Integrated Conservation and Development

Integrated Conservation and Development - A Pilot Project

Introduction

Since the mid 1980s, the Forest Department adopted an approach to protected area management that attempts to address the needs of nearby local communities by soliciting local participation and integrating conservation with development. This was referred to as the "integrated conservation and development programme (ICDP)". In fact, the Department has practised various forms of participation since establishment in 1919, and is increasing, particularly, in interactive participation and self-mobilisation (which represents greatest empowerment, democracy and ownership).

A pilot integrated conservation and development project was carried out at Batang Ai National Park. The project strongly emphasizes environmental education in the context of sustainable development. Through education, people engage in the democratic structure and systems which surround them, to properly demand and achieve the rights and privileges which are equally and rightly theirs.

"Education, including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognised as a process by which human beings and societies reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues."

(Agenda 21, Chapter 36, UNCED, 1992)

Background
The Batang Ai water catchment area above the Sarawak Electricity Supply Company (SESCO) Hydroelectric Dam, in the Sri Aman Division, was proposed as a national park in 1984. The area has one of the largest populations of orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus) in the State. The proposal was met with considerable resistance from local residents, who made huge monetary claims as a compensation for the loss of their Native Customary Rights within the proposed Park. Aggravating the problem was a history of distrust and animosity between all the communities dating back to their head-hunting days.

To gain cooperation from the local people, leaders of seven communities identified as having rights and privileges to the proposed Park were given a tour to the existing national parks around the State and Peninsula Malaysia. After having been shown how the parks positively contribute to the socio-economic development of rural communities, around and within them, through tourism, the seven communities agreed to the creation of the Batang Ai N.P.. It was gazetted in 1991. However, it was clear that continued cooperation between the Department and the holders of rights and privileges within the Park depends on the materialization of expected socio-economic benefits.

Conservation Education Programmes

Between December 1990 and August 1991, the Department conducted several conservation education programmes at Batang Ai. The programmes sought to increase awareness that orang utans are totally protected animals, and to promote positive attitudes and sound management practices towards the protection of the park and the orang utans.

The conservation education programmes were successful but the communities began to question the economic value of the Park and the benefits of cooperating with the Department as they realized little immediate economic benefit. The need for training and a support system to help the seven communities to take advantage of the business potential of the Park was recognized. Assistance was sought from Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM), a local education/training institution which has a group specializing in educating rural communities towards business development and strong grass-roots approach to community development. ITM prepared a one-year business development programme for the local people which began in January 1992.

It was also in the Department's plan to seek help from other community development agencies such as Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat Persekutuan (KEMAS) to ensure a harmony of efforts in the area of community development.

The Forest Department and the Communities
The Forest Department's main aim was to maintain or enhance the biodiversity of the Batang Ai area (within the Park as well as crucial zones surrounding it). To achieve this, the cooperation of the seven communities with recognized rights to dwell, farm, hunt, gather and fish in the Park was crucial. Thus the Department focused on:

fostering the feeling that the communities are jointly responsible for the present and future resources of the area; and
ensuring that the communities gain maximum benefit from sustainable (and preferably non-consumable) use of these natural resources.

Specific Objectives of the pilot ICDP (1992)

To create awareness of the potential economic benefits of the National Park;
To develop a sense of unity and common purpose between the seven communities - ideally resulting in a single cooperative venture;
To explore ways of using these resources sustainably, with particular emphasis on non-consumable uses, such as tourism; and
To encourage and train local people to become involved in business as entrepreneurs

Some Perceptions
"The establishment of strong village-level institutions can be the single most effective behaviour which contributes to the conservation of biological resources...." (McNeely, 1988).

A Cooperative, Koperative Serbaguna Ulu Batang Ai (KSUBA), was formed by the local communities under the project in 1992. The Cooperative has obtained assistance (both technical and financial) from Batang Ai Longhouse Resort (Hilton Hotel) and the Sarawak Cooperative Department, and has won construction contracts within the Park. It also further enhances mutual trust among the communities and helps toward the implementation of conservation and wildlife survey programmes within the Park.

The local communities helped conduct wildlife surveys in preparation for the Batang Ai N.P. management plan which was completed in 1993. The employment (some hired as ecotourist guides) and involvement of the local communities was crucial in the enforcement of the Park rules and regulations.

Evaluations carried out by both the Forest Department and ITM show that the ICDP approach has indeed empowered the communities towards positive sustainable action. The programme has, thus, been mooted statewide covering the other nine totally protected areas. The ICDP approach may not be the panacea of all conservation and community development problems faced by the Forest Department but the process of providing an avenue for involving all parties or communities in conservation planning and decision-making with the aim of arriving at the most appropriate solution with proper regard to biodiversity conservation should help ensure a higher rate of success.

The communities living in and around totally protected areas in Sarawak often face challenging and demanding development options from within and externally. We must recognise that sometimes, our contemporary conservation policies, methods and systems are alien and culturally difficult for them to accept. Some of our developmental options may appear unsustainable to these communities as their ways do to us. In fact, instead of authoritarian implementation of our views (no matter how liberal or modern), we should continue to learn from our local communities not just look at them from the point of their needs (top-down approach) but to study their indigenous approaches and lifestyles, to find out how they can help us best implement conservation policies towards a sustainable future.

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