Abstract
Biodiversity maintenance and nature conservation is a “must” for our own survival and the planet's survival. This message is clearly stated and supported with solid data throughout Conserving Nature in Culture. The book emphasized the benefits that may result from local stakeholder inputs and the concern that high-level, business-oriented stakeholders ignore local perspectives.
The editors of Conserving Nature in Culture selected several notable contributors among the crowd of Southeast Asian specialists. Michael Dove, one of the editors, is certainly a highly renowned scholar in the field. All of the authors’ ideas and approaches are fresh and innovative. I recently incorporated much of the information into my ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and eco-tourism lectures at Pannasastra University and the Royal University of Fine Arts, Cambodia. Feedback has been positive, and several students are applying information from the book with a high success rate.
The introduction and concluding chapters in Conserving Culture in Nature are outstanding. Both highlight potential solutions for problems that are occurring in this rapidly changing region. Current problems, such as intensive tourism in Malaysian parks at the expense of the marginalization and commodification of the indigenous people who live in the parks as well as generations of their ancestors, are highlighted by Lye Tuck-Po. Tuck-Po illustrates concrete ways in which the local people—the integral stakeholders—can make important contributions and offer real solutions to significantly reduce ecological damage. Because local people interact directly with local ecosystems, they have the best insights into the value of maintaining biodiversity. Policymakers should listen to the local communities who are intimately familiar with these ecosystems and are truly the key source of knowledge about them.
Tuck-Po discusses ongoing problems such as adoption of the U.S. National Parks policies, which have been destructive to Native Americans in the U.S., the Ainu in Hokkaido, and the Ryukyu islands in Japan. There are serious problems with applying American conservation models to Southeast Asia where there are societies living in many different ecosystems, including forest foragers, fishing communities on floating “villages,” and arboriculturalists. In most cases, the U.S. simply killed or moved North American indigenous groups and then, decades later, decided to create a park. This policy has not worked in Southeast Asia in the past and is unlikely to in the future.
David Frossard's contribution shows hope that proactive local community knowledge and outside stakeholder input are beneficial when managed properly. It helps biodiversity and the local people even in various dimensions such as taste satisfaction or oxygen levels in the atmosphere. He and his colleagues have managed to demonstrate that encouraging and maintaining local rice varieties is useful for biological factors, sustainability and cultural reasons (e.g., this rice tastes better than the Green Revolution varieties—see page 160 and the number 21 footnote).
The authors of Conserving Nature in Culture make important methodological and theoretical contributions. Methodological approaches vary significantly from Lye Tuck-Po's more qualitative approach (Chapter 2), Raj Puri's statistical contributions (Chapter 1), and Dante K. Vegara's statistics-based “landscape fragmentation index for biodiversity…”(Chapter 6). Several case studies in the book—such as Chapter 1 by Puri and the final chapter by Sajise et al.—highlight approaches that have yielded solid, positive results. They should be used for comparative purposes and problem solving. Overall, the contributions should be a useful handbook for students and professionals, including policy makers, developers, tourist operators, and implementers around the world.
The Philippines receives the most attention in Conserving Nature in Culture, showing great progress in the ethnography of that area. However, there are contributions that address mainland Southeast Asia and western Indonesia. The multi-disciplinary approach of the book as a whole will result in better management and more attention.
In other areas of Southeast Asia, scientific progress may be bogged down by eternal paperwork and infighting/outfighting. Borneo and Malaysia have been partially covered by Tuck-Po's, Puri's, etc. contributions. Frossard addresses problems that exist throughout Southeast Asia concerning rice varieties and indigenous cultures coupled with various ecosystems. Even though most of his attention was focused on the Philippines, the article actually applies to the entire Asia Pacific region and is universally useful.
Eastern Indonesia, for instance, needs much more attention. Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country and, as a result of diverse marine and terrestrial ecosystems, it is a major ecotourism destination. Furthermore, Indonesia offers valuable agricultural opportunities. (Columbus and Magellan were going where to get what? Hint: spices from Indonesia). A lot of work that affects academic research, biological resources, culture and industry still needs to be done in the field. Ecotourism and cultural tourism are some of Southeast Asia's largest industries. They are commercially profitable and growing. Agriculture and other natural resource-based industries are expected to expand. If managed poorly without all stakeholders’ input, the natural resources that these industries depend on will quickly disappear.
A final complaint, however, is that the authors should look farther back in time by, for instance, using historical ecology. William Balée and Carol Crumley have made significant progress in this field. Puri's and Tuck-Po's articles deal with a multi-generational scale but are limited to several generations in the shorter-term rather than looking at thousands of years of human impact. Tuck-Po's recent work in Cambodia, however, incorporates a time span extending well over a thousand years.
Ironically, the cover picture of the famed “snake removal” from Wallaces's domicile in the 19th century is from Maluku, East Indonesia. However, none of the research in the book was done near this area. This is truly disappointing since the cover art is one of my favorite sketches of Southeast Asia. Perhaps it is because I worked in this exact village in Central Maluku for many years (I leave it unnamed because of current cultural conflicts). This leads to an interesting conclusion: Many other regions in the world need more attention to solve environmental problems. Ultimately, these problems are inseparable from culture, economics, and sustainability. The book demonstrates that productive work can be done and is a testament to the work that still needs to be done.
The book is a solid tool and reading it could be an excellent learning experience for many stakeholders. I strongly recommend it to locally concerned groups, students, academics, policymakers and all other stakeholders. I hope that this research will stimulate future explorations of these topics as it may help solve pressing problems.