|
WWW.DAYAK.NL
LANDSCAPES AND CULTURES - PEOPLE - UNDER PRESSURE in pictures and stories with travelinformation about special destinations |
In 1981 we travelled to China for the first time. Mao Zedong had died in 1976 and Deng Xiao Peng had established himself as the new leader.
Signs of a more liberal economy were already visible but the spirit of Mao was still omnipresent.
Thereafter we returned to China several times. We were witness to the economic and political changes and the increasing prosperity of the people in the east and south-east. But we also saw that the
indigenous peoples in the desert of Xinjiang as well as other cultural minorities living in the more remote areas experienced little of that prosperity. Not to mention the situation in Tibet.
 | |
| In other parts of the world we saw the increasing pressure on indigenous cultures and landscapes as well. Because of globalisation and industrialisation remote areas are being opened up, but nature as well as culture becomes therefore vulnerable to forces from outside, which are sometimes quite destructive. In 1990 we noticed that extensive parts of the tropical rainforest on Borneo were being cut down and we saw how the local Dayak-peoples were slowly losing their cultural identity. The main reason for this at that time was the western demand for tropical hardwood. Nowadays the most important reason for perpetual logging is the demand for palm oil, which is produced from the fruit of the palm tree, grown on big plantations in Malaysia, Indonesia and especially on Borneo. This oil is used in western power plants, as a replacement for less durable and more damaging resources. | European concern for the environment and the mandatory agreements of the Kyoto-protocol have motivated governments and oil
companies to try to limit the amount of greenhouse gasses they produce and go searching for alternative resources. Oil companies are urged to partially replace the coal in their plants with
biomass, and palm oil seems the solution for the West.
But on the other side of the globe the problems are actually increasing because of this. Environmental organisations declare that by establishing palm oil plantations about 3.9 million
hectare of tropical rainforest disappears every year. The local population loses their farmland to the big companies that build the plantations so the amount of farmland decreases, causing a shortage of food.
The farmers are left to buy the food that they used to grow themselves, thus needing ever more money in the long run.
 |
Oxfam Novib reports that deforestation is also a major problem in Africa, despite the planting of new (commercial) forests,
because of the ever growing number of rural poor who need increasingly more firewood and farmland. But at the same time the poor farmers are actually losing farmland. Because of the deforestation
the existing water reservoirs and irrigation systems are disappearing, causing floods that wash away the nutritious topsoil. Women have to walk farther and farther to get drinking water and the
habitat of numerous birds and mammals is being destroyed. |
Recently the Amazon area encountered a major drought, filling the rivers and lakes with dead fish. As a result the small amount
of remaining water is polluted and the inland villages have become isolated.
Greenpeace reports that this area, often called the lungs of the earth and the habitat of the greatest variety of living creatures on the planet, has already suffered from about ten years
of deforestation. And global warming enhances the problem still further.
 |
Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas, is from long tradition an agricultural society. Development here created a dependency on fertilisers and pesticides and a tendency to grow commercial crop,
often low-value animal food, in stead of products that farmers can use for their own consumption. Now here, as well as on Borneo, food now has to be bought expensively elsewhere, which is
expensive and must be subsidised by the government. This process eventually undermines the Ladakhi culture.
|
The consequences of global warming are visible everywhere. Especially in the Arctic region. On our most recent trip to Greenland we were
told that the number of mosquitos have dramatically increased over the years because of the melting of the permafrost.
We also heard that lately the period of time each year during which Disko Bay is covered in ice has become remarkably shorter. And that the recent earthquake at the west coast was probably caused by
the diminishing of the amount of land-ice. The melting of the ice also threatens the habitat of animals like the polar bear.
| |
In 1835 Charles Darwin arrived at the Galapagos Islands, where he made the observations that eventually led to the theory of evolution. In his book
"On the Origin of Species" he describes how he observed small differences between the finches on the different islands. Although belonging to the same species, apparently every group of birds had their own
slightly different development, according to the specific circumstances on the island they inhabited. And the same process occurred for the iguanas and the tortoises, and even for the giant cacti.
To preserve this biodiversity the Galapagos Islands have become a specially protected area and the Charles Darwin Foundation was established with this objective. One of the goals of the Charles Darwin Research
Station is to try to preserve and protect the tortoises that have been hunted and eaten for centuries. Nevertheless the islands and their occupants are under threat. There is the pressure of the ever increasing
tourist industry, and also of the increasing number of human inhabitants since about 1960. Biodiversity is also under threat because of the number of imported animals. Some of them are deliberately imported, like
goats, pigs and cats, of which the goats are by far the most damaging. Others, like mice, rats, ants and mosquitos, have come along coincidentally with human visitors and inhabitants.
The islands are now on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
| When we watch the weather forecast on TV, we see the cohesion of systems all over the world.
There is not only cohesion climatologically but in other areas as well. One Western solution to tackle the environmental problems is leading to severe consequences for the Dayak-peoples on Borneo and thus reveals important dilemmas. 150 years after Charles Darwin's visit the Galapagos Islands still show us how biodiversity develops by evolution but at the same time we know that species of animals and plants elsewhere on our planet are under threat or have already vanished.
Globalisation creates opportunities and possibilities, but not everywhere and not equally for everybody. Landscapes and cultures are put under pressure.
Ieke Vierdag |
| home DAYAK |
