under the management of depart- 
mental rather than national institutions. 

e@ The rate at which reserved forests have been de-reserved has 
increased in recent years, and only requires ministerial approval. 

© Reserves on native land without the approval or economic involve- 
ment of landowners have no practical long-term security. 

e Planning, and the limited attempts at implementation of reserve 
establishment are being undertaken in a poorly coordinated manner. 

Coupled with the inadequate legislative and institutional support, 
these difficulties present a gloomy picture for the future of protected 
areas in Fiji. Growing political and social pressures on the forests 
mean that the possibilities for establishing a system of protected 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


areas, particularly for tropical moist forest, are likely to diminish 
rapidly as the resource becomes fragmented and degraded. The 
absence of a nationwide ecological survey prohibits the selection of 
representative areas, and the establishment of a protected areas 
system may be hindered by the existing land tenure system. 

Recognising the shortcomings in the protected areas system, two 
New Zealand NGOs, the Maruia Society and the Royal Forest and 
Bird Protection Society, have now carried out an ecological survey of 
Fiji’s forests. The survey was carried out at the invitation of the 
Native Land Trust Board of Fiji which is now considering recom- 
mendations arising from it for the establishment of 10 major and 24 
minor protected areas. One of these — the Sovi Basin — is considered 
to be of World Heritage quality. The recommended reserves are 
located on customary land and attention is now focused on the best 
means of protecting areas within this framework. Economic incen- 
tuves for landowners will be needed. The Native Land Trust Board is 
pioneering the development of village-based nature tourism enter- 
prises at two locations as a basis for yielding economic benefits for 
customary landowners from protected areas. In the larger proposed 
reserves which have substanual merchantable timber volumes, inter- 
national assistance will be necessary to support the establishment of 
protected areas. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

The ecological survey and associated recommendations for a repres- 
entative protected area system for Fiji have laid the groundwork for 
conservation in Fiji. An appropriate legal framework for implemen- 
tation on customary land now needs to be considered. This could 
take the form of either enactment of a National Parks and Reserves 
Act, or the establishment under existing law of a Conservation Trust 
which could act as a repository for leases with landowners, and a 
channel for international funding of the proposed protected areas 
system. Further work needs to be done in the development of nature 
tourism activity to build both village and governmental support for 
protected areas. Institution building to ensure an adequate manage- 
ment capacity will also be crucial. Individual protected area leases 
will have to be negotiated with landowners by the Native Land Trust 
Board, which has a statutory responsibility for such matters. 

An important parallel development is the recent TFAP forest 
sector review by FAO. The recommendations of the review have yet 
to be considered by the Government of Fiji, but they would involve 
commitments to sustainable management of natural forests and the 
establishment of significant reserves for nature conservation, as well 
as a continued emphasis on establishment of plantation forests of 
exotic species in order to meet the demand for high quality timber. 


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244 


INTRODUCTION — SOLOMON ISLANDS 


The Solomon Islands comprise the whole Solomon archipelago, 
except the largest island Bougainville to the north-west which be- 
longs to Papua New Guinea, plus the Santa Cruz archipelago to the 
south-east. The islands are steep and rugged with only limited coastal 
plains. The main islands form a double chain, Choiseul, Santa Isabel 
Malaita, and New Georgia, Guadalcanal and Makira (San Cristobal). 
There are also a large number of outlying small islands. The popula- 
uon is very largely rural, except in the capital Honiara. The people 
are Melanesian and, in common with many Pacific nations, over 87 
per cent of land is owned communally. 

The Solomon Islands have more tropical rain forest than any other 
western Pacific nation, and it also has a substanual logging industry. 
The export of hardwood logs provides a third of national export 
income, but the extent of loggable forest remaining is not large. 
There is strong pressure from timber interests because few Pacific 
countries sull permit log exports. It is tempting for the customary 
owners to sell the standing timber in their forests even where the 
forests are essential to support village life, as on Rennell Island. 
Much of past logging has excessively damaged the forest and re- 
generation has been poor. A few umber plantations have been 
established. There is an urgent need to identify and create conserva- 
tion areas to protect representative samples of the various forest 
types. 


The Forests 

With the possible exception of part of the northern coastal plain of 
Guadalcanal, which lies in a rain shadow and is regularly burnt, all 
the Solomon Islands have an extremely high rainfall with no dry 
season and would be naturally covered by rain forests. Indeed, even 
today most of the islands present a picture of dark green densely 
forested hills and mist covered mountains. It was this sombre 
appearance that may have been the origin of the name Melanesia: the 
dark islands (Walker, 1948; Whitmore, 1969). 

The forest canopy is 30 to 40 m tall. The only emergents are 
Terminalia calamansanai and several species of strangling and banyan 
figs. Climbers and epiphytes are very abundant. Cyclones are the 
major influence on floristic differentiation, but humans have also had 
a strong influence on structure. Swidden agriculture is practised 
throughout the Solomons, although today people mainly live in 
coastal areas. Previously, when populations were larger, and dis- 
tributed inland, larger areas were cultivated and subsequently valu- 
able stands of timber developed when they were abandoned. There 
are about 60 common large trees, 12 of which are very plentiful and 
widely distributed. 

The following points can be made about forest cover: 

1 The Santa Cruz islands had forest dominated by the kauri pine 
Agathis macrophylla (Whitmore, 1966) but these are now almost 
completely logged over. 

2 Rain forest is replaced on Guadalcanal around Honiara by a mixed 
deciduous forest which has been largely degraded to savanna wood- 
land maintained by frequent dry-season fires. Here several exotic 
species have established themselves. The most prominent are Leuc- 
aena leucocephala and Broussonena papyifera, the paper mulberry, 
both effective colonisers. 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


3 Small pockets of swamp forest occur mainly on the coast, on poorly 
drained sites. Terminalia brass, an important commercial species, 
forms pure stands. 

4 The Solomons are unusual in still retaining much beach forest 
fringing sandy shores, though as elsewhere many have been replaced 
by coconut plantations. 

5 The most distinctive forest type is found on areas of ultrabasic 
rock. This forest is floristically poor and dominated by a few species. 
Ultrabasic forest has been reduced to scrub or fern thickets in some 
places, probably by man-made fires (Whitmore, 1969). 

6 There is a strong compression of the vegetation zones on moun- 
tains and the flora is markedly impoverished. 

7 Around villages, forests have been selectively harvested for the 
necessities of rural village life. Useful products include thatch from 
the Pacific sago palm Metroxylon salomonense; houseposts from Se- 
curinega flexuosa; floor, rafter, beam and wall material from various 
palms and the bamboo, Bambusa vulgans, ‘rope’ from rattans, 
Calamus spp. and Rhaphidophora spp. and canoe boles from Gmelina 
moluccana. These areas of depleted forest have a rather open ap- 
pearance with a degraded lower canopy. However, more specific and 
destructive forms of degradation can be identified. 


Forest Resources and Management 

The extent of closed canopy forest in the Solomon Islands was 
estuumated to be 24,230 sq. km in 1980 (88 per cent of land area) 
(FAO, 1988). No forest maps have ever been published for the 
Solomon Islands and Map 29.2 is based on the knowledge of foresters 
working in the region. As Table 29.1 indicates, the area of forest 
shown on the map is 25,590 sq. km, or 92.9 per cent of total land area. 
Compared to the FAO figures this is somewhat optimistic, but it 
accords well with an estimate of 25,260 sq. km provided to the editors 
by the Ministry of Natural Resources (C. Turnbull, 20 June 1990). 

The main agricultural development and logging activities take 
place in the lowland forests and in particular in the richer valleys and 
well-drained alluvial areas. Apart from Malaita and Guadalcanal 
most of the people live near the coast, for example nota single village 
is located inland on New Georgia. The beach forest is therefore under 
particular pressure, usually for conversion to coconuts and for forest 
products such as firewood and building materials. The mangrove 
forests are locally overexploited, but the freshwater swamp forests 
are inaccessible to commercial logging and often remain relatively 
undisturbed. A complete survey of the land resources of the Solomon 
Islands was made in the 1970s (Hansell and Wall, 1976). It included 
descriptions of forests and soils as well as a classification of the land 
into various degrees of suitability for agriculture. 

Almost 90 per cent of the forest was considered by FAO to be 
unproductive of timber because of access problems on the steep 
ground (FAO, 1988). It is generally believed that at the current rate 
of exploitation, the timber resources in the remaining 10 per cent will 
last amaximum of 15 years. This has serious implications not only for 
the non-cash economy and environment but also on the national cash 
economy. Logging in 1987 provided the Government with a revenue 
of S1$33.4 million. The timber trade provides around a third of the 
total national export earnings each year. The Government hopes that 


245 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


revenue from the export of plantation grown trees will replace the 
earnings from logging once the natural forests have been worked out. 

A proposal for a national forest inventory prepared in the 
mid-1980s with assistance from Australian aid (AIDAB) is now 
unlikely to go ahead due to a change in Government policy. 
However, forest policy is currently under review with assistance 
from FAO. Recently the Government has required 50 per cent of log 
processing (sawmilling) to be carried out in the Solomon Islands. The 
forest legislation was amended to a minor degree in 1987 and the 
overall objectives for the forest sector were outlined in the 1989 
National Development Plan. Work continues towards the definition 
of a forest estate, to comprise those areas of government land where 
forestry has a primary interest, mainly plantation areas. Currently, 
the total area under proposal is about 1180 sq. km of which to date 
230 sq. km have been planted. 

Generally logging operations on their own do not cause deforesta- 
uon. Where only logs over 55 cm diameter are removed damage is not 
excessive, but where all logs over 35 cm have been taken (locally 
called ‘supersmalls’) the forest has been utterly degraded, as is the 
case in Fiji. Areas that have been logged to this high intensity on 
Kolombangara from the 1960s onwards, developed climber tangles 
and small pioneer tree cover, and are only now, 20 years later, 
developing a forest cover. Where logging operations have been more 
selective and more closely controlled, the regeneration and restora- 
tion of a forest cover has been much quicker and may recover 
sufficiently for a further felling to take place after 15 years. Owing to 
the relatively low pressure on land, logging operations are rarely 
followed by farming. There are exceptions — for example limited 
areas of opportunistic farming are found close to the logging roads on 
Malaita and Guadalcanal. Most shifting cultivation is carried out in 
secondary forest near to villages. 

There is increasing pressure on the remaining forest resource. One 
relatively small coralline island in the Roviana Lagoon, Ndova, is 
currently being considered by the traditional owners for a logging 
licence. In the future pressure may also develop to log above 400 m 
elevation. 

As has already been described, depleted forests can be identified 
around villages. Nowadays villagers do not require the same mix of 
products and are less dependent on the forest. For example monofila- 
ment fish nets have replaced fishnets made from Gnetum. However, 


the increasing population requires larger areas for shifting cultiva- 
tion. The requirement for some products has increased and the long 
term resources are threatened. Supplies of Securinega flexuosa used 
for house posts are severely depleted on the north coast of Malaita 
and distant sources are being tapped. To a degree these local 
shortfalls can be remedied, and in some cases the situation can be 
totally reversed by, for example, the establishment of small plant- 
auons of S. flexuosa (Chaplin, 1988). 

Since the 1960s areas of forest close to villages have been seriously 
degraded by commercial logging on many islands including Kolom- 
bangara, New Georgia, Gizo and Guadalcanal. The loss of areas of 
natural forest near to the village can be expected to have serious 
effects on the long term viability and quality of village life. Many 
communities have allowed logging to go ahead on customary land 
which they own, the motive being the short-term financial benefits 
and a general desire for the development that is expected to follow. 
Other communities, such as at Iriri on Kolombangara and the 
Kusaghe villages on north New Georgia, have resisted the temptation 
to allow logging. In the second example, major political tensions 
resulted between the local land-owners, government and the com- 
pany involved. 

While areas of forest around the village often become depleted by 
the removal of forest products for local use, it is also the case that in 
certain circumstances areas of forest are enriched or enhanced in 
their usefulness to the rural community. This occurs either directly 
or indirectly. Nut trees such as Terminalia kaernbachu, the okari nut, 
may be planted in old garden sites and later after the site is abandoned 
and secondary forest develops they are tended. Such trees are only 
associated with human intervention (Chaplin, 1985a). Regeneration 
of other useful species such as Canarium indicum, and C. salomonense 
which provide oil-rich kernels and the Pacific sago palm, may be 
encouraged and further enrich an area’s productivity (Chaplin, 
1985b). The very disturbed but intensively managed fruit and nut 
forests of the Reef Islands and parts of Santa Cruz are well-known 
examples (Yen, 1974). 


Mangroves 

Mangrove forests occur on most islands, but maps are lacking. They 
are relatively extensive on Santa Isabel, Malaita and in the New 
Georgia group. No large scale exploitation has taken place and 


Marovo Lagoon in the New Georgia group, Solomon Islands. T. C. Whitmore 


mangrove forests have legal protection. Two small scale threats can 
be identified. The beach forest, and often small areas of mangrove on 
the seaward side of coconut plantations, are usually, and generally 
unnecessarily, cleared. In the second instance mangroves are a source 
of firewood and building poles, and are under considerable pressure 
due to their coastal location near to the rural population. 

Mangroves are believed to have an important role in the produc- 
tion of the small anchovy-type fish used as bait in the skipjack tuna 
pole-fishing industry. This industry is of crucial importance to the 
Solomon Islands’ economy. 

A significant threat to mangrove forests in the Noro area of New 
Georgia was averted when plans to use mangrove for industrial scale 
fish-smoking were stopped. An alternative source of suitable wood 
from the log yard of a logging company was identified. 


Biodiversity 

The lowland rain forest of the Solomon Islands is floristically relativ- 
ely poor. This impoverishment is to a limited extent compensated by 
distinctive Melanesian and Pacific components in the flora. The flora 
is also remarkably uniform with few species endemic to individual 
islands or regions. The Solomons have a rich avifauna and this does 
show strong local differentiation (Mayr, 1945) and there 1s a high 
level of endemism. There are few reptiles, amphibians or mammals. 
The insects include several spectacular endemic birdwing butterflies 
(Ornithopera and iroides). 


Conservation Areas 

The existing system of protected areas is so weak that the Solomon 
Islands may be considered to have no effective conservation areas. 
Protected areas legislation is also weakened by not being applicable to 
land held in customary tenure. The Arnavon Wildlife Sanctuary was 
protected under a trespass law from 1975, and established in law as a 
protected area in 1980. However, the negotiations which led to its 
establishment did not take into full account the customary ownership 
claimed by a group from Choiseul and in 1981 they attacked and 
destroyed the research facilities in the sanctuary. There has been no 
subsequent attempt to re-establish a protected area there. 

The area to the immediate south of Honiara around Mount Austin 
was designated as Queen Elizabeth National Park in 1954. Reduced 
from 61 sq. km to a little over 10 sq. km in 1973, no effective 
management was instituted and the forest, dominated by Pometia 
pinnata and Vitex cofassus has largely been replaced by severely 
degraded forest or open grassland as a result of shifting cultivation. 

A narrow strip of unlogged forest on Kolombangara, home to a 
number of single-island endemic birds, ranging from the coast up to 
the areas of unlogged forest on the central mountain was to be 
reserved, but was subsequently selectively logged in the early 1980s. 

To identify the critically important sites a national survey is 
required. Most of the land is under customary ownership and any 
measures to protect areas must take account of that. The principal 
objectives should be: 

e Protection of internationally important areas such as Rennell, the 
Anarvons and the kauri (Agathis) forest in the Santa Cruz islands. 
@ Protection of coastal forests under particular pressure. 

e Protection of all mangrove forests. 

e Protection of all forest above 400 m. 

e Protection of typical examples of the types of lowland forest. 

© Continued protection of the Kolombangara Ecological Survey 
plots which were established in 1964 and are amongst the oldest in 
the humid tropics (Whitmore and Chaplin, 1986). 

The following areas are of particular value and as such are strong 
candidates for protection in some form: 
© Rennell Island (see case study), which is internationally signifi- 
cant. 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


e Parts of the natural kauri Agathis macrophylla stands in Santa 
Cruz. 

e Selected coralline islands that will retain viable natural forest. 

e Representative areas of rain forest on each of the major islands (as 
well as Rennell), to ensure the protection of the endemic flora and 
fauna. Ideally, a sizeable reserve embracing the full ecological transi- 
tion from the mountains to the coast should be sought in each case. 
Lowland forest such as the customary owned land at Iriri on Kolom- 
bangara is an example of such areas. 

@ All forest above 400 m is protected from logging, but this must be 
strengthened, in anticipation that the lowland forests will be logged- 
out in 10 to 15 years’ ume. 


Initiatives for Conservation 

Reports to Parliament by the Solomon Islands Ombudsman (OSI) 
have drawn attention to the disastrous effects which essentially un- 
controlled logging is having on rural people and their resources. These 
reports have highlighted issues and are beginning to lead to reform. 

It is clear that large scale export logging operations are sull rapidly 
depleting the lowland forests of the Solomon Islands. During the 
1980s reported annual log exports averaged 300,000 cu. min addition 
to up to 40,000 cu. m felled for domestic consumption. Licences have 
been issued to allow harvesting to rise to 460,000 cu. m per annum, 
which gives the remaining potentially exploitable forests a lifetime of 
10-15 years. 

Eighty-five per cent of logging is carried out on customary land. 
This has proved to be very difficult to control, as the Conservator of 
Forests states in his 1987 Annual Report: 

‘The Forest Policy states clearly the concept of sustained yield, 

however landowners have exclusive rights on the use of their land 

and timber resources. This arrangement severely restricts the 

ability of the Forestry Division to issue licences according to a 

planned strategy in the best interests of the nation as a whole. If 

correct procedures are followed by landowners and companies, 

Forestry Division has little option but to issue the licence re- 

quested.’ 

In a special report to Parliament (OSI, 1989) the Ombudsman 
states that under the present legal and political system it is practically 
impossible for rural people to stop the entry of foreign logging 
companies into their forests; there is widespread opposition to 
logging; and the logging is bringing little benefit to the country or the 
landowners. He concludes: 

‘In 20 years’ time we shall look back on the activities of these 

logging companies with the same horror with which we now regard 

the selling of valuable coastal land for shell money and sticks of 
tobacco, or the “recruiting”’ of labour for foreign owned planta- 

PONG ose 

In 1989 a reviewed forest policy was adopted and a new Forest and 
Timber Act was drafted. The 1989 policy requires forests to be 
managed on a sustained yield basis, and calls for a reduction in the 
rate of felling and the creation ofa reforestation agency for customary 
land. Already a moratorium on logging licences has been imposed. 
According to the policy, a forest planning unit is to be established, a 
forest inventory has been approved, a forestry sector plan is to be 
produced, timber operations and sales are to be controlled and forest 
reserves and protected areas are to be set aside. 

The flora and fauna of the Solomon Islands is very special and in 
some cases unique. It is very closely linked to a way of life that will 
need to maintain that link, indeed dependence, into the 21st century. 
Maintaining the viability of this natural resource Is a national priority 
for the Solomon Island, but it will be impossible unless protected 
areas are established. During 1990 an ecological survey will define a 
representative system of sites. International funding is then to be 
sought for the leasing of these areas from customary landowners. 


247 


WESTERN PACIFIC ISLANDS 


the logging industry. Several matters (in addition to the establish- 
ment of protected areas require attention: 

e Forest plantations are currently confined to government land. 
Means of establishing plantations on custom-owned land need to be 
identified and put into practice. 

e An inventory of the remaining natural commercial forests is 
urgently needed to enable rational planning to take place. 

e A review of all natural resources, both flora and fauna, and 


Many other positive developments are beginning to take place. As 
well as the forest policy review and the moratorium on logging 
licenses, companies are under pressure to process logs locally; there 
has been success with enforcing selective logging; a forest estate is 
being established and the plantation programme is being expanded. 
All of these factors will tend to increase the prospects for the 
acceptance of more positive practices with regard to forest industry, 
forestry plantations and conservation. 


However, in view of the current vigour and expansionist aims of 


including the inshore marine resource, is required. 


RENNELL ISLAND 


Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world, 86 km long 
and over 15 km wide, with an area of 825 sq. km, and is the most 
isolated of the larger islands of the Solomons. It lies 170 km west 
of Makira, 180 km south of Guadalcanal and 1600 km north-east 
of Queensland. It is inhabited by people of Polynesian origin and 
has little dependence in the outside world. 

Unlike most of the larger Solomon Islands, Rennell is a ‘low’ 
island. Its surface consists of exposed cavernous pinnacle lime- 
stone, which has eroded and now forms a typical karst landscape. 
Lake Tungano, 29 km by 10 km, is the largest enclosed body of 
water in the Pacific. An endemic banded sea snake Laticauda 
crockert occurs in the slightly saline waters of the lake. 

The island is mostly covered by dense forest with a canopy 
averaging 20 m tall with numerous larger emergent trees. The 
particular nature of the forest is not well documented but it is 
likely to be unique. It may well be heavily disturbed due to the 
activities and needs of the Rennellese. 

As many as 43 per cent of Rennell’s breeding birds are endemic 
and include: 
e@ White ibis Threskiornis mollucus 
subsp. pygmaeus 
Tachybaptus novaehollandiae 
subsp. rennellianus 
e@ Rennell fantail Rhupidura rennelliana 
@ Rennell white-eye Zosterops rennellianus 

Dendrobium rennelli is a stunningly attractive and rare endemic 


e Australian dabchick 


endemic orchid, found on small islands in the lake. During a 
recent study the number of known orchid species was raised from 
four to 22 in five days (Cribb, 1989). 

The above examples serve to illustrate the unique nature of the 
Rennellese flora and fauna and therefore the general importance 
of the island both nationally and internationally. The inscription 
of Rennell on the Unesco World Heritage List has been suggested 
by IUCN but this has not yet been accepted. 

During the 1960s proposals were made to mine bauxite on 
Rennell. More recently a logging company has offered infrastruc- 
tural developments and cash royalties for logging rights and this 
proposal is being considered (Cribb, 1989). 

The cataclysmic short-term changes that are usually associated 
with logging or mining operations are not appropriate to Rennell, 
and will not benefit the islanders in the long term. They would be 
very damaging to the forests and their component plant and 
animal life and would threaten the soil and ground water resources 
that are essential to the viability and quality of life on Rennell. 
They would jeopardise and destroy the very resources that could 
be used to develop the long-term prosperity. 

Clearly the Rennell life-style is as much under threat from 
mining and logging operations as from lack of development and 
progress. Therefore positive long term sustainable development 
utilising, but not destroying, the natural resources is required. 
Possible options include the development of a specialist tourist 
industry based around Lake Tungano. 


VANUATU 


Three-quarters of the total land area of Vanuatu is still covered with 
natural vegetation, including lowland rain forest and some mon- 
tane rain forest. Pressure on the land has been low butis increasing 
rapidly. Much of the forest has low commercial potential because of 
cyclone damage. The most valuable timber species, kauri (Agathis 
macrophylla and A. silbar) was almost completely logged out under 
the previous colonial administration, leaving small primary stands 
in central Erromango and Espiritu Santo. There has never been a 
forest inventory, although one is now planned. There are thus no 
good maps of forest cover or other information on areas of greatest 
natural interest. Land use and agronomic potential have, however, 
been assessed (Quantin, 1982). 

In the 1980s the annual forest cut has ranged from 19,500 to 
38,000 cu. m with up to two-thirds being exported. Export 
logging permits may be phased out by the early 1990s. The major 
threats to the forest are from extensive development projects, 
such as for pasture and cocoa which require the clearing of 
thousands of hectares, particularly on Espiritu Santo and Mal- 
akula. The construction of new roads on Espiritu Santo will open 
substantial areas of pristinAforest to development. There are also 


sull occasional pressures from outside to log large areas of forest. 

Plantations have been developed to meet local needs, and 
industrial forestry plantations are expanding. It is intended even- 
tually to meet most local wood requirements. The Forestry 
Department is developing and implementing plans for sustainable 
forest use, but it still lacks an adequate database on which to 
formulate planning decisions. There are at present no terrestrial 
protected areas in Vanuatu, but one is planned for the remaining 
kauri forest on Erromango. It is now time to identify those forest 
areas requiring protection from development. Plans to prepare a 
National Conservation Strategy are under way, and this should 
provide the Government and people with an opportunity to 
consider the long term future of their land and forests. 

Quantin (1982) includes maps of potential agronomic land-use, 
at 1:100,000 for Espiritu Santo, Malakula, Efate and Tanna (5 
sheets) and at 1:500,000 (2 sheets) covering the entire country. A 
general discussion of location, population, economy, geology, 
topography, climate, soils and land use and a detailed treatment of 
soils and potential crops is given. However, no maps of the 
distribution of natural forests on Vanuatu have been located. 


248 


References 

Anon. (1989) Rain forest echoes. News from Le Vaomatua 22. Pago 
Pago, American Samoa. 

Ash, J. and Ash, W. (1984) Freshwater wetland vegetation of Viu 
Levu, Fiji. New Zealand Fournal of Botany 22: 337-91. 

Chaplin, G. E. (1985a) A potentially useful nut tree, Terminalia 
kaernbachu Warb. Forest Research Note 17 4/85. Forestry Division, 
Honiara, Solomon Islands. 

Chaplin, G. E.(1985b) Indications of the potential fruit and kernel 
yields of C. indicum and C. salomonense in Western Province 
Solomon Island. Forest Research Note 19 6/85. Forestry Division, 
Honiara, Solomon Islands. 

Chaplin, G. E. (1988) The status of Securimega flexuosa in Solomon 
Islands — an appropriate species for small scale community for- 
estry. Forest Research Note 46 14/88. Forestry Division, Honiara. 

Cribb, P. J. (1989) Desert island discoveries: orchid hunting on a 
coral island. Orchid Revue and The Orchadian. Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, UK. (In press.) 

Drysdale, P. J. (1988) Rain forest management and conservation in 
Fiji: a prescription for action. In: Proceedings of Second Nauonal 
Conservation Congress 9-10 Fune. Vol 2, pp. 1-264. National Trust 
for Fiji, Suva, Fiji. 

Dunlap, R. C. and Singh, B. B. (1980) A National Parks and 
Reserves System for Fyi. Report to the National Trust for Fiji. 
3 Volumes. 

FAO (1988) An Interim Report on the State of Forest Resources in the 
Developing Countries. FAO, Rome, Italy. 18 pp. + 5 tables. 

FAO (1990) FAO Yearbook of Forest Products 1977-88. FAO For- 
estry Series No. 23, FAO Statistics Series No. 90. FAO, Rome. 

Hansell, J. R. F. and Wall, J. R. D. (1976) Land resources of the 
Solomon Islands. Land Resources Study 18. 

Mayr, E. (1945) Birds of the South West Pacific. A Field Guide to the 
Birds of the Area Between Samoa, New Caledonia and Micronesia. 
Macmillan, New York, USA. 

Ombudsman of the Solomon Islands (OSI) (1989) Can rural people 
say no to foreign logging? Ombudsman’s Report to Parliament. 

Paine, J. R. (1989a) Western Samoa, an Overview of its Protected 
Area System. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 
Cambridge, UK. Unpublished report. 

Paine, J. R. (1989b) Tonga, an Overview of its Protected Area 
System. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, 
UK. Unpublished report. 

Paine, J. R. (1989c) Cook Islands, an Overview of its Protected 
Area System. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 
Cambridge. Unpublished report. 

Paine, J. R. (1989d) Fiji, an Overview of its Protected Area 
System. World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, 
UK. Unpublished report. 

Parham, J. W. (1972) Plants of Fin Islands. Government Press, 
Suva. 

Pratt, D. H., Bruner, P. L. and Berret, D. G. (1987) 
Hawau and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, 
Princeton, New Jersey, USA. 

Quantin, P. (1982) Vanuatu: Agronomic Potennal and Land Use 
maps. (Includes seven folded maps.) ORSTOM/Ministry of Land 
and Natural Resources, Paris. (French/English text.) 49 pp. 

Robinson, G. S. (1975) Macrolepidoptera of Fit and Rotuma: a 
Taxonomic and Biogeographic Study. E. W. Classey, Faringdon, 
UK. 362 pp. 

Schmid, M. (1978) The Melanesian forest ecosystem (New Cal- 
edonia, New Hebrides, Fiji Islands and Solomon Islands). In: 
Unesco/UNEP/FAO; Tropical Forest Ecosystems. Unesco, Paris. 

Schmid, M. (1989) The forests in the tropical Pacific archi- 
pelagoes. In: Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems. pp. 283—301. Lieth, 


The Birds of 


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H. and Werger, M. J. A. (eds). Ecosystems of the World 14B. 
Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

SPREP (1980) Fyz. Country Report No. 4. South Pacific Commis- 
sion, Noumea, New Caledonia. 31 pp. 

SPREP (1985) Action Strategy for Protected Areas in the South Pacific 
Region. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 
UNEP/IUCN (1988) Coral Reefs of the World. Vol. 3. Central and 
western Pacific. UNEP Regional Seas Directories and Bibliogra- 
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UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya. 

Walker, F. S. (1948) The Forests of the British Solomon Islands 
Protectorate. Forest Record No. 1, Forestry Division, Ministry of 
Natural Resources, Honiara, Solomon Islands. 

Watling, D. (1988a) The effects of logging on Fijian wildlife. A 
Paper presented at the National Trust for Fiji's Second Conserva- 
tion Conference, June 8—9, 1988. 

Watling, D. (1988b) The Forestry Sector Development Study. 
FIJ/86/004. Report of the environmental scienust. Unpublished 
Report. Suva, Fiji. 

Whitmore, T.C. (1966) The social status of Agathis ina rain forest 
in Melanesia. Journal of Ecology 54: 285-301. 

Whitmore, T. C. (1969) The vegetation of the Solomon Islands. 
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 255: 259-70. 

Whitmore, T. C. and Chaplin, G. E. (1986) The Kolombangara 
ecological survey: Review 1964—1986 and proposals for the future. 
Forest Research Note 27—8/86. Forestry Division, Honiara. 

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Authorship 

James Paine of WCMC, Cambridge covered Fiji, with contributions 
from A. M. Ravuvu of the Ministry of Forests in Suva, Birandra 
Singh of the National Trust for Fiji in Suva, Michal Fromaget of 
ORSTOM, Noumea, and Bill Howard of ODA, London. Arthur 
Dahl of UNEP, Nairobi covered Melanesia with contributions from 
Guy Salmon of the Maruia Society in Auckland. Graham Chaplin of 
the Oxford Forestry Institute covered the Solomon Islands with 
additional data from C. Turnbull, Senior Forest Officer in Honiara. 


Map 29.1 Forest cover in Fiji 

The remaining indigenous forest in Fiji was extracted from a 1:500,000 forest 
cover map, prepared by the Ministry of Forests, Fiji, from a 1985 survey. Forest 
types were added with the help of the Maruia Society, Auckland, New Zealand, 
whose staff generously prepared a summary forest map based on the Fiji Forest 
Inventory carried out in 1966-9 and published in 1972, in 29 map sheets at 
1:50,000 by the Directorate of Overseas Surveys, London. Protected areas 
information and maps were also prepared by the Maruia Society. 


Map 29.2 Forest cover in the Solomon Islands 


There are no published maps of existing vegetation in the Solomon Islands. Map 
29.2 is based ona hand-coloured map prepared by the Forestry Division, showing 
plantation forests, logged forests and logging concessions overlain onto the 
published 1:1 million scale map Solomon Island, Edition 2, revised and published 
by The Survey and ‘Mapping Division, Honiara, in two sheets. Additional 
information was added by G. Chaplin, based on his personal experience of the 
region. Difficulties were experienced in discovering the total land area of The 
Solomon Islands; FAO uses 27,540 sq. km., but other sources give figures 1000— 
2000 sq. km larger. 


249 


ACRONYMS 


Apia Convention Convention on the Conservation of Nature in the 
South Pacific 

AIDAB Australian International Development Assistance Bureau 
AsDB Asian Development Bank 

ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations 

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometry 
BAKOSURTANAL National Centre for Coordination of Surveys and 
Mapping (Indonesia) 

BARC Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council 

BIOTROP Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology 

BP British Petroleum 

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 
Wild Fauna and Flora 

CMC IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre (now WCMC) 

CNPPA Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (IUCN) 
CPA Construction and Planning Administration (Ministry of Interior, 
China) 

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation, 
Australia 

CFDT Committee for Forest Development in the Tropics (FAO) 
CTFT Centre Technique Forestier Tropical (Paris) 

DANIDA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International 
Development 

dbh Diameter at breast height 

DENR Dept of Environment and Natural Resources (Philippines) 
DoT Department of Trasmigration (Indonesia) 

ECAN Environmentally Critical Areas Network (Philippines) 

ECE Economic Commission for Europe (UN) 

EEC European Economic Community 

ELC Environment Liaison Centre 

ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN) 
ESRI Environmental Systems Research Insutute 

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations 
FELDA Federal Land Development Authority (Malaysia) 
FINNIDA Finnish International Development Agency 

FRIM Forest Research Insutute, Malaysia 

FSI Forest Survey of India 

GEMS Global Environment Monitoring System (UNEP) 

GIS Geographic Information System 

GRID Global Resources Information Database (UNEP/GEMS) 

GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit 
HELVETAS Switzerland Development Agency 

HID Harvard Insutute for International Development 

IBM International Business Machines 

IBP International Biological Programme 

IBPGR International Board for Plant Genetic Resources 

ICBP International Council for Bird Preservation 

IDRC International Development Research Centre (Canada) 

IED International Institute for Environment and Development 

ILO International Labour Organisation (UN) 

ISFP Integrated Social Forestry Programme (Philippines) 

IPT Asian Wetland Bureau 

ITTA International Tropical Timber Agreement 


GLOSSARY 


accretion See LAND ACCRETION. 

agroforestry Interplanting of farm crops and trees. 

anthropogenic Produced as a result of human activities. 

arboreal Tree-dwelling. 

arboretum Place where trees and shrubs are grown for study and display. 
aseasonal Without clear seasons. 

avifauna Birdlife of a region or period of time. 

biodiversity Richness of plant and animal species and in ecosystem 
complexity. 

biogeographical province Area defined by fauna and flora it contains. 
biomass Amount of living matter in a defined area. 

Biosphere Reserve Concept introduced by Unesco’s Man and Bio- 
sphere Programme. A reserve including zones with different degrees of 
land use. See CHAPTER 9. 

biota The flora and fauna of an area. 

biotic Relating to living things. 

250 


ITTO International Tropical Timber Organisation 

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural 
Resources — The World Conservation Union 

IUFRO International Union of Forestry Research Organisations 
IWRB International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau 

JNC Jet Navigation Charts 

MAB Man and the Biosphere Programme (Unesco) 

MNS Malayan Nature Society 

NARESA National Resources Energy and Science Authority (Sri Lanka) 
NCC Nature Conservancy Council (UK) 

NCS National Conservation Strategy 

NGO Non-governmental Organisation 

NRMC Natural Resources Management Centre (Philippines) 
OCA/PAC Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme Activity Centre 
(UNEP) 

ODA Overseas Development Administration (UK) 

ODNRI Overseas Development Natural Resources Insutute (UK) 
ONC Operational Navigation Charts 

ORSTOM Insutut Frang¢ais de Recherche Scientifique pour le De- 
veloppement en Cooperation 

OSI Ombudsman of the Solomon Islands 

POSSCEP Project on Study Survey and Conservation of Endangered 
Species of Flora (India) 

Ramsar Convention Convention on Wetlands of International Import- 
ance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat 

RePPProt Regional Physical Planning Programme for Transmigration 
(Indonesia) 

SACEP South Asia Cooperative Environmental Programme 

SAM Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth, Malaysia) 

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar 

SIDA Swedish International Development Authority 

SKEPHI Sekretariat Kerjasama Polestarian Hutan 

SLAR Side-looking Airborne Radar 

SPOT Systeme Probatoire d’Observation de la Terre 

SPREP South Pacific Regional Environment Programme 

SSC Species Survival Commission (IUCN) 

TFAP Tropical Forestry Action Plan 

TPC Tactical Pilotage Charts 

UN United Nations 

UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 
UNDP United Nations Development Programme 

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme 

Unesco United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisa- 
tion 

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation 
UNSO United Nations Sundano-Sahelian Office 

US-AID US Agency for International Development 

US-NPS US Nauonal Park Service 

WCED World Commission on Environment and Development 
WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre 

WCS World Conservation Strategy 

WEI Wau Ecology Insutute 

WEP World Food Programme 

WRI World Resources Institute 

WWE World Wide Fund for Nature 


bole Trunk of a tree. 

broadleaved (tree) Any tree belonging to the subclass Dicotyledonae of 
the class Angiospermae (flowering plants). 

buttress Flange at base of a tree bole (qv); common in rain forests. 
canopy The whole of a forest from the ground upwards. Some scientists 
use canopy to mean just the top of the forest. 

catchment A river basin, sometimes referring only to its upper part. 
clear felling Complete clearance of a forest, as opposed to selective 
fellings. See also monocyclic/polycyclic systems. 

climax The final stage in the natural succession reached by a community 
of organisms, especially plants, in equilibrium with existing environ- 
mental conditions. 

closed canopy Canopy (qv) which is effecuvely complete, rather than 
consisting of scattered trees; in practice, canopy cover of 40% or more. 
commensal species Different species that associate, bringing benefit to 
one of the species and harming none of them. 

concession Block of forest granted for exploitation over a specified 
period to a firm or person, the concessionaire. 


cordillera Chains of mountain peaks. 

corridors of forest Strips or belts of forest running through non- 
forested land, joining larger forest blocks. 

coupe A technical forestry term referring to the amount of forest cutina 
specified period. 

creaming Light exploitation of a forest (removal of the most valuable 
trees). 

crown canopy Cover formed by the top branches of trees in a forest. 
crown cover Coverage of ground by tree crowns. 

cytology Study of cells. 

degazette an area, degazettement Rescind the legal demarcation of an 
area. 

desertification Expansion of deserts by climatic change or by overgraz- 
ing and clearing of vegetation in adjacent areas. 

desiccation Removal of moisture; drying out. 

dipterocarp Member of the Dipterocarpacae, a family of old-world 
tropical trees valuable for umber and resin. 

ecological niche The functional posiuon of an organism within an 
ecosystem. 

ecosystem A natural unit consisung of organisms and their environ- 
ment. 

endemic Native or confined to a particular area. 

endemism Noun from endemic. 

epiphyte A plant which uses another for support, not for nutrients. 
escarpment Long cliff or slope separating two more or less level slopes, 
resulting from erosion or faults. 

estuarine Living in an estuary. 

faller Person who fells trees. 

fauna Wildlife in a particular area or time. 

felling cycle Time period between successive forest harvests. 

feral Referring to animals or plants that were once domesticated but 
have escaped to the wild. 

fire climax Synonym: pyroclimax. Regions of plant life, e.g. forests, 
grassland, where fire plays an important role in suppressing some plants 
and encouraging the growth of others. See CLIMAX. 

flora Wild plant life in a particular area or ume. 

floristics The plant species composition of an ecosystem. 

friable (soil) Crumbly. 

frugivorous Fruit-eating. 

germplasm The genetic diversity of a group of organisms. 
Gondwanic Pertaining to Gondwanaland, the southern super-continent 
which has disintegrated from the early Tertiary onwards. 

granodiorite Coarsely crystalline acid igneous rock. 

hardwood Wood of a flowering plant, technically recognised by its 
possession (with rare excepuons) of vessels. Hardwoods range from hard 
and dense (e.g. Lignum vitae) to soft (e.g. balsa). 

Imperata cylindrica Aggressive stoloniferous (qv) creeping grass which 
forms fire climax vegetation after forest destruction. 

inflorescence Flowering shoot. 

karst Cavernous and deeply eroded limestone. 

land accretion Fixation of land. 

lateritic (acid |. soil) Hard impermeable soil unsuitable for cultivation. 
littoral Situated near a (sea) shore. 

massif Large mountain mass. 

monoculture Cultivation of a single crop. 

monocyclic system Synonym: uniform system. Removal of all saleable 
trees ata single operation. The length of the cycle corresponds roughly to 
the rotation (qv) period of the trees. Damage to the forest is more drastic 
than under a polycyclic system. 

monotreme Egg-laying order (Monotremata) of Mammalia with many 
primitive repulian features. 

monotypic Having a single representative (used of a biological group). 
monsoon forest Closed canopy forests in seasonal tropical climates (see 
CHAPTER 1). 

montane Growing or living in mountainous areas. 

morphology Study of the form of animals and plants. 

multistorey See STOREY. 

niche See ECOLOGICAL NICHE. 

open forests See WOODLANDS. 

peelers, peeling See VENEER LOGS. 

perhumid Permanently humid climate with no dry season. 
photosynthesis Process by which green plants use sunlight to build 
complex substances from carbon dioxide and water. 


physiognomy External features. 

physiographical Describing natural phenomena. 

phytochemistry Chemistry of plants. 

poison girdling Poisoning of unwanted trees and climbers to enable 
nearby trees to develop. 

polycyclic system Synonym: selection system. Systematic repeated re- 
moval of mature trees to encourage growth of young ones. See CHAPTER 6. 
polymer Chemical compound consisung of repeating structural units. 
primary forest See PRISTINE FOREST. 

pristine forest Forest in a primary, virgin or undisturbed state. 
production forest Forest designated for the production of goods, usu- 
ally umber. 

propagules Any part of a plant capable of forming a new plant when 
separated from the parent. 

rain forest Closed canopy forests in aseasonal climates; may be found in 
tropical and temperate latitudes. See CHAPTER 1. 

refugium, plur. refugia Region where biological communities have 
remained relatively undisturbed over long periods. 

residual stand The number of trees left standing after logging. 
riparian Land bordering water. 

riverine Living or growing on a river bank. 

rotation Length of time needed for a stand of commercial umber trees to 
reach a suitable felling size. 

sawlogs Logs which are to be sawn lengthwise for the manufacture of 
sawnwood. 

scaling (logs) Use of a pre-determined measure (scaling stick) to deter- 
mine the number of board feet (12’ x 12” X 1”) per tree. 

sclerophyll Plant with tough evergreen leaves. 

secondary forest Forest containing fast-growing trees which flourish 
after disturbance. 

selection system See POLYCYCLIC SYSTEM. 

shifting cultivation System of agriculture that depends on clearing and 
burning an area of forest for farming over a temporary period. See 
SWIDDEN AGRICULTURE. 

silvicultural treatment Treatment often involving removal in a natural 
forest of unwanted climbers, damaged trees or uncommercial species. 
Replanting is rare. 

silviculture The cultivation and management of forests and woodland. 
sinker Logs that are denser than water and thus cannot be rafted down 
river. Antonym: floater. 

skid track, skid trail Track caused by logs being dragged or skidded. 
skidder Vehicle used to haul logs from the forest. 

skyline working Skyline cable logging, overhead logging. 

slash and burn See SHIFTING CULTIVATION. 

softwood Wood froma conifer, technically recognised by the absence of 
vessels. Softwoods have abundant fibres and make good paper. 

stand See RESIDUAL STAND. 

stoloniferous Describes a creeping plant which throws out runners. 
storey Layer or stratum of a forest. 

swidden agriculture Shifting agriculture carried out in the traditional, 
sustainable way, i.e. with periods of fallow to restore soil fertility. 
taxonomy Classification of plants and animals based on natural relation- 
ships. 

tetrapod Vertebrate with two pairs of limbs. 

thermoplastic Capable of softening or melting when heated and harden- 
ing when cooled. 

transfer pricing The price at which intra-company trades are consum- 
mated e.g. from a firm’s sawmill to a company-owned wholesale ware- 
house. 

ultrabasic rocks Igneous rocks almost entirely composed of ferromag- 
nesian minerals. 

understorey See STOREY. 

ungulate Hoofed mammal. 

uniform systems See MONOCYCLIC SYSTEMS. 

vascular Used to describe channels carrying fluids in plants (and ani- 
mals). 

veneer logs Logs from tree that are good ‘peelers’, i.e. relatively easy to 
cut into thin veneers for making plywood. 

vessel Continuous tubular structure in a plant used for the longitudinal 
conduction of materials from roots to leaves. 

virgin forest See PRISTINE FOREST. 

woodland Woody vegetation formations with scattered trees, generally 
with less than 40% crown cover. Also known as ‘open forests’. 


Nm 
nn 
— 


Index of Species — Plants 


Page numbers referring to Tables are given in bold. 


Acacia, 226; auriculiformis, 238; 
catechu, 123; mangium, 43, 80 

Acanthus, 207 

Aceraceae, 223 

Achrostichum, 207 

Actinostachys digitata, 123 

Agathis, 47, 48, 143, 193, 202; 
dammara, 143; labillardiere1, 
178; macrophylla, 245, 247; 
silbat, 247 

Albizia, 66, 80, 151, 158 

Alstonia, 223 

Anisoptera, 183, 238; 
cochinchinensis, 166; costata, 111; 
glabra, 111; thunfera, 175 

Annonaceae, 117 

Ant plant, 202 

Apitong, 43 

Araucania, 43, 143 

Areca catechu, 14 

Artocarpus, 14; heterophyllus, 14, 
30; unlis, 14, 22, 175 

Austrobaileya scandens, 91 

Averrhoa carambola, 14 

Auvicennia, 86 


Bagtikan, 47 

Balau, 43 

Balaukuus, 46 

Bamboo, 14, 15, 47, 74, 92, 106, 
107, 108, 119, 123, 127, 166, 
193, 222, 226, 239, 241, 245 

Bambusa vulgans, 245 

Banana, 14, 25, 30, 92, 175, 234 

Bangkirai, 46 

Begonia, 22 

Begoniaceae, 187 

Benguet pine, 193, 223 

Betel nut, 14 

Betula alnoides, 223 

Black pepper, 14, 211, 213, 219 

Boehmeria nwea, 14 

Bow-string hemp, 14 

Breadfruit, 14, 22, 17S 

Broussonetia papyifera, 245 

Bryophyte, 142 


Cablin potchouli, 123 

Calamander, 14, 216 

Calamus spp, 15, 245; caestus, 15, 
48; helferianus, 109; manan, 48; 
submermis, 48; trachycoleus, 15, 
48, 49 

Calophyllum, 127, 128, 143, 202 

Cananum, 246 

Carambola, 14 

Cardamon, 14, 113, 134, 219, 
220-1 

Carica papaya, 30 

Cassava, 30, 32, 41, 170 

Cassia-bark tree, 123 

Cassia stamea, 238 

Castanopsis, 111, 223, 232 

Casuarina, 142 

Cenops decandra, 95 

Ceylon gooseberry, 14 

Chaulmoogra tree, 123 

Chengal, 43 

Chilli, 170 

Cinchona, 22 

Cinnamomum spp, 14, 155, 158; 
cassia, 123; zeylanicum, 219 

Curus spp, 14, 22; limon, 30 

Cocaine tree, 123 

Cocoa, 22, 153, 174, 179, 206 

Coconut, 155, 186, 213, 216, 245 


Coffee, 13, 14, 22, 134, 158, 174, 
179, 216, 234 

Colocasia esculenta, 14, 25, 30, 32, 
175 

Conifer, 11 

Copra, 241 

Corchorus: capsularis, 14, 92; 
olttorius, 14 

Cotton, 33, 241 

Cowpea, 32 

Crotalaria juncea, 14 

Curcuma: domestica, 219; longa, 14 

Cutch, 123 

Cyphosperma tanga, 242 


Dacrydium, 202, pierrer, 111 
Dalbergia spp, 80, 166; lanfolia, 
127 


Damar, 48, 49 

Degeneriaceae, 242 

Dimocarpus longan, 14 

Dioscorea, 25 

Duospyros spp, 143; oppositifolia, 
220; quaesita, 14, 216 

Dipterocarpus, 183, 202; alatus, 
166, 238; costatus, 111; dyer, 
238; grandiflorus, 127; hispidus, 
216; kermi, 127; macrocarpus, 
127; warburghu, 193, zeylanicus, 
216 

Dovyalis hebecarpa, 14 

Dracontomelum, 43 

Dryobalanops, 43, 47, 183, 202; 
rappa, 102 

Durian, 14, 30 

Dyera: costulata, 47; lowu, 47 


Ebony, 143 

Elaeis guineensis, 13, 14, 22, 40, 
41, 42, 150, 153, 174, 179, 186, 
187, 189, 206 

Eleltoria cardonomum, 14, 113, 134, 
219, 220-1 

Enterolobium saman, 211 

Epiphyte, 245 

Erythroxylum coca, 123 

Eucalyptus, 23, 43, 80, 85, 86, 93, 
107, 142, 143, 151, 226, 238, 
239; deglupta, 175; grandis, 86 

Eugeissona utilis, 25, 99, 147, 150, 
175, 206, 246 

Eugenia caryophyllata, 219 

Eusideroxylon zwagert, 147 

Excoecana agallocha, 95 


Fagaceae, 98, 111, 142, 175, 202, 
207, 232 

Fern, 22, 109, 179 

Ficus, 207 

Fig, 245 

Flacourtiaceae, 202 


Galbulimima belgraveana, 91 
Gambier, 211, 213 

Garcinia, 128; mangostana, 14 
Gesneriaceae, 187 

Gewa, 95 

Giam, 43 

Gigantochloea, 14 

Ginger, 14, 219 

Gmelina, 151; moluccana, 245 
Gnetum, 246 

Gonystylus bancanus, 202 
Goran, 95 

Gordonia spp, 216 
Gossypium, 33, 241 


Index of Species — Animals and Birds 


Accipuer Soloensis, 123 

Ailuropoda melanoleuca, 119, 120 

Alcippe peracensts, 228 

Anoas (Bubalus spp), 155 

Aonyx cinerea, 227 

Arborphila ardens, 119 

Arctogalidia tnvirgata tnlineata, 
16 

Argustanus, 17, 18 

Asian bonytongue, 16 

Asian elephant, 16-17, 171, 235 

Asiatic clawless otter, 227 

Asiauc golden cat, 16 

Australian dabchick, 248 


Babirusa, 16, 155 
Badger, 207 

Bali starling, 19 
Bali tiger, 155 
Bandicoot, 155 


252 


Banteng, 16, 35, 48, 92, 93, 108, 
114, 154, 171, 207, 227, 235 

Barbet, 155, 212 

Barking deer, 16, 48, 108, 212 

Bat, 16, 155, 207, 242 

Batagur baska, 95 

Bathawk, 207 

Batomys granu, 195 

Bearded pig, 16, 48 

Bengal florican, 93 

Bengal tiger, 92, 95 

Birdwing butterfly, 16, 155, 180, 
247 

Black bear, 122 

Black gibbon, 119, 122, 171, 235 

Black-necked stork, 235 

Black-shanked douc langur, 235 

Bornean bay cat, 16 

Bos; gaurus, 16, 35, 48, 93, 108, 
114, 171, 227, 230, 235; 


Guava, 30 

Gulubia microcarpa, 242 
Gutta percha tree, 211 
Gutuiferae, 202 
Gymnostoma, 202 


Herittera fomes, 95 

Hevea brasiliensis, 22 

Hooker mayten, 123 

Hopea, 43, 117, 166, 175, 193; 
basilanica, 193; cagayanensis, 
193; odorata, 111, 238 

Hyacinth bean, 32 

Hydnocarpus anthelminucus, 123 


Illipe nut, 14, 47, 57 

Impatiens, 22 

Imperata, 108, 114, 118, 147; 
cylindrica, 33, 34, 142, 198, 238 

Indian rosewood, 127 

Indigofera tenemant, 238 

Intsia, 43, 46, 143; palembanica, 47 

Ironwood, 147 


Jackfruit, 14, 30 
Janabu, 30 

Japanese snowbell, 123 
Jelutong, 47-8 

Jute, 14, 92 


Kapor, 43 

Kauri pine, 245, 247, 249 
Keruing, 43 

Keteleena roulata, 232 
Ketenggah, 22 
Koompassta excelsa, 151 


Lablab purpureus, 32 

Langsat, 30 

Lauan, 43, 47 

Lauraceae, 98, 117, 142, 223, 232 
Lemon, 30 

Leucaena, 226; leucocephala, 245 
Lichen, 142 

Lithocarpus, 111, 223, 232 

Lusea spp, 216 

Longan (Dimocarpus longan), 14 


Mace, 14, 219 

Magnoliaceae, 207, 222, 232 

Mahogany, 51, 80, 216, 241, 242 

Maize, 33, 41, 170, 228 

Malabar kino, 127 

Mango, 14, 15, 128, 216 

Mangosteen, 14 

Manilot escudenta, 30, 32, 41, 170 

Many-leaf paris, 123 

Maytenus hooker, 123 

Melaleuca, 111, 114, 223, 234 

Melanorrhea, 202 

Melapi, 47 

Melastoma, 118 

Meliaceae, 51, 117 

Melocanna bambusoides, 92, 108 

Meranu, 43, 46, 47 

Merbau, 46 

Mernillia caloxylon, 22 

Mesua, 127, 216 

Metroxylon: sagu, 143, 147, 150, 
175; salomonense, 245 

Michelia nilaginca, 216 

Mindoro pine, 113, 142, 193, 223 

Molave, 193 

Moraceae, 117 

Mung bean, 33 

Musa spp, 14, 25, 30, 92, 175, 234 


Javanicus, 16, 35, 48, 92, 108, 
114, 154, 171, 207, 235; sauvelt, 
16, 19, 35, 114, 171, 235 

Boselaphus tragocamelus, 92, 93 

Bower-bird, 16, 155 

Broadbill, 212 

Brow-antlered deer, 16, 119, 171 

Brown palm civet, 16, 135 

Brown shrike, 123 

Bubalus spp, 155; bubalus, 16, 171; 
depressicornis, 16; mindorensis, 
16, 195, 198; quarlesi, 16 

Buffy fish-owl, 228 

Bufo marinus, 87 

Bulwer’s pheasant, 207 

Butastur indicus, 123 


Caerulean paradise flycatcher, 17, 
155 
Catrina scutulata, 94 


Mynisuca fragrans, 14, 155, 219 
Myrmecodia, 202 
Myrtaceae, 117, 142, 202 


Narra, 211 

Neobalanocarpus heimu, 43, 44 
Neoveitchia storcku, 242 
Nepenthes, 13, 14, 202, 209 
Nephelium lappaceum, 14 
Nibong, 22 

Nipa palm, 175 

Nothofagus, 175 

Nutmeg, mace, 14, 155, 219 
Nypa, 175, 179; fruticans, 93 


Oak, 111 

Octomeles sumatrana, 175 

Oil palm, 13, 14, 22, 40, 41, 42, 
153, 174, 186, 187, 189, 206 

Okari nut, 246 

Oncosperma tgillarium, 22 

Opium poppy, 28, 33, 34, 170, 
222, 228 

Orchid, 13, 14, 22, 60, 109, 127, 
171, 187, 209, 227, 248 


Pacific sago palm, 245 

Palaquum, 211, 216 

Pallisander, 80, 166 

Palm, 14, 111, 127, 209, 242; see 
also Rattans 

Papaver somniferum, 28, 33, 34, 
170, 222, 228 

Papaya, 30 

Paper mulberry, 245 

Para rubber, 22 

Paraserianthes flataria, 158 

Parashorea, 43, 47, 117; stellata, 
166 

Paris polyphylla, 123 

Pentacme spp, 43, 47 

Pepper, 14, 211, 213, 219 

Phyllocladus, 202 

Pinus spp, 93, 232, 238; caribaea, 
242; ichasiana, 127; kestya, 193, 
223; khasiana, 127; merkusu, 
113, 142, 158, 193, 223; 
roxburghu, 127; wallichiana, 127 

Piper mgrum, 14, 211, 213, 219 

Pitcher plant, 13, 14, 202, 209 

Podocarpus spp, 47, 232; 
nerttfolius, 111 

Pogostemon cablin, 123 

Pometia, 43; pinnata, 247 

Psidium spp, 30 

Pterocarpus, 47, 80; dalbergioides, 
127; indicus, 211; macrocarpus, 
166; marsupium, 127 

Pyinkado, 106 


Quercus, 223, 232; cambodiensis, 
11 


Rafflesia, 13, 15, 208, 209 

Rain tree, 211 

Rambutan, 14 

Ramie, 14 

Ramin, 202 

Rattan, 14-15, 25, 47, 48-9, 57, 
58, 74, 99, 111, 113, 141, 245 

Rauvolfia yunnanensis, 123 

Red lauan, 193 

Red meranus, 80 

Rhaphidophora spp, 245 

Rhododendron, 22, 103 

Rose apple, 14 


Calamian deer, 16, 195 

Calotes cristatellus, 207 

Cane toad, 87 

Capricomus, 16, 122, 154 

Cassowary, 86, 155, 175 

Casunus casuaris, 86, 175 

Cave swiftlet, 16 

Cervus: alfredi, 16, 195; 
calamianensis, 16, crispus swinhoet, 
16; duvaucelt, 92, 93; eldi eld, 
16, 119, 171; eldi stamensis, 16; 
kuhli, 16; nippon taiouanus, 19, 
123; porcinus, 227; schomburgki, 
223, 227; unicolor, 16 

Chinese goshawk, 123 

Chrotogale owston, 16 

Ciconia stormi, 207 

Clouded leopard, 13, 16, 100, 109, 
141, 155, 171, 207, 212 

Columba elphinstonn, 127, 135 


Rosaceae, 223 
Rosewood, 47, 80 
Rotan, 48 
Rubiaceae, 213 
Rutaceae, 14 


Sacchareum spontaneum, 198 

Sago, 143, 147, 150 

Sago palm, 25, 99, 147, 150, 175, 
206, 246 

Sal, 80, 92, 127 

Sandalwood, 142 

Sansevieria, 14 

Santalum album, 142 

Sapindaceae, 117 

Sapotaceae, 202 

Schizea digitata, 123 

Schumnacheria angustfolia, 220 

Selangan batu, 43 

Selcurinega flexuosa, 245, 246 

Seraya, 43, 47 

Shorea spp, 14, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 
49, 57, 80, 92, 117, 127, 183, 
193, 202, 216, 222 

Stemonoporus spp, 216, 220 

Sterculia alata, 92 

Styrax, 239; japonica, 123 

Sugar cane, 241 

Sundri, 95 

Sungrass, 93 

Sunn hemp, 14 

Surian, 158 

Sweet potato, 25, 32, 175 

Swietenia macrophylla, 51, 80, 216, 
241, 242 

Swimionia floribunda, 92 

Syzygium: aromatcum, 14, 155, 
158; yambos, 14; malaccense, 14 


Tamarind, 219 

Tapioca, 25, 332 

Taro, 14, 25, 30, 32, 175 

Taxus baccata, 232 

Tea, 13, 14, 22, 92, 174, 216, 220 

Tectona grandis (teak), 14, 52, 92, 
93, 103, 106, 107, 108, 127, 
142, 166, 193, 222, 223, 226, 
228 

Terminalia, 127, 128, 245, 246 

Tetrameles nudiflora, 92 

Toona surent, 158 

Tossa jute, 14 

Tree ketenggah, 22 

Tnstaniopsis, 202 

Turmeric, 14, 219 


Uncana gambir, 211, 213 
Usnea, 142 


Vanilla orchid, 219 

Vanca, 117, 127, 175 

Vigna unguiculata, 32, 33 
Vuex, 43, 216; parviflora, 193 


White lauan, 193 
Wild mango, 14 
Wild sago, 16 


Xylia dolabriformis, 106 


Yam, 25, 32, 175, 241 
Yunnan devil pepper, 123 


Zea mays, 33, 41, 170, 228 
Zingiber officinale, 14, 219 
Zingiberaceae, 219 


Crab-eating macaque, 16 

Crested argus, 171 

Crested fire-back pheasant, 109 

Crocodile, 13, 16, 108, 155, 171, 
179, 209, 235 

Crocodylus stamensis, 171; palustris, 
93 

Cuculus vagans, 228 

Cuon alpimus, 171, 235 

Cuscus, 155 

Cynocephalus vanegatus, 228 

Cynogale bennett, 16 


Dasyurus maculatus, 86, 87 

Dendrolagus spp, 155; dorianus 
notatus, 179; goodfellowi, 179 

Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, 16, 19, 41, 
100, 108, 141, 207, 209 

Dorcopsis macleay1, 179 

Doria’s tree-kangaroo, 179 


Double-banded argus pheasant, 
17 

Douc langur, 171, 235 

Draco, 155 

Dugong, 100 


Eastern sarus crane, 114 

Echidna, 175 

Echymipera spp, 155 

Elephant, 13, 16, 40, 41, 56, 92, 
94, 103, 108, 109, 114, 141, 154, 
188, 207, 221 

Elephas maximus, 16-17, 171, 235 

Emperor pheasant, 122, 171 

Entrichomyias rowleyi, 17, 15S 

Ephippiorhynchus astaticus, 235 

Estuarine terrapin, 95 

Everett’s ground thrush, 207 


Felis, 16, 207 

Fiji fruit bat, 242 
Flat-headed cat, 16 

Flying fox, 100, 101 

Flying lemur, 228 

Flying lizard, 155 

Forest rat, 195 

Formosan sika deer, 19, 123 
Francois’ langur, 171 


Gallus gallus, 109 

Garrulax vassal, 171 

Gaur, 16, 35, 48, 93, 108, 114, 
171, 227, 230, 235 

Gazelle, 16 

Gecko, 155 

Giant ibis, 114 

Giant rat, 155 

Gibbon, 13, 17, 18, 46, 235 

Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo, 179 

Graphium procles, 207-8 

Great argus pheasant, 18, 100, 
109 

Greater mouse deer, 228 

Green peacock, 119, 171, 235 

Grey-faced buzzard, 123 

Grey-faced tit-babbler, 171 

Grus antigone, 119, 171 

Gurney’s pitta, 17, 109, 228, 230 


Hainan flying squirrel, 119 

Hainan moonrat, 119 

Hainan partridge, 119 

Hairy rhino see Sumatran 
rhinoceros 

Helarctos malayanus, 13, 17, 209 

Helmeted hornbill, 207 

Hemuibelideus lemuroides, 86-7 

Hemutragus hylocrius, 127, 135 

Hog deer, 227 

Hornbill spp., 16, 17, 18, 31, 155, 
189, 209, 212 

Houbaropsts bengalensis, 93 


General Index 


Hylobates spp, 13, 17, 18, 46, 235; 
concolor, 119, 122, 171, 235; 
Rloss, 18; pileatus, 230 


Imperial pheasant, 122, 171 
Indian rhinoceros, 16 
Irrawaddy dolphin, 171 


Javan rhinoceros, 16, 108, 114, 
171, 187, 235 

Javan small-toothed palm civet, 
16 

Javan warty pig, 16 

Javan wattled lapwing, 155 

Java uger, 155 

Jerdon’s palm civet, 16 


Kali) pheasant, 109 

Ketupa ketupu, 228 

Kingfisher, 155 

Kloss’s gibbon, 18 

Komodo dragon, 155 

Kouprey, 16, 19, 35, 114, 171, 
235 

Kuhl’s deer, 16 


Langur, 235 

Lantus cnstatus, 123 

Lanthanotus borneensis, 207 

Large green pigeon, 207 

Laticauda crocken, 248 

Leaf monkey, 17, 18, 101, 213 

Lemuroid ring-tail possum, 86-7 

Leopard, 108, 109, 171, 212 

Lesser frigate bird, 248 

Lesser long-tongued fruit bat, 228 

Leucopsar rothschildi, 19 

Lion-tailed macaque, 134, 135 

Lizard, 155, 207, 209 

Long-nosed echidna, 155 

Long-tailed fruit bat, 242 

Long-tailed macaque, 207 

Lophura: bulweri, 207; diardi, 230; 
hatinhensis, 17; ignita rufa, 109; 
impertalis, 122, 171; leucomelana 
crawfundu, 109; nycthemera, 119 

Lowland anoa, 16 


Macaca: cyclopsis, 122; nemestrina, 
212; pagensis, 18; stlenus, 134, 
135 


Macaque, 17, 18, 122, 155, 207 

Machetramphus alcinus, 207 

Macrogalidia musschenbroeku, 16, 
135 

Macroglossus minimus, 228 

Macrounous kelleyi, 171 

Malabar civet, 135 

Malay peacock-pheasant, 109, 207 

Malayan gaur see Seladang 

Malayan sun-bear, 13, 17, i109 

Malayan tapir, 13, 108, 109 


Marbled cat, 16, 207 

Melogale everetti, 207 
Mentawai leaf monkey, 18 
Mentawai macaque, 18 
Mindanao gymnure, 195 
Monitor lizard, 207 

Mountain fulvetta, 228 

Mouse deer, 16, 48, 108 
Moustached hawk cuckoo, 228 
Mugger crocodile, 93 
Munuacus, 16 

Munyac, 16, 25, 147, 150, 175 
Mus spp, 135 


Nasalis larvatus, 17, 18, 100, 101, 
207, 208 

Neofelis nebulosa, 13, 16, 100, 109, 
141, 155, 171, 207, 212 

Neohylomis hainanensts, 119 

New Guinea birdwing, 16 

New Guinea harpy eagle, 175 

Nilgai, 92, 93 

Nilgiri leaf monkey, 135 

Nilgiri tahr, 127, 135 

Nilgiri woodpigeon, 127, 135 

Notopteris macdonald:, 242 

Nycticebus pygmaeus, 17, 171 


Orang utan, 13, 17, 18, 19, 100, 
154, 207, 208 

Orcaella brevirostris, 171 

Oriolus melhianus, 228 

Omnuthoptera spp, 16, 155, 180, 
247 


Otter civet, 16 
Owston’s palm civet, 16 


Pachycephala, 155 

Palm civet, 16, 135 

Panda, 119, 122 

Pangolin, 16 

Panthera: pardus, 108, 109, 171, 
212; ugns, 13, 16, 60, 64, 94, 
408, 409, 449, 134, 154, 155, 
171, 212, 227, 235; ugns balica, 
95; ugris sondaica, 155; ngris 
tgris, 155 

Papilio acheron, 208 

Papuan dorcopsis, 179 

Paradoxurus jerdoni, 16 

Partula, 19 

Pavo muticus, 119, 171, 235 

Petinomys electilis, 119 

Phalanger spp, 155, 175; lullulae, 
179 


Philippine eagle, 195, 198 
Philippine spotted deer, 16, 195 
Pig-tailed langur, 18 

Pig-tailed macaque, 212 
Pileated gibbon, 230 
Pink-headed duck, 93 
Pithecophaga jefferyt, 195, 198 


Pita, 18, 155; gurneyi, 17, 109, 
228, 230 

Podogymnura truei, 195 

Polyplectron malacense, 109, 207 

Pongo pygmaeus, 13, 17, 18, 19, 
100, 154, 207, 208 

Prachypithecus johni, 135 

Presbytis: cristata, 207; femoralis 
femoralis, 17, 18, 101, 213; 
francoist, 171; melalophos, 209; 
potenziani, 18 

Proboscis monkey, 17, 18, 100, 
101, 207, 208 

Pseudochelidon sirintarae, 17 

Pteralopex acrodonta, 242 

Pteropus, 101 

Pygathnx: nemaeus, 171, 235; 
nigripes, 235 

Pygmy loris, 17, 171 


Queen Alexandra’s birdwing, 180 


Red jungle fowl, 109 

Rennell fantail, 248 

Rennel white-eye, 248 

Rhinoceros hornbill, 18 

Rhinoceros, 13, 16, 92, 93, 103, 
154, 171, 190, 208; sondarcus, 
16, 108, 114, 171, 187, 235; 
unicornis, 16 

Rhinopithecus spp, 235 

Rhinoplax vigil, 207 

Rhipidura rennelliana, 248 

Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, 93 

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, 16 

Rhyuceros undulatus, 109 

Rusty-spotted cat, 16 


Sambar deer, 16, 48, 108, 212 

Sarus crane, 119, 171 

Schleropages formosus, 16 

Schomburgk’s deer, 223, 227 

Seladang, 16, 35, 48 

Selenarctos thibetanus, 122 

Serow, 16, 154 

Siamang see Hylobates 

Siamese crocodile, 171, 227 

Siamese fireback pheasant, 230 

Silver oriole, 228 

Silver pheasant, 119 

Silvered langur, 207 

Simuas concolor, 18 

Snail, 19 

Snub-nosed monkey, 235 

Sooty babbler, 171 

Spiny-tailed mouse, 135 

Spotted-tailed quoll, 86, 87 

Stachyns herberti, 171 

Storm’s stork, 207 

Sulawesi palm civet, 16, 135 

Sumatran rhinoceros, 16, 19, 41, 
100, 108, 141, 207, 209 


INDEX OF SPECIES 


Sun bear, 13, 17, 109 

Sus; barbatus, 16, 48; barbatus 
cebifrons, 195; scrofa, 8, 48, 122; 
verrucosus, 16 

Swallowtail butterfly, 108, 180, 
207-8 

Swamp deer, 92, 93 

Swiftlet, 202, 207 


Taiwan birdwing, 123 

Taiwan macaque, 122 

Tamaraw, 16, 195, 198 

Tapir, 108, 109 

Tapirus indicus, 13 

Tarsier, 17, 18, 155, 195 

Tarstus spp, 17, 18, 155; baucanus, 
207; syrichta, 195 

Thallasina, 207 

Threskiornis mollucus pygmaeus, 248 

Tiger, 13, 16, 60, 64, 94, 108, 109, 
119, 134, 154, 155, 171, 212, 
227, 235 

Toranborides, 208 

Trachypithecus johni, 135 

Tragulus spp, 16, 48, 108, 228 

Tree kangaroo, 155 

Treron capellet, 207 

Trionyx nigricans, 93 

Troides spp, 16, 155, 180, 247; 
aeacus kaguya, 123; andromache, 
208 

Turtle, 93, 94, 95, 100, 179, 209 


Vanellus macropterus, 155 

Visayan spotted deer, 16, 195 

Visayan wild pig, 195 

Viverra: megaspila, 135; megaspila 
civettina, 16 

Vo Quy’s pheasant, 17 


Water rat, 155 

Western tarsier, 207 
Whistler, 155 

White ibis, 248 
White-cheeked laughing thrush, 171 
White-eyed river martin, 17 
White seraya, 47 
White-shouldered ibis, 114 
White-winged wood duck, 94 
Wild boar, 2, 48, 122 

Wild buffalo, 93 

Wild cattle, 16, 35, 48, 86 
Wild dog, 171, 235 

Wild pig, 32, 50, 99, 212 
Wild water buffalo, 16, 171 
Woodlark Island cuscus, 179 
Woodpecker, 212 

Wreathed hornbill, 109 


Zaglossus bruyni, 15S 
Zoothera everetti, 207 
Zosterops rennellianus, 248 


The page numbers of Tables are denoted by bold type. Map page numbers are preceded by (M). Both Map and Figure page numbers are given in tlalic type. 


Abhayaranyas, 61 

Action Strategy for Protected 
Areas in the South Pacific 
Region, 243 

Adam’s Peak, 220, 220, 221 

Adelbert Range, 174, M176/7 

Afforestation, 93, 129, 138 

Agastyamala Hills, M/28/9, 134 

Agno River Basin Development 
Project, Philippines, 195 

Agriculture, effect of, 13, 25, 26; 
TFAP, 69, 70, 72, 73; shifting 
agriculture, compared, 30, 33, 
34; soils, potential of, 9; 
wildlife, effect on, 16, 18; see 
also Conversion forests, 
Settlement schemes, Shifting 
agriculture and chapters 12-29 
for individual countries 

Agro-forestry, 57, 228, 232, 238; 
TFAP, 69, 70, 72, 73 

Akha people, 25, 28 

Alaungdaw Kathapa National 
Park, M104/5, 109, 109, 110 

Albert-Edward Mountain, M176/7, 
179 

Almaciga, 48 

Alpine: forest, 142, 143; grassland, 
175; heathlands, 143; scrub, 126 

Altitude effect on forests, 9 

Ambuklao Dam, 195 

Amenity forests, 185 

Amsterdam Botanic Garden, 22 

Amungwiwa Mountain, 179 

Andaman Islands, 9, 15, 126, 127, 
130, M132/3, 134, 135, 137, 138 

Andhra Pradesh, 131 

Anduki Reserve, 99, 100, 102 


Andulau Reserve, 100, 102 

An Giang, 41 

Angkor Wat, 35, M//2, 114, 115 

Annamite Mountains, 111, 166, 
167, M168/9, 232, 235, M236/7 

Annual cut assessment of, 44—5 

Ao Phangnga, 223, M224/5, 229 

Api, Mount, 202, 206 

Apia Convention, 63, 63 

Apo, Mount, 192, M196/7, 199 

Arakan Yoma, 103, M/04/5, 106, 
107, 108, 110 

Arboretum Forest reserve, 102 

Arfak Mountains Reserve, 65 

Arjin Reserve, 122 

Arnavon Wildlife Sanctuary, 247 

Aroman Manobo people, 28 

Arunachal Pradesh, 116, 127, 130, 
131, 137 

Asian Development Bank, 80, 93, 
198, 230; TFAP, 70, 72, 75 

Assam region, 9, 28, 115, 127, 
131, 134, 135, 137 

Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations (ASEAN), 63, 175, 198 

Atherton Tableland, 86, M88/9 

Austin, Mount, 247 

Australasia biodiversity, 23, 86-7 

Australia, 9, 12, 23, 62, 63, 64, 77, 
80, 81, 85-90, M88/9, 172, 246 

Australian influence, flora and 
fauna, 155, 178, 179, 187 

Awo, Mount, 155 


Bac Bo plain, 232 

Badas Forest Reserve, 99, 100 
Bai Bang, 239 

Balayan Bay, 195 


Bali, 15, 16, 35, 36, 142, 146, 147, 
M148/9, 154, 155 

Bali Declaration, 65 

Ban Sap Tai, 66 

Banana Bay, 123 

Bandar Seri Begawan, 98 

Bang Nara, 223, M224/5 

Bangladesh, 9, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 
77, 92-7, M96, 134, 150 

Baram River, 201, M204/5, 209 

Baratang Island, 138 

Barisan Mountains, M144/5, 158 

Bartle Frere, Mount, 85, M88/9 

Basaltic areas, Australia, 86, 91 

Bassein Valley, M104/5, 107 

Batang Hari River, 158 

Batjan Island, 147 

Batu Cave, 189 

Batu Laga Sanctuary, M204/5, 208 

Batu Patam-Sungei area, 101—2 

Bawangling Natural Protected 
Area, 119, M120/1, 122 

Bawean, 16 

Bay of Bengal, 13, 66, 92, M96 

Beach forest, 11, 128, 143, 193, 
223, 241, 243, 245, 247 

Belait District and River, 98 


Belait Peat Swamp Forest Reserve. 


99, 100, 101 
Belalong River, 101 
Bengkulu Province, 39, 153 
Benguet Province, 195 
Bentan island, 213 
Benutan Catchment, 100 
Berakas Forest Reserve, 100 
Berawan tribe, 202 
Bertam River Basin, 48 
Berumput, Mount, M204/5, 209 


Bhawal Park, 94, 95, M96 

Bidayuh tribe, 202 

Bihar, India, 131 

Binh Tri Thien, 41 

Bintang Island, 213 

Bintuni Bay, 154, M160/1 

Biodiversity, 9, 10, 11, 13-18, 15, 
17, 22, 23, 42, 57, 59, 60, 63, 
66, 72; See also Biodiversity 
sections in chapters 12-29 

Biosphere reserves, 12, 58, 62-3, 
65, 122, 135, 138, 181, 220 

Bismarck Archipelago, 43, 174, 
M176/7 

Black Mountain corridor, 86 

Blue Mountains, Nilgiri, 127 

Bodong peace treaties, 29 

Bolovens Plateau, 166, M/68/9 

Bontoc people, 28 

Borikhamxai Company, 171 

Borneo, 13, 15, 17, 33, 35, 43, 46, 
47, 61, 80, 141, 142, 151, 154 

Botanic gardens, 13, 17, 20, 21, 
22 

Bougainville Island, 174, M176/7, 
180, M244, 245 

Brahmaputra River, 92, M96, 126, 
M132/3 

Brunei, 17, 63, 64, 77, 98-102, 
MIO1 

Brunei Bay, 99, 100, 101, M/01 

Brunei-Muara district, 98 

Buda, Mount, 209 

Buffer zones, conservation areas, 
56, 59, 65, 80, 81, 158, 190, 
207, 213, 216, 220 

Bugney wetlands, 195 

Bukit Batu Patam, 100 


Bukit Bedawan, 100, M10] 

Bukit Biang Reserve, 99, 100 

Bukit Shahbandar Reserve, 100 

Bukit Teraja, 100, 100, M/0/ 

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, 211, 
212, 213, 214, 215 

Bukit Ulu Tutong, 100 

Bulolo, 180 

Bung Nong Ngom areas, 171 

Burma see Myanmar 

“Burma Selection System’, 107 


Cable yarding, 45 

Calamian Islands, 16 

Camau Peninsula, 234 

Cambodia 9, 16, 17, 23, 25, 63, 
64, 76, 77, 111-15, M/12, 113, 
115, 232, 235 

Cameron Highlands, 48, M/84, 
187 

Canopy cover, 10, 11 

Canturoy, Rizal, 198 

Cape Tribulation Park, 86, 
M88/89, 90 

Cape York Peninsula, 85-7, 87, 
M88/9, 90 

Carabello Mountains, 193 

Carbine, Mount, 86, M8&/9 

Cardamom Mountains, 111, M//2, 
222, 223, M224/5 

Carstenz, Mount, 142, M/60/1 

Cat Ba National Park, 233, 
M236/7, 238 

Catanduanes, 194, M196/7 

Catchment protection see 
Watershed protection 

Cave systems, 189, 202, 207 

Cebu, Philippines, 195, M196/7 


253 


GENERAL INDEX 


Central Catchment Area, 

Singapore, 211, 212, 2/2, 213 

Central Plain, Thailand, 222, 
227_8 

Central Province PNG, 175, 178 

CFDT, 68, 73, 74 

Chalakudi River, 134 

Chancar leu, 114 

Chang-Yun-Chia Reserve, 118, 
M120/1, 124 

Changbai Reserve, M/20/], 122 

Chantaburi Province, 223, 228 

Chao Phraya River, 222, M224/5, 
227-8 

Chena, 218 see also Shifting 
agriculture 

Chico Dam, 28 

Chin Hills, M104/5, 106, 108, 110 

China, 9, 13, 75, 16, 17, 25, 28, 
51, 52, 55, 63, 64, 76, 77, 108, 
116-25, M120/1, 127, 227 

Chindwin River and forests, 103, 
M104/5, 110 

Chinese affinities, species, 94, 
M104/5, 108, 223, 227, 228 

Chittagong Region, M96 

Choiseul Island, M244, 245, 247 

Choonhaven, C, 222 

Cibodas Biosphere Reserve, 62—3 

CITES, 16, 94, 122, 139 

Closed canopy, 10, 11; see also 
Lowland rain forest, Monsoon 
forest, Montane forest 

Coastal forest, 92, 123, 213, 234 

Coastal swamp forest, 11, 201, 245 

Coastline protection, 11, 66 

Cocoa, 22, 153, 174, 179, 206 

Coconut plantations, 155, 186, 
213, 216, 245, 247 

Coffee plantations, 13, 14, 22, 134, 
158, 174, 179, 216, 234 

Colonisation, 26; see also 
Settlement schemes 

Commission on National Parks and 
Protected Areas (IUCN), 60, 65 

Commonwealth Scientific 
Industrial Research 
Organisation, Australia, 178 

Communications, impact of, 26, 
27; see also Roads 

Coniferous forest, 117, 167, 178, 
193, 226 

Conservation areas see Protected 
areas 

Conservation awareness see Non 
Government bodies, Public 
awareness 

Conservation of Biological 
Diversity, Convention of, 63 

Conservation of Nature in the 
South Pacific, 1976 Convention, 
63 

Conservation organisations see also 
Non Governmental 
organisations, Public awareness 

Continuous Forestry Inventory, 47 

CITES, 16, 94, 122, 139 

Convention on Wetlands of Inter- 
national Importance, 63, 180 

Conversion forest, 38, 39, 50, 185, 
186-7 

Cook Islands, 240 

Cooktown, 85, 86, M88/9, 90 

‘Copal’, 48 

Coral reef, 103, 123, 174, 180, 
240, 243, 247 

Corbett Action Plan, 94 

Corbett National Park, 135 

Cordage, 11 

Cordillera Peoples Alliance, 29 

Cordwood, 207 

Corridors, forest, 40, 56, 138, 232, 
235 

Cotton, 33, 241 

Coupes, definition, 44 

Cox’s Bazar, 92, 94, M96 

‘Creaming of coupes’, 44, 46 

Crocker Ranges, 201, 202, 
M204/5; National Park, M204/5, 
208, 208 

Crop spraying, 234, 238 

CSIRO, 178 

Cuc Phuong National Park, 233, 
235, M236/7, 238 

Customary ownership see Land 
tenure 

Cyclical cultivation, forest land, 57 

Cyclops Mountain Reserve, 65 


Daklak Province, 235 

Dandeli Sanctuary, / 
136 

Dangrek Mountains, M//2, 113, 
222, M224/5, 235 

Dani tribe, 26 


4128/9, 135, 


254 


DANIDA, 75 

Danum Valley, M204/5, 208, 209 

Dao people, 232 

Darval Bay, 43 

Deccan Plateau, 126 

Deciduous forest, 10, 11, 103, 107, 
111, 123, 193, 223, 245; see also 
Monsoon forest 

Dediyagala, 220 

Defoliation, 111, 113 

Deforestation, future, 76-81, 77, 
78, 79; See ‘Deforestation’ 
sections in chapters 12—29 

DENR, 193-4, 198-9 

Dent Peninsula, 41, 207 

Department of Lands, Fiji, 243 

Desertification, 116, 130, 138 

Dhaka Forest Division, 92 

Dinghu Reserve, 122 

Diversity see Biodiversity 

Doi Chiang Dao Wildlife 
Sanctuary, M224/5, 228, 229 

Doi Inthanon Mountain, M224/5, 
228 

Doi Suthep Pui, 60 

Dong Zhai Gang reserve, 118 

Downey Creek, 91 

Drought, 108, 116, 141, 147, 151, 
206, 241 

Drung people, 25 

Dry land agriculture, 54, 57 

Dumoga-Bone Park and valley, 34, 
61, 142, M156, 162 

Dusuns, Brunei, 98 

Dutch colonial rule, 219 

Dwarf forest, 111, 171 


East Kalimantan, 40 

East Timor, 28 

Eastern Ghats, India, 126 

Economic growth and status, 76, 
92, 98, 113, 119, 126, 130, 183 
232 

Economic and Social Commission 
for Asia and the Pacific, 94 

Edge effects, species, 213 

Efate, 249 

El Nino/Southern Oscillation 
phenomenon, 151, 206 

ELC, 70, 73 

Elephant Mountains, 111, M//2 

Elevation, forest cover, 9, 44 

Endangered species, 16, 17, 18, 
19, 22, 59, 63, 94, 95, 101, 109, 
119, 122, 134, 138, 171, 179, 
180, 195, 198, 212, 219, 227, 
230, 235 

Endau-Rompin National Park, 61, 
188, 189, 190 

Endemic species, 22, 23, 60; see 
also ‘Biodiversity’ sections in 
chapters 12-29, and indexes of 
species 

D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago, 174, 
M176/7 

Environmentally Critical Areas 
Network, 58, 59 

Erawan Park, 229, 230 

Erosion see Soil-erosion and 
conservation 

Export of timber, 98, 99, 113, 141, 
167, 203, 245-6, 249; see also 
Trade 

Extinction of species, 16, 17, 19, 
22, 93, 119, 134, 155, 179, 180, 
194, 195, 198, 212, 213, 214, 
227, 228, 240, 242 


Fak Fak Mountains, 143 

Fallow, shifting cultivation, 30, 33 

FAO see Food and Agriculture 
Organisation 

Federal Land Development 
Authority, 40, 41, 187 

Fergusson Island, M176/7, 180 

Fiji, 63, 65, 70, 71, 75 77, 80, 
240-3, 242, M244, 246 

Finisterre Island and Mountains, 
174, M176/7, 179, 180 

Finnish International 
Development Agency 
(FINNIDA), 75, 198 

Fire, degradation, 13, 56, 57, 65, 
79; agricultural settlement 
schemes, 39, 86, 113, 116, 118, 
133, 141, 142, 147, 151, 167, 
171, 175, 187, 198, 201, 202, 
206, 218, 221, 223, 232, 234, 
241, 245; see also Shifting 
agriculture 

Fishing, 92, 130, 170, 171, 246; 
effect of logging, 151, 208; 
mangroves, 11, 25, 95, 99, 114, 
118, 119, 154, 187, 230, 234, 
242, 247 


Flooding, impact of deforestation, 
9, 48, 54, 81, 68, 81, 108, 114, 
116, 153, 185, 222, 234 

Flores Island, 155 

Fly River, 174, 175, M176/7 

Food and Agriculture Organisation 
(FAO), 56, 68, 69, 70, 77, 113, 
109, 155, 172, 221, 243, 245, 
248; TFAP, 72, 75, 243; 
UNDP, 1982-6, 216; UNEP 
Tropical Forest Resources 
Assessment, 1981, 10, 141, 143, 
193 

Forest Development and 
Wasteland Management Project, 
172 

Forest Development in the 
Tropics, Committee on, FAO, 
(CFDT), 68, 73, 74 

Forest Research Institute of 
Malaysia (FRIM), 189 

Forest Resources Conservation 
Project — Lao/Swedish Forestry 
Programme, 172 

Forestry Inventory Project, Laos, 
171-2 

Forestry Sector Development 
Plan, Sri Lanka, 216 

Forests, definition, 10 

Freshwater swamp forest, 11, 13, 
63; see also maps and text in 
chapters 12-29 for individual 
countries 

Fruit trees, 30, 31, 34, 14, 57, 117, 
171, 189 

Fuelwood, 11, 52, 55, 57, 68, 92, 
93, 95, 99, 107, 111, 116, 117, 
118, 122, 129, 130, 131, 133, 
134, 138, 170, 179, 198, 213, 
218, 220, 227, 234, 238, 245, 
247 

Future, forests, 76-81, 77, 78, 79 


Gahavisuka, Mount, 22, 180 

Gal Oya Park, M2/7, 220, 221 

Ganges River, 92, M96, 126 

Gazelle Peninsula, M176/7, 179 

Germplasm, 22 

Ghaghara river, India, 126 

Giluwe Island and Mountain, 179, 
180 

Gizo Island, 246 

Godavari river, 126 

Gogol valley, M176/7, 179 

Golden Triangle, 28, 228 

Golpata, 93 

Gombak River and settlement, 187 

Goodenough Island, M/76/7, 180 

Grassland formations, 11, 127, 
130, 142, 143, 166, 171, 174, 
175, 179, 222, 241, 242, 243 

Grazing forest land, 57, 175; 
damage, 133, 167, 171, 198 

Great Dividing Range, 87, M88/89 

Great Lake, 111, M112 

Gromantong Cave, 207 

Ground water: and forest 
formations, 11; resources, 
damage to, 248 

GTZ Philippine forest inventory 
project, 193 

Guadalcanal Island, M244, 245, 
246, 247, 248 

Guangdong Province, 117, 
M120/1, 124 

Guangxi Province, 117, M/20/1, 
124 

Gulf of Martaban, 103, M104/5 

Gulf of Papua, M176/7, 178, 179 

Gumbara irrigation scheme, 153 

Gums and resins, 14, 25, 47-8, 49 


Ha Tien District, 41 

Habitat, fragmentation, 17, 86, 
119; see also Deforestation 

Hainan, 116, 117, 118, 119, 
M120/1, 122, 124 

Halmahera, 147, 151, M157 

Hanunoo people, 32 

Haribon Foundation, 198 

Harvest of timber see Logging 

Hazarikhil Wildlife Sanctuary, 94 

Heath forest, 11, 48, 98, 99, 102, 
142, 185, 202, 223 

HELVETAS, 75 

Hengchun Peninsula, 123 

HEP see Hydroelectric schemes 

Herbicides, spraying, Vietnam 
War, 234, 235 

Himalayan mountains, 9, 126, 127 

Himchari National Park, 94 

Hinidum Kanda Reserve, 220 

Hmong people, 25, 222, 228 

Ho Chi Minh Trail, 113, 167 

Hoang Lien Son Mountains, 234 


Hong Kong, 116, 117, 118, 122; 
markets for timber, 43, 52 

Honiara, M244, 245 

Horseshoe Reef Marine Park, 180 

Horton Plains, 221 

Hose Mountains Park, M204/5, 
208, 208 

Hua Chang Reserve, 118, 124 

Huai Kha Khaeng Sanctuary, 61, 
223, M224/5, 228, 229 

Hun Sen Government, 114 

Hunting, 100, 113, 108-9, 113, 
119, 134, 167, 171, 198, 207, 
209, 2125-213, 227, 234, 235; 
protected areas, 65; shifting 
cultivation, 30, 31; wildlife, 
effect on, 16, 17, 18, 48, 50, 61 

Hunting and gathering, 13, 25, 26, 
28, 30, 126, 170, 171, 175, 187, 
193, 202, 206; land use 
planning, 57; protected areas, 
61, 65; settlement schemes, 36; 
shifting agriculture, change to, 
31 


Hurulu Forest Reserve, 62 

Huvalu Tapu Forest, 61 

Hydroelectric schemes: forest 
depletion, 133—4, 187; setting 
due to logging, 192, 195, 234 


Iban people, 33, 98, 99, 202 

IBP, 189 

IBPGR, 22 

Iglit—Baco National Park, M196/7, 
198, 199 

Igneous rocks, 223, 240 

Igorot people of Luzon, 29 

IIED, 70, 80 

Illegal logging, 43, 44, 50, 65, 117, 
118, 172, 174, 226, 227; exports, 
52, 54 

ILO, 28, 72 

Imports, timber, 116, 117, 192, 
218, 222, 226 

Inchcape, 51 

Indaing, 103, 109 

India, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26, 28, 
33, 35, 51, 60-1, 62, 63, 64, 66, 
77, 79, 80, 94, 95, 116, 126-40, 
M128/9, 136, 137, M132/3, 150 

Indira Ghandi Conservation 
Monitoring Centre, 139 

Indo-China, 9, 12; biodiversity, 
13, 15, 16, 23; see also 
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam 

Indochinese War, 167 

Indonesia, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25, 
26, 36, 40, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 
50, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 71, 75, 
78, 79, 80, 141-65, 159, 162, 
163 

Indonesian Reforestation 
Guarantee Fund, 80 

Indonesian Selection System, 80 

Indonesian wetland inventory, 155 

Industrial development and 
forestry, TFAP, 69, 72, 73-4 

Inland swamp forest, 11; see also 
Fresh water swamp forest, Peat 
swamp forest 

Integrated Protected Areas 
System, 198, 199 

Integrated Social Forestry 
Program, 194 

International action plans, 
Bangladesh, 94 

International action, 81, 114, 174, 
192, 199, 222, 228, 232, 238, 
239, 243, 248; conflict with 
tribal people, 28; protected 
areas, 62—3, 62, 63; see also 
ASEAN, Biosphere reserves, 
CITES, Ramsar convention, 
SPREP, TFAP, UN 

International Biological 
Programme, 189 

International Board for Plant 
Genetic Resources, 22 

International Conference on Trees 
and Forests, 69; see also TFAP 

International Convention on Civil 
and Political Rights, 28 

International Institute for 
Environment and Development, 
70, 80 

International Labour Organisation 
(ILO), 28, 72 

International markets, timber, 
51-5, 53 

International Peace Park, 94 

International Tropical Timber 
Organisation, 49, 52, 54—5, 80, 
201, 206 

International Union of Forestry 
Research Organisations, 70 


Irian Jaya, 15, 26, 28, 36, 37, 38, 
39, 43, 80, 141, 142, 143, 146, 
147, 150, 154, 155, M160/1, 175 

Iriri, 246, 247 

Iron Range, 85 

Irrawaddy Delta, 103, 107, 108, 
111 

Irrigation schemes: forest, effect 
on, 13, 56, 57, 79, 133; logging, 
effect of, 151, 187 

Isolation, species, 213, 214, 240 

Itawe people, 195 

IUCN, 12, 17, 22, 94, 95, 114, 
122, 139, 141, 172, 198, 216, 
218, 220, 221, 230, 248; 
Commission on Natural Parks 
and Protected Areas, 60, 65; 
Convention on Conservation of 
Biological Diversity, 63; Species 
Survival Commission, 16, 17; 
TFAP, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 172 

Ivory, 16, 17, 25 


Jakarta, 19, 142, M148/9 

Japanese markets, 11, 51, 52, 54, 
55, 80, 154, 178, 194, 201, 206 

Jarawa Reserve, 134, 138 

Jardine River, 85, M88/9 

Java, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 35, 
36, 37, 39, 40, 56, 80, 103, 141, 
142, 146, 147, M148/9, 153, 
154, 155, 207 

Jaya, Mount, 142, M160/] 

Jelutong, 47-8 

Jengka Triangle, 40-1, 48 

Jhum, 93 

Jianfengling Protected Area, 122 

Jimi Valley National Park, 180 

Johor, 47, 61, 187, 188, 190, 213, 
214 

Johor Tenggara, 48 

Jungle Corridors, 220, 220, 221 

Kachin tribe, 108 

Kadavu Island, 240, M244 

Kaingin, 194 

Kalimantan, 15, 16, 25, 36, 37, 38, 
39, 48, 49, 56, 141, 142, 143, 
146, 147, M152/3, 162, 206 

Kalinga people, 28 

Kampung Air, 100 

Kanchanaburi Province, 228, 230 

Kandy District, 22, 219 

Kanneliya, 220 

Karen people, 108, 228 

Karnataka, 127, 133, 134, 135, 136 

Karst scenery, 201, 202, 248 

Kas Kong, 111, M/12 

Kasetsart University, 230 

Kassalong forest, 94 

Kayah State, 108 

Kayan tribe, 202 

Kaziranga National Park, 62 

Kedah State, 47, 187 

Kelabit tribe, 202 

Kelantan State and River, 48, 183, 
187, 188, 189 

Kenting National Park, 19, 118, 
M120/1, 122, 123, 124 

Kenyah tribe, 202 

Kenyir Dam, 187 

Kerala Hills and State, 25, 127, 
131, 133, 134, 135, 136 

Kerangas, 48, 142, 202 

Kerinci Province, 158 

Kerinci—Seblat National Park, 65, 
M144/5, 158, 159 

Kew Botanic Garden, 22 

Khangchenjunga, 126 

Khao Ang Ru Nai Wildlife 
Sanctuary, M224/5, 229, 230 

Khao Luang National Park, 
M224/5, 228, 229 

Khao Pra Bang Khram, M224/5, 
229, 230 

Khao Sam Roi Yot Park, 223, 
M224/5, 229 

Khao Soi Dao Sanctuary, M224/5, 
228, 229 

Khao Yai Park, 66, 222, 223, 
M224/S, 228, 229, 230 

Khasi Hills, 127, M/32/3 

Khmer civilization and people, 25, 
35, 111, 113, 252 

Khmer Rouge regime, 113, 114 

Kial River basin, 48 

Kien Gian Province, 41 

Kikora River, M176/7, 178 

Kinabalu National Park, 122, 
M204/5, 207, 208, 208 

Kinabatangan, 201, M204/5 

King George V National Park, 
188, 188, 189, 190 

Kinh people, 41 

Kingalpotta, 221 

Klias National Park, 208 


Knuckles Forests, 216, 220-1 

Kokoda Trail, 180 

Kolombangara, M244, 246, 247 

Kompong Som bay, 111, M//2 

Korat Plateau, 222, M224/5, 227 

Kota Kinabalu, 202, M204/5 

Kouprey Trust, 19 

Kra Isthmus, 23, 103, M/04/5, 
109, 222, 223, M224/5 

Kranji Reservoir, 213 

Krishna River, 126, M128/9 

Kuala Lumpar, 19, 47, M184, 202 

Kubu people, 25 

Kuching, 202 

Kunthipuzha River, 134 

Kusaghe villages, 246 

Kutai Park, 39, 65, 150, M/52/3 

Kyatthin, 110, M/04/5 

Kyaukpandaung Park, M104/5, 
109, 109 


Labi hills, 98 

Labu Forest Reserve, 100 

Labu-Selirong Wildlife Sanctuary, 
100, M101 

Lae, M176/7, 179 

Lahad Datu, 41 

Lahulgala National Park, 221 

Lake Tungano, M244, 248 

Lakshadweep plateau, 126 

Lam Vien highlands, 234 

Lamb Range, 86, M88/89 

Lambi, 39, M104/5, 109 

Lampung Province, 39—40, 39, 49 

Lancang River, 119, M/20/1 

Land tenure, 26-8, 31, 34, 44, 
56-7, 58, 60, 61, 65, 79, 93, 
174-5, 179, 180, 181, 193, 194, 
195, 238, 243, 246, 247, 248 

Land use planning, 10, 38, 56-7, 59 

‘Landing’, 46 

Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife 
Sanctuary, M204/5, 208, 208 

Lao Loum people, 170 

Lao Soung people, 170 

Lao Theung people, 170 

Laos, 9, 10, 17, 28, 62, 63, 64, 71, 
75, 77, 80, 113, 114, 166-73, 
167, M168/9, 171, 172, 228, 235 

Lau group Isles, 240 

Lau people, 32 

Lauan forest, 43, 47, 193 

Laurasia, 154 

Lawa people, 32 

Legislation see chapters 12—29 for 
individual countries; production 
forests, 79-80; protected areas, 
28, 44, 60, 64, 65, 78, 100 

Lesser Sunda Islands, 33, 141, 
142, 143, 146, 147, M148/9, 
150, 155, 158, 162 

peur, Mount, 63, 65, M144/5, 
159 

Leyte Island, 193, 194, M196/7 

Liberation thinning, 47, 203 

Limbang District and River, 98, 
100, 201, M204/5 

Limestone bedrock, forest, 11, 
117, 142, 143, 167, 171, 178, 
185, 189, 202, 209, 223, 243 

Lipizauga Botanical Sanctuary, 22 

Little Andaman Island, M/32/3, 
138 

Lo-shan-fong monsoon, 123 

Lockerbie, 85, 86 

Logging, 44-7, 45, 49-50, 79-80; 
‘booms’, 51; cycles, 43, 45, 45, 
46, 203; elephants, use of, 49, 
106, 107, 171, 218, 219, 226, 
227; liberation thinning, 47, 
203; poison girdling, 185; 
selection system, 45, 45, 46, 49, 
50, 107, 185; uniform system, 
46, 86, 107, 185; see also 
Deforestation, Trade; ‘Forest 
Resources and Management’ and 
‘Deforestation’ sections in 
chapters 12-29 

Lomaiviti group Isles, 240, M244 

Lombok Island, 36 

Lomphat Reserve, M//2, 114, 115 

Louisiade Archipelago, 174, 
M176/7 

Lowland evergreen forest, 11; see 
also maps and text in chapter 
12-29 for individual countries 

Lua people, 228 

Luagan Lalak Forest Reserve, 100 

Luf (Hermit) Island, 180 

Lun Bawang tribe, 202 

Lunungamvihira Park, 221 

Lupar River, 201, M204/5 

Lutong, Mount, 201, M204/5 

Luzon Island, 51, 192, 193, 194, 
195, M196/7 


Ma Da wood, 238 

Macau, 116 

Mackay, 86, M88/89 

MacRitchie Reservoir, 213 

Madang Province, 175, 178, 179 

Madhupur National Park and 
Tract, 92, 94, 95, M96 

Madhya Pradesh, 131 

Madura, 36, 142, M/48/9 

Madura Oya National Park, M2/7, 
220, 221 

Mae Hong Son Province, 30-1 

Mae Sa-Kog Ma Reserve, 62 

Mahakam River, 151 

Mahanadi River, 126 

Maharashtra, 127, 136 

Mahaweli Development Scheme, 
56, 61 

Mahidol University, 227, 230 

Mai Po reserve, 118, 122 

Main Range, Malaysia, 187 

Makhon Si Thammarat Province, 
228 

Makira Island, 245, 248 

Malabar, 16 

Malacca Strait, M/44/5, 147 

Malaipantaram people, 25 

Malaita Island, M244, 245, 246 

Malakula, 249 

Malayan Nature Society, 61, 188, 
190, 213 

Malayan Uniform System, 46, 185 

Malaysia, 13, 14, 16, 17, 23, 61, 
62, 63, 64, 65, 70, 71, 75, 77, 
79, 80; see also Peninsular 
Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak 

Malesia, region, 9, 141; 
biodiversity, 23, 142, 154, 216, 
223, 228; influence on, 85, 86, 
103, 108, 134 

Maliau Basin, M204/5, 209 

Maludam Wildlife Sanctuary, 
M204/5, 208, 209 

Maluka, 15, 39, 143, M157 

Man and Biosphere Programme, 
Unesco, 62-3, 94, 122, 180, 220 

Managed resource area/IUCN, 61 

Management, forestry, 43-50, 45, 
47, 49; see also ‘Forest Resources 
and Management’ sections in 
chapters 12-29 

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, 62 

Mandai, 213 

Mangrove forest, 11, 60, 63; see 
also maps and text in chapters 
12-29 for individual countries 

Mangyan people, 198 

Manila, 195, M196/7 

Manipur State, 16, 127, 130, 131, 
135, 137 

Manus Island, M176/7, 180 

Marine conservation areas, 11, 94, 
248; see also Mangrove forest 

Marine Conservation Plan, 
Indonesia, 155 

Markham valley, 175 

Marova Lagoon, 246 

Maruia Society, 243 

Marus Province, 178 

Masbate, 194, M196/7 

Master Plans for Forestry 
Development (AsDB), 71, 72 

Master Plan for Forestry Develop- 
ment, Philippines, 198-9 

Matang Forest Reserve, 187 

Mcllwraith Range, 85, 87, M88/89 

Medalam Protected Forest, 209 

Medicinal plants, 14, 15, 22, 25, 32, 
66, 117, 119, 123, 134, 138, 170, 
179, 195, 199, 213, 219, 234 

Meghalaya State, 127, 130, 131, 
131, 135, 136, 137 

Meghna River, 92, M96 

Meinmahla Island, M/04/5, 108 

Meinmahla Kyun, 108, 109 

Mekong Committee, 171 

Mekong Delta and River, 61, 111, 
M!12, 113, 114, 166, M167/8, 
171, 232, 233-4, 235, M236/7 

Melanesian people, 25, 26, 245 

Mengkao reserve, 119, M/20/1 

Mengla, Yunnan, 118, 119, 
M120/1, 124 

Mengyang reserve, 119, M/20/1, 
124 

Mentawai Islands, 16, 17, 27, 141, 
M144/5, 154 

Meo people, 232 

Micro-climate, 18, 117, 219 

Middle Andaman Island, M/32/3, 
138 

Migrations, tribal people, 25; 
associated with settlement 
schemes, 36, 37, 39-40; see also 
Settlement schemes 


Milne Bay Province, 175 

Min Mountains, 119 

Mindanao Island, 43, 51, 192, 193, 
M196/7, 198 

Mindora Island, 192, 193, M196/7, 
198 

Mining, 59, 167, 174, 175, 186, 
187, 195, 208, 218, 243, 248, 
270; pressure from, 26, 27, 69 

Mizoram State, 127, 130, 131, 135, 
137 

Mnong Gar people, 32 

Molave forest, 193 

Moluccas, 16, 141, 143, 146, 147, 
151, 155, M157, 163 

Mom Ray Nature Reserve, 235, 
M236/7, 238 

Mon, M104/5, 108 

Mondulkiri Province, 111 

Monoculture, 130, 153 

Monocyclic System logging, 46, 
86, 107, 185 

Monsoon forest, 9, 10, 11, 52, 80; 
biodiversity, 13, 14, 17; shifting 
agriculture, 31; see also maps 
and text in chapters 12-29 for 
individual countries 

Montane forest 11; see maps and 
text in chapters 12-29 for 
individual countries 

Moorea Island, 19 

Morobe Province, 178 

Moscos Islands, 109 

Mrabri people, 25 

Muda Dam, 187 

Mukurthi Sanctuary, M/28/9, 135, 
136 

Multiple use area/IUCN, 60, 61 

Mulu, Mount, 201, 202, M204/5, 
207, 209 

Muong people, 232 

Murats, Brunei, 98 

Murud, Mount, 201, M204/5, 209 

Musi River, M/44/5, 155 

Myanmar, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 28, 
33, 35, 77, 80, 103-10, M104/5, 
106, 127, 134 


Naga Hills and state, 127, 130, 
131, M132/3, 135, 137 

Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, 
228 

Nakiyadeniya, 220 

Nam Bai Cat Tien National Park, 
233, M236/7, 238 

Nam Bo Plain, 232 

Nam Lang Valley, M104/5, 109 

Nam Pong Reservoir, 66 

Nan Province, 33 

Nanyang village, 123 

Narathiwat Province, 223 

National Conservation Strategy for 
Malaysia, 209 

National Forest Management and 
Inventory Project, FAO 
assistance, 106 

National Forest Policy, India, 138 

National Forestry Council, 
Malaysia, 49 

National Heritage Wilderness 
Area, 222 

National Park/IUCN, 60, 61 

National Parks see Protected areas 

National Trust for Fiji, 243 

National Wildlife Action Plan, 
India, 135, 138, 139 

Native Land Trust Board, Fiji, 243 

Natma Taung, 103, M104/5, 109 

Natural landmark/IUCN, 61 

Natural monumenvIUCN, 61 

Nature Monuments Ordinance, 
Java, 61 

Nature reserve/IUCN, 61 

Nature reserves see Protected areas 

Ndova Island, 246 

Nee Soon (Yishun), 213 

Negri Sembilan, 187 

Negrito people, 25 

Negros Island, 43, 192, 194, 
M196/7 

New-Amarambalan Reserve Basin, 
India, 134 

New Britain, 174, 175, 178, 179, 
180 

New Caledonia, 9, 86, 240 

New Georgia Island, M244, 245, 
246, 247 

New Guinea, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 
25, 32, 86, 141, 142, see also 
Irian Jaya 

New Ireland Island, 174, M176/7, 
180 

New South Wales, 9 

New Zealand, 9, 230, 240, 243 

Ngau Island, 240, M244 


Ngoc Linh Mountains, 234, 
M236/7 

Niah, 207 

Nibong people, 22 

Nicobar Islands, 9, 126, 127-8, 
130, M/32/3,.134, 135, 137, 138 

Nilgala corridor, 220, 221 

Nilgiri Wildlife Sanctuary, 127, 135 

Ninigo Island, 180 

Niue, Island of, 61 

Nizamsagar Reservoir, 134 

Non umber products, 9, 14, 25, 
47-9, 76, 79 

Non Governmental organisations, 
102, 110, 138, 139, 181, 190, 
191, 198, 199, 221, 230; 
pressure from, 57, 60, 80; 
TFAP, 68, 69, 70, 72-3, 74, 75, 
181; see also Public awareness 

Noro area, 247 

North Andaman Island, M/32/3, 
138 

North Kachin, 110 

Northern Highlands, Thailand, 
222, 227 

Northern Province, Papua New 
Guinea, 178, 180 

Nu people, 25 

Nung people, 232 

Nusa Tenggara see Lesser Sunda 
Islands 

Nyut, Mount, 39 


Obi Island, 158 

Oil deposits, pressure on forests, 
50, 98, 99, 100, 209 

Oi! palm plantations, 13, 14, 22, 
40, 41, 42, 150, 153, 174, 179, 
186, 187, 189, 206 

Oleo-resin, 47 

Orang asli, 187 

Orang sanctuary, 135 

Orang ula groups, 202 

Orchid Island, 118, M120/1, 122, 
123, 124 

Orissa State, 127, 130, 131 


Pa Phiu Non-Hunting Area, 223 

Pablakhali Sanctuary, 94, 95, M96 

Packchan Nature Reserve, 
M104/5, 109, 110 

Pagon Priok, Mount, 98, M101 

Pahang River and State, 47, 61, 
183, M184, 187, 188, 190 

Pahang Tenggara, development 
scheme, 48 

Pakchan Reserve, M 104/15, 108 

Pakistan, 9, 16, 75 

Palawan Island, 54, 58, 59, 65, 
192, M196/7 

Palu Valley, 153, M156 

Panay Island, 192, M196/7 

Paper and pulp industry, 11, 80, 
93, 100, 107, 116 

Papua New Guinea, 14, 15, 16, 17, 
26, 32, 43, 45, 49, 63, 64, 76, 
77, 78, 80, 174-82, M176/7 

Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, 
M128/9, 135, 136 

Pasir Ris, 212 

Pasoh Forest Reserve, 188-9 

‘Patanas’, 221 

Peak Wilderness Sanctuary, M217, 
220, 220 

Peat swamp forest, 11; 
biodiversity, 47; see also maps 
and text chapters 14, 19, 22, 23 

Pedawan Limestone areas, 209 

Pedu Dam, 187 

Peeler logs, 43, 113, 218 

Pegu Yomas, M104/5, 106, 107, 
108, 109, 110 

Penan people, 25, 28, 98, 99, 202, 
206, 209 

Peninsular Malaysia, 15, 18, 22 25, 
51, 52, 56, 57, 61, 64, 77, 78, 
183-91, 184, 185 

Peradayan Forest Reserve, 100 

Peradeniya botanic garden, 219 

Peradeniya University, 221 

Perak, 47, 187, 188, 189 

Periodic Selection Systems, 46 

Periyar National Park and River, 
66, M128/9, 133, 134, 136 

Permanent Forest Estate (PFE), 
183, 185—6, 185, 190, 201, 
202-3, 206, 207, 208, 209 

Pesticides, 13, 32, 40, 41, 43, 60 

Petchabun Range, 222 

Phattalung Province, 223 

Philippines, 10, 13, /S, 16, 17, 23, 
25, 26, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 
50, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 77, 78, 
80, 192-200 193, 194, M196/7 

Phnom Penh, M//2, 113 


GENERAL INDEX 


Phnom Prich Reserve, M//2, 114, 
115 

Phou Bia, 166, M/68/9 

Phu Kradeung National Park, 223, 
M224/5, 229 

Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary, 
223, M224/5, 229 

Pine forest, 126, 142, 171, 193, 222 

Plain of Reeds area, 114 

Plantations, 10, 13, 38, 69, 73, 92, 
93, 99, 107, 108, 113, 116, 117, 
118, 133, 135, 147, 151, 172, 
178, 186, 199, 203, 218, 222, 
226-7, 239, 242, 243, 245, 246 

Plywood, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 
80, 93, 141, 151, 218 

Poison-girdling, forest, 185 

Poisoning (liberation thinning), 
forest, 47, 203 

Pol Pot regime, Cambodia, 113-14 

Polycyclic System, logging, 45, 46, 
49, 50, 107, 185 

Polynesia, 9, 240 

Pontianak, West Kalimantan, 16 

Population, 13, 25, 26, 28, 72, 76, 
79; agricultural settlement 
schemes, 36, 37, 41, 42; 
protected areas, 60, 65; shifting 
cultivation, 31, 33, 34; see also 
staustics at the beginning of 
chapters 12-29 for individual 
countries 

Port Moresby, 174, M176/7, 179 

Prear Vihear (Koulen) Reserve, 
M112, 114, 115 

Predator introduction, 240 

Production forestry, 56, 78, 79-80 

Productive capacity, forestry, 43 

Project on Study, Survey and 
Conservation of Endangered 
Species of Flora, 134 

Protected areas, 10, 11, 12, 17, 
60-6, 62, 63, 64, 78-9, 80; 
forest management, 44; 
settlement schemes, 38-9, 39, 
40, 41; government policy, 56, 
57, 58, 59; TFAP, 69, 69, 72, 
73, 74, 81; tribal people, 28; see 
also maps and text in chapters 
12—29 for individual countries 

Protected landscape/IUCN, 61 

Protection of the Natural 
Resources and Environment of 
the South Pacific Region, 
Convention of, 63, 63 

Protection of the World Cultural 
and Natural Heritage, 
Convention of, 62, 63 

Public awareness, 9, 57, 60-1, 76, 
79, 81, 86, 94, 134, 141, 183, 187, 
190, 194, 213, 221; TFAP, 73 

Pueh, Mount, 209 

Pulau Berambang, 100 

Pulau Siarau, 100, 101 

Pulong Tau National Park, 
M204/5, 209 

Pulp and paper industry, 11, 80, 
93, 100, 107, 116 

Pulog, Mount, 192 

Purari River, M176/7, 178 


Qing Lan Gang reserve, 118 

Quaid road, 86 

Queen Elizabeth National Park, 247 

Queensland, 9, 23, 62, 85-6, 87, 
M88/9, 90 


Ragay Gulf, 195, M196/7 

Rainforest Conservation Society of 
Queensland, 87 

Rajang River, 201, M204/5, 208 

Rajkandi, 94 

Rambi Island, 242, M244 

Rampahar-Sitaphar Wildlife 
Sanctuary, 94 

Ramsar Convention, 63, 63, 94, 180 

Ramu River, 174, 175, M176/7, 178 

Ravilevu Nature Reserve, 243 

Re-introduction of species, 138, 213 

Recreation, protected areas, 59, 
61, 66, 100, 109, 122, 135, 185, 
188, 198, 208, 213, 214, 215, 
230 

Red Data Books, 134 

Red River, 41, 63, 232, 233, 234, 
M236/7 

Reduction of Shifting Cultivation 
and Protection of the 
Environment Programme, 172 

Reef Islands, 247 

Reefs, Western Pacific islands, 
240, 243 

Reforestation, 93, 122, 158, 171, 
172, 186, 198, 226, 232, 234, 
238, 248; ITTO, 55 


255 


GENERAL INDEX 


Regional Physical Planning 
Programme for Transmigration 
RePPProT), 37-8, 57, 143, 150 

Relogging, Malaysia, 186 

Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, 
94 

Renewable resources, protected 
areas, 66 

Rennell Island, M244, 245, 247, 
248 

Research, 91, 94, 122, 138, 185, 
220, 221; botanic gardens, 22; 
protected areas, 59, 61, 62, 65, 
66, 69; TFAP, 69 

Reservoir building, damage, 134, 
186, 187, 212 

Resettlement, 26, 27, 36-42, 37, 
39, 41, 57, 113-14, 172, 187, 
228, 238 

Resin, production, 25, 109, 113 

Resource reserve/IUCN, 61 

Riau, 39, 40 

Rice, 13, 25, 41, 57, 92, 107, 108, 
111, 134, 158, 166, 167, 170, 
171, 172, 193, 222, 223, 228, 
232; shifting cultivation, 30, 31, 
32, 33, 33, 34, 35 

Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden, 22 

Ringgold Island, 240 

Riparian forest, 127 

Roads, damage from, 57, 68, 69, 
86, 141, 167, 185, 192, 203, 226, 
246; forest management, 44, 45, 
47, 48, 49, 50, 52 

Rotation, shifting cultivation, 33 

Rotuma Island, 240 

Roundwood, 52, 54, 55 

Roviana Lagoon, 246 

Royal Botanic Garden, 
Perandeniya, 22 

Royal Forest and Bird Protection 
Society, 243 

Rubber plantations, 13, 14, 40, 41, 
42, 93, 113, 116, 117, 118, 174, 
179, 186, 187, 213, 216, 222, 
228, 234 

Ruhuna National Park, M217, 
220, 221 

Rutland Island, 138 

Sabah, /5, 16, 18, 41, 43, 44,45, 
48, 49, 51, 52, 54, 56, 64, 66, 
77, 78, 80, 100, 101, 122, 185, 
201-10, M204/5 

Sabah Foundation, 209 

Sagaing, 107, 108 

Sahabat project, 41 

Sahendaruman, Mount, 155 

Sahul continental shelf, 16, 17, 
141, 155 

Sakaerat Environmental Research 
Station, 66 

Sal forests, 92, 93, 94, 127, 135 

Salak Mangroves National Park, 
M204/5, 208, 209 

Salween River and State, 103, 
M104/S, 108 

Samoas, 240 

Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, 
M204/5, 208, 208, 209 

San Cristobal Island, M244, 245 

San tat wong, 48 

Sangihe Island, 17, 155, M156 

Santa Cruz, M244, 245, 247 

Santa Isabel Island, M244, 245, 
247 

Sarawak, /5, 16, 25, 26, 27-8, 45, 
49, 50, 52, 62, 64, 99, 101, 185, 
201-10, M204/S; see also Brunei 

Sarawak Conservation Strategy, 
209 

Sarawak Mangroves Forest 
Reserve, 207 

Savanna: grassland, 22, 166, 170, 
185; woodland, 111, 113, 142, 
143, 147, 178, 219, 222, 241, 
243, 245 

Sawlogs, 55, 113, 133 

“Scheduled Tribes’, India, 126 

Scienufic Reserve/IUCN, 61 

Sclerophyll forest, 85, 86 

Scrub, 11, 128, 241 

Seasonal forests see Monsoon forest 

Secondary forest products, 9, 14, 
15, 25, 47-9 

Sediment load, rivers, 
deforestation, 47, 48, 234 

Seed dispersal, assisting, 213 

Seed reservoir, shifting cultivation, 
33 

Seedlings, primary forest, 44 

Selangor State, 22, 47, 187, 189 

Select committee on flora and 
fauna, 209 

Selection Management System, 
logging, 45, 46, 49, 50, 107, 


256 


185 


Selirong Forest Reserve, 100 

Semi-deciduous monsoon forest, 
123, 193 

Semi-evergreen rain forest, 11, 
103, 111, 113, 126, 127, 166, 
167, 183, 175, 216, 222, 223, 
230 

Sepik Province and River, 174, 
175, M176/7, 178, 179 

Sepilok Research Centre, 19 

Seram, 147, 151, M157 

Settlement schemes, 10, 34, 
36—42, 41; Transmigration, 
Indonesia, 36—40, 37, 39, 141, 
143, 150 

Shan Plateau and State, 103, 
M104/5, 106, 108 

Shan tribe, 108 

Shelter, use of forest, 117 

Shifted cultivators, 33 

Shifting agriculture, 30-5, 33, 48, 
52, 76, 79, 80; agricultural 
settlement schemes, 36; 
biodiversity, 10, 13, 14, 16, 
31-3; TFAP, 68, 72; tribal 
people, 25, 26, 28, 30, 44 see 
also text in chapters 12—29 for 
individual countries 

Shifting Cultivation Project, 
Lao/Swedish Forestry 
Programme, 171-2 

Shola forest, 127 

Shrubland, 166, 171, 175, 222, 228 

Siberut Island, 30, 65, M/44/5; 
Nature Reserve, 28, 63, 65 

Silam Mountain, Sabah, 201 

Silent Valley Hydroproject, India, 
60-1, M128/9, 134 

Siltation, due to deforestation, 48, 
114, 118, 119, 134, 153, 185, 
187, 192, 195, 209 

Silviculture, 9; see also Logging 

Singapore, 12, 19, 51, 63, 64, 77, 
211-15, 212, 215 

Singapore Botanic Garden, 22, 211 

‘Singsing’ ceremony, 175 

Sinharaja Reserve, 62, 216, M217, 
218, 219, 219, 220 

‘Sinkers’, 46 

Sipitang, 100 

Sittang valley, M/04/5, 107, 108 

SKELPHI, 75 

‘Skidding’ 46, 48 

Slash and burn see Shifting 
agriculture 

Slope, land, forest management, 
44-5 

Social pressure, on forests, 126, 
243 

Social problems, settlement, 40-1 

Softwood, 52 

Sogo shosha, 51 

Soil, 40, 48, 93, 108, 116, 118, 
119, 131, 138, 150, 151, 153, 
154, 158, 171, 185, 186, 187, 
209, 192, 194-5, 218, 234, 248; 
forest formation, 9, 11; erosion 
and conservation, 56, 57, 66, 78; 
deforestation, effect of, 18, 68; 
plantations, 43; settlement 
schemes, 36, 37, 42; shifung 
agriculture, 30, 33 

Solomon Islands, 23, 26, 43, 52, 
63, 71, 75, 77, 174, M176/7, 
178, 240, 242, 244, M244, 
245-8 

South Andaman island, M/32/3, 
138 

South Asia Cooperative 
Environmental Programme, 94 

South-East Upland, 222, 228 

South Pacific Commission, 63 

South Pacific Regional 
Environment Programme 
(SPREP), 63, 180 

Southern Area Master Plan, Laos, 
171 

Southern Peninsula, Thailand, 
222, 227, 228 

Sovi Basin, 243 

Species Survival Commission, 
IUCN (SSC), 16, 17 

Spirit Cave, 30-1 

Sri Lanka, 9, 13, 14, /5 16, 17, 22, 
40, 56, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 75, 
77, 80, 216-21, M217 

Sri Pada Peak, 220 

St Martin’s Island, 94 

State Forest, Laos, 171 

Straits of Malacca, 187 

Strategy Conference on Tropical 
Forestry, Bellegio, 1987, 69, 74 

Strickland River, 174, M176/7 

Stung Treng Province, 111, M/12 

Subalpine forest, 11, 103, 171, 175 


Subtropical rain forests, 9, 17 

Sula, Guadalcanal, 247 

Sulawesi, 15, 16, 33, 34, 36, 37, 
39, 43, 61, 141, 142, 143, 146, 
147, 153, 154, 162, 163, M156 

Sumatra, 13, 14, /5, 16, 17, 22, 
36, 37, 39-40, 56, 127, 141, 
142, 143, M144/5, 146, 147, 
151, 153, 154, 158, 159, 207 

Sumitomo, 51 

Sunda continental shelf, 141, 142, 
154, 201; biodiversity, 16, 17, 
155, 227 

Sundarbans conservation area, 16, 
28, 62, 66, 92, 93, 94, 95, 95, 
M96, 130, 134, 150 

Sungai Buloh, 212 

Sungai Liang Reserve, 100 

Sungei Ingei, 100, M/01 

Sungei Klang, 48 

Sungei Langat, 48 

Sungei Paitt, 48 

Sungei Selangor, 48 

Sungei Telom, 48 

Suta, Guadalcanal, 247 

Swamp forest see Freshwater 
swamp forest, Peat swamp forest 

Swedish: Forestry Programme, 
171-2; International 
Development Agency, 172, 239 

Swidden agriculture see Shifung 
agriculture 

Sylhet Forest Division and 
District, 92, 94 


Tabin Wildlife Reserve, 41, 
M204/5, 206, 208, 208 

Tahan, Mount, 183, M/84, 188 

Taikkyi, 108 

Tam Dao forest, 234 

Taman Negara Park, 60, M/84, 
186, 187, 188, 189, 190 

Tamil Nadu Hills, 127, 134, 135 

Tangail Forest Division, 92 

Tanjung Puting National Park, 63 

Tarutao National Park, M224/5, 
227, 229 

Tasek Bera forest, 188, 189 

Tasek Cini forest, 189 

Tasek Merimbun Forest Reserve, 
100, 101 

Taungya system, 107, 108, 228 

Taveuni Island, 240, 242, M244 

Tawai Mountain, 201 

Tawau Hills, 41, 201, 208 

Tay people, 232 

Tayabas Bay, 195, M196/7 

Tea plantations, 13, 14, 22, 92, 
174, 216, 220 

Tekam Forest Reserve, 189 

Teknaf Game Reserve, 94, 95, 
M96 

Temasik, 211 

Temawai River, 101 

Tembeling Dam, 187 

Temburong District and River, 98, 
100, 101, M101 

Temenggor Dam, 187 

Temperate rain forests, 9, 55, 80, 
85, 127 

Tempurong Cave, 189 

Tenasserim, 103, 108, 109 

Tenasserim Hills, 222, 228 

Terengganu State and River, 47, 
183, 187, 188 

Tet Festival, 238 

TFAP see Tropical Forestry Action 
Plan 

Thai Plywood Company, 226 

Thailand, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26, 
28, 30-1, 32, 33, 44, 49, 50, 60, 
61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 77, 
78, 80, 81, 107, 113, 114, 171, 
222-31, M224/5 

Thale Noi, 223 

Thaleban National Park, 65, 229 

Third South Pacific National Parks 
and Reserves Conference, 180 

Third World National Parks 
Congress, 65 

Thorn forests, 10, 11, 103, 123, 
126, 216, 218, 218 

Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife 
Sanctuary, Thailand, 28, 61, 
M224/5, 228, 229 

Tidal forest, 92; see also Mangrove 
forest 

Timor, /5, 142 

Tomaniivi Nature Reserve, 243, 
M244 

Tonga, 240 

Tonlé Sap, 111, 112, M//2, 113 

Torant River, 142 

Torgama River, 151 

Torres Strait, 23 


Torricelli Mountains, 174 

Totupola Kanda, 221 

Townsville, 85, 86, M88/9, 90 

Tozer, Mount, 87, 88/9 

Trade, 16, 51-5, 53, 139 

Transfer pricing, 52, 54 

Transmigration see Settlement 
schemes 

Tree crops, 117, 143; see also Fruit 
trees, Medicinal plants, Oil 
palm, Rubber 

Tribal people, 25-9, 31, 56, 57, 59 

Tripura State, 127, 130, 131, 135, 
137 

Trobriand Archipelago, 174 

Tropical Forest Resources 
Assessment Project, 
FAO/UNEP, 106 

Tropical Forestry Action Plan 
(TFAP), 10, 65, 68-75, 69, 70, 
71, 72, 73, 75, 81, 94, 166, 172, 
179, 181, 191, 232, 238, 243 

Tropical moist forests, 10, 11, 65 

Tropical monsoon forest see 
Monsoon forest 

Tropical rain forests see Beach 
forest, Coastal swamp forest, 
Fresh water swamp forest, 
Heath forest, Limestone 
bedrock forest, Mangrove forest, 
Peat swamp forest, Ultrabasic 
bedrock forest 

Trusan River, 201, M204/S 

Trus Madi, Mount, 201, 202, 
M204/5, 209 

Tsembaga Mareng people, 32 

Turama River, M176/7, 178 

Tutong District and River, 98, 
M101 


Uda Walawe National Park, 221 

Ultrabasic bedrock, forest, 11, 
143, 178, 245; Malaysia, 185, 
201, 202, 206 

Ulu Mendaram Conservation Area, 
99, 100, 100, M/01 

Ulu Temburong/Batu Apoi Forest 
Reserve, 100, 101, M/01 

UNDP see United Nations 
Development Programme 

UNEP see United Nations 
Environment Programme 

Unesco, 72, 94; Man and 
Biosphere Programme (MAB), 
62-3, 94, 122, 180, 220; see also 
Biosphere reserves 

UNIDO (United Nations 
Industrial Development 
Organisation), 72 

Uniform System, logging, 45, 46, 
47, 49, 50 

United Nations Development 
Programme, 70, 72, 106, 109, 
110, 171, 172, 216, 221 

United Nations Conference on 
Trade and Development, 54 

United Nations Educational, 
Scienufic and Cultural 
Organisation, 72, 94; Man and 
Biosphere Programme, 62-3, 94 

United Nations Environment 
Programme, 94, 139; Global 
Convention on Conservation of 
Biological Diversity, 63; TFAP, 
70, 72; Tropical Forestry 
Resources Assessment, 10, 141, 
143, 193 

Uae States, markets, 51, 52, 54, 


United States Agency for 
International Development, 110, 
172 

United States National Parks 
Service, 110 

Unprocessed timber, 51, 52 

UNSO (United Nations 
Sundano-Sahelian Office), 72 

Upper Kwae Yai, 61 

Usan Apau National Park, 
M204/5, 209 

Uttar Pradesh, India, 135 


Vanua Levu Island, 240, 241, 242, 
M244 

Vanutau, 26, 63, 63, 240, 
249 

Veal Renh bay, 111, M/12 

Veneer, 52, 53, 55, 80 

Victoria Mountain, M1/76/7, 179 

Vientiane, 166 

Vietnam, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 28, 32, 
63, 64, 65, 71, 77, 78, 111, 113, 
114, 232-9, 233, 233, 235, 
M236/7, 238 

Vinh Phu pulp and paper mill, 239 


Virgin jungle reserves, Malaysia, 
56, 188, 189, 189, 208 

Visayas, 28 

Viti Levu Group Isles, 240, 241, 
242, M244 

Volcanoes, 13, 141, 201, 206; 
volcanic soils, 175, 193 


WALHI, 75 

Wallace’s Line, Indonesia, 43, 
141, 142, 154, 155 

Water quality, effect of 
deforestation, 48, 118, 119, 192 

Watershed protection and 
degradation, 40, 56, 57, 61, 62, 
65, 66, 78, 79, 114, 128, 138, 
155, 171, 185, 187, 190, 195, 
199, 203, 209, 214, 218, 222, 
226, 227, 235 

Webb, Mountain, 87 

West Bengal, 66 

West Kalimantan, 16 

Western Ghats, India, 9, 25, 126, 
127, M128/9, 129, 130, 133, 
134, 135, 136 

Western Highland, Papua New 
Guinea, 178, 180 

Western Pacific Islands, 240-50, 
242, M244; see also Fiji, 
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu 

Western Province, Papua New 
Guinea, 175, 178 

Western Samoa, 240 

Wet Tropics of Queensland, 62 

Wetlands, 11, 171, 174, 180, 209, 
230; Convention on Wetlands of 
International Importance, 63; see 
also Fresh water swamp forest, 
Mangrove forest, Peat swamp 
forest 

WFP, 72, 75 

Wildlands Policy, World Bank, 41 

Wildlife Conservation 
International, 230 

Wildlife Institute of India, 135, 
138 

Wildlife Management Areas, 
Papua New Guinea, 174, 180 

Wildlife sanctuaries see Protected 
areas 

Wildlife sanctuary/IUCN, 61 

Wilhelm, Mountain, 174, M176/7, 
179, 180 

Wolong reserve, 122 

Wood chips, 150, 154, 179, 201, 
207 

Woodland (open forest), 10, 11, 
85, 113, 128, 129, 175 

World Bank, 40, 41, 61, 80, 95, 
116, 172, 28, 75, 221; TFAP, 
68, 70, 72 

World Commission on 
Environment and Development 
UN, 65, 68 

World Conservation Monitoring 
Centre, 12 

World Conservation Strategy, 65, 
68, 72, 139 

World Forestry Congress, 69 

World Heritage sites, 12, 62, 63, 
85, 86, 87, 87, 91, 94, 174, 180, 
181, 209, 243, 248 

World Resources Institute, 68, 69, 
70, 73, 73 

World Wide Fund for Nature, 16, 
41, 50, 60, 70, 75, 94, 95, 110, 
114, 122, 139, 191, 209, 220, 
230, 235 

Wuzhishan Natural Protected 
Area, M120/1, 122 


Xe Khampho area, 171 

Xe Piane area, M/68/9, 171, 172 

Xin Ying Gang Reserve, 118 

Xishuangbanna, 118, 119, 122, 
123, 124 


Yala East National Park, M217, 
220, 221 

Yamuna River, 126 

Yao tribe, 222 

“Yarding’, 45, 46 

Yasawas group Isles, 240, M244 

Yok Don Reserve, 235, M236/7, 
238 

Yomas, 103 

Yunnan, 116, 117, 118, M/20/1, 
122, 123, 124; biodiversity, 118, 
119, 228; tribal people, 25, 28 

“Yunnan White Medicine’, 123 

Yushan National Park, M/20/1, 
122 


Zambales mountains, 193 
Zoos, 13, 16, 19, 21 


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IUCN — The World Conservation Union 


Founded in 1948, IUCN — the World 
Conservation Union —is amembership 
organisation comprising governments, non- 
governmental organisations, research 
institutions, and conservation agencies in 120 
countries. The Union promotes the protection 
and sustainable utilisation of living resources. 


Several thousand scientists and experts from all 
continents form part of anetwork supporting the 
work of its six Commissions: threatened species, 
protected areas, ecology, sustainable 
development, environmental law, and 
environmental education and training. Its 
thematic programmes include tropical forests, 
wetlands, marine ecosystems, plants, the Sahel, 
Antarctica, population and natural resources, and 
women in conservation. These activities enable 
IUCN to develop sound policies and programmes 
for the conservation of biological diversity and 
sustainable development of natural resources. 


The World Conservation Monitoring Centre 


The World Conservation Monitoring Centre 
(WCMC) isa joint venture between the three 
partners in the World Conservation Strategy, 
IUCN, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the 
United Nations Environment Programme. Its 
mission is to support conservation and sustainable 
development by collecting and analysing global 
conservation data so that decisions affecting 
biological resources are based on the best available 
information. 


WCMC has developed a global database of the 
world’s biological diversity that includes 
threatened species, habitats of conservation 
concern, critical sites, protected areas of the 
world, and the utilisation and trade in wildlife 
species and products. WCMC provides an 
information service to conservation and 
development communities, governments and 
United Nations agencies, scientific institutions, 
the business and commercial sector, and the media 


The Editors 


Dr N. Mark Collins heads a programme of habitat 
and ecosystem conservation projects at the World 
Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge. 
Jeffrey A. Sayer is Head of the Tropical Forest 
Conservation Programme at IUCN headquarters 
in Gland, Switzerland. 

Dr Timothy C. Whitmore is a tropical botanist at 
the Geography Department, University of 
Cambridge. 


The jacket illustration is a computer-enhanced satellite view of 
Asia and the Pacific region highlighting the tropical forests. It 1s 
based on a photograph from NOAA/Science Photo Library, 
London. 


qocnee? A tae 


The research for this book 
was made possible by 
a generous grant from 
The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. 


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