By WALHI

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: March marks the International Day of Forests, shedding light on one of our planet’s most critical ecosystems. Despite this, Southeast Asia has witnessed alarming forest loss, with Malaysia being one of the countries experiencing significant depletion. In 2010, Malaysia boasted 20.3 million hectares of natural forest, covering 87 percent of its land area. However, by 2022, it had lost 118,000 hectares of natural forest, equivalent to 83.9 million tons of CO₂ emissions. Human activities, particularly logging and clear-cutting for food production and agriculture, are primary contributors to this forest loss. 
 
Another threat to forests, especially in Southeast Asia, is the increasing need to ensure food security, which comes from food estate development. These efforts are mostly done without a sustainability framework or are designed to meet a short-term goal. Additionally, Malaysia faces challenges in achieving food security, as revealed by the Department of Statistics Malaysia in 2021. Out of 50 selected agricultural goods, only 24 have a self-sufficiency ratio below 100%, indicating vulnerabilities in key food items such as beef (18.9 percent) and rice (65.0 percent).
 
On the other hand, Indonesia has been trying to develop its food estate programs for years to ensure food security; however, these projects have not had successful outcomes. What’s left now are damaged forests and peatlands, the latter being fragile ecosystems that can cause an increase in carbon emissions, forest fires, and transboundary haze.
 
Apart from impacting the environment, these approaches also do not have the local community interest at hand. Opening up these lands also means relocating some indigenous communities living on the land for generations. This will cause more issues in the future, including cultural erosion, economic disparity, and health impacts.
 
Empowering Community to Make Environment Thrive
 
At the heart of WALHI’s work lies the Wilayah Kelola Rakyat (WKR), a community-based area management that champions sustainable land management. WKR integrates governance, production, distribution, and consumption processes while respecting local wisdom and values, ensuring no land conflict between the communities and other private parties. By empowering communities to manage their resources, WKR addresses structural poverty and inequality while defending against extractive industries.
 
WALHI has also helped communities, such as the Dayak Meratus, one of the indigenous communities in Borneo, to continue their swidden farming practice. While the practice is focused on the slash and burn activities, it ensures that the land being cleared is not part of the fragile ecosystem. Additionally, the Dayak Meratus also provides ample time for the land to recover by not planting anything after a period of time. During that time, the Dayak Meratus will search for another area to be cultivated.
 
Apart from conducting this practice, the Dayak Meratus tribe also practices intercropping, growing various crops in the same field. This allows a variety of staple foods to be consumed but also helps the crops to be more resilient, reduces pest outbreaks, and enhances the resilience of the farming system against environmental fluctuations.
 
What Dayak Meratus has been doing, is what WALHI wants to replicate across Indonesia. Focusing on each area’s strength and the community practices, ensuring to meet the needs of local communities. At the same time, there should be an increase in sustainable agricultural practices that improve yield without exploiting the forest.
 
Similar to WALHI’s mission in Indonesia, the Global Environment Centre (GEC) has been championing environmental conservation and sustainable land use initiatives in Malaysia for over 25 years. GEC’s work extends to various endeavors, including forest and river conservation, with a strong focus on community involvement and empowerment.
 
One notable program by the Global Environment Centre (GEC) related to land use management involving indigenous people is their forest rehabilitation initiative. This initiative emphasizes the importance of working with local communities, including indigenous peoples, for sustainable forest conservation efforts.
 
GEC’s approach includes community-led peat and mangrove forest conservation sites in Selangor, where they organize tree planting activities and invite students and the general public to participate. They also have long-term programs with corporate partners to monitor the replanted areas and support local communities in doing so.
 
Through these community-led programs, GEC aims to increase the communities’ resilience to climate change by protecting and restoring forests and peatlands in and around village areas. This not only contributes to environmental sustainability but also empowers the indigenous communities by involving them directly in the management and conservation of their traditional lands.