Economic development, environmental stress and sustainability in Indonesia. A case study on community transformation and local resource use in Berau, East Kalimantan

This thesis presents the results of research into the use of natural resources in Berau District, Indonesia, where the environment is considered at risk. Policy change, rapid economic development and the inflow of various population groups are having important implications for the access to and control by populations, forest products, land, marine products and other natural resources. Being one of the last resource frontiers in Indonesia, the district has recently been exposed to increasing in-migration and to massive interventions both by government policies at the central and district level and by corporate sector activities. Faced with these forces of external origin, the local population had little choice but to adapt their livelihoods and social and demographic behaviour to the changing conditions. The research looked at the effects of increasing environmental stress on sustainable resource use and people’s responses and capacity to build sustainable livelihoods. In this thesis, these responses are described and analysed in relation to the sustainability of natural resource use at the community level as influenced by the decisions made at the household level. Understanding the link between population and the environment and, more particularly, the multidimensional notion and contextrelated interpretation of sustainability were the main objectives of this study.