The entwined tree: Traditional natural resource management of Serampas, Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

A number of changes, especially more intense exposure to the market, have influenced the Serampas traditional systems and challenge the sustainability of the local natural resources. The practice of incorporating cinnamon ( Cinnamomum burmanii [Nees & T. Nees] Bl.) into the traditional practice of shifting cultivation has changed the dynamics of shifting cultivation, led to increases in the land area under low diversity cinnamon agroforesty and to decreases in higher diversity secondary forests. In terms of conservation, the policy of Indonesian government has gradually moved towards participatory management but this has not been fully implemented in the case of Serampas and KSNP. The revival and adaptation of some Serampas traditional management techniques documented here could benefit both conservation and local development initiatives.Serampas commonly use 318 plant species belonging to 89 families. The most useful species for the Serampas are edible plants and medicinal plants. Old-growth forests have the highest richness of useful taxa, followed by customary forests, secondary forests and lastly cinnamon agroforests. However, secondary forests have the highest proportion of useful species. The forest types with the highest richness of useful plants are not necessary the ones that people perceive as the most important culturally and economically.The people of Serampas are still strongly attached to their traditional customary system (adat) that governs most aspects of people's lives, including the management of natural resources. Upland rice farming through shifting cultivation has been the backbone of Serampas livelihoods over generations. Serampas traditions restrict the exploitation of some natural resources by means of taboos and traditional protected forests.This dissertation aims to examine some of the cultural and ecological relationships between local people and protected areas through a case study of the people of Serampas and Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) in Sumatra, Indonesia. Specifically, this research addresses seven main questions: (1) What are the traditional management practices associated with forest and agroforest resources?; (2) How have these traditional resource management practices changed over time? (3) What effects do traditional resource management practices have on forest/agroforest plant structure, composition, & diversity?; (4) What ethnobotanical knowledge (EK) do Serampas have and how has this changed over time? (5) How are useful plants distributed across land-use type?; (6) How do Serampas value their natural resources, especially forest and agroforest resources?; and (7) What are the current interactions between Serampas Communities and the KSNP?