Ecoregional Assessment of Biological Diversity in East Kalimantan

East Kalimantan Ecoregional Assessment: Chapter 2 – Target Ecological Systems
Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus )(Bennett 1988b). Wells et al. (1979) found that in the
Malaysian State of Sarawak, a small area of Peat Swamp Forest had about half the species of
birds that were present in the surrounding matrix of lowland evergreen forest. The rivers
draining these swamps are known to be very rich in species (Giesen 1990), although towards
the center of the swamps these rivers tend to have impoverished fauna (MacKinnon et al.
1996).
Unna Chokkalingam (pers. com.) reports seeing a mother orangutan and her baby in a very
damaged patch of Peat Swamp Forest, some 2 km from Desa Sabintulung. She also reports
‘numbers’ of orangutan nests near Loh Sakoh on the western side of the swamp on the
Belayan River and in the center of the large unburned section peat swamp in the Belayan area
suggesting that this forest type harbors some of the preferred food types for this important
primate species that may no longer be found elsewhere in more typical forest habitat.
Chokkalingam et al. (2001) states that “Peatland trees and other flora appear to have played a
minimal economic role historically in local livelihoods. The riparian areas were used for
extraction of some timber, rattan and other forest products, as well as for swidden agriculture
on flood clay soils (Richter 2000). In the peatlands, there was only limited harvest of some
wood species such as Shorea balengeran for house construction and others for fuelwood.
Harvesting was limited to about 0.5 km distance of existing water bodies, which could be
accessed by small boats in the flood season and from where logs could be floated out. There
was also harvest of some resin prior to 1965. Thus there appears to have been very low
direct value for the trees and other forest products available in the peatlands till recently. A
new medium-density fiber mill in the area has now provided a market for small-diameter logs
in some sections of the area”.
Schindele et al. (1989) and Hoffmann et al. (1999) state that large-scale fires occurred in the
peatlands recently in the drought years of 1982/83 and 1997/98. Extreme drought conditions
probably rendered the peat forests and peat itself susceptible to large-scale fires.
Chokkalingam et al. (2001) reported that fire use by locals in the peatland areas probably
provided primary ignition sources for these large-scale fires. The fires of 1982/83 are said to
have been patchy and simultaneous, suggesting multiple sources, arising primarily from
burning activities for agriculture or fishing in riparian areas and peatland edges and spreading
into some peatland areas.
Conservation issues and threats
• Lack of Community Interest
Local communities and migrants in these areas do not appear to value the trees and
vegetative resources on peatlands very much and are primarily concerned with fishing
(Chokkalingam et al. 2001). Such absence of community interest in the conservation of
these forests is probably the major conservation concern as far as the long-term viability
of existing occurrences in this province.
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