Other Traditional Cultures

Other Traditional Cultures

I chose to focus on Borneo's indigenous cultures that are threatened by deforestation. There are several indigenous cultures within Borneo whose sustainable history before the onset of foreign occupation enabled a sustainable lifestyle within the forest. One of the world’s oldest living rainforests is in Borneo. Before the advent of industrial logging, poaching, and palm oil plantations these rainforests completely covered the entire island. The tragedy of deforestation is that the Borneo rainforest is home to the “planet's most biologically diverse ecosystems, these forests are home to thousands of endemic animal, reptile, insect and plant species as well as orangutans, rhinos, hornbills, macaques, gibbons, tarsiers, and slow loris”. (http://www.borneoproject.org/article.php?list=type&type=4) Borneo's indigenous Dayak and Penan people where traditional hunter-gatherers that depended upon as well as sustainably managed areas of the rainforest. It is under the stewardship of the indigenous people of Borneo that the forests were able to thrive and contribute to plant and animal diversity as well as materials needed for indigenous life. Due to the destruction of the rainforest to support global commercialism the habitat of Borneo has changed drastically as deforestation continually infringes near the areas inhabited by indigenous cultures and forces adaptation inconsistent with cultural values of sustaining life from the forest.
The indigenous cultures of Borneo as with other many indigenous cultures were able to function sustainably within their surrounding environment. Sustainability is achieved for the indigenous cultures because there is a reverence for the land that fosters a harmonious replenishing interaction. With deforestation indigenous peoples are forced into becoming marginalized in the large society. Through aid groups like the Borneo Project, governmental preservation programs, and education the problems of deforestation can be slowed. Unfortunately the consumer need outweighs the urgency for preservation. Efforts to help preserve indigenous cultures may encounter problems because the indigenous culture is so intricately tied to an environment that is rapidly changing and offers no traditional cultural continuity. Efforts that try to help provide global awareness to the problems faced by these indigenous peoples may also contribute to promoting larger societal values as the cultural arts are sold for profits rather than to promote cultural traditions. The evils of consumerism ravage not only the environment which is destroyed to meet consumer demands but also indigenous cultures whose life of sustainably living with the land is irreparably damaged.