Proceedings of the UNESCO - University of Tsukuba International Seminar on Traditional Technology for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Asian-Pacific Region, held in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, 11-14 December, 1995.
Editors: Kozo Ishizuka, D. Sc. , Shigeru Hisajima, D. Sc. , Darryl R.J. Macer, Ph.D.
This paper is a brief evaluation of traditional technology related especially to tropical forest and fish cultivation as well as their product based on .the concept of sustainable development. Even though there is a consensus among sustainable development advocates, but there are still diverging .interpretations. For the seek of simplicity, according to IUCN (1980) sustainable development is: "the management of human use of the biosphere so that may yield the greatest sustainable development to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations " The basic future of this definition is that is explicitly consider the needs and aspirations of future generations into development process, i.e. intergeneration equity.
In 1970, FAO estimated the rate of deforestation in Indonesia to be around 300.000 hectares per year. In 1979-1984 this rate grew to an 700.000 to 1.2 millions hectares per year. Since 1950, over 49 million hectares of forest have been either converted to agricultural land or affected by mass cutting of forestry and logging and shifting agriculture. This figure represents 34 percent of the total forest of Indonesia. Economic loses due to forest destruction could reach US$ 1 billion per year.
In Vietnam the practice of shifting cultivation and settlement has been used by tribal people for centuries and it is very difficult to persuade them to give it up. The present rate of deforestation by shifting agriculture alone is about 50,000 hectares per year, but now they have been encouraged to adopt fixed farming (Dang , 1991).
On the other hand, among estimated 200 millions hectares of swampy area all over the world, more than 125 millions hectares in the Asia-Pacific regions. Almost half of them are found in Indonesia archipelagoes. The swampy area in the Asia Pacific regions mostly covered by swampy forest and mangrove or marshland, but also as a ground of wild sago palm, nipa and other useful palm. In Indonesia alone 39 millions hectares of the swampy forest are ready to be developed into productive land, mostly converted into palm oil and coconut plantations as well as paddy field. At present nine millions hectares have been converted into such establishment, but 5.6 millions hectares among them are as agriculture plantations and fish cultivation ponds.
Fast development of industrialization and tourism in the tropical regions also effect the forest and water environments for land or space demand as well as pollution by the waste of the established industries. Such development is a new experience for traditional society, which almost no traditional technology available in the society to anticipate it.
Planned shifting agriculture have been practiced for more than 2000 years, much more due to the poor quality of soil, which is mostly red yellow podsolic and low pH (acid soil) The topography of land is plain or swampy together with limited source and technology to build proper irrigation. Therefore, the applicable technique to use such condition of land is cutting the forest, dried by sun, and burn before to plant various crops. They continuously moving forward for six to seven year before come back again to the earliest land, which were become well grown rainforest again. A farmer usually used 0.5 to one hectare of forest land for one year period of farming However, a protected forest was reserved for conservation purpose, which is respected by the society as a holy environment, so nobody will do any wrong doing to the protected area.
But since the introduction of rubber and palm oil plant for colonial market in 1920s, most of the farmer directly grow rubber plant, so that now traditional planned shifting agriculture cannot compete with in using forest with big palm oil plantation, forestry, and small scale rubber plantation. They are not access to modern economic system without any skill, and resource to replaced the traditional conventional one, so they are deep in poverty
Most of the present crop plant in traditional agriculture are considerable altered in their characteristics through selection of different genotypes, either consciously and scientifically or without any particular design. The traits selected may be higher productivity, increase size, easy to handle, or the ability to flower at a different time of the year. Selection and hybridization are few technologies which are still used nowadays, especially in forest conservation. But only sago palm still the selection in the farm for starch produced from sago palm powder as can be found in the swampy and coastal areas as well as small islands in the Riau province, Indonesia.
Fermentation is one among biotechnology which is widely used in the traditional society to process forest products. Forest and agriculture products are treated and handled systematically, then treated with a certain microbe produce in rice bran and/or coffee together with small parts of pepper or salt or sugar and then incubate during a few days. Most of such fermentation products do not directly consumable.
Tropical forest products processing use fermentation as the main technique to produce alcohol and sugar, especially water products of coconut, nipa, arenca plants as well as beside starch of sago and cassava or other roots wildly grow in the tropical forest. Some grass in the forest are used after rotten by fermentation, which is treated with rice and rice bran during incubation of microbe in aerobic conditions (see Table 1).
Based on the ecosystem, tropical forest can be divided into dry land, swampy and coastal forests of mangrove. At the present all of the forest are competitively used by either agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and industry as well as human settlement. In terms of biological resources, the United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP) commissioned on a global biodiversity assessment concludes that earth has between 13 millions and 14 millions species of plants, animals and microbes. Of these, science knows 1.75 millions only. Many of the rest will die undiscovered. Furthermore, throughout history human being has used only some 3.000 plant species for food; at least 150 of them have been commercially cultivated to some extent. But over the centuries the tendency has been to concentrate of fewer and fewer. today, most of the people in the world are fed by about 20 crops - cereals, such as wheat, rice, maize, millet, and sorghum; legume such as peas, beans, peanuts, and soybean; sugar cane, sugar beat, coconuts, palm oils and bananas (BOSTID, 1978).
In the swampy or plain land fish are monocultured or polycultured together with animal shelter on the bank of the pond or mixed farming with some plants. Sago palm is one used in fish cultivation as an integrated farming. Integrated farming is a combination of farming which is complementary to produce various outputs in a unit of farm and practice in Southeast Asia and China.
The sago palm mixed farming in the fish ponds has various functions. First to keep the water temperature properly cold enough for the living of fish in cultivation as the shadow of the sago's leafs calm the pond environment too and prevent poaching as the fish can hide around the root of the sago palm. Besides the sago palm itself also produce starch as food source for people, and its by product or waste can feed to the domestic animals such as duck, horse, and chicken. Meanwhile the leaves of sago palm can be utilized as a roof for farm housing and animal shelter. Compared to the metal material roof which is popular in tropical regions, sago palm leaf-made roof maintains a mild temperature within the house and in case of poultry shelter has a better productivity.
The fishery product either from catching in natural water or from cultivation in control environment, used to be processed by mean of conventional cooking (baking, steaming, and frying), drying by sun or smoked, salted or fermentation. In case of fermentation as a traditional biotechnology using microbe grew in a medium composed of rice, coffee and pepper (Capsicum annum) incubate a few days and produce rotten smelly and acid taste of fish.
The traditional technology itself is characterized by its simplicity, well adopted by almost anybody, seemingly environmentally conserve of resources with manageable waste products. Meanwhile, it can not be neglected that most of traditional technology cannot compete economically with the modern one, as it is indicated by the poverty among the society that used traditional technology. Thus, such advantages can be justified as a appropriate for sustainable development. But some efforts should be executed to learn its disadvantage and proper implementation in modern society. By traditional technology, however, the biodiversity of tropical forest were sustained and their traditional living are maintained to some level quality of life. But it should be improved in order to properly use in the modern society especially in its effectiveness and efficiency comparable to modern technology. It is an easy task, that is why it tend that traditional technology will be decreased and/or does not interest many researcher to improve and develop the technology further, as modern economic heavily pressure to use tropical forest and water biological product as for keeping of increasing welfare demand as fastest as possible. Hence traditional technology lack behind due to lack of development efforts have been conducted on the subject.
At the same time, one of lacking in traditional technology is concerning with environmental technology, in term of remedial method to environmental deterioration. It might be due to their technology and living condition not so much in producing polluted and hazardous materials so less disaster to their environment. Suppose it unavoidable or unawareness producing such materials, it seem that the nature can absorb or process them naturally so that it is not clearly found in their environment.
Since the fast industrialization development occur in Asia Pacific regions, some of the industry establishment produce waste and polluted materials excessively, the environment is starting to be deteriorated, while the technology to remedy it does not exist yet. Many cases can be observed in East Asia, for example the, heavy smog of forest burning for plantation in Sumatra and Kalimantan disturb the flight in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in the summer 1992 to 1995, besides it add to the global warming. All shrimp ponds in Taiwan, North Sumatra, and northern Java has been closed following water pollution from industry, city sewage and as well as waste water of the shrimp pond self, which triggered illuminate plankton booming But some shrimp pond in the North Sumatra have been recovered after economically losing and the business was stopped its operation for more than five years using open watering system. Thanks to closed water recycling technology or simply called closed system shrimp pond business is in progress again.
On the other hand, sago starch plant in the rural coastal and remote islands areas of Riau province have been poured it waste water and by product into the nearby river, which is deteriorated water environment as indicate by the change in biological, physical and chemical of the water. At present we are trying to identify some microbe that might be processed the waste product produced by the sago starch plant, palm oil processing, and oil refinery hydrocracker plants. The results of the study suppose to be used as bioremedial to environmental conservation and plant waste management.
Similarly, however, environmental accounting should be implemented to aid assessment of forest harvesting technology as well as in the establishment of tropical forest product processing industry. Assistance in the development and application of technologies is required, particularly for production rainforest areas in both target timber and associated species lost in the extraction process.
To deal with the problems associated with the sustainable development it seems impossible solely depend on traditional technology, but it needs to evaluate in order to advance its effectiveness and efficiency to anticipate environmental change and resources reduction. The following research program should be realized:
a) to improve the present traditional technology for assuring sustainable development within traditional society.
b) to identify the biological tropical forest and water resources of high economic and ecological values, which can provide the main stock for resources conservation.
c) to determine for each species the most efficient biotechnology for regeneration and the best conditions for acclimatization.
d) to identify the microorganism associated with each species by product waste as bioremedial to maintain healthy environment.
e) to identify neglected but seemingly useful tropical forest and water biological resources that have economic potential.
f) to select the tropical biological resources that showed the most promise for wider exploitation throughout the tropics. Species chosen has to satisfy several following criteria, namely: 1) it has significant potential as a source of food, forage, or industrial raw material; 2) it help make tropical areas more productive and sustainable development; 3) the species make specific contribution to human nutrition; and 4) the species have multiple properties enabling several useful products to be obtained from it.
g) to indicate requirements and avenues for research to ensure that selected species reach their fullest potential.
h) to determine the best means of preserving genetic resources for future use.
(1) find technologies to utilize the existing potential of tropical forest and water biological resources for practical uses.
(2) develop technology of reforestation and restocking in existing areas which have been subjected to direct exploitation strategies.