TOWARDS THE COMPLETED LANDSCAPE: Rainforests and Rural Development in Indonesia and Malaysia

Covering the period from the late-1960s to the present day, and based on the personal experience of the author, who has spent a lifetime living and working in the rainforests, this book introduces the great variety of rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra - the montane forests, dipterocarp forests, swamp and peat swamp forests and mangrove forests. All are described in their natural state prior to the explosion in development, which has occurred during the last 40 years, and their potential for both forestry and agriculture is examined. The traditional activities of hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators are described. The logging industry is examined dispassionately notig the introduction of sustainable forestry management practices forest reserves, which have been logged and often badly damaged. The widespread conversion of once forested land into tree-crop plantations is described, reflecting on developments in the production of spices and the rubber boom early in the last century, before concentrating on the recent surge in the planting of oil palm, particularly in Borneo and Sumatra for their resettlement in the nationwide transmigration programme. The future of mangrove forests on emerging coastlines is debated. Throughout this period the save-the-rainforest campaign has achieved world-wide prominence, but its relentless pessimism is challenged, predicting that when the land has achieved its full agricultural potential, significant areas of forest will remain either in their natural state or as forest reserves providing successive timber harvests.