Abstract
We ascertained villagers’ perceptions about the importance of forests for their livelihoods and health through 1,837 reliably answered interviews of mostly male respondents from 185 villages in Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo. Variation in these perceptions related to several environmental and social variables, as shown in classification and regression analyses. Overall patterns indicated that forest use and cultural values are highest among people on Borneo who live close to remaining forest, and especially among older Christian residents. Support for forest clearing depended strongly on the scale at which deforestation occurs. Deforestation for small-scale agriculture was generally considered to be positive because it directly benefits people’s welfare. Large-scale deforestation (e.g., for industrial oil palm or acacia plantations), on the other hand, appeared to be more context-dependent, with most respondents considering it to have overall negative impacts on them, but with people in some areas considering the benefits to outweigh the costs. The interviews indicated high awareness of negative environmental impacts of deforestation, with high levels of concern over higher temperatures, air pollution and loss of clean water sources. Our study is unique in its geographic and trans-national scale. Our findings enable the development of maps of forest use and perceptions that could inform land use planning at a range of scales. Incorporating perspectives such as these could significantly reduce conflict over forest resources and ultimately result in more equitable development processes.
Highlights
Striking a balance between economic development and maintenance of biodiversity is increasingly challenging in the face of climate change, rapid human population growth and concomitant demand for natural resources
Steps aimed at reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation, or increasing carbon sequestration through reforestation, have generated a lively debate between local people, who are directly affected by the concomitant changes in land use, and the governments determining land use change [12]
We asked the following three questions to further our understanding of forest use and perceptions and their variation across Borneo: (1) What are villagers’ perceptions of (i) the value of forest uses; (ii) the value of ecosystem services; and (iii) advantages and disadvantages of forest clearing; (2) What socio-ecological and environmental factors are associated with these perceptions, at three different levels: (i) individual respondents; (ii) village demographics; and (iii) land use in landscapes surrounding the villages?; (3) Are there differences in perceptions across the study regions?
Summary
Striking a balance between economic development and maintenance of biodiversity is increasingly challenging in the face of climate change, rapid human population growth and concomitant demand for natural resources. Steps aimed at reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation, or increasing carbon sequestration through reforestation, have generated a lively debate between local people, who are directly affected by the concomitant changes in land use, and the governments determining land use change [12]. Our approach has the advantage of allowing us to translate perceptions about forests and their underlying socio-economic and environmental variables into information that informs political decision-making at a regional level Understanding how these perceptions vary across large landscapes, for example, between their source, sink and use areas, and across different groups of human beneficiaries (sensu [28]), facilitates the prediction of deforestation impacts on forest service users, and might help the prediction of future deforestation patterns. We asked the following three questions to further our understanding of forest use and perceptions and their variation across Borneo: (1) What are villagers’ perceptions of (i) the value of forest uses (including direct use of forest products, and other economic or non-economic uses); (ii) the value of ecosystem services (cultural and spiritual importance, importance for health, direct health benefits and environmental health benefits); and (iii) advantages and disadvantages of forest clearing (for small-scale clearing and large scale clearing); (2) What socio-ecological and environmental factors are associated with these perceptions, at three different levels: (i) individual respondents; (ii) village demographics; and (iii) land use in landscapes surrounding the villages?; (3) Are there differences in perceptions across the study regions?
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