Local Ecological Knowledge on Forest Clearing: A Case Study of Parak and Rimbo Practices in Simancuang Community, Indonesia

Abstract

Local communities are frequently judged as the main driver of forest degradation and deforestation because of the weak recognition to local ecological knowledge (LEK) or traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). We assessed that it is important to elaborate the attributes of LEK and TEK as a way to describe why and how the local community clears the forest, as well as its relation to local practices, named parak and rimbo. Our research uses case study method to describe the local practices in Simancuang community, Alam Pauh Duo Village, South Solok District, West Sumatra Province. We conducted unstructured interviews, observations, and documents selection which were analyzed through categorization and codification as well as complemented with history analysis, spatial analysis, and related document analysis. The results showed that Simancuang community knowledge can describe the attributes of LEK and TEK as a unified whole of local knowledge for sustaining their livelihoods. Therefore, the forest clearing by Simancuang people is one of the livelihoods strategies, but they were not the main driver of forest degradation and deforestation in South Solok District.

Mainstreaming community-based forest management in West Sumatra: Social forestry arguments, support, and implementation

“…Consequently, government officers perceived that all illegal activities in the state forest are forestry crimes and violations. Meanwhile, local communities claimed that the state forest is their communal land in accordance with Minangkabau adat law, as applied in Koto Malintang and Simancuang villages (Asmin et al, 2016;Asmin et al, 2017a). In every governmental coordination meeting, implementing the SF schemes is also intended to legalize the socio-economic activities of local communities, previously considered illegal.…”

“…However, the initiation of SF schemes does not necessarily cover the entire community management area. In Simancuang, the community only proposed certain protected forest areas, while other protected forest areas were not included (see Asmin et al, 2016). Even in Koto Malintang, the community did not agree to any schemes in accordance with government regulations because they believed that their adat system could maintain their natural resources (see Asmin et al, 2017a).…”

“…This may have led to our perception that forest-dependent farmers are most likely the cause of forest degradation and deforestation. However, Asmin et al (2016) have provided an explanation from a sociological perspective to understand the causes of forest degradation in the case of the Simancuang community of South Solok District, West Sumatra. In the context of the state claim over the forest areas, Mutolib et al (2017) also indicated that forest degradation and deforestation were encouraged by forest seizures by local communities against the state claim over the forest area.…”

“…Such research is important to ensure the achievement of SF objectives at local, regional, and national levels. The lessons learned from the WSPG also provide a wealth of research opportunities due to the positive track record of local forest management schemes instituted by the Minangkabau people, the dominant ethnic group in West Sumatra (Michon et al, 1986;Martial et al, 2012;Hamzah et al, 2015;Asmin et al, 2016;Asmin et al, 2017a).…”