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Quo vadis development: assessing the livelihood of indigenous people’s communities in Malaysia and the potential for community-based conservation effort

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Abstract

New development activity brings its various impacts for indigenous people often prompting their relocation to a new area. The 1977’s relocation of indigenous people in Royal Belum, Perak State, Malaysia, as part of its rural spatial development, questions on their livelihood in a new resettlement area and their relationship with nature within the current context of development. Despite the provision of basic facilities and infrastructure and the introduction of mono-crop cultivation and agriculture for the indigenous people, they are still practicing the ‘slash and burn’ method and performing their nomadic forest-based lifestyle. This contributes to their living below the poverty line. This present study explains the coexistence of indigenous people in the context of physical development vis-à-vis conservation effort in the Royal Belum. As neglected issue of interactions and conflicts between indigenous peoples and biodiversity conservation, this study outlined the potential of indigenous people’s community-based practices based on the factors: (1) self-belonging of Royal Belum Forest; (2) biodiversity conservation concerns; (3) sustainable development supporter; and (4) wildlife concerns. The indigenous people close relationship with the nature offers a unique stewardship function for co-creation and co-management practices of community-based sustainable ecotourism and agriculture for further enhancement of their livelihood. This effort will support the socio-economic of national physical spatial plan as well as the co-development of conservation of Royal Belum world natural heritage.

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Acknowledgements

The earlier version of the paper has been submitted and presented in the National Conference on Royal Belum, 9–10 December, 2014, Perak, Malaysia. First author would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia, for partially funding the research by the Grant Awarded (Vot No. 18H14).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kulliyyah Architecture and Environmental Design, Sejahtera Center for Sustainability & Humanity, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 51000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Irina Safitri Zen

  2. Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Jalan UPM, 43400, Serdang, Selangor State, Malaysia

    Mohd. Nazeri Saleh

  3. Faculty of Social and Political Science (FISIP), Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP), Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia

    Teuku Afrizal

  4. Economic Research Centre, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2E-LIPI), LIPI Pusat Sasana Widya Sarwono (SWS), Jalan Jend. Gatot Subroto 10, Jakarta, 12710, Indonesia

    Ummi Karomah Yaumidin

  5. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Universitas Islam Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia

    Prima Wahyu Titisari

  6. Faculty of Social and Political Science (FISIP), Universitas Pembangunan Nasional, Veteran, Jakarta, Depok, Indonesia

    Yani Hendrayani

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  1. Irina Safitri Zen
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Zen, I.S., Saleh, M.N., Afrizal, T. et al. Quo vadis development: assessing the livelihood of indigenous people’s communities in Malaysia and the potential for community-based conservation effort. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 6502–6523 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00813-y

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