Ecology of Kalimantan: Indonesian Borneo by Kathy MacKinnon & Gusti Hatta

Author:Kathy MacKinnon & Gusti Hatta [MacKinnon, Kathy & Hatta, Gusti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nature, ecology, Travel, Asia, Southeast, Special Interest, Ecotourism, Ecosystems & Habitats, Forests & Rainforests, Regional
ISBN: 9781462905058
Google: FFXRAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Tuttle
Published: 2013-02-05T20:28:00+00:00

The fast-growing plants that now dominate the regenerating vegetation produce fruit eaten mostly by small birds and only rarely by primates, hornbills or other larger birds and mammals. Many primates have increased their dependence on leaves, but other mammals and frugivorous birds that cannot switch to folivory are likely to remain rare. The situation is particularly serious for fruit and nectar feeders. Many frugivores also rely heavily on figs. Germination sites on tree limbs for the most important Urostigma figs have become rare as a consequence of the fires (Leighton and Wirawan 1986). The lack of fruit resources may lead to further declines in numbers of some frugivorous animals.

Although canopy trees were lost to drought in unburned primary forests in Kutai, most areas maintain healthy populations of plants and animals, which can act as sources for recolonisation of regenerating areas of burned forest. However, there is a heightened risk of further forest fires in the previously burned areas because of the large amount of dead wood on the floor and the domination of understoreys by softwood pioneer trees susceptible to burning (Kartawinata 1980b). Indeed, in 1987, during another very dry spell, fires again swept Kalimantan in a "sea of fire" (Tempo 1987).

As well as their effects on vegetation and wildlife, the forest fires also had a high cost in economic and human terms. A large tract of land was degraded, and timber worth billions of dollars was lost. There was very little attempt at timber salvage, and only poor quality timber was left. The livelihoods of many thousands of local people were threatened, especially those dependent on collection of forest products (Mackie 1984). Paradoxically, the fires also helped some local cultivators by opening up large areas of forest without further clearing.

Cash crop growers also suffered from the fire. The peppercorn loss was estimated at almost $2 million (Mackie 1984). Trade suffered in minor forest products such as rattan, since wild stocks throughout East Kalimantan were destroyed, and new rattan vines take about nine years to reach harvestable size. Most sectors of East Kalimantan's economy are linked in some way to tropical forest resources, or depend on the forests' environmental functions, such as watershed protection (Mackie 1985).

For East Kalimantan the 1982-83 fire was an ecological and economic disaster. The most visible culprits were the shifting cultivators who lit the fires. However, the conditions that made the forest vulnerable to fire were two decades of deforestation, encouraged by government land-use policies to open a frontier region to large-scale commercial exploitation.

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