will be decided
by a Policy
Board (DPK),
which includes
representatives
of the Central
Government
(Agency for
Forest
Protection and
Nature
Conservation),
representatives
of the Provincial
and District gov-
ernments, and
representatives
of the local
communities
through FoMMA
(Alliance of the
Indigenous
People of the
Kayan
Mentarang
National Park).
In many ways, this innovative management
model responds to an important recommen-
dation based on the findings of the Culture
and Conservation research program: sus-
tainability of any conservation programme is
contingent on the degree to which complex-
ity and diversity of the social and economic
context are recognised, and flexible and
locally appropriate measures of conservation
are adopted. The unique circumstances of
the Kayan Mentarang National Park are the
historical and cultural heritage of the Dayak
people who have been living and managing
the forest for centuries.Challenges to conservation
managers
While the output of C&C’s research activities
served the conservation management objec-
tives of the Kayan Mentarang National Park
and helped raise the level of support for the
park by local people and government offi-cials, research findings also brought to light
the complexities of the social, environmen-
tal, political, and historical context of the
Kayan Mentarang conservation area. Dayak
village communities are increasingly hetero-
geneous in their ethnic and socio-profession-
al composition. Yet, limited access to infor-
mation, the resilience of stereotyped views,
and preference for quick results might
encourage park managers to regard forest-
dwelling communities as homogeneous enti-
ties in relatively uncomplicated situations,
and to adopt common solutions for the con-
servation area. Although more difficult and
time consuming, acknowledging the com-
plexity and diversity of the social and eco-
nomic context is necessary. Conservation
managers would need to take these com-
plexities into consideration and design flexi-
ble and locally appropriate measures of con-
servation. This is a challenging task but
would ultimately enhance the project’s sus-
tainability and effectiveness in the long
term.Several of the C&C reports focusing on his-
tory point to the reality of overlapping terri-
torial claims caused by long histories of
migrations, and by the policies of population
resettlement and
regrouping implement-
ed by the government
in the 1970s. The
results of community
mapping also under-
scored the need to take
into consideration his-
torical factors before
finalizing territorial
maps and settling
boundary issues
between old and new
settlements. Similarly, the initial focus on the
interactions between people and forest
inside the conservation area proved too nar-
row when research findings indicated the
increasing number of ex-residents of the
park area who have moved back, and the
significant (and often exploitative) impact ofA ““cultural aapproach” tto cconservation?
Figure 3. Artistic traditions like
wood carving have undergone a
revival as expressions of Dayak
ethnic identity after decentrali-
sation and regional autonomy
law have come into effect and
democratic reform has begun in
Indonesia (Long Berini, sub-dis-
trict of Pujungan, East
Kalimantan, Indonesia)
(Courtesy Cristina Eghenter).
Conservation mmanagers
need tto rrespond tto tthe
complexity aand ddiversi-
ty oof tthe ssocial ccontext,
and ddesign fflexible aand
locally aappropriate
measures oof cconserva-
tion. TThis iis aa cchalleng-
ing bbut aabsolutely nnec-
essary ttask