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Japan Society
JapanSociety

of Forest Planning
Planning

ofForest

53

Article

Monitoring Agrieultural Expansion during the Economic Crisis
Indonesia: A Case Study of the Rawa Danau Nature Reserve

AriefDarmawan

" i' '"
'Lilik

.In

Budi Prasetyo'2 and SatoshiTsuyuki"i

ABSTRACT
Followingthe 1997 Indonesianeconomic
crisis, faith
in agriculture was justified
and plantation
farmersreacted
'Ibeobjectives of this study wei'e
their fields
at the expense
of forestcoven
to examine
the spatial
of
land-cover
changes
that
occurred

in
the
Rawa
Danau
Nature
Reserve,
Indonesia,
with
the
backgreund
of
pattern
the economic
crisis periedand to characterize
the situation of localpeoplecausing agricultural expansien in this
area. A satelliteimage
analysis
and a heusehold-survey
analysis
were

executed.
The economic
crisis has playeda
major
role in changing
land-usepractices
and has affected protected
areas. [[hesatellite-image
analysis shows
that
a rapid change
of vegetation-cover
occurred
after the ecenomic
crisis as cornpared
with the periodpriorto the
spatial
analyses
show
that, initially,

villagers locatednear protectedareas are
crisis. The household-surveyand
more
likely
to encreach
on protected
areas than villagers locatedfurther
away
from protectedareas. However,after
a peried of several
even
distant
vi11agers
encreached
upen
the
nature
reserve.
Aside from proximityof
years,

access, the smaller
size of agricultural
landheldings,the largernumber
of tenant farmers and the {ncreaseof unmonitored
ucccss
to the nature reserve after tlieecenomic
crisis were the characteristics
oi ag'ricultural expansion
by

expanding

village$

within

the

study

area.

Kdyworzts:
land-coverchange,

agricultural

expansion,

economic

crisis, satellite-image

analysis,

household-survey

analysis

According to BosERup (1965),

thcre

INTRODUCTION

are

two general types

and
intensive
Extensiveagriculture tends to exist where there is
Land-use and land-cover
change
relatively
low populatien pressure, together with wldely
(LUI.CC)can be a majer
threat to biodiversity
through the destructionof the natural
available
land reseurces

and
simple
technological systems
vegetation
and the fragmentation
or isolation
of nature
areas
input).In contrasL intensiveagriculture occurs in high
(]ower
et al,, 2006). Both regional
and local-scale
studies
dcnsely populated regions
with liinitedland resources,
(VERI]ul{G
have demonstrateda number
of critical eveiits that giverise to
accompanled
by evolution in agricultural technique (higher

!and-coverchange, such as tropical deforestation
aiid
inpuO due to frequentcrepping.
(GEIsl'
LA"cBIN, 2002; KuMMm{ and TuiiNrm,1994; VERBuRc: et at.,
Limited landresouree problems occur in two situations 2006),In particular,
agricultural
expansion
isthe leadingland- either when the opportunity
to obtain new land is severely
use
change
associated
with
nearly
all global deforestation limitedor when
available land is not legally
accessiblc
(e.g.,
cases

and imIBIN,2002) .
PEI.uso,
1992). In the first
situat{on, BooTH (1985)
and BosERup
(GEIsr
of

agricultural

systems/

extensive

agriculture

agriculture.

Corresponding
'i

author:

Ariet'Darmawan

Graduate School ef Agricultural
ancl Life
Sciences, The University of Tok}ro, 1-1-1 Yayoi,
Bunl{yo-ku,Tok}ro 113-8657,Japan
of
Forest Resource Conservation

"'

Present

address

Facultyol'Agriculture,
LainpungUniversity,
Jln.
Socmantri Elrojenegoro No.1, Elandar Iampung
35145,Inclonesia

"21)epartrnent

Ecotouiism, Bogor Agricultural
University,
Bogor, RO. Box 16002, Indonesia
and

J Fbr.Aann.14:53-66reOO9)

NII-Electronic Library Service

Japan Society
JapanSociety

of Forest
Forest Planning
Planning

of

Darmawan

54

(1965)reviewed

the

way

production

agricultural

processes

the increasingpopulation pressure by
lookingat Javanese
agricu}tural
case studies. However, many
cases
of agricultura]
expansion
in proteeted areas, notably
tlioseareas in high-density
regions, are categorized
under
the
latter
situation (e.g.,
the cases of SierraMadre Nature Park of
the Philippines(VitiaBuRc;
et al., 2006) and
Bangladesh
und
HoQIJE,
2005)).
PELuso
(IF'rTtK}{AR
(1992)notes that
millions
of Javanese
subsistence
farmers livealongside statecontrolled
forestlancls
in one ef the worldis most densely
agricultural
regiens.
Because theirlegalaccess and
populated
customary
rights to the foresthave bccn severely
restricted
and
the legally
available
agricultural
land is not suffieient,
these subsistence
farrnershave been pushed toward illegal
use of forestresources.
udjust

IndonesianEconemic Crisis
Beglnning in mid-1997,
Indenesia experienced
an
crisis thatcollapsed
almost
all Indonesianeconornic
sectors
due te the extreme
depreciatjonof its currency
IndonesianruPiah declined
in value more than 70% from Rp.

economic

2,450 to tiieUS

dollar in

July1997,

to Rp. 11,OOO

to

the IJS

dollarin mld-September

1998 (Suts'DERuN,
1999).The prices of

es$ential

skyrocketed,

commedities

the

and

numbers

of

peeple below the poverty line increased from 11% in 1996 to
between 14 aiid 20% in 1998 (PoppELEet al., 1999).
Socioeconomicproblems arose as a result, such as increased
unemployment,

ing power,

inflation,loss

rampant
and

grave

social

of consumer
purchasinstability(Suts'DEici.iN
et al,, 2001;

SuNT)ERIJN,1999). Inw enfercement
degenerateddue to
changes
inthe political
situation following the ecunomic
erisis.
During this time
ceUapsed

of uncertainty,

lookedto rural

people
that were

and

agriculture

comparatively

industries

manufacturing
economic
sheltered

sectors

such

from the

as

effects

the crisis (e.g.
STtNDEIu.IN,
1999).Furtliermore,since the
daysoi tlie
crisis, experts
and policy-makers focusedon
agriculture
as a means
to escape the crisis. Faithin agriculture
was
arid plantation farmcrsreacted
by expanding
their
justified
fields
at the expense
of forestcoven
of

early

Objectives
objectives

of

of agricultural

of

thisarticle
expansiori

medium-spatial-reso]ution

informationsourced

AND

METHODS

Studv Area
iti the Rawa Danati Nature
Our study was conducted
Reserve.The area islocated
within
the CidanauWbtershed,
in
the Serang Districtof the Banten Province, Indonesia,
approximately
100km west of Jal