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Importance value (%)
| Local perceptions of the different land types and resources
Gardens and forests are important for the future because they can provide
consequent income. Bare land comes in third position for its use in the future
because it will provide lands for new forest plantations. Forest dominates all but
four of the use categories (Table 8). Bare lands are the most important land types
for fodder, and gardens for food. Gardens and the riverside are equally important
as hunting places, and they represent the places where villagers spend a large
amount of their time. The main game hunted is small birds in the vicinity of the
village. River is important for recreation because villagers regularly go to swim
and wash in the nearby river, and children go there to play.
6.3. Forest importance
Villagers divide forest land type into three categories, namely big tree forest
(primary forest), small tree forest (young, secondary regrowth) and plantation
forest. Men and women have different points of view concerning the importance
of these forest types. Men consider plantation the most important forest type (49%;
Figure 10), because they reckon that in the future plantations will provide them
with more regular cash income. Big tree forest comes in second place (43%),
although villagers said they gather more products there than in the other forest
types. One reason for the lower importance given is the difficult accessibility of
these forests.
50
40
30
20
10
0
Plantation forest Big tree forest Small tree forest
Forest types
Figure 10. Importance of forest types (all groups)
Men
Women
Women consider the big tree forest the most important type (50%). They
explain that big tree forest provides many valuable products to them. Uses of these
products includes food, medicine, heavy construction, tools, basketry, ornaments
and marketable items (Table 9). Women also often go to the forest to collect leaves
to make conical hats.