38 Current methods used for natural resource valuation have a wide range of
applications and depend on the issues to be addressed, data availability, credibility and cost considerations McCracken and Abaza 2000. Generally, valuations are based on
cost and benefit analysis CBA. Additional methods used in economic valuation are market prices, replacement cost and preventive expenditure, proxysubstitute products,
opportunity cost, travel cost, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation McCracken and Abaza 2000.
2.3 Research Setting
The Benuaq Dayak is one of the indigenous tribes in Indonesia. This tribe is known for its sustainable way of managing natural resources. This research estimates the
economic value of the Benuaq Dayak management practices. It was conducted at three different villages: Tepulang, Benung, and Dingin located in the Kutai Barat District, East
Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The Tepulang and the Benung Villages are located inside the Idaatn watershed of
the upper Mahakam River. The Dingin Village is located in the Kedang Pahu watershed. The research area can only be reach by speedboat with a traveling time of about 7 hours
from the provincial capital of Samarinda. These three villages were selected as the research areas because they have maintained 100 percent Benuaq Dayak ethnicity and are
still using traditional customs in managing their natural resources. The Benuaq Dayak way to manage natural resources is believed to be sustainable.
Research has shown that the Dayak tribe has maintained management practices that can give them a variety and continuity of income. These activities include shifting
cultivation, hunting and collection of various forest products, small-scale handicraft
39 productions and tourism activities NRMP-USAID, 1996. Dove 1988 found in his
research in Kalimantan that the tribal people could incorporate the swidden food crops and smallholder export crops in their forest area management to meet their daily need and
consumer goods. The combination of subsistence and market-oriented agriculture has proven as successful and has shared important contributions to the national income.
Padoch 1992 found that the tribe not only slashed and burned, hunted, and harvested; but they also manipulated and managed animal populations in ways often subtle and
invisible to the scientist’s and traveler’s eye. Padoch and Peluso 1993 explained that the tribes have considerable variety and change in the economic activities of individual
households, as well as far richer and more dynamic “agrodiversity” on the island as a whole. Thus, the tribe increases biodiversity and provides diverse and continuous
sources of income for themselves and the nation. Their management involves sustenance of forest products, socio-cultural traditions, and environmentally friendly practices. In
short, Benuaq Dayak management is sustainable forest management because it maintains biodiversity and also continuous sources of income.
Unfortunately, the Benuaq Dayak way of management is difficult to measure in terms of economic value. The need to calculate this economic value is critical for the
Benuaq Dayak’s existence as it will help them to gain the respect of the government and other stakeholders related to natural resources management. This, in turn, will hopefully
lead to changes in policy that will allow continuation of the Dayak way of life.
40
2.4 Research Objectives
