A Forest Tribe of Borneo

by K. Seeland and F. Schmithusen and Christian Gonner

Here is the third volume in the series Man and Forest: a series trying to highlight the relevance of 'indigenous knowledge' of various tribal communities in the sustainable management of forests/local resources against the growing challenges of environmental hazards and a declining resource base. The volume takes the reader to the Dayak Benuaq village of Lempunah in Borneo (East Kalimantan, Indonesia) where, for over three hundred years, the local tribal population has made extensive use of its forest resources. Together with vivid descriptions, Christian Gonner offers an insightful analysis of local resource use pattterns, covering swidden agriculture, mixed forest gardens, rattan gardens, rubber gardens, and the non-cultivated forest 'in-between' and temporal and spatial aspects of life in Lempunah. Christian Gonner has, for this study, applied ethnological, ecological, and geographical field-research methods.

About the Author:

CHRISTIAN GONNER is a biologist by profession, with specialised interests in ornithology. He is recognised as a leading specialist in Applied Ecology. Presently living in Sumatra with his family, Dr. Gonner is working for a nature conservation project. He has also been a consultant to several Indonesian development projects from time to time.