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Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Indonesia

Junus Kartasubrata

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, consisting of some 13,700 islands. It is physiologically, biologically, and culturally one of the most diverse countries in the world. Some 70 percent of Indonesia is sea, while its land area is greater than 195 million ha. Massive mountain ranges containing a large number of volcanic formations run through the islands of Sumatra, Java, and the Lesser Sunda and also extend throughout the islands of Sulawesi and Irian Jaya. The highlands consist of broad alluvial plains.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS TROPICAL FORESTS

Indonesia is part of the Malesian botanical region, which is characterized by a large number of endemic species, a rich flora, and a complex vegetation structure. The Malesian rain forests are the richest in the world in terms of number of species (Whitmore, 1984). One of their most important features is the abundance of trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae.

Junus Kartasubrata is the general editor for Plant Resources of South-East Asia, Bogor, Indonesia.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Population

Indonesia is a country of villages, with 67,949 villages spread over 3,542 subdistricts within 246 regencies in 27 provinces. Indonesia is the fifth most populous country in the world, with over 184 million people (World Resources Institute, 1992). The population is unevenly distributed. Approximately 100 million people, 61 percent of the population, are concentrated on the island of Java, which accounts for only 6.7 percent of the total land area of Indonesia.

The island of Java, which has rich volcanic soils and high agricultural productivity, is one of the most populous regions in the world (population density, 768 people/km2). The islands of Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, on the other hand, which together account for 50 percent of the country's land area, have population densities of 14 and 3 people/km2, respectively. Urban populations are also higher in Java and Bali. Thirty percent of the population of Java is concentrated in cities, compared with 20 percent in the Outer Islands.

Indonesia's population increased at an average annual rate of 2.3 percent from 1965 to 1986. The growth rate decreased to about 2.15 percent in the 1980s. The annual growth rate varies markedly among the provinces, for example, 3.1 percent for Sumatra and 1.8 percent for Java in 1985, with the other regions having growth rates between those for Sumatra and Java (Asian Development Bank, 1989).

Urban populations have also been increasing considerably faster than rural populations, reflecting the country's industrialization. In 1971, for example, of the total population, the urban population was 17 percent in 1983 it had increased to 26 percent, and in 1993 it is expected to reach 32 percent, that is, 61 million of 193 million people (Asian Development Bank, 1989).

Demographic policies have focused on controlling population growth through family planning and regional population distribution. The government's target of annual population growth for REPELITA V (Rencana Pembangunan Lima Tahun), Indonesia's Fifth Five Year Development Plan (1989–1990 to 1993–1994), is 1.9 percent (Government of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency, 1989). Even so, Indonesia's population is expected to increase substantially, to about 193 million people by 1993 (Government of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency, 1989) and to 307 million people by 2030 (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

The uneven population distribution between the islands of Java and Bali and the Outer Islands is perceived as a major problem. Therefore, transmigration programs that resettle people from one region to an-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

other have been a priority of the Indonesian government. Migrants from Java and Bali are resettled in the provinces of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Irian Jaya. According to government records, during the first 4 years of the REPELITA IV plan (1984–1985 to 1988 –1989), 504,941 families were relocated; the target for the REPELITA V plan is 750,000 families (Government of Indonesia/Department of Information, 1989).

Indonesia's work force amounts to 74.5 million people, or 42 percent of the total population, with 61 percent in Java and 39 percent in the Outer Islands (Government of Indonesia/Department of Information, 1989). In 1985, the proportion of the work force employed in various sectors was as follows: 54.7 percent in the agricultural sector (compared with 64.2 percent in 1971); 15.0 percent in the commercial sector; 13.3 percent in public services; 9.3 percent in industry; 3.3 percent in construction; 3.1 percent in transportation and communication; 0.7 percent in mining; 0.4 percent in finance and insurance; 0.1 percent in electricity, gas, and water; and 0.1 percent in other sectors.

In 1985 the work force increased at an annual rate of 4 percent. During the REPELITA V plan, the work force is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 3.0 percent, with 2.2 percent in Java and 4.2 percent in the Outer Islands (Government of Indonesia/Department of Information, 1989).

Agriculture

Indonesian statistics on food crop production distinguish between production of wet paddy rice, dryland rice, and secondary crops, such as maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and soybeans. The agricultural survey of 1985 provided annual statistics for food crop production (Table 1).

Milled rice is a staple food in Indonesia. Milled rice production more than tripled in 40 years (1950 to 1987); consequently, rice imports have decreased, whereas the per capita supply of rice has almost doubled. Production and imports of milled rice from 1950 to 1987 are given in Table 2. A detailed account of milled rice production and imports from 1981 to 1987 has been compiled by Sadikin (1990) and is presented in Table 3. In 1985, Indonesia became self-sufficient in rice production. This balanced situation has mostly been maintained.

Agricultural (including forestry) product exports include rubber, tea, coffee, oil palm, tobacco, white and black pepper, and timber mainly as plywood. Exports totaled about 4 million metric tons in 1988 (Biro Pusat Statistik [Central Bureau of Statistics], 1988).

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

TABLE 1 Production of Food Crops in Indonesia, 1985

Food Crop

Area Harvested (ha)

Total Production (metric tons)

Wet paddy rice

8,755.721

37,027.443a

Dryland rice

1,146.572

2,005.502a

Maize

2,439.966

4,329.503

Cassava

1,291.845

14,057.027

Sweet potatoes

256.086

2,161.493

Peanuts

510.037

527.852

Soybeans

896.220

869.718

a Unmilled rice.

SOURCE: Summarized from Biro Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statics).1989. Input-Output Table 1985. Jakarta: Biro Pusat Statistik.

TABLE 2 Average Production and Imports of Milled Rice, 1950–1987

 

Metric Tons (in millions)

 

Period

Production

Imports

Per Capita Supply (kg)

1950–1960

7.26

0.56

86.09

1961–1970

9.79

0.59

91.20

1971–1980

15.93

1.31

120.80

1981–1987

25.12

0.37

148.57

SOURCE: Biro Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statistics). 1988. Statistik Indonesia. Statistical Year Book of Indonesia 1988. Jakarta:Biro Pusat Statistik.

TABLE 3 Production and Import of Milled Rice, 1981–1987 (in Thousands of Metric Tons)

Year

Production

Import

1981

22,236

530

1982

23,007

300

1983

24,006

1,160

1984

25,932

380

1985

26,542

0

1986

27,014

0

1987

27,253

0.05

SOURCE: Sadikin, S. W. 1990. The diffusion of agricultural researchknowledge and advances in rice production in Indonesia. Pp. 106–123 in Sharing Innovation. Global Perspectives on Food, Agriculture,and Rural Development. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Forest Resources

The forests of Indonesia can be classified into the following 10 aggregations on the basis of the characteristics of their vegetation (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990):

  • Coastal forests on beaches and dunes;

  • Tidal forests, including mangrove, nipa, and other coastal palms;

  • Heath forests associated with sandy, infertile soils;

  • Peat forests associated with organic soils with peat layers at least 50 cm deep;

  • Swamp forests seasonally inundated by fresh water;

  • Evergreen forests, including moist primary lowland, riparian, and dry deciduous forests;

  • Forests on rocks that contain basic (pH more than 7) minerals (for example, hornblend, augite, biotite, and plagiolass);

  • Mountain forests (at elevations above 2,000 m);

  • Bamboo forests; and

  • Savannah forests.

DESIGNATED FORESTLANDS

Records from the Tata Guna Hutan Kesepakatan (TGHK; Forest Land Use by Consensus) inventory indicate that areas designated as forestlands cover 144.0 million ha, about 74 percent of the total land area of Indonesia. They are subdivided into the following four forest classes: conservation forests (18.8 million ha), protection forests (30.3 million ha), production forests (64.4 million ha), and conversion forests, including some unclassified forestlands (30.5 million ha) (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). These functional classes are not demarcated on the ground, and forestlands have been used for other purposes, for example, human settlements as a result of transmigration, mining, and agricultural perennial crops.

Forestland on Java (about 3 million ha) is legally declared as such and is referred to as “gazetted” (set-aside) forestland and is demarcated in the field. Most of the TGHK forestland outside Java is in the process of becoming legal forestland (pregazetted—that is, presetaside —forestland). Of the 144.0 million ha comprising the four forest classes, only 109 million ha has forest cover at present. This constitutes 9 to 10 percent of the world's total area of closed tropical forests (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). The distributions

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

TABLE 4 Distribution of Forest Classes among Various Indonesian Islands (in Thousands of Hectares)

Island

Permanent Forest

Production Forest

Total for Permanent and Production Forest

Conversion Forest a

Total

Sumatra

10,777

14,399

25,176

5,032

30,208

Java and Madura

999

2,014

3,013

0

3,013

Kalimantan

11,025

25,650

36,675

8,293

44,968

Sulawesi

5,274

6,018

11,292

1,587

12,879

Bali/Lesser Sunda

2,016

1,349

3,365

3,008

6,373

Maluku Island

1,991

3,106

5,097

436

5,533

Irian Jaya

16,960

11,856

28,816

11,775

40,591

Total

49,042

64,392

113,434

30,131

143,565

Percent a

34.2

44.9

79.0

21.0

100.0

NOTE: Percent totals may not add to 100 because of rounding.

a Conversion forests are forests on government lands that can be converted to other uses, such as agriculture, industry, and settlements, after the removal of timber or with the approval of the government.

SOURCE: From Statistik Kehutanan Indonesia, 1982/1983 Departmentof Forestry, Jakarta, 1984. In Government of Indonesia/InternationalInstitute of Environment and Development. 1985. A Review of PoliciesAffecting the Sustainable Development of Forest Lands in Indonesia.Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.

of TGHK forests among various islands of Indonesia are given in Table 4.

PRODUCTION FORESTS

Major timber products from forests used for tree production (production forests) outside Java are mainly members of the family Dipterocarpaceae and include the genera Shorea, Hopea, Dipterocarpus, Dryobalanops, Anisoptera, Parashorea, and Vatica.

Satellite imagery, aerial photographs, and terrestrial inventories indicate that of the area designated as production forests, only 39,200 million ha (60.90 percent) is productive. The remaining 25,200 million ha (39.10 percent) is no longer productive (Prastowo, 1991). The TGHK area of permanent-production forests is 33.9 million ha, of which 21.0 million ha (52.0 percent) is productive. The TGHK area of limited-production forests is 30.5 million ha, of which 18.2 million ha (48.0 percent) is productive (Prastowo, 1991).

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

According to various surveys, potential production in limited-and permanent-production forests is as follows. In Java and Madura, the production forest extends to 1.9 million ha, consisting of tree plantations of, for example, the genera Pinus, Agathis, Swietenia, Dalbergia, and Altingia, with an average production potential of 908.773 m3/ year from a harvested area of 50,549 ha/year. Of the 66.6 million-ha concession area (forestlands leased to private companies for 20 years for logging and replanting) in the Outer Islands, 56.3 million ha is productive forest and is located in production and conversion forests (a conversion forest is forest on land that can be used for other purposes, for example, agriculture, settlements, or industry). The average production potential of a stand of a commercial species with diameters of ≥50 cm is more than 90 m3/ha for species consisting mostly of the dipterocarp family but including members of the genera Agathis and Gonystylus, among others. The largest standing volumes are in the provinces of Kalimantan Timur (1,751 million m3), Kalimantan Tengah (764 million m3), Irian Jaya (661 million m3), Kalimantan Barat (476 million m3), and Riau (365 million m3).

Ecologic Characteristics and Issues

Indonesia is outstandingly rich in plants and animals. Only 1.3 percent of the earth's land surface is occupied by Indonesia; yet 10 percent of the world's plant species, 12 percent of the world's mammal species, 16 percent of the world's reptile and amphibian species, and 17 percent of the world's bird species can be found in Indonesia (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). Therefore, Indonesia has a great responsibility to maintain the biodiversity found in that country. For that purpose Indonesia has promulgated laws and regulations pertaining to the protection of nature (these are discussed in greater detail later in this profile) and has earmarked 341 locations (a total of 13 million ha) as conservation forests or protected areas. Nevertheless, many species in Indonesia are already threatened with extinction: 126 birds, 63 mammals, and 21 reptiles.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY

Indonesia also has a famed diversity of ecosystems—from the ice fields of Irian Jaya to a wide variety of humid lowland forests, from deep lakes to shallow swamps, from coral reefs to mangrove forests. Indonesia also has valuable genetic resources.

Indonesia is not a uniform country, as demonstrated by the 416

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

land systems identified in the Regional Physical Program for Transmigration report (1990). This biogeographical diversity is reflected in its biologic resources. For example, the Sulawesi-Maluku-Lesser Sunda area, known as the “wallacea area” (named for the nineteenth century British biologist Alfred Wallace), is biologically complex. It is characterized by animals that are neither particularly Asian nor particularly Australian but, rather, commonly unique to a single island. There is much concern about the degraded ecologic conditions resulting from shifting (slash-and-burn) cultivation and forest clearing in mountainous areas for use as agricultural land—conditions such as the formation of large areas of alang-alang (Imperata cylindrica) fields in the Outer Islands and accelerated soil erosion in the upland areas of Java. These concerns are described in detail below.

The Alang-Alang Problem Alang-alang is a notorious weed found in the humid tropics. It is known as lalang in Malaysia and as blady grass in Australia. Alang-alang is a climax plant community that spreads rapidly after burning of the land, maintaining its dominance in the ecosystem. About 15 million ha (8 percent of Indonesia's land area) is classified as alang-alang fields. Although Irian Jaya contains more alang-alang than the other provinces do, the Sulawesi, Sumatra Utara, Kalimantan Selatan, and Timor Timur regions are most critically affected by alang-alang vegetation.

Soil Erosion The problem of soil erosion has attracted public attention since the middle of the nineteenth century, when there was heavy flooding of some rivers in Java and the emergence of critically degraded lands (Utomo, 1989). It was assumed that the floods were caused by excessive clearing of forested areas for the establishment of large agricultural estates in upland areas, thus critically degrading the land. Sukartiko (1988) reported on the alarming erosion rates of soils in the watershed areas of some rivers in Java and Sumatra. They varied from 1.28 mm/year in the Asahan watershed in Sumatra to 8.0 mm/year in the Cisanggarung watershed in Java. Erosion has also caused sedimentation in reservoirs and irrigation systems and a subsequent loss of their water-holding capacities.

Economic Activity

The following data were derived from a joint report of the Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (1990) relating to the situation and outlook for forestry in Indonesia.

Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1987 amounted to

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

114.5 trillion rupiah (Rp) (US$69.4 billion). From 1965 to 1980, Indonesia's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 7.9 percent (in U.S. dollars). From 1980 to 1986, annual GDP growth averaged 3.4 percent (World Bank, 1989). Indonesia's economy was actually in recession in 1982, with the GDP declining 2.2 percent (Government of Indonesia/Department of Information, 1989). Further declines because of declines in oil prices were observed in 1985 and 1986.

Indonesia is still an agricultural country, despite the sharp decline in the contribution of the agricultural sector to the country's GDP. In 1961, the agricultural sector contributed 47 percent of the GDP, but its contribution declined to 26 percent in 1986. As an oil-exporting country, oil has been one of Indonesia's main sources of foreign exchange. The mining and the oil and gas sectors increased their contributions to GDP from 12.3 percent in 1973 to 19 percent in 1983; this declined to 13.5 percent in 1986.

The various regions of Indonesia have developed at different rates. The fastest-growing area has been the island of Bali, with a GDP annual growth rate of 13.3 percent from 1980 to 1986, while the Riau archipelago has a recessionary economy, with a negative annual growth rate of −7.4 percent.

Further industrialization is a national goal for the REPELITA V plan. The annual growth target for the manufacturing sector is 8.5 percent, while that for the agricultural sector is 3.6 percent. Another goal is to further diversify the manufacturing sector away from oil. Although the target for the oil and gas sectors is an annual increase of 4.2 percent, the target for the non-oil and gas sectors is 10 percent annually.

Indonesia's average per capita income in 1988 was US$440. Indonesia ranked close to last in the lower-middle income country groupings, behind the Philippines and Papua New Guinea (World Bank, 1989). Among 120 reporting countries, however, Indonesia had the eighth fastest rate of growth in income per capita from 1965 to 1986. The target for per capita GDP growth for the REPELITA V plan is approximately 3.1 percent per annum.

Total domestic investment amounted to 20 trillion rupiah in 1986, which was 20.7 percent of GDP. Private investment contributed 48 percent of total investment in 1985–1986 and 57 percent in 1988–1989. Annual fixed investment grew considerably (11.7 percent) from 1971 through 1981, but registered negative growth (−0.5 percent) from 1981 to 1988 because of the contraction of public investment. Investment growth recovered considerably in 1988 (Government of Indonesia/ Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×
Economic Importance of Forestry

During the last 25 to 30 years there has been rapid change in the forestry sector in Indonesia. During the early 1960s timber production was confined mostly to teakwood in Java and a limited number of valuable wood species in the more accessible natural forests in the Outer Islands. Since then, most forestry activities have moved from Java to the Outer Islands.

TIMBER PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY WOOD-BASED INDUSTRIES

During the past 30 years annual log production increased from about 2 million to 36 million m3, originating mostly (96 percent) from the natural forests. This has resulted in an increase in the number of processing units, mostly sawmills and plywood mills, and in the volume of manufactured wood-based products (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Prastowo (1991) reported on the development of log and lumber production from 1969–1970 to 1988–1989 (Table 5). The development of wood processing industries, in particular sawmills and plywood mills, is described in Table 6. In 1973 there were 14 sawmill units with a rated capacity of 200,000 m3/year. This total grew to 364 units in 1988 with a capacity of 11,400,000 m3, a growth of 26 times in the total number of units and 57 times in capacity. Plywood mills increased from 2 units in 1973 to 114 units in 1988 (57-fold growth), and the capacity went from 28 m3 in 1973 to 9,013,000 m3 in 1988 (321-fold growth).

DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY WOOD-BASED INDUSTRIES

The development of primary industries (sawmills and plywood mills) was considered satisfactory up to the end of the REPELITA IV plan. Secondary wood-based industries, such as pulp and paper, furniture, and other woodworking industries, are now on the agenda for development. The objective is to obtain more added value and to expand employment opportunities.

The production level for furniture and other woodworking industries in 1986–1987 was 1,494,178 m3. This increased to 1,904,231 m3 in 1988–1989 (Prastowo, 1991). Faster development of secondary wood-based industries is anticipated in the years to come, as was experienced with the plywood industry.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

TABLE 5 Development of Log and Lumber Production (in Thousands of Cubic Meters)

Yeara

Logs

Lumber

1969–1970

6,206

177

1970–1971

10,899

1,164

1971–1972

13,706

998

1972–1973

17,717

1,037

1973–1974

26,297

1,350

1974–1975

21,752

1,819

1975–1976

16,296

2,400

1976–1977

21,428

3,000

1977–1978

22,939

3,500

1978–1979

26,256

1,512

1979–1980

24,557

1,637

1980–1981

23,995

1,793

1981–1982

14,024

2,659

1982–1983

13,377

3,686

1983–1984

15,209

2,711

1984–1985

15,958

2,119

1985–1986

14,551

2,643

1986–1987

19,758

7,442

1988–1989

27,566

9,750

a Data for 1987–1988 were not included in the original source.

SOURCE: Prastowo, H. 1991. The system of production forest managementin the future. In Homecoming Day Alumni VIII/1991. Faculty of Forestry,Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

The growth of the pulp and paper industry is also promising. In 1979 –1980 the production level was 220,000 metric tons, which increased to 600,000 metric tons in 1986–1987. At the beginning of 1990 there were 43 pulp and paper mills, with an annual capacity of 1 million metric tons of pulp and 1.7 million metric tons of paper (Prastowo, 1991). Indonesia is ambitiously trying to become one of the world 's largest pulp and paper producers. To achieve this goal, the government has embarked on the large-scale development of forest industrial plantations, which are expected to become the main source of raw materials for the pulp and paper industry.

Contribution of Forestry to the National Economy

Forestry, together with downstream forest-based industries, has become an important sector in the Indonesian economy, even without considering the various nonmarket benefits arising from forests and

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

TABLE 6 Development of Sawmills and Plywood Mills in Indonesia, 1973 –1988

 

Sawmill

Plywood

Year

Number of Units

Capacity (1,000 m3)

Number of Units

Capacity (1,000 m3)

1973

14

200

2

28

1974

31

300

5

103

1975

54

400

8

305

1976

65

1,500

14

405

1977

81

1,800

17

535

1978

121

3,200

19

799

1979

145

4,100

21

1,809

1980

188

5,500

29

1,989

1981

239

7,100

40

2,601

1982

257

7,600

61

3,292

1983

286

8,500

79

4,477

1984

294

8,700

95

5,327

1985

297

9,600

101

6,228

1986

331

10,500

111

6,500

1986

331

10,500

111

6,500

1987

364

11,400

114

8,130

1988

364

11,400

114

9,013

SOURCE: Prastowo, H. 1991. The system of production forest managementin the future. In Homecoming Day Alumni VIII/1991. Faculty of Forestry,Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

forest activities. In 1987 forestry contributed 1.2 percent to the Indonesian GDP, and the forest-based industries contributed another 1.5 percent, bringing the total to 2.7 percent. That same year, agriculture and fishing contributed 25.5 percent, oil contributed 14 percent, and non-oil manufacturing contributed another 13.9 percent to the GDP.

Forestry has been particularly important for foreign exchange earnings. In 1987 forestry and the forest industries led to export revenues of US$2.7 billion, or 16 percent of the value of Indonesia's total exports. In the same year, agriculture and fisheries contributed 19 percent of the value of Indonesia's total exports, non-oil manufacturing contributed 15 percent, and petroleum and gas contributed 41 percent.

Among the various forestry-based industries, the plywood industry is the most important one, making up 52 percent of the total contribution of the forest industry to Indonesia's GDP. Sawn wood and other wood products contributed 37 percent, and pulp and paper contributed 11 percent.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

As a result of limitations on log exports and a later total ban on log exports, Indonesia's sawmill and plywood industries grew dramatically from 1980 to 1987. Exporters were able to penetrate world markets, and Indonesia is now a dominant exporter, accounting for 48 percent of the world's plywood market and 17 percent of the nonconiferous sawn wood market.

Other products, such as rattan, are also important sources of foreign exchange. Furthermore, large numbers of forest dwellers and rural people eke out livelihoods and earn cash incomes by extracting products from the forests.

The benefits arising from the environmental functions of forests are also important. These functions include regulation of river water flow, which prevents floods in the wet season and water shortages in the dry season; control of soil erosion; curtailing extreme temperatures and reducing wind velocities in and around forests (producing a more favorable microclimate); and oxygen production and carbon dioxide utilization, which mitigate the effects of the greenhouse effect. However, there is no adequate mechanism to quantify these functions (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

HISTORICAL ASPECTS AND CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION

In this profile, the term deforestation means the removal or destruction of all or most of the trees of a forest such that reproduction is impossible except by artificial means. Deforestation is also used to refer to the loss of natural forest cover. In Indonesia, deforestation includes conversion of forestlands into estate crops (large tracts of land [200 to 300 ha] on which crops such as tea, rubber, coconut, oil palm, and cacao are cultivated), as well as clearing of forestlands for settled agriculture (farming of the same piece of land without fallow periods); shifting cultivation; and such things as human settlements, infrastructure, and mining. Indiscriminate and excessive logging may also cause deforestation.

Reforestation in Indonesia means the planting of trees on bare forestlands, that is, land designated by law as permanent forest. Regreening means the planting of trees on private land.

Rates of Deforestation

Average rates of deforestation in Indonesia (by island) were computed by using observations of forest cover from various assessments carried out between 1950 and 1984. The rates of deforestation (Table 7)

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

TABLE 7 Average Deforestation Rates in Indonesia, by Island

Province or Island

Period

Loss of Forest Cover (percent/year)

Sumatra

1950–1984

−1.30

Kalimantan

1950–1982

−0.49

Sulawesi

1950–1982

−0.82

Lesser Sunda

1950–1982

−0.35

Maluku

1950–1982

−0.44

Irian Jaya

1950–1982

−0.50

Outer islands except Timor Timur

1950–1982

−0.71

NOTE: The compounded rate of deforestation between 1950 and 1982 given here is based on regression analysis by using different sources of information for different years.

SOURCE: Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1990. Situation andOutlook of the Forestry Sector in Indonesia. Jakarta: Governmentof Indonesia.

measure the average percent decline in area under forest cover. For Indonesia the average was an annual decline of 0.71 percent.

The total annual rate of deforestation was estimated to be about 300,000 ha in the early 1970s and about 600,000 ha in the early 1980s. Using the estimates of smallholder conversion, shifting cultivation, development projects, poor logging practices, and losses caused by fire, the World Bank (1989) estimated a deforestation rate of between 700,000 and 1,200,000 ha in 1989, or an average of 1.2 percent per year (Table 8) (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). The estimated area of closed forests (forests in which the tree canopies completely cover the land) was 109 million ha in 1990 (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Population Pressure and Demand for Agricultural Land

In principle, deforestation can be seen to be a result of demand for agricultural land, depending on a variety of factors. In a developing country such as Indonesia, population pressure is one of those factors. Other factors may be also important. In communities where there is industrial development and a nonsubsistence economy (an economy in which not only basic needs but also nonbasic needs such as a higher standard of living, education, and recreation are fulfilled),

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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demand for agricultural land is lower because there are sources of income other than those from farming activities. In a market economy, food can readily be imported and exchanged for other goods produced in the country.

Furthermore, economic development brings about changes in the structure of demand, away from food commodities and toward industrial goods. When the manufacturing sector grows faster than the agricultural sector, there is increasing urbanization. Thus, higher per capita income is likely another explanation for the decline in deforestation trends. In developed countries, for example, deforestation has stopped, and in many cases the forestland base is increasing.

Income disparities also play an important role in deforestation. Thus, if increases in per capita income are not evenly distributed, the pressure on forestland from the rural poor and land-hungry farming communities may continue (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). Gains in agricultural productivity, if coupled with economic development, may reduce the demand for agricultural land by releasing farm labor to move to other sectors of the economy and contribute further to urbanization. In this case, a smaller amount of land is required to produce the same amount of food, and deforestation pressures are reduced. If sectors of the population do not have means of economic survival other than working the land, pressures on forestlands continue independent of gains in food production.

A classic example of deforestation brought about by population pressures and demand for agricultural land is that of the islands of Java and Bali. Deforestation in Java and Bali started some 300 to 400 years ago. At the end of the nineteenth century, forestland was pushed

TABLE 8 Sources of Deforestation (in Thousands of Hectares per Year)

Source

Best Estimate

Range

Smallholder conversion

500

350–650

Development projects

200

200–300

Logging practices

80

80–150

Fire loss

70

70–100

Total

950

700–1,200

SOURCE: Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1990. Situation andOutlook of the Forestry Sector in Indonesia. Jakarta: Governmentof Indonesia.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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back to the summits and higher slopes of the mountains to provide land for agriculture. The lower hill areas of the northern parts of central and east Java were unaffected, however. Since the seventeenth century, the United Dutch India Company maintained teak forests to provide timber for their merchant fleet and for use as merchandise in their Asian-European trade. Using the domain principle, which was part of the Dutch Agrarian Law of 1870, the Dutch Indian government declared that the remaining forested area was classified as forestland, demarcating it with boundary poles in the field. Today, Java has about 3 million ha of forestland, which is about 22 percent of the island's land area.

In the meantime, pressure on forestlands continues to increase with increases in population density (on average, 768 inhabitants per km2 at present). As a consequence, large areas of forestland are used for agriculture. According to Perum Perhutani (State Forest Corporation), the total area of critically degraded forestland in Java is estimated to be 230,000 ha. In addition to other efforts through social forestry programs, serious efforts are being made to reforest the critical forestlands and to regreen degraded agricultural lands.

In the lower parts of the island of Java, in particular, which have sufficient water supplies, wet paddy rice fields, a productive and sustainable form of agriculture, have been constructed. Rice production has increased manyfold in the past 20 years because of improved rice cultivation technology, including the use of high-yield varieties, fertilizers, and insecticides; support by soft loan credits (money lent on favorable terms from government banks) for operational costs as well as for seeds, fertilizers, and insecticides; and a well-organized extension network. However, this increase in the productivity of wet paddy rice fields cannot prevent landless farmers from looking for more land to farm, even on steep slopes. To prevent further degradation of the natural resources in Java, two strategies are used by the Indonesian government: soil conservation in the uplands and transmigration of needy farmers to the Outer Islands.

Logging in Natural Forests

Increased exploitation of natural forests in the islands outside Java was stimulated by the enactment of laws on foreign capital (Law No. 1, 1967) and domestic capital investment (Law No. 6, 1968). Through these laws, the government of Indonesia opened the possibility of forest exploitation to foreign as well as domestic private companies by providing incentives such as tax exemptions. Forest concessions are granted under a right for forest exploitation (Hak Pengusahaan

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Hutan [HPH]) after the application for concession is approved in a Forestry Agreement contract, in which the rights and obligations of the HPH holders are stipulated. For example, companies are required to pay license fees and royalties and are obliged to adhere to proper and sustainable forest operations.

Within the HPH system, based on the actual conditions and needs of the forests, the forests are managed under a combination of the following three systems:

  • Tebang Pilih Indonesia (TPI), Indonesian selective cutting system;

  • Tebang Habis dengan Permudaan Alam (THPA), clear-cutting with natural regeneration; and

  • Tebang Habis dengan Permudaan Buatan (THPB), clear-cutting with artificial regeneration.

In practice, however, the TPI system is mostly practiced in the management of natural forests by HPH holders. The TPI system assumes a 70-year rotation, and harvesting is carried out on 35-year cutting cycles. Trees must have a minimum diameter of 50 cm, measured over the bark, before they can be cut. In the cutting area, at least 25 trees with diameters of more than 20 cm must be kept for regeneration purposes. If there are fewer than 25 remaining mother trees (trees for seed production), enrichment planting (planting of additional seedlings) must then be carried out.

Other provisions that must be observed for sustainable forest management include determination of the annual allowable cut by the Ministry of Forestry—in consideration of the existing standing stock—and prescription in a forest management plan of pre-and postfelling inventories as well as postlogging silvicultural treatments and tending of regeneration and advance growth.

There were serious lapses, however, in the implementation of the TPI system. Several evaluations carried out over the past 4 to 5 years indicated that in general the production forests are managed inadequately and improperly (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). Logged-over stands are frequently damaged, sometimes by up to 60 percent. Moreover, many license holders select only the most valuable trees (“creaming”), and exceed the allowable annual cutting area, so that the whole concession area is logged over after 20 years instead of the prescribed 35 years.

As a consequence, degradation of the growing stock in many concession areas has taken place. In addition, ill-designed skid and logging roads have contributed to the acceleration of erosion rates. The same logging roads are also frequently used by migrants to gain ac-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

cess to land for shifting cultivation. Therefore, logging operations in natural forests can directly or indirectly cause environmental degradation and, in some cases, outright deforestation.

In 1991, the TPI system was replaced with the Indonesian selective cutting and planting system (the TPTI system), which places greater emphasis on forest regeneration. The effectiveness of the TPTI system has not yet been evaluated because of its recent implementation.

Shifting Cultivation

Shifting or slash-and-burn cultivation, in general, is regarded by some as a menace to the environment, a harmful practice that causes widespread deforestation and erosion. Others view shifting cultivation as the benign and productive use of poor soils by those who live under poor socioeconomic conditions.

Because of the increasing numbers of the rural population who have no secure access to land, many people have become shifting cultivators. These landless people do not practice a form of shifting cultivation based on cultural heritage, nor do they have any local community or legal system that provides them with the ability to use sustainable (perpetually productive and ecologically sound) agricultural practices. As a result, their shifting cultivation activities are detrimental to forestlands. The problem is further exacerbated when these “transitional ” shifting cultivators work for an urban-based entrepreneurial system that employs them to carry out shifting cultivation. These transitional shifting cultivators have access to chain saws and outboard motors, which they use to cut primary forests to produce surplus products for nearby markets. After 2 to 6 years of shifting cultivation, these areas are often degraded into alang-alang grasslands. A cropping phase that is too long and a fallow period that is too short result in rapidly declining crop yields, loss of soil nutrients, and soil erosion. Greater population pressure has also stimulated spontaneous migrant cultivators who convert (primary) forestland to land on which destructive forms of shifting cultivation is practiced.

According to estimates of the Ministry of Forestry of the government of Indonesia, 10 percent of the total forestland in Kalimantan is degraded because of shifting cultivation. The areas of the forest under shifting cultivation and the total number of households that practice shifting cultivation on islands outside Java (except Irian Jaya) are given in Table 9. Forest losses resulting from shifting cultivation are estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000 ha annually (Govern-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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TABLE 9 Forest Area Under Shifting Cultivation and Shifting Cultivation Households

       

Households Practicing Shifting Cultivation

Island

Total Forestland Area (1,000 ha)

Shifting Cultivation Area (1,000 ha)

Percentage of Forestland Under Shifting Cultivation

Number (1,000s)

Percent

Sumatra

30,208

924

3.1

262

4.9

Kalimantan

44,968

4,477

10.0

228

17.1

Sulawesi

12,879

1,352

10.5

244

12.7

Lesser Sunda

5,547

568

10.2

251

23.0

Total

93,601

7,321

7.8

985

9.2

SOURCE: Government of Indonesia/International Institute of Environmentand Development. 1985. A Review of Policies Affecting the SustainableDevelopment of Forest Lands in Indonesia. Jakarta: Government ofIndonesia.

ment of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990; World Bank, 1989).

Transmigration Program

Since 1969, some 613,700 families have transmigrated to islands other than Java (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya). Each family receives 2 ha of dryland (or 2.5 to 3.0 ha of land in wetland reclamation areas in Kalimantan and Sumatra, where conditions are less favorable) under the sponsorship of the Indonesian government. Most of this land originated from forestland. By the year 2000, an estimated 10 million families are expected to be transmigrated and settled on these islands. This means that 20 million ha of predominantly forested land will likely be transformed into agricultural land by the end of the century. Parts of the 30.5 million-ha conversion forest could be used for this purpose.

Table 10 shows the average annual amount of forestland that was released to the transmigration program during REPELITA III and REPELITA IV (1979–1980 to 1988–1989).

In theory, the transmigration program should result in systematic sustained and productive development of the land in the underpopulated Outer Islands. In the first 2 to 4 years, the most common use of the opened land areas has been for continuous cultivation of traditional food crops, predominantly upland rice. Most of the soils of the newly opened upland are not fit for that purpose. The soils in the area consist

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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TABLE 10 Annual Average of Forestland Released to Transmigration Program During REPELITAS III and IV (in Hectares)

Island or Province

Limited-Production Forest

Permanent-Production Forest

Conversion Forest

Unclassified Forest

Protection Forest

Total

Sumatra

24,223

42,712

116,354

101,143

8,655

293,087

Lesser Sunda

           

Barat

273

173

2,940

90

3,476

Timor

87

1,578

250

15

1.930

Kalimantan

23,090

59,385

86,501

63,542

3,040

235,558

Sulawesi

8,485

10,710

17,350

34,485

3,285

74,315

Maluku

3,835

1,597

18,889

24,321

Irian Jaya

6,118

14,044

51,534

688

1,157

73,541

Total

66,024

128,708

295,146

200,108

16,242

706,228

SOURCE: Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1990. Situation andOutlook of the Forestry Sector in Indonesia. Jakarta: Governmentof Indonesia.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

of Latosols (Oxisols) and red-yellow podzols (Alfisols, Ultisols), which are moderately to highly acidic (pH 4 to 5). Drainage is unusually poor, the mineral and organic content is low, the erosion rate is high, phosphorus-fixing capacity is high, and the aluminum concentration and levels of aluminum saturation are high (Kaul, 1990).

As a consequence, sustainable production of food crops, including rice, is not attainable without heavy inputs and proper soil and crop management. Maize, cassava, various legumes, amaranthus, chiles, eggplant, coffee, and some minor spice plants are grown in these continuous-cultivation cropping systems. Yields are generally very low because of weather conditions and the high incidence of pests. The lack of resources for mechanization or draft power and the high incidence of weeds (mainly alang-alang) have made the cropping systems nonsustainable in many transmigration areas (Kaul, 1990). Those constraints may lead to encroachment onto forested lands, which are generally preferred for use in these cropping systems.

Kaul (1990) also asserts that serious problems have arisen in wetland reclamation areas cleared for transmigration schemes in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Settlers are allocated about 2.75 ha of land, of which 0.25 ha is for home gardens, 0.75 ha is for dryland crops, and 1.75 ha is for tidally irrigated rice. They lay artificial drainage channels and remove commercially valuable tree species in an attempt to force the existing ecosystems to convert to irrigated rice fields, in some cases in association with coconut plantations.

The originally planned double rice cropping (two rice crops in one year) has been achieved in few locations because of the paucity of water during the dry season. The rapid deterioration of these ecosystems is traceable to the heavily eutrophic peat soils. In comparison, economic and sustainable yields of sago palm (Metroxylon sp.) have been obtained in permanently inundated swamp forests. According to Kaul (1990), coupling of irrigated rice to the transmigration program, particularly in swamplands, has been a mistake of the transmigration policy.

Tree Crop Development

Tree crop development has been carried out mainly through the Nucleus Agriculture Estates Program (NES/PIR). These programs are organized by the Directorate General of Estate Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture and through private and government agricultural estates.

The area of estate crops (rubber, oil palm, coconut, cacao, and other tree crops) in Sumatra, Java, Lower Sunda, Kalimantan, Maluku,

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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TABLE 11 Production of Tree Crops in Indonesia, 1988 (in Metric Tons)

Crop

Sumatra

Java

Kalimantan

Sulawesi

Others

Total

Rubber

896,926

98,548

191,549

1,616

650

1,189,289

Coconut

560,119

508,642

102,719

533,025

330,393

2,034,898

Palm oil

1,600,732

30,925

48,477

5,851

5,015

1,691,000

Coffee

275,592

67,526

5,160

15,326

30,778

394,382

Tea

28,494

115,367

143,861

Pepper

35,767

293

5,042

298

41,400

Clove

13,549

19,582

1,173

14,426

12,641

61,371

Cacao

18,997

16,114

441

10,959

7,333

53,844

Nutmeg

17,274

1,502

7,130

4,008

29,914

Cassia vera

17,274

700

16

10

18,000

Vanilla

22

343

3

1,180

1,548

Cashew nut

65

13,085

33

12,976

840

26,999

Percent

60.8

15.4

6.3

10.6

6.9

SOURCE: Kaul, A. 1990. Indonesian Farming Systems: Types and Issues.Unpublished manuscript.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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and Irian Jaya established up to fiscal year 1987 was 11,572,337 ha. The area needed for rubber, oil palm, and coconut alone was 7,140,040 ha up to 1988.

Based on the development of all tree crops from 1984 to 1989, it is estimated that increases of 300,000 to 400,000 ha/year could be expected in future. (For tree crop production in 1988, see Table 11.)

Although only a small area of forest has so far been used for estate crop development, it is becoming increasingly difficult to earmark new lands, except forestlands, for estate crop development. Priority should be given to the development or upgrading of idle degraded land instead of the conversion of more forestland.

Fires

Fire is a great destroyer of forests. It leads to increased soil erosion, lowering of water quality, an erratic water supply, loss of species, less biodiversity, and the loss of genetic resources. Forest fires are more common in Java than they are in the Outer Islands, but fire control is better in Java. In most years, fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan are set by farmers to clear land that is neither marked as forestland nor actively protected. The enormous fire in Kalimantan in 1982–1983 was the result of a combination of climatic and biotic factors. These fires are unnatural in humid tropical forests and are stimulated by the drying that occurs because of shifting cultivation, cattle grazing activities, and forest plantations. They are also aggravated by smoldering fires in the arid peat soils and the coal layers in the subsoil. Webster (1984) reported that the great fire in Kalimantan in 1982–1983 destroyed plant and animal life over an area of 2,925,000 ha.

In October 1991, a fire also raged in parts of Kalimantan and Sumatra ignited by the same forces that ignited the one in 1982–1983—in particular, the long dry season of 1991. Tentative data indicate that 5,400 ha of industrial forests in Lampung, 7,600 ha of forestland in central Kalimantan, 7,000 ha in southern Sumatra, and 90,000 ha in eastern Kalimantan were damaged by fire (Kusumah et al., 1991).

PROGRAMS FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND USE DEVELOPMENT

In its broad and specific sense, sustainability has been discussed intensively in Indonesia over the past 5 years. At the broad conceptual level, it has been said that a sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without jeopardizing the prospects of future generations. Sustainable land use development is geared to the attainment

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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of these societal needs on a perpetual basis, that is, with due consideration of environmental conservation. Within the past 40 years, society has been warned of potential environmental collapse if economic development proceeds without considering the impacts of that development on the environment.

Deforestation, in the sense that it removes natural forest cover for other development purposes such as agriculture, human settlements, and infrastructure, is a logical process of development and can be justified if it is implemented in an orderly manner until forest areas considered sufficient to maintain an ecologic balance in watershed areas are obtained. This could be realized through a policy of designating permanent forestlands, which should then be managed on a sustainable basis.

Legislation and Policies on the Management of Forest Resources

The constitution of the Republic of Indonesia of 1945 (Article 33) states that land and water resources should be administered by the state and used for the greatest possible prosperity of the Indonesian people. The provisions in that article express the need for sustainable management of forest resources.

The basic principles for forest administration and forest management are laid down in a law (No. 5, 1967) concerning the basic provisions on forestry. The essence of the policy in that law (Article 9) states that, “The administration of forests has the objective to get maximum multipurpose and sustainable benefits, directly or indirectly, in the context of developing a just and prosperous Indonesian society based on Pancasila.” The law also prescribes ways to make forestry plans and implement activities in forest utilization and protection. These activities are prescribed in more detail by the following government regulations: No. 22 (1967), concerning royalties and license fees for forest utilization; No. 21 (1970), concerning forest utilization and forest product harvesting rights; No. 33 (1970), concerning forest planning; and No. 28 (1985), concerning forest protection.

In the field of land tenure, a law (No. 1, 1960) concerning the basic principles of agrarian affairs was enacted. The law regulates the tenure rights of individuals as well as legal bodies. Because the land tenure and forestry laws overlap, compromises must be achieved on a local level. The law on land tenure as well as the forestry law recognize, in principle, the right to (forest) land tenure by local communities, provided that it is actually being practiced in the field and is not deemed to be contrary to the interests of the state.

In the field of nature conservation, the following laws have been

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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enacted: the Law on Wild Animals, 1931; the Law on Natural Reserve and Wildlife Refuge, 1939; the Law on Hunting in Java and Madura of 1940. Other laws and regulations that cover broader areas have been issued: Law No. 4 (1982), concerning basic provisions of environmental management; Government Regulation No. 9 (1986), concerning environmental impact analyses; Law No. 5 (1990), concerning the conservation of biologic natural resources.

Government policies regarding the management of natural resources and environmental conservation for REPELITA V are stipulated in directives from the National Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat) of 1988. Some of the points closely related to deforestation and ecologic sustainability are maintained in the following statements.

  1. The natural resources of the country—whether they are on land, in the sea, or in the air; whether they are minerals, flora, or fauna; and including genetic resources—should be managed and used for the greatest possible benefit of the community. At the same time, the environment should always be preserved to produce the greatest possible advantage for development and public welfare for both present and future generations.

  2. The exploitation of natural resources should be continued, by appropriate means, so that damage to the environment is minimal and the quality and conservation of resources and the environment can be assured. In this way, development can proceed unhampered.

  3. Rehabilitation of degraded natural resources calls for a concerted approach to the problems of river basins. In this context, rehabilitation of forests and critical land areas; soil conservation; and rehabilitation of rivers, lakes, swamps, marshlands, and coral reefs should be intensified, while the function of river basins needs to be reinstated. To control the emergence of poor-quality forests and critical lands, measures should be taken to halt damage to forests and to improve the control of forests, dryland cultivation, and shifting cultivation. Reforestation activities should be increased to improve the productivity of forestlands and to save forest areas. Public participation in these activities should be encouraged.

These policies are translated into various development programs aimed at achieving environmental stability and sustainability and pertain to the ecologic, economic, as well as social aspects of development programs. These programs are carried out by the Indonesian government as well as by nongovernment organizations, including private companies, cooperatives, and self-help organizations. The programs can be placed into the following four broad categories: (1) conservation of forest ecosystems, (2) stricter control on logging op-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

erations in natural forests, (3) reforestation and regreening programs, and (4) rationalization of shifting cultivation in which the respective activities that are part of the shifting cultivation system are related to or mutually supportive of each other. For example, rationalization of shifting cultivation includes planting of industrial type crops to replace natural fallow vegetation, which supports the reforestation program, enhancing ecologic stability and sustainability and at the same time providing raw materials for wood-based industries. It also increases the incomes of the indigenous people involved in the program.

In addition to these programs, which are geared to the better use of forest resources and increases in agricultural productivity by extension of dryland agricultural areas, much has also been done in intensification of wet paddy rice agriculture to step up rice production, in Java in particular.

Designation of Permanent Forests

Principles for the designation of permanent forests were stipulated in an FAO paper in 1952 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1952) in Basjarudan (1978), as follows:

  • Each country must designate certain areas as forest area.

  • The designation of forest areas must be done prudently, in accordance with the social economic policy of the country, with due consideration to other forms of land use.

  • Forest areas must be protected against damage by humans or other agents, such as fire, pests, and diseases.

  • Priority must be given to the protective function of forests; other functions can be defined.

  • In the harvesting of forests, the best method of exploitation should be applied so that maximum yields can be obtained from the forest; harvesting should be carried out in an economic and efficient manner under a sustained yield principle.

  • To facilitate the application of proper forest management principles, the status of the forest area must be classified as such; this must be followed by a demarcation of boundaries on a map and in the field.

Government Regulation No. 33, 1970, concerning forest planning described the steps required to prepare areas as permanent forestlands. After being given a legal designation as permanent forestland, the forests are classified according to their respective functions, that is, protection, production, and conservation (including wildlife refuges and national parks) forests. For forestlands in Java, this proce-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

dure has been followed since the 1890s. Approximately 3 million ha is currently classified as permanent forestland and work is continuing, in particular in a program that establishes settlements on disputed forestlands.

The designation and classification of permanent forestlands outside Java started in the 1980s through the forest use planning by consensus (TGHK) procedure after large-scale forest operations in concessions areas had begun 2 to 3 years earlier. The TGHK procedure is solely a desk exercise in which the boundaries of forestlands to be designated are drawn on maps after a consensus has been reached among the concerned government agencies. This procedure must be followed by work in the field, including negotiations with local communities, and placement of clear boundary markers, as has been done in Java. The work must be done consistently and intensively, and the work will take several decades to complete because of the large area involved (140 million ha).

Conservation of Forest Ecosystems

The government's policy for conserving forest ecosystems is based on the desire to promote the cultural and economic development of the Indonesian people in harmony with their natural environment. The policy states that all forms of natural life and examples of all ecosystems within Indonesia—in particular, air, water, soil, plants, and animals—must be protected for the benefit of future generations.

The main conservation policies can be summarized as follows:

  • Nature reserves must be used rationally and wisely without jeopardizing their functions.

  • Natural resources and the living environment should be managed wisely to provide maximum benefit for the people.

  • Appropriate technology should be used to sustain the high quality of natural resources and the natural environment.

  • Rehabilitation of damaged forests, degraded soils, and the water supply should be improved through integrated watershed and regional management approaches.

  • Important marine and coastal habitats should be conserved.

The policy objectives of REPELITA V emphasize the proper utilization of natural resources as well as the need to:

  • Further develop the ecotourism industry to increase foreign exchange earnings and initiate employment opportunities;

  • Improve management of terrestrial and marine conservation areas;

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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  • Increase the people's participation in conservation efforts;

  • Increase the preservation of animal and plant species; and

  • Control threats to forestry and forest security.

To conserve genetic resources, viable examples of all distinct ecosystems and species must be protected within a system of reserves. The types of protected natural reserves are as follows:

  • Wildlife sanctuaries—medium-sized area, 200–1,600 km2; relatively undisturbed, stable habitats of moderate to high conservation importance;

  • National parks—medium- to large-sized areas, 500–7,000 km2; relatively undisturbed areas of outstanding natural value with high conservation importance, high recreational potential because of easy access for visitors;

  • Strict nature reserves—50–1,300 km2; undisturbed fragile habitats of high conservation importance, unique natural sites, or homes of particular species;

  • Hunting parks—medium- or large-sized area of natural or seminatural habitats with relatively easy access for hunters, with large populations of legal game species, for example, pigs, deer, and feral buffalos; of low conservation importance;

  • Protection forests—medium- to large-sized areas of natural or planted forestlands on steep, high, extremely erodible lands that have high levels of rainfall thus making forest cover important to protect water catchment areas and prevent landslides and erosion;

  • Natural recreation parks and grand forest parks—generally some disturbed areas designated for high-intensity use and limited ex situ genetic conservation; and

  • Marine reserves—large-sized areas, 1,000–5,000 km2.

Human settlements, food crop agriculture, and commercial logging are prohibited in all of the protected areas, but activities such as recreational camping and mineral exploration are permitted in wildlife reserves, and hunting is permitted in protection forests.

As of August 1990, there were 336 classified conservation areas with an area of 16.02 million ha (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationals, 1990).

Stricter Control on Logging Operations in Natural Forests

To induce more orderly forest operations, corrective measures are prescribed and stricter control on the implementation of the opera-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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tions are exercised by the Provincial Forestry Service of the Ministry of Forestry. The TPI method is improved with the Tebang Pilih dan Tanam Indonesia (TPTI; Indonesian Selection Felling and Planting) system. TPTI is a silvicultural system that regulates tree felling and regeneration in natural production forests. The objective of the TPTI system is to utilize the forest and, at the same time, to qualitatively and quantitatively increase the value of the forest in the logged-over area for the next rotation period to ensure sufficient and perpetual production of raw material for the wood-based industries and to improve the protective value of production forests, for example, control of the water regime, minimization of soil erosion, and induction of the beneficial effects on micro- and macroclimates.

The silvicultural treatment consists of the following activities:

  • Regulating the compositions of tree species in forest stands, which will be more beneficial from an ecologic as well as economic point of view;

  • Developing an optimum stand density to produce more logs than in the previous rotation period;

  • Enhancing the beneficial functions of the forest in soil and water conservation; and

  • Boosting the protective functions of the forest.

To ensure strict and complete implementation of the TPTI system and to impose efficient and just disciplinary measures, the concession holders are classified as companies that have (1) not yet implemented the TPTI system; (2) implemented the TPTI system, but not correctly and completely, according to the rules; (3) correctly and completely implemented the TPTI system.

Penalties for failing to implement the TPTI system completely and correctly consist of, for example, reducing the annual production target or determining the annual production target without approving the annual working plans. For concessionaires that have approved annual working plans but fail to implement the TPTI system, the forest operation will be stopped if necessary. For companies that have implemented the TPTI system actively and strictly but have no wood-based industries or no stock relationships with wood-based industries in which the stocks (that is, shares) are partly or entirely owned by the concession holder, the concession certificate may be withdrawn. Companies that implement the TPTI system correctly and completely are eligible for an award from the government and to be named as a model company; the concession period may also be extended.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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To implement the TPTI system correctly and completely, a climate of law and order must be created in the field. This means that the companies must be equipped with a clear working plan, must have a proper organization for forest development, must be supported by qualified personnel sufficiently trained in forestry, and must have financial support sufficient for an effective operation. Extension and supervision on the proper implementation of the TPTI system by well-trained and experienced forestry personnel is necessary to provide information and the necessary correction of the activities carried out by the concessionaires. Penalties must be imposed for every deviation in the implementation of the TPTI system in the field. These steps to ensure the continuity of forest production have already produced some satisfactory results.

Reforestation and Regreening

Reforestation activities have a relatively long history and tradition in Indonesia. Teakwood (Tectona grandis) was first planted in Java in 1880, and by the end of 1988 teakwood plantations covered about 0.88 million ha. Pinus merkusii, a pine indigenous to Sumatra, has been planted in Sumatra and Java since 1916. Large-scale plantations began in 1935, and in 1975 these were extended to Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Bali. At the end of 1988, there were about 600,000 ha of pine plantations compared with about 134,000 ha of natural pine forests in Sumatra.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, other, mostly long-rotation, high-value timber species were planted in trial plots and pilot plantations on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Lesser Sunda. These species included mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia), New Giomea Kauri (Agathis loranthifolia), rasamala (Altingia excelsa), and black wattle (Acacia decurrens).

Since the 1950s, increasing population pressure in Java and parts of the Outer Islands have led to increased clearing of forests for cultivation and fuelwood, resulting in land degradation and soil erosion problems. This led, in the 1970s, to a program to establish fuelwood plantations on nearly all islands. Fast-growing species were mostly planted, including Kaliandra (Calliandra species), akasia (Acacia auriculiformis), kayuputih (Melaleuca leucadendra), lamtoro gung (Leucaena leucocephala), sengon (Paraserianthes [Albizia] falcataria), and turi (Sesbania species).

In 1980, the Indonesian government established Dana Jaminan Reboasasi (the Reforestation Guarantee Deposit Fund) to encourage establishment of forest plantations in timber concession areas. Con-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

cessionaires were required to contribute to the fund US$4/m3 of logs and US$0.50/m3 of harvested chipwood. Upon proper fulfillment of their regeneration and reforestation obligations, the concessionaires could claim reimbursement of their expenses from the fund. However, the fund did not generate interest among concessionaires to increase their reforestation efforts for two reasons: (1) the actual costs of reforestation were much higher than the level of reimbursement provided, and (2) the 20-year concession period did not provide sufficient tenure to justify investment in reforestation.

This situation, coupled with forecasts of a timber supply deficit in Indonesia from the year 2000 on, prompted the government to launch the Timber Estates Development Program in 1984. This program aimed to establish 4.4 million ha of new industrial plantation forests (Hutan Tanaman Industri [HTI]) for a total of about 6 million ha of such forests by the year 2000. The reforestation fund/fee for log harvests was increased to US$7/m3 beginning July 1, 1990. The fund/fee was redesignated Dana Reboasasi (Reforestation Fund) to clearly reflect its purposes.

The major roles of forest plantations in the continued development of Indonesia can be summarized as follows:

  • To increasingly take the pressure off natural forests;

  • To meet the timber supply deficit from natural forests that is anticipated to occur within the next 5 to 10 years;

  • To rehabilitate watersheds that have been extensively degraded by increasing population pressure, particularly in Java, Sumatra, and Lesser Sunda (in terms of the land area and population involved, this is a much greater issue than the development of timber estates); and

  • To provide socioeconomic benefits; plantations can provide, in addition to soil and water protection, a wide range of wood and nontimber products—fuelwood, wood poles, wood posts, food, fodder, medicinal plants, and essential oils—for local communities, either for their own consumption or to generate income, employment, or both.

The targets for the year 2000 are very ambitious: about 6 million ha of industrial timber estates, about 13 million ha of critical watersheds to be regreened (in principle, on private land), and about 7 million ha of critical watershed to be reforested (on government forestlands). Of these targets, about 1.44 million ha of timber plantations had been established by the end of 1988, of which 1.36 million ha was on Java island, and since 1984, only about 69,000 ha had been established under the HTI program (the target was 1.5 million ha). About 5.8 million and 1.2 million ha of critical watersheds were regreened and reforested, respectively, by the end of 1988. Only 57 percent of

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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reforestation plantations are estimated to be successful, whereas the survival of regreening plantations is reported to vary between 6 and 71 percent (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Rationalization of Shifting Cultivation

Programs and projects that addressed the problem of shifting cultivation were started in the early 1970s. Descriptions of the various programs implemented by different agencies are given below. In this profile of Indonesia, rationalization of shifting cultivation means minimization of the adverse effects of shifting cultivation by introducing perennial crops (timber and other products—for example, fruit and bark—that can be used or sold at market) to replace the fallow natural vegetation (which is only slashed and then burned in the next cropping period), and better soil conservation techniques (agroforestry technologies) supported by intensive extension and training.

MINISTRY OF FORESTRY

The Ministry of Forestry has three programs that either directly or indirectly have an impact on shifting cultivation: (1) a program to control shifting cultivation, (2) a village development program, and (3) a social forestry program.

From its inception in 1971 until 1981 the development activities of the Forestry Department, which was then a part of the Ministry of Agriculture, in addressing issues affecting shifting cultivation were oriented toward resettlement (the ex situ approach). This resettlement program was generally considered to be unsuccessful. In some locations, resettled shifting cultivators moved back to their former places of residence. Beginning in 1981 the emphasis was changed to nonresettlement (the in situ approach). The program had three types of activities: provision of work for wage laborers in reforestation and industrial forest plantation programs, sedentary subsistence dry farming, and flooded rice farming. More people can be involved in in situtype programs. By 1986, in situ-type programs included about 1,900 households involved in wet paddy rice agriculture, some 10,600 households involved in sedentary subsistence dry farming activities, and some 24,900 households involved in land rehabilitation activities (reforestation) or in the development of export crops.

The related training programs for cadres of people involved in sedentary agriculture also included cadres of people from the programs of other agencies, for example, the Nucleus Agricultural Estate

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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(NES) of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Resettlement Progra of the Ministry of Transmigration, and the Sedentary Agriculture Program of the Ministry of Forestry.

The Social Forestry Program in Java began in 1984. It was developed from similar programs that started in the 1970s. The primary objective of this program is to induce sustainable forest management through successful forest plantations and to induce forest protection with the participation of local communities by providing them better incentives in the use of forestlands (agroforestry technologies) and forest products. By 1987, some 10,000 farming households that used 10,000 ha of forestland were involved. The Social Forestry Program, which is partly financed by the Ford Foundation, intends to rehabilitate and develop 270,000 ha of degraded forestland.

The Social Forestry Program in the Outer Islands, which began in 1986, has five approaches for involving people in forestry activities:

  • Participatory forestry—Members of local communities are recruited as forest exploitation workers by state forest corporations.

  • Community forestry—Patches of forestland are cultivated and exploited by local communities.

  • Village forestry—Existing farming methods are continued, but farmers receive assistance in the form of training and inputs.

  • Farmers forestry—This is like village forestry, but the activities are undertaken by individual farmers or small enterprises.

  • Tree farming—Farmers grow tree crops on their own lands for use as timber, firewood, or charcoal.

Village Development Programs have not yet developed. In 1988, it was decided to include HPH holders in these programs under the name Timber Concession Holders Village Development Program (HPH Bina Desa). Implementation is to be coordinated by the Masyarakat Perhutanan Indonesia (Indonesian Forestry Association). The Ministry of Forestry will train farmers and will develop demonstration plots.

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

In 1979, Perusahaan Inti Rakyat Perkebunan (the Nucleus Agriculture Estates Program, commonly known as NES/PIR projects) was established with the support of the World Bank. Outside Java, NES/ PIR projects are often developed on forestlands. This program is organized by the Directorate General of Estate Crops. Its aim is to integrate people living in villages near agricultural estates into the activities of those estates. NES/PIR projects distribute land to villagers, offer them technical assistance in establishing estate crops,

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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and subsequently buy their produce. The people living on land designated for NES/PIR activities either are integrated into the project or are resettled. As participants of the program, they are given 2 ha of tree crop land and 0.5 to 1 ha for a house lot and home garden. This allotment is known as the smallholder component of the NES/ PIR program and is owned by the individual participants.

Smallholder allotments constitute about 80 percent of total land under the control of NES/PIR projects, with the remaining 20 percent being the estates of private or state companies. Companies are obliged to provide the overall infrastructure for the project. They must provide technical assistance to smallholders and buy their produce. Some 75,000 households are engaged in NES/PIR projects, of which some 15,000 households (20 percent) are supposedly former shifting cultivators.

Another program, the Rehabilitation and Expansion of Export Crops, began in 1979 under the Directorate General of Estate Crops. The program's main activity is to provide credit to farmers to improve the quality of their smallholder plantations. Special funds are set aside in the Bank Rakyat Indonesia. From its inception, this program has emphasized six specific cash crop commodities: rubber, coconut, coffee, tea, cacao, and pepper. (The World Bank supports rubber and coconut plantations in eight provinces.) The program supports farmers who are already engaged in planting these cash crops. Outside of Java farmers receive support to plant between 1 and 2 ha of land, while on Java, program support is limited to only 1 ha. It can be assumed that many of the people included under this program are shifting cultivators. The question is whether these people have given up shifting cultivation or whether the activities associated with this program are in addition to shifting cultivation activities.

MINISTRY OF TRANSMIGRATION

Shifting cultivators and local participants of the resettlement program are integrated into the overall transmigration program through the Allocation Scheme for people living in transmigration areas. In conjunction with these activities, the Ministry of Transmigration and the Ministry of Forestry have begun cooperative actions to remove people from the forest and to resettle them in transmigration project sites. These people include shifting cultivators as well as other residents of the forests. According to official data from the Directorate General of Reforestation and Land Rehabilitation of the Ministry of Forestry, until 1986 there were an estimated 33,000 households of shifting cultivators integrated into the transmigration program. The figure was an estimated 34,540 households until 1988.

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

A related activity for resettling shifting cultivators was based on a cooperative decision between the Ministries of Agriculture and Forestry to control shifting cultivation by using the NES/PIR program. This later became the joint NES-Transmigration Program, known by the acronym PIRTRANS.

Another new concept is known as parallel transmigration. It is envisioned to be a long-term program to familiarize shifting cultivators with more sedentary methods of agricultural production. Under this program it is not necessary to move people from their original settlements. This concept is based on the idea of integrating the transmigration program into the overall regional development plan of a province or region.

MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS

In 1971, the Ministry of Social Affairs started the Social Welfare Development for Isolated Societies program. The target was people who live in “isolated societies,” which the Ministry for Social Affairs defined on the basis of four criteria: (1) people who live in small bands, mostly without a sedentary settlement and in isolation from the modern world; (2) people who are only loosely governed by the central government administration and who are primarily governed by traditional political organizations (for example, tribal communities, which have very limited or no contact with the government or the mainstream population); (3) people who still hold animistic or traditional beliefs; and (4) people whose main source of living is hunting and gathering or shifting cultivation.

This program has three main objectives: (1) to raise the standard of living of the target groups through the development of sedentary and productive sources of living and to integrate these people into the regional and provincial market economies, (2) to introduce government administration at the village level, and (3) to develop stable communities that have ecologically sound production systems.

Until 1987 a total of 13,440 households were resettled and placed under the administrative responsibility of the respective local governments. As of 1987 there were 11,520 households still under the administration of the program.

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Under the Directorate of Settlement and Village Infrastructure of the Directorate General of Village Development, known by its acronym BANGDES, the Ministry of Home Affairs has had its own re-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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settlement program called the Village Resettlement Project (Proyek Pemukiman Kembali Penduduk Desa). The main objective was to resettle people from scattered and isolated villages to more easily accessible locations that conform to the standard criteria set by the Indonesian government. The standard criteria includes, for example, an administration unit of not more than 3,000 people in one village (desa), the existence of a village government (chief, secretary, security, and welfare), compulsory elementary school attendance by children, provision of health services, and an agricultural extension program.

Besides the largely administrative nature of this program, people and communities are chosen for resettlement for a variety of reasons, for example, people who are nonsedentary because they practice shifting cultivation, people who live in protected forests or degraded watersheds, and people who are affected by natural disasters or who are moved for their own or for national security. From 1972–1973 to 1984–1985, BANGDES reportedly resettled 11,570 households of shifting cultivator. Because of budgetary constraints since 1986, however, BANGDES no longer undertakes direct implementation and financing of any resettlement programs.

Program Results

The total number of households that practice shifting cultivation and were involved in the different programs can be summarized as follows: Ministry of Forestry Program, 37,000; NES/PIR projects, 15,000; Ministry of Transmigration, 34,540; Ministry of Social Affairs, 24,960; and Ministry of Home Affairs, 123,470 (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). Even though a substantial number of the approximately 123,500 participating households are no longer involved in the various programs, the total number of households involved indicates a magnitude that should be compared with the targets for the REPELITA IV and REPELITA V plans. The aim of the REPELITA IV plan was to include 500,000 families. The targets were roughly the same for the REPELITA V plan. Although the current emphasis is on in situ development rather than resettlement (ex situ programs), considerable and concerted efforts are required to achieve the targets of the REPELITA V plan. Significant changes in strategy and approach are also needed (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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Intensification of Wet Paddy Rice Agriculture

This section is derived in large part from a report by Sadikin (1990). During the 2 decades after Indonesia's independence in 1945, significant efforts were made to increase food and agricultural production. But the absence of ingredients for development rendered many projects ineffective. Ingredients for development include infrastructural improvements and development program support, for example, political support; use of high-yielding plant varieties, fertilizers, and insecticides (if necessary); well-maintained irrigation systems; improved communications among groups of farmers; improved transport facilities; provision of credit; and reasonable market prices.

In the late 1950s, the campaign to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production through the use of improved Indonesian varieties and the intensification of production met with only limited success because the security of the public and national security as a result of public unrest in the main rice-producing centers, such as West Java, South Sulawesi, and East Java, were poor, and irrigation systems and transportation infrastructures were dilapidated.

Plans for the expansion of agricultural land and rice production areas into the tidal swamps of Kalimantan and into the upland rainfed environments in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi depended on the use of heavy equipment. The poor infrastructure caused the transport, maintenance, and repair of the equipment to be difficult and costly.

Rice imports, which, on average, were less than 300,000 metric tons/year from 1950 to 1955, rose to an average of 810,000 metric tons/year from 1956 to 1960 and exceeded 1 million metric tons/year in the 1960s. In the late 1970s and 1980, Indonesia imported the most rice of any country in the world, with imports being as high as 2 million metric tons/year (Table 12).

An encouraging sign in rice production emerged in 1963–1964, when students at the Bogor Agricultural University, using a demonstration area of 50 ha, showed that rice production could be nearly tripled if the recommended packages of technologies for use with improved Indonesian varieties were properly used. An important lesson emerged: improved production depends on a secure supply of agricultural inputs and on face-to-face communications with farmers. The experiment led to the creation in 1965–1966 of a mass guidance program Bimbingan Masal (BIMAS; Mass Guidance program) to increase rice production by encouraging and enabling farmers to take full advantage of technological innovations. In 1966 and 1967, rice

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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TABLE 12 Imports of Milled Rice, 1971–1987

Year

Metric Tons (in thousands)

1971

490

1972

730

1973

1,660

1974

1,070

1975

670

1976

1,280

1977

1,960

1978

1,850

1979

1,950

1980

2,030

1981

530

1982

300

1983

1,160

1984

380

1985

0

1986

0

1987

0.05

SOURCE: Sadikin, S. W. 1990. The diffusion of agricultural researchknowledge and advances in rice production in Indonesia. Pp. 106–123 in Sharing Innovation. Global Perspectives on Food, Agriculture,and Rural Development. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian InstitutionPress.

yields at adaptive trials and on farmer's plots that were planted with the modern varieties of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI; Los Baños, Philippines) were found to be impressive in comparison with the yields of the popular improved Indonesian varieties.

After this first success, the government mobilized considerable resources to secure a sufficient supply of fertilizers and pesticides to support a national campaign of introducing the modern varieties and set an ambitious target of planting 150,000 ha of rice in 1968. Within 5 years, the areas planted with modern varieties increased to over 3 million ha. After 1972 farmers also planted modern Indonesian varieties, which have cooking and taste qualities favored by Indonesians and produce fewer green, chalky grains when they are planted in the rainy season. In 1989 the area planted with the Indonesian and the IRRI modern varieties was 7.78 million ha, or 85 percent of the total area of harvested rice in Indonesia.

Because the program expanded too rapidly, shortcomings could not be avoided, such as in the application of the recommended packages of technology as well as in the management of the supply of farm inputs and the recovery of production credits. Nevertheless, aggregate rice production increased faster than the population. As a result of general increases in incomes, however, per capita rice consumption also increased substantially, with the effect that rice imports continued to increase.

Another serious problem emerged in the form of an insect infestation involving the brown planthopper. An outbreak in 1974–1975

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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destroyed lands planted in the popular high-yielding Indonesian rice varieties PELITA I and II, affecting an area of 240,000 ha. Indonesians learned to live in peaceful coexistence with the brown planthopper, and the high-yielding PELITA I and II varieties yielded another stream of benefits. Rice production jumped in 1978 from 15.8 million to 17.5 million metric tons of milled rice. Although a modest drought intervened in 1979, production again increased in 1980 and 1981 to unprecedented levels of 20.1 million and 22.2 million metric tons, respectively.

As other environmental obstacles were removed, the diffusion of technological innovations to farmers gradually and substantially accelerated. The number of extension personnel and specialists with competence to help the 18 million farm households in Indonesia grew rapidly. Improved irrigation and drainage facilities provided a more secure base for ensuring yield and production stability. There was a growing awareness and understanding among policy makers, legislators, and development professionals at the national, provincial, and district levels about the way to solve problems in the agricultural sector. As a result, rice production rose sharply, reaching a production level of 25.9 million metric tons of milled rice in 1984 (see also Table 3). This progress in production capabilities, along with the presence of government-held reserves of 2 million metric tons at the end of 1984, allowed the government to halt rice imports and was an historic turning point in Indonesia's quest for self-sufficiency in its staple food commodity. Significant efforts are now being made to maintain this level of food security and to diversify food production and consumption.

DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS

The estimated annual rate of deforestation in Indonesia has increased from 300,000 to more than 1,000,000 ha in the past 20 years. The average rate of deforestation between the 1950s and the early 1980s was 0.7 percent. This increased to about 1.2 percent annually between 1982 and 1990 (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990).

Forest Potential and Causes of Deforestation

The main causes of deforestation have been identified as population pressure and demand for agricultural land, logging in natural forests, shifting cultivation, transmigration programs, smallholder tree

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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crop development, and fires. Population pressure, shifting cultivation, and fires are social-economic (and natural) causes of deforestation, whereas the other causes—logging, transmigration, and smallholder tree crop development—constitute pressures resulting from development activities.

In 1980, 64 percent of Indonesia's population was concentrated in the islands of Java and Bali. This skewed population distribution has both a positive and a negative effect on Indonesia's development. It has centralized development and service activities in Java and Bali at the expense of these activities in the Outer Islands. On the other hand, because the population was concentrated in Java and Bali, this allowed conservation of the immense natural resources in the Outer Islands. And although many countries have nearly exhausted their forest resources, Indonesia has significant areas of natural forest remaining. Indonesia has 144 million ha of set-aside and pre-set-aside forestlands, providing a very high forestland-to-total land ratio (74 percent). Considering the land use changes and deforestation during the past several years, the area of forested land in 1990 was estimated to be about 109 million ha (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). More than about 60 million ha is leased out to private and state-owned logging concessions, which form the core of the forest industry sector of Indonesia. These industries are major contributors to Indonesia's economic growth.

The substantial achievements in the forest industry sector, however, have aroused concern about the sustainability of forest management. Because it is aware of the dangers of overexploitation of forestlands, Indonesia has embarked on an intensive plan of developing forest plantations and rehabilitating critical lands in watersheds through reforestation and greening programs and through the improvement of logging operations in natural forests. The government has also encouraged rural households to raise fuelwood and light construction wood in their home gardens and farms to supply household energy and timber needs, so that the natural forests will not be overburdened.

Because of the great population pressure, Indonesia has embarked on a family planning (birth control) program since the 1950s, with the set target that the growth rate of the population in Indonesia will decline. However, even with the targeted reduction in growth rates, from an annual rate of 2.34 percent in 1980 to 1.0 percent by 2011 and beyond, Indonesia's present population (184 million in 1991 [World Resources Institute, 1992]) will almost double by 2050.

Although the family planning and transmigration programs to

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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relax population pressures in densely populated areas are considered to be relatively successful, they are not expected to be able to alleviate the increased demand for food and, hence, the demand for agricultural land if the soil productivity of the agricultural sector is not adequately increased in the near future and if other sectors such as industry and trade are not effectively developed to offer alternative employment opportunities.

One of the constraints in the transmigration program is that some of the new settlers eventually revert to shifting cultivation. This is usually caused by the inability to sustain food production on the 1 to 2 ha of land provided by the program. Low productivity rates are also a direct result of low soil fertility and insufficient water supplies. Options for promoting more sustainable agriculture within shifting cultivation communities include the various agroforestry systems and practices. From the conservation point of view, these alternative systems are far superior to traditional shifting cultivation. The growing of perennial crops to cover fallow areas will also discourage alang-alang formation.

In the Outer Islands, agricultural and other development programs organized by different government agencies, such as transmigration smallholder tree crop development programs, have been identified as affecting deforestation. The same programs, however, have been aimed at controlling shifting cultivation to offer more sustainable agricultural systems. Avoiding the use of the designated forestlands and training shifting cultivators to become sedentary agriculturalists are pivotal parts of the program. The challenge is to better integrate the activities to achieve better results.

Intensive agriculture has been practiced for more than a century in Java and Bali. Because of the intensified productivity of wetland rice paddies, population growth has been accompanied by a steady increase in rice production. These achievements in agricultural productivity have helped to reduce rates of deforestation. The problem now is how to maintain this situation, considering the high rate of population growth, and at same time gearing to diversify the types of food crops, which may bring about a diversification of food production systems.

ASSESSMENT OF FOREST LOSS IN THE NEAR FUTURE

The government of Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1990), has developed a model for investigating the causes underlying deforestation and projecting forest cover. An increase of 100

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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kg per hectare per crop of wet paddy rice (treated as a proxy for average agricultural productivity) increases forest cover by 4.6 percent. An increase in income per capita of 1,000 rupiah increases forest cover by 0.015 percent. An increase in population density of one person per square kilometer decreases forest cover by 0.8 percent. In addition, unexplained factors (for example, the cumulative amount of logging and other roads opened) contribute to an average decline in forest cover of 3.7 percent per year.

To project deforestation rates, assumptions regarding, for example, population growth rates, economic development and investment policies, foreign assistance policies, and agricultural and forest industry policies are necessary. These three scenarios reflect the following assumptions:

  • Baseline scenario, which assumes government programs use the same strategies from the 1980s and at about the same rate as they did in the 1980s.

  • Worst-case scenario, which assumes a least-favorable yet still plausible combination of factors that could cause the rate of deforestation to increase more than baseline scenario estimates.

  • Best-case scenario, which assumes a most-favorable yet still plausible combination of factors that could cause the rate of deforestation to increase less than baseline scenario estimates.

The estimated annual deforestation rates of the World Bank (1989) and Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1990) presented in Table 8 are used to estimate future deforestation rates under the three scenarios. For the baseline scenario, the best estimate of the rate of deforestation is taken; for the worst-case scenario, the minimum estimate is taken; and for the best-case scenario, the maximum estimate is taken. Table 13 provides forest losses for different time periods under the three scenarios.

Findings
  1. Annual deforestation rates in Indonesia were 0.7 percent in the 30 years between the 1950s and early 1980s, increasing to 1.2 percent within the past decade. It could increase to an estimated 1.5 percent by 2030 if efficient measures are not taken to control the causes of deforestation effectively.

  2. Removal of forest cover for development purposes cannot be avoided. Forested lands in lower areas (0 to 250 m above sea level) that are fit for agriculture and other related activities could be ear-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
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TABLE 13 Analysis of Forest Loss Estimates in Indonesia, 1990–2029 (in Millions of Hectares)

Scenario and Time Period

1990 Forest Cover

Average Loss per Year

Total Loss for Decade

Total Forest Remaining at End of Decade

Percent Loss for Decade

Baseline

         

1990–1999

108.6

0.9

9

99.6

8.3

2000–2009

99.6

0.9

9

90.6

9.0

2010–2029

90.6

0.9

9

81.6

9.9

Worst case

         

1990–1999

108.6

1.2

12

96.6

11.0

2000–2009

96.6

1.2

12

84.6

12.4

2010–2029

84.6

1.2

12

72.6

14.6

Best case

         

1990–1999

108.6

0.7

7

101.6

6.4

2000–2009

101.6

0.7

7

94.6

6.9

2010–2029

94.6

0.7

7

87.6

7.4

marked for development purposes. The Ministry of Forestry has classified some forested lands (about 30 million ha) as conversion forests that are to be used for purposes other than forestry after the timber stands have been removed. Coordination between government and private development agencies is necessary so that forestland classified as permanent forest (or candidate permanent forest) will not be used for other development purposes.

  1. After implementation of the Constitution of 1945, the primary authority for forestry administration was Law No. 5 (1967), Basic Provisions on Forestry. In the execution of the law, however, in particular, forestland use, there are provisions that are thought to be in conflict with those in the Basic Law on Agrarian Matters of 1960, for example, land tenure aspects of forested lands. Legislation on forestland and general land use should be adjusted to allow for better land use—including forestland use—and land tenure arrangements.

  2. The first steps to designate permanent forestlands outside Java have been done through the forestland use by consensus (TGHK) approach. Because this method is limited to desk exercises, field operations are necessary—that is, surveys should be followed by demarcation of the designated forestlands with easily recognizable boundary markers. In this way, misunderstandings between the Indonesian government and local communities and governments or private development agencies could be reduced to a minimum. Special attention should be paid to the existing tenure rights of local communi-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

ties. The many conflicts concerning the existing TGHK boundaries urgently need solutions. The stewardship certificate system could be studied in this respect. The stewardship certificate system of the Philippines, for example, states that occupants of forestlands can use the forest and the land for 25 years (usufruct rights) but they must use agroforestry practices prescribed by the Ministry of Forestry and must maintain the existing forests.

  1. The designation and demarcation of forest ecosystems to conserve biodiversity and genetic resources should be given special attention. Between 1979 and 1984 over 10 million ha of reserves was added to the existing conservation forests, but the rate of setting aside forestlands has fallen since then. As a target, about 18 million ha of conservation forests is envisaged by TGHK. Another disturbing aspect is the incompleteness of the conservation forest system across the seven major biogeographic zones in Indonesia.

  2. Provisions regarding the implementation of logging and other forest operations in the concession areas, in particular, regarding forest regeneration as prescribed in the Indonesian selective cutting system (TPI) and, later, in the Indonesia selective cutting and planting system (TPTI), are not adequately observed in general, so that the reality of forest operations is far from an ideal sustainable forest management system. To overcome this problem, stricter controls in the implementation of forest operations by concession holders should be exercised, and stiff penalties should be imposed on those operations that deviate from the regulations, in particular, those that deviate from the annual allowable cut and the allowable harvesting area. On the other hand, a possible extension of the 20-year concession period (which does not stimulate sustainable forest operations), for example, to 35 years (the same as the silvicultural rotation period) or on a variable basis with periodic performance reviews of logging and other forest operations, could be considered as alternatives.

  3. Shifting (slash-and-burn) cultivation is considered a severe land use problem, causing deforestation and the formation of extensive areas of alang-alang grasslands and other unproductive lands, in particular, as a result of shortened fallow periods and influxes of migrants. Rationalization of shifting cultivation should take into account, for example, land use, cultural, land tenure, and other socioeconomic factors related to the issue. Decisions should be made in consultation with the affected communities. For rationalized shifting cultivation, better sites should be allocated. Proper extension and provision of credits can act as positive incentives and can up-grade land use practices to a more sustainable level. An integrated approach to rationalizing shifting cultivation, which has a greater

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

chance of success, should include education, health services, and the provision of other community services. Also important are common policies and strategies among the agencies whose programs partly or entirely involve shifting cultivation—that is, rationalization of shifting cultivation should be implemented as a concentrated effort of a general local community development program.

  1. To alleviate the impacts of deforestation in terms of declining forested lands or a worsening of ecologic conditions, reforestation (on forestland) and regreening (on private land) programs have been initiated. Although the concepts of the programs are commendable, because of inadequate planning and execution the present rates of success of reforestation and regreening are low. A well-designed plan for reforestation and regreening must address seed availability, seedling production, proper site selection and preparation, and above all, continued care and management after the establishment of plantations. A national plan for reforestation and regreening should also involve the public, private, and community sectors. The program should be supported by well-coordinated research.

  2. The role of industrial plantations is, in principle, to supplement natural forest resources and to improve ecologic conditions, in particular, in those areas where degraded forestlands have been selected. Industrial forest plantations, including agroforestry systems, can also provide valuable services to local communities by providing employment and, in some cases, better housing, education, and health care as well as agricultural extension services and loan credits.

  3. Forest development programs were, in principle, designed to generate awareness of conservation issues by the public and private sectors as well as communities. The roles of nongovernment organization (NGOs) can be substantial in this respect. There are hundreds of NGOs that have shown interest in conservation issues; however, the lack of coordination and resources prevent them from being well-functioning organizations. NGOs and other community groups should be involved in training and education on a community level. NGOs with major extension plans should be given funding and personnel training priority.

  4. To maintain self-sufficiency in food production diversification in agriculture, production and consumption of agricultural crops must be encouraged.

In addition to their economic importance, the forests of Indonesia are also considered a gigantic carbon sink. The perpetuation of Indonesia 's forest cover is therefore necessary for long-term global survival (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agri-

Suggested Citation:"Indonesia." National Research Council. 1993. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1985.
×

culture Organization of the United Nations, 1990). The commitment of Indonesia to sustainable development of its tropical forests is amplified in a statement by President Suharto (Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1990):

Our tropical forests are the lungs of the world. Their degradation brings disaster not only to our nation, but also to other nations and inhabitants of the earth. We must manage our forests under sustainable development for our next generations in particular, and for all mankind in general.

REFERENCES

Asian Development Bank. 1989. Operational Strategy 1989. Study for Indonesia. Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank.

Basjarudan, H. 1978. Forest policy and legislation. Lecture notes. Forestry Faculty, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

Biro Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statistics). 1988. Statistik Indonesia. Statistical Year Book of Indonesia 1988. Jakarta: Biro Pusat Statistik.

Biro Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statistics). 1989. Input-Output Table 1985. Jakarta: Biro Pusat Statistik.

Food and Agriculture Organization. 1952. Principles of Forest Policy. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Government of Indonesia/Department of Information. 1989. Indonesia 1989. An Official Handbook. Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.

Government of Indonesia/International Institute of Environment and Development. 1985. A Review of Policies Affecting the Sustainable Development of Forest Lands in Indonesia. Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.

Government of Indonesia/Ministry of Forestry and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1990. Situation and Outlook of the Forestry Sector in Indonesia. Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.

Government of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency. 1989. REPELITA V: Indonesia's Fifth Five Year Development Plan. Basic Data and Main Targets. Jakarta: Government of Indonesia.

Kaul, A. 1990. Indonesian Farming Systems: Types and Issues. Unpublished manuscript.

Kusumah, B., D. S. Irawanto, G. Aji, and I. Qodar. 1991. Indonesian forest: How are you? Tempo Mag. XXI(35):23–24.

Prastowo, H. 1991. The System of Production Forest Management in the Future. Homecoming Day Alumni VIII/1991 Faculty of Forestry. Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

Regional Physical Program for Transmigration. 1990. The Land Resources of Indonesia: A National Review. Direktorat Bina Program, Direktorat Jendral Penyiapan Pemukiman, Departemen Transmigrasi, Jakarta.

Sadikin, S. W. 1990. The diffusion of agricultural research knowledge and

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advances in rice production in Indonesia. Pp. 106–123 in Sharing Innovation. Global Perspectives on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Development. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Sukartiko, B. 1988. Soil conservation program and watershed management in Indonesia. Paper presented at the Regional Workshop on Ecodevelopment Process for Degraded Land Resources in Southeast Asia, Bogor, Indonesia, August 23–25, 1988 (Man and Biosphere, Indonesia–United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, South-East Asia).

Utomo, W. H. 1989. Konservasi Tanah di Indonesia (Soil Conservation in Indonesia). Jakarta: C. V. Rajawali.

Webster, B. 1984. Devastated forest offers a rare view of rebirth. New York Times, April 24, 1984.

Whitmore, T. C. 1984. Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

World Bank. 1989. Indonesia Strategy for Growth and Structural Change. Report No. 7758-IND. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

World Resources Institute. 1992. The 1992 Information Please Environmental Almanac. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

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Rainforests are rapidly being cleared in the humid tropics to keep pace with food demands, economic needs, and population growth. Without proper management, these forests and other natural resources will be seriously depleted within the next 50 years.

Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics provides critically needed direction for developing strategies that both mitigate land degradation, deforestation, and biological resource losses and help the economic status of tropical countries through promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. The book includes:

  • A practical discussion of 12 major land use options for boosting food production and enhancing local economies while protecting the natural resource base.
  • Recommendations for developing technologies needed for sustainable agriculture.
  • A strategy for changing policies that discourage conserving and managing natural resources and biodiversity.
  • Detailed reports on agriculture and deforestation in seven tropical countries.
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